[RD] Pete Welles is Such a Jerk!

[BvBPL]

Locol is a small chain of restaurants with a mission: it wants to bring nutritious, inexpensive fast food to improvised urban communities. Along the way, it wants to use progressive labor practices and lively, vibrant interior design in its locations. The ultimate goal: a reformation in the fast food industry; to shift the whole notion of the cuisine away from flavorless McFattys and towards dynamic restaurants that enliven the broader community. The only problem? Their food sucks.

So says Pete Welles, restaurant critic for the Old Gray Lady. The Times published Welles’s review of Local in January, and it was not pretty. While Welles was complimentary of the restaurant’s mission and much of the ephemera of the business, he was quite down on the main dishes. So down that Welles gave it a zero stars “satisfactory” rating.

This snub set the internet alight. Folk poured out to condemn Welles’s review, largely on the basis that Welles should not “strike down a movement with elitist words.”

Is Welles a jerk for talking trash about Locol?

 

[Ajidica]

No.

Restaurant critic critiqued a restaurant for providing bad food.

Internet overreacts to stuff.

 

[Synobun]

Key quote from the review:

What the Stars Mean Ratings range from zero to four stars. Zero is poor, fair or satisfactory. One star, good. Two stars, very good. Three stars, excellent. Four stars, extraordinary.

A zero star rating doesn't mean it's bad. It is listed as "Satisfactory" which was thoroughly clarified within the review itself. It was a good review. It did not insult the owners or the establishment and it was very clear on what worked and what didn't.

I'm not really sure where the outrage is coming from.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Outrage doesn't always need a reason.

 

[Ajidica]

I'm not really sure where the outrage is coming from.

BvBPL has a thing where he tries to setup a "checkmate librul " situation that never quite works out for him.

 

[Synobun]

Outrage doesn't always need a reason.

I guess that's true. I have a more difficult time taking outrage seriously if it's of the frothing-at-the-mouth variety.

 

[cardgame]

Key quote from the review:



A zero star rating doesn't mean it's bad. It is listed as "Satisfactory" which was thoroughly clarified within the review itself. It was a good review. It did not insult the owners or the establishment and it was very clear on what worked and what didn't.

I'm not really sure where the outrage is coming from.

I don't know anything about this issue but I do know one thing. This rating system is the worst I've ever heard of.

 

[Synobun]

I don't know anything about this issue but I do know one thing. This rating system is the worst I've ever heard of.

Oh yeah, absolutely. Although given his location and where he tends to review restaurants, maybe there's enough in the 3 and 4 star categories to justify such a distinction.

 

[FriendlyFire]

The readers comments back up the assessment
Changes are needed to be made to the menu, for it to work as the restaurant is already empty and failing. I think the eaters are voting with their wallets already
Good concept idea, but bad execution

I've eaten at this spot and live in the area and his assessment is spot on. On that block alone, there are 5 other restaurants with amazing food that offer items at comparable prices, which he mentions in this article. I know it's easy to assume he's being snobby, but the food is disappointing. I keep wanting to give Locol a chance, but every time I'm disappointed and regret not getting a burrito two doors down, or even going next door to Ike's which sells amazing, and more filling sandwiches for a $1 more. It's kind of insult to offer such mediocre food in an area where there are 150 restaurants, with many just as inexpensive.

I've been to LocoL and can say definitively that the food is ghastly. And not just fast food ghastly--its simply terrible, Ive had better fast food.
And the location in Oakland is surrounded by good food, like True Burger and Ikes, which explains why the shop is empty every time I pass by. It will close soon enough. Good idea, terrible execution.

 

[innonimatu]

This snub set the internet alight. Folk poured out to condemn Welles’s review, largely on the basis that Welles should not “strike down a movement with elitist words.”

Is Welles a jerk for talking trash about Locol?

The snub set the PR services of the snubbed chain alight...

The media (which includes the "social media") is a global circle jerk by now. The critic, the restaurants, the critics of the critic... all jerks.

 

[Farm Boy]

Ha!