Restaurant Owner Goes to Bat With Unhappy Yelp Review

Every business appreciates a review, good or bad, so that they can improve or praise the employees, but should ranting about a bad experience on Yelp be acceptable?

As you may be familiar with Yelp, it's a website where you can go and post good or bad reviews and rate the business with 1-5 stars. This site also lets the business' management read the reviews - remember that. Voltaire, an upscale restaurant in Kansas City, was blown away when they received a highly negative review online by a woman complaining that her experience included "unprofessional and arrogant behavior." A local of Kansas City, Sonal B. is not new to Yelp reviews, in fact - she has posted multiple negative and may I add lengthy, online comments.

The review system, especially for a restaurant, is a vital part of their system. The business wants to know what they can improve or how great the experience was. On the other hand, are Yelp and other review sites, being used to bash business' before a problem can be resolved?

So the question is…do you think that it's acceptable to post a lengthy comment bad-mouthing a business or should you take a different route? Let us know what you think!