A Chinese takeaway boss has become popular online for her hilarious responses to bad reviews.
Leeds Chinese Takeaway slates bad reviewers!: The owner of the Oriental Express takeaway in Leeds has posted some scathing replies in response to terrible reviews. In fairness the majority of posts praise her food. She had a 5-star rating on the popular JustEat based on 149 reviews. Alice Cheung, 50, has gone viral with her witty “put downs”.
Chueng stands by the fact she only replies to complaints that are not the restaurant’s fault. One review reads “This food was terrible. Paid £17 for a box! Nothing but chips that looked like they was cooked yesterday, two onion rings and everything else unrecognisable.” Her reply was “You ordered a Vegetarian Munch Box and then called the shop to complain there was no MEAT in it. We sent what you ordered and there was nothing wrong with it. The bad review is to cover your error. Please do not call again.”
In response to a customer who complained they waited an hour for their delivery on a Saturday night she replied “Hello, we looked into our crystal ball but it gave no indication as to just how many orders the public were going to place on Saturday night between 5 and 9 PM. Don’t you just hate it when that happens.” This person also said the prawn toast was “very bland” to which Cheung said “Prawn toast is fried bread with prawn spread over one face and sesame seed sprinkles, none of these items could be classed as exciting but they make for a very nice starter. I am sure if we had delivered within your time frame our food would have been a lot better.”
One customer only gave the restaurant a 2.5 review saying they have had better elsewhere. the boss again took to social media to reply “I suggest you stay with the other takeaway and take your false review with you.” And a fourth complained that battered prawns had been mixed in their chicken dish. Cheung said “Will you please open your eyes and read the descriptions, you ordered the ‘special sweet and sour’ which contains king prawns. You got what you ordered so how is this our fault. The food was fresh and perfectly cooked. We are good but mind reading the stupid is not one of our skills.”
Cheung has always maintained they offer an excellent menu and want to be honest with customers. She said “If we are at fault, we will admit to it, but sometimes there are things you can’t control like busy delivery times. We do make mistakes sometimes, we will always do something to compensate, such as free delivery next time you order.
If we have messed up, we’ll always hold our hands up. But if not, people should expect some banter. If people are leaving comments like that there’s a chance they won’t come back again anyway, so we tell them how it is. But our regular customers have really loved it and have been supportive of the viral stuff.”