Kosher Restaurant Review Lashon Harah

Yes, it would be Loshon Hora. Additionally, Jews are prohibited from posting such critical reviews about Jewish establishments on the general internet sites such as Yelp.

Also note that such reviews are subjective. They are not absolute truth. And even if they were the L”H objection would apply.

Gadolhadorah,

Wouldn’t it be l’toeles?

Tastes are not the same. Is it not possiible thar what the reviewer does not like someone else likes?

Yes there is a distinction. Hashgacha is toeles. One is allowed to protect Jewish from eating potentially non-kosher food. Is is the obligation of a kashruth agency and a rabbi to inform there constituents about what is permitted and not.There is no obligation and no no hochech tochiach on food preference even on objective food preference. I think that if you learn a lesson a day it can be very helpful towards getting more clarity in these laws:

GHD: You seem to not like that Halacha has to say about this question.

I think gadol and some of the others have a point in that the customer has a right to spend his money wisely. However, these are subjective opinions which vary from person to person and if I was a newspaper publisher or an influential food writer I wouldn’t want to take it on my pleitzas to disproportionately affect someone else’s parnasa based on my opinion alone

I believe I made a distinction helping people keep Halacha and wich is an obligation according to the halachic authority’s or kashruth agency understanding of the Halacha moreover there is an obligation of hochech tochiach. I don’t believe ones not liking a service falls into that.i do understand that it is difficult to waste money however one must give up all of their money not to violate a lav I would like to stress that learning the Halacha would be extremely helpful.

And from the other side, how is talking about Brooklyn’s dirty streets different than a restaurant’s dirty floors?

Can we analyze three practical scenarios?

A) I am the editor of a newspaper, and print a notice stating that the hashgacha on a certain restaurant is less than reliable.
B) I am the editor of a newspaper, and print a notice saying that a certain restaurant features burnt food and poor service.
C) My friend approaches me privately and asks, “I’m thinking of dining at restaurant abc, can you tell me if you think I’ll like it?” I reply that restaurant abc features burnt food and poor servive.
Which of the above scenarios would be considered Loshon hora? Why?
What guidelines would you use in differentiating between permitted and forbidden speech?

If someone comes to you about a shiduch inquiry and you experienced it yourself, wouldn’t it be lifnei iveir if I told tell him what I experienced?

If every restaraunt would serve quality, appropriate portions at the appropriate price points for that cuisine/venue, and provided excellent customer service no matter what the location. this topic would not be an issue. Mir has an overall excellent reputation which keeps bochrim coming to learn despite a percentage that falls through the cracks

Question of Loshon Horo belong to your LOR, online reviews are known to be subjective, anonymous, and suspect of being written by a competitor or best friend of the business owner. One bad review doesnt mean anything, 1000 absolutely do. A good manager reads the reviews and responds to the criticism with a thank you for the tip off, it wont happen again!! Any business owner will tell you that no feedback is worse than bad feedback. I think its all about how you present the (bad) facts. I once gave a scathing review on a kosher restaurant but I sprinkled it with deserved compliments. The manager immediately answered me online that they had a staff meeting that very night to discuss my review and changes were made and thank you for bringing these problems to their attention. The quiet unhappy customers arent helping.

Ohevet Yisroel is absolutely right, I’ll just add something.
Restaurant owners need exposure for their businesses to succeed, word of mouth is not enough anymore. Most places are pleasant enough and many are wonderful places to dine. The good owner wants to be graded on his restaurant because he puts effort into it and knows people will like it and recommend it to others.

Let the public have its’ say, and everyone will benefit. The fear of loshon hara here is a lose-lose situation. The customer loses because he doesn’t know the place is good, and the business owner doesn’t get to publicize that objective customer like his place.

Im not totally sure this falls under the same as Loshon Harah

1) Yelp reviews can be written by ANYONE Jews, Non Jews , even people who havent even gone into the place

2) Most real reviews (You can tell which ones are revenge vs which ones are constructive critism) can help the owner. Posting such things as the service took too long might help the owner speed up the service before customers walk out

3) Frankly JMO nobody is entitled to your business, if the food is lousy and the service stinks, other people do need to know about it and should have the same right to avoid

rational: While it isn’t permitted to share a review with negative information, it IS permitted to post a fully positive review.

Warren: The CC says no such thing.

Joseph
If absolutely does
You must first approach the person privately to try to fix anything negative Only if that does not work is it possible to tell others. That’s what he is referring to

It seems like most comments don’t factor in the inconveniences of Halacha: it isn’t analyzing halacha that is being used to apply to successfull living rather the other way around. As if our perception of what is good and responsible should therefore shape the Halacha. Our perseverance as a nation is always to understand and keep the Halacha first and foremost moral and just behavior follow that strict adherence.