Restaurant's gracious statement after receiving a bad review goes viral

Ninyo Fusion Cuisine has long been one of those hidden gems in Quezon City, a favorite spot for romantic dinners thanks to its ambience, wonderful service, and top-notch food.

But it just received a bad review on TikTok after a disgruntled customer had a bad experience at the Quezon City spot. TL:DR: Customer made a reservation for the 11-course menu (that needed 2 days for advanced prep), the restaurant gave her a confirmation but when she arrived at Ninyo, the menu was...unavailable.

Her disappointment was valid: Apart from receiving a confirmation, it also happened to be her date's birthday. They had dressed up for the occasion, drove all the way from Laguna, and endured the Christmas traffic. And all for nothing!  So she made it known on social media.

It reached Ninyo, which swiftly responded with a statement, posted it online, and seemed to have resonated with a lot of people. As of writing, it's been shared nearly 1,500 times with over 12K engagements and more than 1K comments.

The restaurant explained what happened, did not try to wiggle out of the discomfort of their mistakes, apologized, mentioned the action steps they were taking, and turned humble.

"The truth is that we are imperfect people, and like everybody else, we also make mistakes," a portion of their statement read.

"Every mistake is a learning experience for us, a chance to be better than we were an opportunity for growth. In this case, we have taken actions to improve our reservations system and staff training," Ninyo continued.

"We cannot promise that we will give you a perfect dining experience one hundred percent of the time. But what we can promise is that we will put our whole hearts into the food we prepare an the service we give to make you happy. That is always our end goal," Ninyo said.

"We humble ask for your consideration in giving small businesses like ours a chance to fix a problem before publicly announcing it," the statement continued.

According to Ninyo, going public with a complaint hardly gives the other party to improve and even does more harm than good. "It can tear down a small business, along with the people who depend on it for survival," Ninyo said.

"It has been a tough year for everyone including our industry. Let us help each other become better and spread kindness so that we may all rise together," Ninyo ended its statement.

In the comments section, netizens showed their support by recalling their wonderful experiences at Ninyo. "Held my very intimate DIY wedding here just this month and the staff are angels! The food is so good that all of our guests were complimenting our choice of venue," wrote one.

"We had our anniversary date dinner at Ninyo. Wow the food is great as well a the romantic set up. Will dine again soon," said another.

"Had our first anniversary date here and it's still unmatchable to this date! Whenever we dine out, Ninyo has become the standard," still another said.  

Perhaps it's a timely reminder to extend bit more patience as we head out to celebrate Christmas, incidentally one of the busiest times of the year for any restaurant.

The industry's among the hardest hit during the pandemic, and it's only beginning to get back on its feet. It wouldn't hurt anybody if we also extended the Christmas spirit to the restaurant staff serving our meal. — LA, GMA News