yuca

This is one of many similar solicitations we get routinely. If it is this simple for someone to post positive yelp reviews, then it is equally easy for someone selling such services to first tank a restaurant/business and then offer their services to help "manage your reputation".

Once, whilst making head cheese for a DR pick-nick, I decided to harvest the brains for a snack. Two hours, a trashed cleaver, a trashed hacksaw, and significantly bloodied hands later, I got the fuckers out. You have no idea how thick a pig's skull is until you try to split it open without a bandsaw.

Here's how they break down the head.

Yeah, this makes sense. There's a very good chance that the POS will only allow the lower price of y when it's rung in as a combination with z, and the systems are designed not to let a standard user make changes to pricing or item combinations - basically, you would have had to say something and have the server get a manager to override that pricing in the system to get the lower price on y on its own.

So, maybe we need to modify Rocks' function a little to account for the POS:

Let F(x,y,z) = ax + by + cz

where,

F(x,y,z) is the pre-tax pre-tip tab

x, y, and z are the variables equal to the number of "specials" ordered, the number of "beers" ordered and the number of "pizza slices" ordered, respectively

a, b, and c are the unit costs of the "special", the "beer", and the "pizza slice", respectively ($7, $9, and $5)

x = 0 since the diner never actually ordered a special

y = 3 since each beer was ordered separately

z = 1, the after thought of the pizza slice

So, F(x,y,z) = (7)(0) + (9)(3) + (5)(1) = $32

We could modify the function to account for taxes and gratuity as follows:

F(x,y,z) = [ax + by + cz]T + G

For DC, T=1.1

I think it would be safe to assume that G=0 since the diner was not too happy with the server

Remember that it is difficult to program common sense into the POS!

You can factor out one y+z=7 and then just have 2y to add on, as noted above. I'm intrigued by The Doctor's note that it seems almost as though the server could have treated the two lone y's as though they were y+z's, regardless of what other food was ordered; that seems more than fair, unless there's a law against discounting alcohol and the only way to do so is to discount food ordered "with" it (although in this equation, that means the food is actually negatively priced, i.e., the restaurant is paying the diner to take the food item off the kitchen's hands). And it doesn't make sense that the server couldn't treat other items as though they were the small food item, even if s/he charged full price for those items, therefore just knocking $2 off each of the 2 remaining beverages.

As written, if f(x) = 3y+z, then f(x) can also = 2y + (y+z) which = 25, but it does seem a little bit off given the lemmata.

Yes, mathematically you are correct ... but one must consider the POS that was in use at the time. A (y + z) was likely programmed into the computer as a "special" and since the diner never technically ordered the "special", each order of y was perhaps treated as a normal order as was the final order of z. Although the server might have been compelled to do the right thing, the computer system won over.

Lemmata (cont.)

3. (cont.) BUT diner did ask about the Monday-night specials upon sitting down, and was explicitly told about y + z = 7

5. Diner ordered his 3y + z at four discrete moments during the meal, never ordering them together

6. Diner ordered z at the end of the meal, almost as an afterthought

7. y = a beverage

8. z = a small food item (easily packaged as takeout)

9. Diner bypassed 2z a} to avoid wasting food b} to sample (and pay for) other things on the menu c} to save the restaurant money on food costs

Had the diner ordered:

3(y + z) then the bill would have been 3 x ($7) = $21

However, instead he/she ordered:

y

+y

+y

+z

or

9

+9

+9

+5

-----

$32

Eola is on my radar screen. Please tell me what are the best dishes.....I'll eat anything, the more unique the better.

Ericandblueboy,

First let me disclose that I am chef/owner Daniel Singhofen's father, so I have familial, emotional and financial interests in Eola and am clearly biased. Consequently, I'll leave my opinions and recommendations at the doorstep and try to just provide information. I have been working with Dan on photos of his food and he's asked me to put a few recent examples out here that might help you visualize what he's up to. His menus change frequently (almost daily), so it's best to check the website www.eoladc.com to find the latest. We try to keep the starters, entrees and desserts updated, but sometimes the menu isn't set until late afternoon so it might be a day or so behind. If you have specific questions, just PM Dan and I'm sure he'd be happy to answer them. Also, he can probably give you a heads up as to what might be coming out and when because he always has something in brine or curing or he might be expecting something from his purveyors/farmers. Here are the photos - hopefully they'll be centered with the captions.

If for some reason the photos don't show up, you can also get to them here.

Peter Singhofen

I have lived in Orlando for 40+ years and although it is not a culinary mecca by any stretch of the imagination, there are a few independents that should, if nothing else, give you an alternative or two to all that factory food so ubiquitous, especially in the tourist areas. The Pig was mentioned above and the food there is definitely good. The service wasn't so great the last two times I was there, but I prefer to sit at the bar anyway. Here are some other suggestions:

Le Coq au Vin This is a French place located in south Orlando that's been around for about 30 years. Very good food and wine.

Chez Vincent Another nice French place located in Winter Park, just north of the Orlando city limits (close to the Ravenous Pig) This place has been around well over 10 years.

Bosphorous A Turkish restaurant with good food - a little pricey, but good. It's maybe 3 or 4 years old, not exactly sure.

Enzo's Upscale Italian, beautiful setting on a lake, great food. Been around for probably 20+ years.

K Restaurant & Wine Bar This place has good food, probably similar to New Heights although I think New Heights is better. I think it was better before the economy went south, but I would not hesitate to recommend it. Sit at the wine bar and order apps.

Logan's Bistro A nice little bistro not too far from downtown Orlando.

Shin Jung Korean Sorry for the Yelp link, but these guys don't have a website. The address, etc. should be there. This is a small Korean restaurant with good food. You can also walk along Colonial Drive in this area and within a few blocks find a dozen of so independent Vietnamese restaurants - some are probably even good .

Black Bean Deli OK, this is my favorite goto Cuban place. It is not much more than a food cart permanently attached to the ground. There are only a few seats inside and they only serve lunch - primarily take-out. But the food is great, very authentic Cuban food made by Cubans. They don't have a website, but hey, give em credit for setting up a myspace page.

As far as seafood goes, I hesitate to recommend anything. Straub's used to be pretty good way back when, but I'm not so sure now. You would think being in Central Florida, good seafood would be easy to come by. A lot of the places mentioned above usually have a seafood dish or two on the menu that are far better than I've been able to get at a dedicated seafood restaurant. There's a great place on the intracoastal waterway north of St. Augustine called Caps, but that's a good 2 hrs away. There are a couple of seafood places at the Port of Canaveral that aren't too bad and the fish is usually fresh since they're located right at the docks ... plus it's interesting watching the activity at the port.

If anyone's interested in some redneck dives, let me know!

You might want to try Ernie's on U.S. 1 (1843 S. Federal Hwy - 904 523-8636). It's a dive, but great conch chowder & bimini bread & conch fritters. Their bbq pork sandwich is also supposed to be good. And, you can knock down a drink or two.

It has been a very very long time since I was on St. John Island, but there used to be a place called Red Beard's that had great hamburgers. There was also another restaurant in Cruz Bay, forget the name, but it had a little stream running through the inside of the restaurant - food was also excellent at the time. You might try to get a hold of a cruising guide for Virgin Islands. They usually find a lot of the off the beaten track places. Have a good trip!

Where do the deleted Yelp reviews go?

I did some further checking after my post yesterday and found a Google cache of earlier Yelp reviews that had been deleted from our restaurant page. Google seems to save everything! Anyway, I found 6 reviews that had been deleted. It turns out that all six were first time posts. The reviews stayed up for a week or two and then were eliminated from the restaurant's page. However, the reviews were not deleted from the Yelp database, they can be found at the originating pages of individual reviewers. However, Yelp apparently feels that if you have only one opinion, it is not worthy and blocks that review from appearing at the restaurant's page. I don't know what happens if a particular reviewer later posts a second review - does that then make him a legitimate reviewer?

I don't know, but maybe this is Yelp's way of eliminating owners from reviewing their own place. I do believe however, that legitimate reviews/opinions are being blocked. Even if this practice by Yelp is well intended, eliminating reviews concurrently as Yelp actively and aggressively markets ads certainly and justifiably raises eyebrows.

I prefer to remain anonymous for the time being, but would like to share another Yelp-story. We are a recent DC start-up and like most restaurant owners, we have been following Yelp. We noticed several ratings popped up pretty quickly - five or six 5-stars, a 3-star and a 2-star. A few of these looked like legit opinions (I hesitate to call them reviews), but many (both 2-star and some 5-stars) seemed suspicious.

We then registered as the owner mostly to prevent a third party from doing it. We received a phone call within minutes from Yelp trying to sell us adds, which we refused. A short time later, the 2-star was mysteriously deleted, almost as if to say "see how we can help you." They continued to call us every day - we can tell it's them by the caller ID, so we just ignore the calls. Then, the 5-star ratings began to disappear as well as the 3-star. I don't remember the order, but definitely the 2-star went first and more recently the 5-stars.

We were down to a single 5-star rating when an "elite" member (I use the term loosely) came in and did a hatchet job on us. Don't get me wrong, I feel everyone is entitled to their opinion. But this went way beyond opinion and was clearly intended to inflict pain, laced with sarcasm and untruths. A day or two later, the last 5-star rating was deleted and hatchet man was identified by Yelp as the "first review" even though he had been 9th or 10th. About a week later, we got another 5-star rating from someone who had dinner the same day as hatchet man, with the 5-star rater totally countering him.

Meanwhile, Yelp continues to call and we continue to ignore them. My guess is the latest 5-star rating will also be deleted soon and we'll see more "elites" do their handy work on us. I find it all a bit unsavory (no pun intended). It's hard enough to get a restaurant going without having to deal with this type of thing.

I have the deepest respect for Rocks who does indeed take the time to check everyone out. I also like the fact that if you comment here, positive or negative, you better be prepared to defend it.

Hello all ... this is my first post. Am anxious to look at Don's master piece.