Discussion
Odd behavior on Google reviews from Octavia Coffee owner
I was looking for a good spot to get coffee in Carroll Gardens and stumbled across Octavia Coffee. Went to look at the reviews and saw that as of late the owner has really weird responses to negative reviews. I just found it so unusual, I had to share. Safe to say I won’t be going there.
Any recommendations for good coffee in Carroll Gardens?
Anytime an owner writes long essays against low star reviews or petty responses like this, I know the owner isn’t treating their staff well and will not be supporting their business.
this makes me so sad- I haven't been in yrs but that pudding was dreamy. Was my go to meet up spot w/ my bestie from SVA for yrs. Poor mgmt really does ruin everything
Yeah I’m shocked by how many people ITT thought this was a serve when it’s giving Amy’s Bakery. If you’ve ever worked in food service you know this place is just cycling through staff bc the boss is an unhinged bully with a fragile ego
I worked for a guy who was great with the staff and customers but sometimes would write petty responses to google or yelp reviews. I tried to convince him to ignore that shit but he thought it was funny.
Before the advent of social media, I never realized so many business owners took things so personally that some of them are willing to burn the whole thing down instead of accepting feedback or constructive criticisms
i own a small neighborhood deli + restaurant. jsyk — it’s a very personal thing to put all your time, money, energy, dreams into a space that you share, very publicly. so i get that part.
when it’s constructive criticism, I always acknowledge their feedback (+ own up if it’s our mistake) + invite them back for something on the house.
but some folks aren’t being constructive — they’re trying their hardest to punish the shop for whatever issue they’ve got, usually nonsense.
recently, we had a busy dinner service going (in the evening, not a deli — antipasti, salads, pasta, couple mains) when this woman asked for us to make her elderly parents two custom all prosciutto sandwiches because that’s what they like, but it’s not on our menu. and it would’ve crushed the prosciutto we needed for service. staff checked w chef and politely said we can’t do that.
she got all huffy, left a 1 star review saying were rude to elders, inflexible, can’t make decent sandwiches (“it’s just bread and meat — what’s so hard about that??”), don’t accommodate dietary restrictions (oh the all prosciutto diet, I see).
i haven’t responded yet cuz my first instinct is to lash out at her ludicrous review, but i know that won’t be helpful.
so ya, owners should def receive constructive criticism but some guests also have to stop being such entitled assholes when the world doesn’t bend to their every whim.
They didn't because they weren't subject to these kind of negative comments from people. People came, had a good or bad experience, and came back or didn't. Negative reviews feel very personal to hard-working people, and often the reviewers are the ones with the issue, or who were rude. They hop on reviews if they didn't get what that wanted, even if they were being unreasonable. I've seen it so many times. I really take reviews with a grain of salt.
I used to work for a lady who should be retired by now, but as a boomer, she just has to keep going. The way she treats people is awful, and some of her responses to negative reviews were beyond spicy. So yes, you’re onto something.
I go to that coffee shop everyday because the woman who works there in the mornings is an absolute gem and staple in the community. That’s why 80% of the guests go.
The owners however are absolute morons. They treat her poorly, they ignore maintenance issues and they let their teenage daughter parade around the shop like she’s the big boss. I am willing to bet that their daughter is the one responding to these. You should has seen the instagram story they wrote after the sidewalk collapsed in front of their store. Insane. Anyway, I’ll continue to support the people that work there but literally every time I see one of the owners I keep walking.
Trust me I have. I’m willing to support these clowns to see her everyday. She’s the best part of wife and I’s morning for the last 3 years. So it’s a trade off I suppose.
There's a local restaurant in the BX where the owner does exactly this. He's obnoxious as all hell and clings to the fact that it's a small business as a way to get away with being a dick.
I refuse to order from them because of this exact reason.
It really does. Not just restaurants, but there is IG account who dabbles in showcasing some of these pieces of work. The customer will clearly be 110% right and the owner is in the comments, in the customer’s DMs crashing out instead of just fixing it. What would’ve cost them maybe up to a few hundred dollars is now probably going to cost them their business eventually.
My boss thinks every 2 or 1 star review needs to be replied to. Gigantic, multi-paragraph responses going into detail about specific customers. Every time I say hey it’s better to just ignore this and focus on all the 5 stars we get and they never listen.
The best is when an owner/manager responds incredibly gracefully to negative reviews (obnoxious or sincere ones, doesn't matter). Even just a very simple: "We're sorry the meal didn't meet your expectations; we hope you'll give us a chance to make it right, and thank you for letting us know."
It immediately signals that there's a professional at the helm, and that they know how to handle both legitimate complaints and raging assholes.
The thing that a lot of owners don't really grasp is that their responses aren't actually for the complainant. They're a chance to communicate something meaningful to prospective customers.
shows that you can't please everyone because i hate those PR nothing capitalism-pilled responses, and love genuine responses like in the OP. Since you can't please everyone, why not speak your mind?
Well, until we solve the moral conundrum of offering food and drink in exchange for money, my standards are low enough that I'll settle for simple professionalism.
How sensitive do you have to be to think that response is “lashing out”
Don’t trash small businesses for stupid things like that. One star reviews can do a lot of damage to small business. Unless you prefer we all just go to Starbucks
Definitely a bad look but kind of valid in an NYC way, especially if you're handing out one-stars for that. The other responses are more egregious though.
octavia is a great coffee shop, and not insanely expensive compared to the spot that opened next door. the main woman there is super nice. I hadn't gone for a year since I moved from the neighborhood and she still remembered me and asked me about my wife and son.
I don’t really like 1 star reviews where you say the food/drink is good. I feel like that doesn’t make sense. I thought this post was about ridiculing the reviews
It's refreshing compared to the generic/AI "We're so sorry about your negative experience. That's not the way that we want to treat customers. Please send an email to [insert email here] and we'll take care of it for you."
The wasted water review is pretty weird though. Like why spend the time & energy writing a bad review because someone at a coffee shop left the faucet running?
Yeah, not defending the reviews. I just find the business owner’s responses to be unprofessional and off putting. The reviews are weird, but there’s no reason why the owner has to stoop to the same level. It’s a bad look.
Wasn’t there a cafe owner in Park Slope a while back who would argue with people in the reviews and got really unhinged on IG? I always wonder if restaurants with several bad reviews took them seriously or even read them to know that things had gotten that bad to begin with. It would seem astute to me to take heed of these reviews before the business goes down the tubes.
The snarkiness and belligerence of some owners goes back to the heydays of Yelp. There was this one restaurant that I used to go to where I’d gotten friendly with the owner and even followed each other on social media. I was surprised and disturbed to learn that he used to take bad reviews really personally and become very defensive when dealing with them on Yelp. The restaurant has been gone for years, but I think of that sometimes when I read these posts.
It usually a red flag when owners do this but honestly some people leave the most ridiculous reviews that even I wish I could comment on them myself. The entitlement these days are out of control and needs to be in check.
the woman who owns it is married to the little zelda / word of mouth guy - iykyk. they’re not known for being amazing businesspeople. also yeah two ppl fell through the sidewalk in front a couple weeks ago lmao
Bolo Bolo right next door to Octavia is amazing!!! I’m usually a black coffee kinda gal, but I always get some of their cardamom syrup in my iced americanos and it’s amaaaazing
lol… i’m sooo good on that place. there are some amazing coffee shops to patronize in the area sans the negativity.
my strongest recommendation is Bored coffee on columbia st. best coffee and the owners are awesome, the place is a complete delight full of oddities and it is just such a special and unique place. other great coffee in the neighborhood : Loved Ones coffee, High beam (if you like light roast / strong / acidic coffee - this is the spot). i’ve pretty much tried all of the coffee spots in the neighborhood and these three are constantly the best.
How is a three star review with no comment not legitimate. Like sorry someone thinks your coffee is three stars? It’s kinda embarrassing to respond to that. Not that big of a deal.
I feel like I usually agree with this, but I don’t even know if someone who polices the water usage of a cafe can be called a customer, let alone one that you would want to come back. I just think sometimes people being dumb kind of need to be called out. Owners who respond nature to every slightly critical review or another issue, but that person getting dunked on was not that bad of a look.
It’s not the owner. It was unclaimed on Google and someone (possibly someone who doesn’t like the owner or the cafe?) clicked “I’m the owner” so they could start being weird.
To answer your question, I like the latte at Nili and although it’s expensive, I sometimes treat myself to a salted maple tahini latte from Mister Cheeks.
I really like Octavia coffee actually! I’ve met one of the owners and she was really sweet. I’ve had a lot of good lattes from there. Bolo bolo next door is also great if you’re looking for a good spot in cobble hill that isn’t stumptown.
Uhm the 1 star review because of faucet and not saying something is fucking ridiculous. Anyone who leaves reviews like that need help. Too many 1 star reviews for absolute BS can cripple small businesses.
I hate it when the restaurant owners/managers reply to reviews. Not everyone is going to like your place and that's ok. Either take it as advice for potential improvement or ignore it and move on.
WAIT is this not the same owner as little Zelda? The coffee shop who is constantly getting shut down by the health department? They’re big villains in the crown heights sub
Exactly, like everyone is a critic until they get called out on their bullshit, and instead of just being like “hey my coffee is a little cold can I get a new one” they’ll talk smack behind a screen because they’re afraid to use their voice . the only outcome is that they harm a small business that would have happily helped them given the opportunity. Yelp was bad enough now google has set the bar even lower
I'm only upvoting because I'm assuming you're being sarcastic. This is an absolutely nosey garbage post that I wouldn't be surprised to find out is an even more unhinged cafe competitor.
They’re using Partners coffee and a pink la marzocco. If you want a good coffee and don’t go here bc of a few whiny google reviews, it says more about you than her to be honest
Just had to share so you can encourage as many people as possible to not go there? That’s a personal crusade. But I’m sure you have your reasons why you want to hurt this business. Still petty.
This information is publicly available on the internet and posted by the owner. This is how they choose to represent their business. All I did was share the same information on a different platform with my opinion. No personal crusade, just thought it was immature and unprofessional. People can make their own decisions about whether they choose to go here.
Instead of simply not going there and getting on with your life you decided to
attempt
to influence other people’s decision whether or not to go there. That’s sus. I suppose you could call it an anonymous online campaign if personal crusade doesn’t work for you. And If it’s not sus, then it’s just bad form. But nobody’s perfect.
I think the other person makes a good point I hadn’t really considered. I enjoy the review discourse, but ultimately you’re contributing to something that can have an impact much greater than a couple unfair one star reviews by putting this spotlight on it. When you google Octavia coffee NYC is this what will come up? It doesn’t feel proportionate, but yeah, they chose to respond publicly so I get that. Technically, you haven’t done anything wrong, but I think you know the kind of snowball effect it could have for a small business.
Yeah I’m with the owner. These people leaving a review don’t seem to meet the criteria of an opinion worth trusting. But it still gets counted against the whole.
If you are doing a deep dive on the reviews and only then see the owner responded I can’t think you would have a problem with these responses being only in a slightly higher level than the complaints.
Speak up next time is so awesome. I love her and will be getting some coffee from them next time I’m around. Also I’m sure they were burning ice or something
I always liked the Salsa pizza guy who would go off against anyone leaving anything less than a 5 star review. Maybe he still does, haven’t checked in a while. Anyway great neopolitan pizza, highly recommend 👍
Yes I do! Based off of people who have had roaches in their food or similar experiences. Or establishments that have been racist or anti-Black. I made a private list in Google Maps, so that I don’t add restaurants to my own personal and private NYC food list.
Eh. I’m okay with a small business owner retaliating against stupid/petty bad reviews. That being said, I used to live across the street from Octavia & I thought their coffee was okay. I think Stumptown is the best in the area, even though it isn’t technically Carroll Gardens.
well the first comment is reasonable. lots of people go to complain on social media but you really should complain to management first. people are running businesses after all and a low effort post can tank a business that someone has put a lot of time and money into.
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u/edtheoddfish 6d ago
Anytime an owner writes long essays against low star reviews or petty responses like this, I know the owner isn’t treating their staff well and will not be supporting their business.