Restaurant review, Three Mariners.

2 Church Road, Oare, near Faversham, Kent (01795 533633). Meal for two, including drinks and service: £80

A few weeks ago, in a restaurant to which I later gave a positive review, a waitress knocked over and smashed a glass on our table. I didn't write about it because accidents happen. If they'd been throwing soup against the walls and pouring gravy down our necks, then it would have been a part of the story. You must have a good reason to put the boot in.I mention this because, as I type, I sense someone looking over my shoulder: a blogger who was in the Three Mariners at the same time as me and wrote a whingeing, bitter little piece about… well, I'm not sure what. She was driving a van that day. When she parked it in the car park the chef-owner wanted to know whether she was eating there. When she said she was, the blogger admits the chef was sweetness and light. Still,white van woman was now suspicious that this was a terrible place which was sneering at her. She can't muster much in the way of evidence, save that she didn't like the young waitress's facial expression. Oh, and that as she'd turned up without a reservation, the staff said seating her might be tricky. She rolls her eyes at this because it was a Monday lunchtime. Except that the place really was full.In the digital age, I am, as a paid critic, supposed to recognise the right of bloggers to say as they find. And I do. Come one, come all. Do your thing, however inelegantly. But I also have sympathy with therestaurants. A woman in a foul mood lands in your gaff and all of a sudden there's 500 graceless words up on the web. I won't link to it; you will have to find it for yourself.

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