Tripadvisor, Our feathery Friend…or Foe?

The dichotomy of owl symbolism intrigues me.  On one hand, there is this wise creature, who skilfully hunts their prey in the dark of night. They deliver messages and provide helpful assistance to their owners. But there is a darker side – the owl that is depicted in horror movies and can morph into a witch and cackle over a caldron!

As our binocular buddies swoop not just into our Halloween décor, but into our inboxes…I begin to wonder just how sinister these creatures may be. Tripadvisor hunts restaurants, dissects them into tiny pieces and then throws it online for the world to see. This owl’s prey frets and obsesses about the reviews which are published as if they are a matter of life and death!

However, the hindrance Tripadvisor can cause restaurant owners is heavily outweighed by the guidance it provides tourists globally. It is for this reason I urge food lovers and reviewers to use Tripadvisor effectively. Tripadvisor should have a dual action of being a helping hand to tourists globally while also a learning curve for restaurants!

 

Today I’m going to give you 5 tips on writing an effective review of a restaurant on Tripadvisor

1. Describe yourself: Your profile is important here – you can mention this subtly by stating who you dined with i.e a friend’s 30^th birthday. This helps tourists relate to you to see if they would feel the same way.

2. Describe food, service and décor: These should occupy the main body of the review. Give an account of how each of these impacted your experience – this really helps restaurant management to find out what needs tweaking.

3. Be constructive: Steer away from whining and moaning –this gets us nowhere. Suggest room for improvement so that the management can take your opinion on board.

4. Be Honest: Write a review straight away so that your experience is fresh in your mind. It is amazing what you can forget after a few hours. If you want to go all out – bring a small notepad with you and jot down points throughout the meal. It is the detail that tourists are looking for to help them make the right choice when making a restaurant reservation.

5. Take a picture: A picture says a million words. If your kids coloured a picture, your cocktail is artistically presented or if your criticising food for being burnt. Use a picture to get the full story across

These five simple steps are a guideline to follow to make sure your review is as helpful as possible to both tourists and restaurants. There are no right and wrong when writing a review – give it a go and have fun with it!! Here at Luigi’s we are graced with good customers who do in fact give us great ratings here are a sample;

‘This is certainly a place for guys with big appetites, the portions are HUGE. Wings are soo tasty. 1st time my boyfriend left food behind, as he was so full – he went for the Ribs. Not overly pricy either

‘Luigi's never fails to please. The food is always excellent (best ribs in Dublin) and the ladies love their cocktail menu.

Great German draught beer   for the guys too.’

We are also delighted that our Temple Bar restaurant was awarded a certificate of excellence. We understand that with good reviews come bad ones and that with awards come criticism and so we can take that with a pinch of salt. What we do appreciate is learning from Tripadvisor and our customers.

My next blog will carry on from this to discuss the pressures faced by restaurant owners to balance their labour costs to ensure things run smoothly while protecting their margin. This will compare the service industry in Ireland with that of the US to see if we could learn something from across the Atlantic and also provide hints and tips of great multitasking ideas!

Stay tuned, Aisling

In Dublin’s Fair City – where the food is so pretty, I first set my eyes on sweet Luigi Malones!!

I first set my eyes on Luigi’s at eight years of age, on my brother’s Confirmation day. The whole family were out for dinner in the Stillorgan restaurant. All I remember is having the time of my life colouring what I then thought to be a masterpiece!

This week I revisited Luigi’s Dublin which has since moved to the ever vibrant Temple Bar. And this time round it’s still ‘masterpieces’ that come to mind. There is a Jazz theme flowing through the restaurant with funky prints of musicians. We sat at a quiet table with a beautiful maritime themed painting which was created by my colleague. There is also some modern pieces depicting Irish politicians as absurd animals - I don’t think Bertie would be too happy!!

I indulged in the Luigi Buffalo Wings and one of my favourites – The Goats Cheese Salad. It was my first time to try them in the restaurant and I was pleasantly surprised. They were slightly messier than anticipated but Luigi’s you exceeded my expectations they were delicious!

I explored the interior further as I took a look in the lower floor. This area was bursting with history. There is an ancient city wall dated back to the 13^th century cultivated into the surroundings. The oldest tile in Ireland was also found in this area during an excavation in 1995. This was donated to the National Museum; there is a replica for guests to enjoy.  If you would like to find out more about the history of Luigi Malones Temple Bar, click on the link below.

http://www.luigimalones.com/images/wall1.pdf

My work was really enjoyable this week; I was introducing Luigi’s New Irish Traditional Menu to tour operators in Dublin. The menu is fantastic value with a wide range of options so it spurred a lot of interest. I also met with DIT and Trinity Students’ Unions to discuss the possibilities of their international students’ availing of the hearty traditional feast! The weather was a huge added bonus to the couple of days!

I hope you're getting a chance to enjoy the weather too - I would like to say thanks to all off the subscribers so far. I will be announcing the winners of the three Toblerone Cheesecakes this week! And because I enjoyed Luigi’s Buffalo Wings last night I’m giving away two bowls to the next subscribers!

Aisling

A not so Tough Day at the Office......

I spend today with a fantastic photographer. She was just home from a few weeks away in the states where she took photos from Time square to The Grand Canyon. Her snaps were phenomenal I knew she would do a great job!

We captured every aspect of the restaurant. We discovered nooks and crannies which I didn't even know existed. After we finished with the beautiful interior the fun really started! It was time to get pictures of main courses, desserts, coffees and cocktails (non-alcoholic of course but just as tasty as always!).

We captured one of our chefs rolling out hand made dough for a vegetarian pizza, he generously smothered the dough with tasty marinara sauce and piled the pizza with fresh mushrooms, broccoli, cherry tomatoes and mixed roasted peppers. This was topped off with aged Italian parmesan and mozzarella. The chef then prepared even more from our a la carte menu to be photographed....baked salmon fillet, goats cheese salad and yakisoba noodles with fresh prawns and chicken. We were in heaven. Our appetite was well and truly worked up once we were finished with the photo shoot!  Three of us enjoyed the spectacular feast!

After lunch was round two. It was time to get our desserts, coffees and cocktails on camera! Our chefs prepared my favourite Toblerone cheese cake, profiteroles and fresh strawberry  pavlova! We somehow managed to make room for these after our delicious meal! Our Last job was to get pictures of the coffees and cocktails - our fantastic bar tender whipped up a Mojito, strawberry margarita and sex on the beach. Our barista created two silky cappuccinos with a distinctive coffee/chocolate infused scent! 

Honestly, everything was fantastic, however I ran myself into a bit of bother, there was a miniature jug with the Luigi profiteroles, with chocolate sauce that just wouldn't pour....the polite thing to do would have been to spoon it out, but that would not work either! The dessert spoon wouldn't fit in this tiny jug...so after a lot of shaking, spinning and banging in persistence to have some of this stuborn sauce I made a chocolaty mess all over the plate and table... I think I will be sticking to the toblerone cheesecake in the future ... it might be the safer option!

I will pop up some of the pictures from today once they are edited ...we took over 300 snaps so it might take the weekend to sieve through.

Things are getting busy at Luigi's as the Friday night rush begins so I'll leave it at that for today! Enjoy your weekend!

Aisling

Student Scene to Coffee Beans

Four years of student living - encapsulated by lecture theatres, late nights, fun, adventure, lifelong friendships, new experiences and unforgettable memories has unwillingly come to a steady stop. Some of my fellow comrades venture across the pond to internships in London, or down under to experience winter in paradise. Others have the patience to persue another year of academia and scrimping as a student. Others have even crawled back into their parent’s pockets until they find their feet and make their next move. I however have decided to take a year away from books and travel and enter the working world!!!

Welcome to Luigi's!

 It all begins with a summer job as a marketing assistant for Luigi Malones Restaurant. This will involve meeting and speaking to customers, liaising with staff, loyalty scheme improvement, database management, e-mail campaign strategy, social media campaigns and much more. I have welcomed this project with open arms to throw me into the deep end. As I enter foreign territory, I see the theory I have studied in practice and am learning more from my brilliant professional colleagues than I ever have in a lecture, from an assignment or in the library. I finally see the wheels that turn behind the scenes. All of a sudden the reports and presentations I wholeheartedly dreaded while in college make sense. I understand the purpose behind the theory and finally the penny has dropped!

I’m swiftly setting sale from the student lifestyle I grew to love. This means reclaiming back my weekends – living for them in fact! And it means acclimatising to a working week. I’m finding myself tucked up by 10pm ready for an early morning in the office, getting used the sound of an alarm clock again and quite worryingly developing a caffeine addiction to fuel the early mornings!!!

As I move on to a whole new chapter I will miss the lifestyle I leave behind, but I am excited for what lies ahead..... and extremely excited for lunch time at Luigi's - my favorite Toberlone Cheese cake - Yum.

Aisling