Hello, everyone! Megan, here. I love getting questions from my followers looking for recommendations, ideas, and even some (in-boundaries) personal questions about my faith, mental health, and motherhood. But often I also receive messages about sharing negative reviews of businesses.

(FYI, the featured image is me at Taverna Agora Greek Kitchen & Bar, which would only receive positive reviews. I love them so much that I featured them in my Date Night List in the Triangle.)

I’ve received a lot of questions lately about reviews. And I want to address them.

For the most part, these questions and my answers will be in reference to restaurants.

• Why do I never share negative reviews?
• Do I truly love everything I try?
• How can you trust someone’s reviews when they never seem to dislike anything?

Great questions. I’m happy to answer.

I have never, and will never, use my platform to drag down a small business. Yes, I have had experiences at local spots that I did not enjoy.

Why haven’t you seen them? Because I don’t post them. Simple as that.

To understand this a bit more, I’m gonna let you in on my ground rules about reviews.

• If I’ve been asked to come to a business for a paid experience or if it’s simply to capture content for my channels, I’m going with only good intentions and mainly with excitement to try something new that would be share-worthy for everyone.
• I will never take a paid experience if I’m sure I won’t like it or find it troublesome in other ways that would turn me off from fully enjoying it.
• If the experience is way less than expected, I’ll highlight some positives that I did enjoy.
• If it’s truly poor, I will let the owners or managers know what I experienced in a helpful way and let them know I will not be sharing it. (BTW, this is related more to overall service rather than taste.)
• The goal is not to blast anyone or shame them for not meeting expectations, but to help them gain a perspective that could help their business in the long run.
• If they take my thoughts and ask me to come back, I’m more than willing to give it another shot. In many cases, the next experience is better and I’m happy to share it.

More importantly, I let others decide for themselves if they like it.

I’m not a food critic and I’ll never claim to be.

I’m just a gal who loves North Carolina and loves to eat. If I find the food to be too salty, someone else may love the salt. Food is subjective and I’ll never use my unqualified opinion to hurt a small business.

If you’re looking for platforms that will post negative reviews, you’ll find them—but it won’t be here.

This job has allowed me to get a close look at the lives small business owners live. They are some of the bravest people I’ve ever met and I commend their strength, passion, and efforts.

NC Eat & Play strives to support them. Period.

Find some of my favorites throughout the site.

If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments or join the conversation on my Facebook page.