Man fined for reviewing restaurant before it had opened

An amateur French restaurant reviewer has been fined several thousand euros after writing a scathing take on a local eatery that had not even opened yet.

The review said the Loiseau Des Ducs restaurant in Dijon was "overrated, it was all show with very little actually on the plate, and the only thing well-stocked was the plate which carried the bill".

However, the restaurant’s owner noticed the Yellow Pages review had been authored by someone calling themselves The Clarifier on July 11th, 2013, several days before the restaurant had officially opened, a local newspaper reported.

Compensation order

In an order on October 6th, Dijon’s high court ordered the reviewer, who has not been named, to pay €2,500 in compensation to the restaurant and €5,000 in costs, according to Le Monde.

“We wanted to pursue this case because it is a lesson to people who write these reviews in order to destroy [a business], ” the restaurant’s owner, Ahlame Buisard, told the paper.

The bad review did little to affect the success of the restaurant, which received a Michelin star for its food in February 2014.

Reviewers on Trip Advisor are more enthusiastic about the establishment, calling it “the most amazing restaurant, with top-notch service”.

Guardian service