Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Benihana's food must REALLY suck

It's not often that the news of bad food in a Kuwaiti restaurant reaches the states, but when a restaurant manager sues over a bad review the news is going to get around. Mike Servo, manager of the Benihana restaurant in Kuwait, wants $18,000 in damages because Mark Makhoul didn't think much of their grilled chicken.

I've never eaten in the restaurant in question, but if the manager feels the need to sue someone for writing a lackluster review then it raises certain questions about the quality of the food. Specifically it leads me to conclude that the food must be pretty terrible if the manager needs to use a lawsuit to try and defend it.

Mark Makhoul's bad review is just one person's opinion. A manager suing over that opinion suggests to me that Mike Servo has NO confidence in the quality of the restaurant and prefers to shout down critics rather than address the underlying issues. If I'm ever in Kuwait, I'll be sure to avoid the Benihana chain.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lay off. It's the only restaurant in town where you can get a decent bacon cheeseburger. They don't offer it on the main menu since it's a Muslim country and all, but if you ask for the "sublime battered burger" off the "private menu" you get a delicious bacon cheeseburger that's been broiled with beer. It's kinda funny to watch them cook it because of all the clever ways they have to hide the ingredients they're working with. The beer is in a sauce squeeze bottle and the bacon is cut into what looks like a thin medallion cut steak. The rest of the clientele probably knows what's going on, because the bacon still smells like bacon when they cook it.

The "published" menu is largely for show and to keep what they REALLY sell under wraps. I'm not surprised to hear they might not put much effort into the printed menu items. The chef probably feels a bit insulted when you order something mundane when he's risking some significant legal repercussions by working with pork.

Matthew Miller said...

Wait, are you suggesting the over the top reaction by the restaurant manager was because he's scared out of his wits as a result of offering illegal dishes?

One would think serving illegal food would make one want to AVOID publicity.