Handling Negative Reviews

What to do if customers post complaints online

Everyone’s a critic. Whether a meal was outstanding or underwhelming, customers like to post their opinions online. And while business owners might be tempted to dismiss these reviews as the musings of bored attention seekers, negative comments and one- or two-star ratings can repel potential customers. Pizzeria operators must develop a strategy to respond in a way that benefits the restaurant and encourages new and repeat business.

According to the “2024 Trust & Safety Report,” a survey by Yelp and YouGov, 72% of review readers say they read more online reviews now than ever before to assist with local purchasing decisions. Nearly 90% of respondents say they trust written text reviews more than a simple one- to five-star rating.

Read, Then Respond

While an unpleasant task, reading negative reviews can help you find out which elements of food and service need attention. “I evaluate what is the complaint,” says Nicole Bean, owner-operator of the family-run Pizaro’s Pizza in Houston. “For us, it’s always price point. We consider ourselves a higher end, luxury pizzeria.”

When a price-related review appears on Google, Yelp or even Reddit, Bean responds with an educational focus. She describes the premium ingredients and the labor involved in making the pies at Pizaro’s Pizza. “We’re not just busting open bags,” says Bean, who will lead an education session about handling negative reviews during International Pizza Expo 2026. “They think it’s pizza, so it should be cheap. It’s really challenging to get people to understand quality over quantity.”

Sometimes, the commentor doesn’t really want an explanation about the intricacies of premium ingredients, so Bean’s response is more succinct.  “Sometimes it’s just a quick and dirty, ‘Sorry we didn’t meet your expectation for price point,’” she says. “They just want to be heard.”

Besides price, customers might complain about food, service or other issues, so Bean developed a template for how to respond to various situations. Above all, don’t take the comments personally. “Most of these people don’t know you, and they don’t understand what your day to day is,” Bean says. “So, take yourself out of the picture.”

Engage But Don’t Argue

Even award-winning eateries can get bad reviews. R Town Pizza in Reno, Nevada, has been recognized on best-of lists on Yelp and other sites, but that does not deter customers from occasionally posting negative reviews. “Every once in a while, someone wants to tell you you’re not as good as you think you are,” says Marvin Kinney, founder, president and pizzaiolo at R Town.

One customer posted a negative review and a photo of a burnt pizza, so Kinney acknowledged that was not the pizzeria’s usual high-quality pie. He offered to remedy the situation and took a proactive approach. “The moment they say, ‘I have a problem,’ I say, ‘What can I do for you?’ We are happy to replace it,” he says. “We don’t wait for them to say, ‘I want my money back.’”

It’s better to have these conversations offline. Message the reviewer and offer to communicate with them via e-mail rather than having a public back and forth on the review site. Avoid debates about what the pie should look like or how many minutes one should expect to wait – and ignore the foolish and the absurd comments. “Be like a duck and let those roll off,” Kinney says. “You don’t go online, you don’t pop off. We have bad reviews, and it hurts because you are putting yourself out there.”

One challenge is that third-party delivery platforms can provide poor service, and customers blame the restaurant. In one instance, Kinney says, a third-party service delivered an order from the wrong restaurant – a burger chain—to the R Town customer, who was told by the delivery company to complain to the pizzeria.

“I told them I’ll swing by,” he says. “They see the owner delivering pizza. It’s a good look. That’s why people trust us.”

Prevent Mishaps

For Dove Vivi Pizza in Portland, Oregon, the best way to prevent third-party delivery fails has been not signing up with these services, says Delane Blackstock, who owns the pizzeria with her husband, Gavin.

“What we try to do is be proactive and not have customers set up for a bad experience by partnering with services that are not in the customer-service business,” Blackstock says.

As for dining in, employees have more tools to keep customers happy. If an order is taking a long time to prepare, servers can offer items such as a small bowl of olives. If, at the end of the meal, the check takes a while to get to the table, the staff might send the customer home with a cookie.

“The last thing we want to do is give them their money back,” Blackstock says. “A cookie is a very inexpensive form of hush money.”

Gather Information

Another way to prevent negative reviews is by engaging with customers before they walk out the door. At White Pie in Denver, if general manager Ivy Harris notices a party not eating their food, she approaches the table. “I make sure everything is to their liking and give them an opportunity to let me know,” she says. “That’s the first thing I do to avoid having an unhappy guest.”

Sometimes, customers don’t offer feedback while they are dining and post an unexpectedly bad review later. In such cases, the marketing team at White Pie reaches out to them, offering an e-mail address to send more information about what went wrong. One customer recently complained online that a truffle pizza was expensive, even though the server had communicated that the pie would be pricey. The reviewer had not said anything to the staff at the pizzeria and instead opted to air their grievance online.

“If you don’t communicate to me while you’re here, I can’t help,” Harris says. “If they had reached out, I would have said, ‘Here is a gift card,’ not a full refund.”

Harris incentivizes servers to request reviews if the table enjoyed the meal. Servers who get the most four- or five-star reviews win a free meal or merchandise from one of the eatery’s vendors. Servers who have unhappy customers can appeal to Harris to mitigate the situation. “I’m always going to take accountability,” she says. “I always get to make the customer feel seen and heard. That’s all they want.”

Nora Caley is a freelance writer who covers small business, finance and lifestyle topics.