Naturally, as someone who aspires to be a fair restaurant critic, I don't like removing reviews. But I'm going to take down the Fritzie's review I excerpted here and explain what happened. The publisher of the Los Feliz Ledger is one of the few small newspaper owners anywhere who is brave enough to run both positive and not-so-positive reviews. But publishing a neighborhood newspaper is a delicate balancing act, and not surprisingly, the owners of Fritzie's were not pleased with my largely negative review. I stand by my review. It's in print, so pick up a Los Feliz Ledger if you want to check it out. I think the first two sentences of my post pretty much summed it up, anyway, so I'll leave it at that.
"I hold Italian restaurants to fairly high standards, because they're usually not cheap. Fritzie's (formerly Da Giannino) was no exception -- too expensive for what amounts to pedestrian Italian food stuck in the 1980s."
I'm not out to ruin anyone's business -- I just think it's a shame that some restaurants aren't trying as hard as we wish they were.
OK, let's move on. Clearly the blog and the Ledger are two different things and from now on I'll keep that in mind. We've got one positive comment, one not-so, and I think I'll leave it at that.
4 comments:
Disappointing. I never expected you to remove a negative review because the restaurant owner didn't like it.
I'm sorry you're disappointed and I know you're a faithful reader. My reviews for the Los Feliz Ledger are a delicate balance because my negative reviews impact the publisher's relationships in the community, so it affects more than just me. Usually only the biggest papers can afford to take this chance. But it's not like it's gone -- it's still in print, and I've left my opinion of the restaurant intact.
We were regulars of DG -- last time we went, it was the first week of the new owners, I had my usual wh I had to remind them how it was prepared -- okay. But what wasn't okay was the fish was obviously not fresh -- never had that problem with the old owners. I haven't been too anxious to go back but I guess we'll give it another chance -- hope the new management is reading these comments and is motivated to have a good restaurant (or at least have the food as good as DG was).
I live in the neighborhood, and used to eat at Gianninos every couple of months. Went to Frizzi's for the first time this week and it was every bit as good. Hearty, savory simple Italian food. The pastas were especially terrific. Not sure where the "overpriced" idea comes from. Seems to be on a par with every other moderate restaurant in LA -- Dinner for 2 comes to about $50.
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