Food wars: Wawa Lala Bee Hoon in Fortune Centre claims rival eatery flooded it with 60 negative reviews in 2 days

Rivalries between food joints are nothing new, with the two famous Hainanese chicken rice stalls in Maxwell Food Centre likely the most prominent example.

A little competition is all well and good, except when potential sabotage comes into play.

On March 29, lala specialty eatery Wawa Lala Bee Hoon took to Facebook expressing dismay after it found itself flooded with 60 one-star Google reviews earlier this month – all in a span of 48 hours.

The eatery claimed that this apparently occurred after a staff member shared his personal experience on social media about dining at a particular Vietnamese restaurant, which it didn't name, on March 13.

Wawa Lala Bee Hoon put two and two together, suggesting that the negative reviews came from this rival of theirs.

The Fortune Centre eatery shared its thoughts on the matter on Facebook, along with screenshots of the allegedly fake reviews.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/wawalalabeehoon/photos/pcb.1424193218394028/1424193155060701[/embed]

According to the eatery, this saga transpired when a member of staff, Yan, posted his feedback on the Vietnamese restaurant online.

It seemed that the restaurant owner "did not take kindly to Yan's honest feedback", claiming that the owner went so far as to harass Yan online.

The restaurant owner allegedly also offered a monetary reward to Yan's friends in exchange for his personal information.

In its Facebook post, Wawa Lala Bee Hoon also said: "The restaurant owner even went so far as to threaten legal action against Yan for damages resulting from his review of her restaurant."

'Unprecedented negative reviews'

Another big issue that Wawa Lala Bee Hoon said that it had to deal with were the waves of "unprecedented" negative reviews online.

The eatery said it was fishy how so many negative reviews were posted within two days.

Among the negative reviews, there were swipes at the staff's supposedly bad service and the "disappointing" quality of food served.

The authenticity of the reviews came under further scrutiny when dishes like chicken pho and beef luklak were included, as Wawa Lala Bee Hoon's management found it "amusing" given how these dishes weren't on its menu.

On top of that, the eatery claimed that there was a "strange trend" happening at the same time. 

According to them, the Vietnamese restaurant that Yan had dined at happened to receive "an influx of five-star reviews", with some reviewers championing its "authentic" and "unique" selection of food.

Furthermore, Wawa Lala Bee Hoon also pointed out in their post that they noticed most of the reviews were written by users with "Western names" and that a certain user "littlejohn" appeared in both sets of reviews. 

The lala specialty eatery management felt that such reviews were disingenuous and only served to "undermine the integrity of the online review system".

In the comments section, people sympathised with what Wawa Lala Bee Hoon was facing.

Some chipped in and provided positive reviews, hoping to help ease the situation for the eatery.

ALSO READ: Apple's Shot on iPhone campaign casts a new light on Singapore's infamous chicken rice war

amierul@asiaone.com

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