Sugarvine

zaksmum

Sugarvine is a site that reviews restaurants, and I've often checked it out when considering a booking at a restaurant I hadn't visited before.

Last week we went to an Indian restaurant which advertised a Bring Your Own policy, so as it was a Sunday afternoon buffet we didn't want alcohol so took soft drinks with us.

The waiter said we were not allowed to have our own soft drinks, only alcohol, and if we wanted soft drinks we'd have to buy it from them.

We reluctantly purchased water, but at several points during the meal, the manager came over to check we were not having our own soft drinks!

The meal was at best adequate anyway and the restaurant was deserted.

So I wrote a review for Sugarvine mentioning the soft drinks issue and that the food wasn't very good. Got an email back saying they don't use negative reviews as they could be from disgruntled ex employees of the restaurant in question!

I think this completely discredits Sugarvine as a review site if only positive reviews are selected for inclusion on the website, and won't bother consulting it again!

meer53

Surely "bring your own" only relates to alcohol as the restaurant won't have a drinks licence ?

Every bring your own curry house i have visited sells their own soft drinks. I don't think the restaurant did anything wrong. Why don't you rewrite your review it might be submitted without the drinks issue being mentioned. I prefer Tripadvisor for reviews.

Zinger549

Bring your own means they don't have an alcohol licence.

marywooyeah

to be fair if you didn't know that "bring your own drinks" should read as "bring your own alcohol as we don't have a licence" it would be quite easy to think that it related to all drinks and not just alcohol - If I were you OP I'd leave reviews on other sites mentioning this just to warn others who may not know either but I think the manager coming over to check frequently would have been offputting and made you feel uncomfortable, it doesn't sound like a very enjoyable experience.

System

Sugarvine is not a good website. For restaurants you are better with something like trip advisor. Frankly I don't trust any review unless there are good and bad reviews. Let's be honest the majority of people only review when they've had s bad experience. Therefore warning bells always ring when I visit anywhere that only has positive reviews from a website I don't trust.

Really you should name and shame on here. There's no censorship on MSE:-)

zaksmum

I wouldn't trust Sugarvine again after this. I was unaware that a bring your own policy only referred to alcohol, and after my visit I realised the restaurant was deserted - we were the ONLY customers - for a very good reason!

We left our soft drinks in the bag we brought them in but the manager was almost paranoid about the possibility we might consume them there, popping up every few minutes to say it wasn't allowed! I've been to many Bring Your Own places where they couldn't care less what you brought as long as you paid for the food.

Obviously we'll never go there again, but I thought potential customers needed to be aware!

Flat_Eric

I wrote a review for sugarvine once about a place we had eaten at. My review didn't exactly rate the restaurant as michelin star worthy but likewise it didn't exactly say it was worthy of a repeat visit. Surprise surprise sugarvine e-mailed me and said my review didn't meet their criteria so wouldn't be included!

zaksmum

Flat_Eric wrote: »

I wrote a review for sugarvine once about a place we had eaten at. My review didn't exactly rate the restaurant as michelin star worthy but likewise it didn't exactly say it was worthy of a repeat visit. Surprise surprise sugarvine e-mailed me and said my review didn't meet their criteria so wouldn't be included!

So Sugarvine's a complete waste of time then if all you want is an unbiased review of a restaurant.

I wouldn't have though that was too much to ask.

jumpedtheshark

I like Toptable. They only accept reviews from people that have booked through them and dined at the restaurant in question. They also get special offers. AND they appear to be perfectly happy for you to leave an honest review - I've loved a couple of places I've booked through them, and left a so-so review about another with no problems.

Azari

zaksmum wrote: »

I wouldn't trust Sugarvine again after this. I was unaware that a bring your own policy only referred to alcohol, and after my visit I realised the restaurant was deserted - we were the ONLY customers - for a very good reason!

We left our soft drinks in the bag we brought them in but the manager was almost paranoid about the possibility we might consume them there, popping up every few minutes to say it wasn't allowed! I've been to many Bring Your Own places where they couldn't care less what you brought as long as you paid for the food.

Obviously we'll never go there again, but I thought potential customers needed to be aware!

I really, really, hope you didn't leave a tip and asked for any service charge to be removed.

(Because of the harassment by the manager, not the misunderstanding about the BYO - which, BTW, you were perfectly entitled to interpret to mean what it actually said rather than the interpretation of the smartarses here.)

Zinger549

Azari wrote: »

I really, really, hope you didn't leave a tip and asked for any service charge to be removed.

(Because of the harassment by the manager, not the misunderstanding about the BYO - which, BTW, you were perfectly entitled to interpret to mean what it actually said rather than the interpretation of the smartarses here.)

You don't need a licence to sell soft drinks. I don't know of any restaurant that doesn't serve drinks.