There are a lot of things that make newspapers unique. First on the list is this: we routinely anger our two main sources of revenue, i.e. readers and advertisers. Sometimes we do both at the same time. That’s a twofer. Do we go out of our way to do this? Nope. But it comes with the territory.
That’s the situation we’re in right now with our restaurant critic, The Dinner Belle, who wrote a less-than-glowing review of Dudley’s on the Park. The owners didn’t like it, so they’re conducting a little flier campaign to try to unmask her. Which I guess is their right, even if it’s a bit juvenile.
Restaurant critics have a tough job. A bad review can hurt a restaurant, maybe even close a restaurant. So there’s all that rah-rah “help the local economy stuff”. Which leaves a newspaper with three alternatives. One is to take the Lake Woebegon approach: all restaurants are above average. The second is to not review any of them. The third is to only write up reviews where the restaurants would get good marks. None of these work for me. It’s an abdication of our responsibility to inform.
The two scarcest resources people have these days are time and money. What good critics do is tell people what they think are wise investments of those resources. Do we expect people to agree with critics every time? Of course not. That would be boring.
What I ask of the paper’s critics is simply this: Be honest, be open-minded, be professional, be prepared, be entertaining. I know the Dinner Belle. The Dinner Belle knows food. And if you go back and read her reviews, you will see that she is extremely diverse in what she likes. She’s not anti-downtown, or anti-suburbs, or anti-sandwich shops, or anti-steakhouse etc. To me, that’s a signal that she is focused on what she finds when she walks in the door.
Your host is Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal. It's a forum to discuss the media, from
attaboy, Otter! you tell it!
I never heard of Dudley’s on the Park and don’t seek out that kind of place to eat. Thus, I have no opinion. But no one can take a negative stand (express an opinion) without angering or even hurting someone. This applies to individuals as well as newspapers, the uninformed as well as the knowledgeable.
I once wrote a book review for the Journal of a book by a man I know. In the review, I made one honest but negative comment. When I saw the look on the author’s face upon hearing it, I said, “Never again!” It is easier to be truthful when reviewing, if the reviewer doesn’t know the person being reviewed, whether we are talking about restaurants or books.
And we should keep in mind that Dinner Belle is an opinion column. The health department gave this restaurant a 99% rating based on a check list. The Dinner Belle called the cuisine “uninspiring” based on experience. But another equally qualified food reviewer or a hungry man or woman who wandered in might just love Dudley’s on the Park.
It’s the same with movies. It’s okay to love one that got awful reviews. A bad review doesn’t negate personal choice.
IMHO, the function of a restaurant review is to give the reader a good idea of what to expect in terms of setting, service and sustenance.
[*dang, did I write that?]
I’ve eaten there, and I agree with her review.
just read a wanted poster for the dinner belle in burke st pizza. like, what is the owner of dudley’s/burke going to do with that info?
i have been in those 2 business spaces many times (with many owners) over the years. just curious if the buildings are haunted or tainted...as it seems like the energy in those spaces eventually becomes sort of weird.
Another place with obvious negative energy is the old Steak and Ale on Stratford Road across from Hanestown. Site of a double murder in 1982 (John Gardner was executed for those crimes in 1992), it has played host to a series of unsuccessful restaurants since then.
The whole dudley’s / burke street thing has given me a permanent pit in my stomach since i heard about it. over the years (i’ve lived here 29) the journal’s reviewers have written a million glowing reviews and the same amounts of mediocre and bad reviews. I have never seen such a juvenile (and kind of creepy) response in my life. Why doesn’t the owner take all of that misdirected energy and put it into inproving his business? I am embarrased for him.
Myself and everyone i’ve told about this—after saying “He did WHAT? Why?”—have individually decided to never patronize his restaurants again. Which is a shame, because it was the only place we ordered pizza from.
But hey, I hear Fabian’s opening a new pizza joint! Meet you all at Badabing?
I was disappointed when the dinner bell was reviewing the new restaurant on Spruce street and said something to the effect that the starter was not great but at least it wasnt like the limp ceasars salads up on 4th street.That was an unnecessary slam on the 4 th street restaurants....again
Actually, that’s not what she wrote, and the distinction is important.
This is what she wrote in the review of Xia: “I’d like to see some seasonal specials or, again, some sign that the current menu isn’t stuck in stone. But overall Xia is a welcome addition to Winston-Salem’s somewhat predictable downtown dining. There’s a lot of Caesar salad on Fourth Street.”
Maybe the Dinner Belle is more complimentary to diners & midpriced restaurants because most of the restaurants in downtown Winston-Salem are all pretense and no substance. Midrange restaurants outside of central downtown are the only place in this city that you get truly great, unpretentious food.
The upscale places downtown look great, they are beautifully decorated .... but i haven’t had more over-priced, mediocre food in my life than at Camel City and 6th & Vine. As for Dudley’s, I don’t know. That space has been so many failed businesses, it makes me depressed to even be there.
The food is great at Mellow Mushroom, but there are about 10 too many hipsters standing around not busing tables and not offering you a to-go box when you’ve sat there for an hour with half a calzone.
I thank my stars for places like Mary’s of Course. Mary works her you-know-what off in the kitchen and cooks food with love. She is humble and serves up food with soul for all the right reasons. Because she loves making people happy with her food.
The Dinner Belle does an excellent job. For all the haters… just remember that opinions are miraculous things in that they are never wrong. You think she’s full of it? Congratulations! Pat yourself on the back and keep eating there!
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