Thursday, July 17, 2014

July 17, 2014
I have no idea how the following french restaurant can be as dense as they are, but 'lo and behold, they managed to go ahead and surprise me.

According to this article, a fellow (food) blogger was dragged to court for posting a "negative comment" about a place she had dinner. REALLY now France? What the flying hoohoo is up with that?

The restaurant in question is called "Il Giardino brasserie in Lège-Cap-Ferret". If you feel like googling them and adding a nice little review of your own to the growing list of 1 star reviews, feel free! You are entitled to your opinion after all. Freedom of speech,. or as I like to call it, adding your stone in the bucket they tied onto their own legs before jumping in the river.

Some snippets from the reviews so far, I think these people worded it pretty well.

- When someone posts on the Internet that they had a horrific experience, they end up in court. Should you spend a few bucks in a good dinner, go somewhere else. The boss sued a critic. Please avoid this place at any costs.

- Restaurant is terrible, if you go there and have a bad experience be ready to be sued if you decide to post it online. Avoid this restaurant all together as they are contributing to the censorship of the internet, and going against everyone's right to Freedom of Speech. Bet their food is terrible anyways...

- If I could give less than 1 star I would, it's hard to believe there's anythign about this place that's worse than the food but the atmosphere takes that prize, it feels like you're an extra in an Orwellian world nothing can be less than double-plus good or the owner comes out and throws a hissy fit before taking you to court.

- Worst restaurant ever, cause the owner doesn't know the Streisand effect and created a court rule against the freedom of speech. There isn't much with a taste more disgusting that this.

The Streisand Effect

What IS the streisand effect you may ask,  well, wonder no more, as wikipedia explains all very well: 
- The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet.

And, that is exactly what they managed to do by dragging her to court. Supid, and unforgivable. It needs to be punished obviously. They want a streisand effect, they can have one.

Funny enough, you'd think people know about this thing by now? Megaupload, The Pirate Bay, Nabster. All sites that have grown big and wide (though not all are still around) thanks to being dragged to court, or put behind a censorship filter. And the days and weeks after each attempt to block or censor them, you'll notice a huge increase in traffing in their google trend. Again and again. The internet is a funny place.

So, what did they actually write about this restaurant in question? Well, you can probably find the edited version on the blog in question, but the juicy bits will be gone thanks to the idiot judge, or restaurant owner depending on your point of view. Aside that, it's in French, xD Though I guess you can use google translate.

Some snippets I managed to find (google translated so,. weird), it's a very neat review, no sweating, just critical:

- When we arrived, the first waiter asked, logically, if we wanted to eat outside or outside, and as there was a lot of wind, we opted for inside, and so went we install a table. Immediately, a harpy in fluorescent jacket on the coat stares us to scold to move us without authorization (while, and one, we had one, authorization, and two ... I do not yell at me too by servers in general - per person, however, but at least when I'm the customer). In short, it does not start very well, but the misunderstanding up, it slips through our menus. And the first fatal error which will result everything else: it does not ask us, as is the custom, if we want a drink. However, an appetizer, we wanted one (as very few customers obviously, but still, it is our right anyway). Comes a second waitress who took our order, but always ask us if we wanted a drink (logic: his colleague was supposed to have done), we are therefore obliged to ask (we wanted).

- And it continues. While we drank comes the boss, unfriendly despite what she will say well (next to the Café Marly servers deserve the Palme d'Or of courtesy), just tell us to let us know when we want our dishes because they already come to throw a steak and that if it should last 1/2 hour in our history, it would be nice to say. We try to explain our concern, and to point out that, for us and for many years, is the source of the problem in many restaurants that servers have more tables and FHLMC they vadrouillent in the wind, so it is no longer any order and reigns utter disorganization.

- Conclusion? A restaurant where we will go over because the boss thinks he's a diva (although, seriously, it is not the owner of Chez Hortense, either), one of the waitresses would be well advised never to work in London because it is not likely to be able to live his tips, and we care about the customer and the business sense is approximate. I urge you to note your blacklist if you're in the neighborhood!

Burning the place down

In short, they went in and got asked if they wanted to sit inside or outside, got yelled at by a waiter. Didn't get asked for what drinks, get yelled at by the manager, get bad pizza, and left a bad review. Hardly a reason for any restaurant to drag someone to court I'd say!

Freedom is a right near every person in Europe and America has, and should be entitled to. Now, in the past it's shown and needs to be noted that while you have a freedom of speech most websites are privately owned and your comment may be removed on certain forums - as is their right. But, on your own blog - that's mostly your own domain.

So, show your support and add a nice destructive review to the restaurant in question:
- "Il Giardino brasserie in Lège-Cap-Ferret"
Or drop by the blog in question and add your support
- Les Chroniques Culturelles.
- The original blog post (in French, so use google translate).

One for bonus points: Here's another blogger's view on the matter.
And Tweakers.net (Dutch). Another bonus

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