Hi, I am Azhar Shaikh, Local Guide Level 6. I am basically from India but for business I travel all over the U.S & Canada. Almost, 300 days in a year I travel to different state, cities, town. Every single day checked in different hotels, lunch and dinner at various locations is part of my life from the past 3 years.
It all started when I had a bad experience at a restaurant and I wrote a negative review on google maps about the restaurant. An email from Google with the subject line “Your review is making a difference” made me happy, thinking that such a big tech giant Google has sent an appreciation email. But after reading, I realized that my reviews are actually making a difference to other traveler’s in some or the other way. That’s when I started paying more attention and writing reviews based on good or bad experiences.Keeping in mind, that it will have either positive/negative impact not only on the service provider but also on the service user.
One of the most interesting thing happened last year Feb,19 when I was travelling in Toronto, Canada. It was snowing, 17 degree freezing cold. After a client meeting, me and my friend were starving so bad that we started walking on the street searching for any restaurant to have lunch, no preference, just food was on our mind. Luckily, we found this restaurant, Satay on the road, 2003 Avenue Rd, North York, ON M5M 4A4, Canada. The restaurant was big with nice ambiance, we were surprised to know that they served an “all u can eat buffet”. (Asian cuisine). But more to the surprise was that they did not have the typical style of serving the buffet similar to other buffet restaurants. They did not had a buffet Table with 20-30 varieties of cooked food but a Menu like a big form. This was a new experience for us.
Any thing that you mark on the menu buffet form, that will be freshly cooked and served and there is no limitation. We enjoyed every dish that we ordered. Only with the appetizers we were full and there was hardly any space for the main course. The main course quantity was way beyond to finish but still we managed to eat 25% of it as we had no idea that the quantity will overload us.
Instead of wasting the food we decided to take it in the to go boxes as it will be sufficient for us for dinner. The food bill was $42 with Taxes and $3 tip. Worth paying once for the meal enjoyed.
But we were shocked to know that there is another charge of $12 ($6 each for the left over food that we packed). We questioned about the charge but the manager said its their food policy. We paid the extra charge and left with a bitter experience in spite of enjoying the meal.
At the hotel where I checked in, I wrote a review about the bitter experience on google maps so that unlike me and my friend other guests who visit that restaurant should not get a shock. Because, $57 is a big amount for meal for 2.
My reviews made a major impact and finally one day I received a reply from the owner - (Copy pasted below)
Hi Azhar, Thank you for your feedback and coming to dine with us. We are happy to know that you enjoyed every bite of the food served but We are saddened to learn about your all you can eat experience with us. As of now, we have removed our “all you can eat” service/menu. Hope you will visit us and have a different experience. If you do decide to come again, do let us know and we will see what we can do to make your experience happier 
That’s all folk’s. Thanks for reading. Take care God bless.