Is Chef Ron Eyester exploiting patrons?
Old Fourth Ward resident, Holly Dunham, thinks so.
Dunham and Eyester sent 140-character messages back and forth after a tweet from the chef with a picture of an unsuspecting restaurant patron’s derriere.
“Settling in for some day drinkin’ @TheFamilyDogATL. She may be a distant relative of mine? http://twitgoo.com/2363o5,” Eyester sent in a tweet Tuesday (the link in the tweet points to the picture shown on the left).
After some backlash from his more than 3,000 Twitter followers including Dunham, Eyester kept the jokes rolling.
“Relax folks. The picture of girl drinking @TheFamilyDogATL wasn’t snapped by me. If I had taken the picture it wouldn’t of been blurry,” Eyester tweeted.
Dunham was particularly upset when Eyester attacked her personally.
“@HollyO4W Thanks for the grammar lesson. Was that your ass @TheFamilyDogATL?”
On one hand, it’s completely in keeping with his personality. We’d be lying if we said we didn’t think it was funny. On the other hand, it is out and out exploitation of customers.
The lesson here is if you want the Angry Chef’s undeniable good food, you better watch your rear.
22 Responses
Countdown to the obligatory Craigslist missed connections post….5…4…3…
That booty is so…round.
Careful on Twitter, ya’ll!
I’m eating at Rosebud tomorrow night and LOVE IT…along with Chef Ron, from whom I have attended cooking lessons. If you know Chef Ron…you’re probably not THAT surprised by his tweet — he’s a raucous ball of energy (and talent!). I doubt this will have any impact on the business (I hope not!) but the lesson is to be careful with your tweets and posts. It can get you in trouble!
Love WNA, btw!
Family Dog food is exactly that. Terribly made cocktails and subpar food from a subpar kitchen staff. I should have ordered off the menu and got a burrito. Don’t kid yourselves just because you live in the neighborhood, the food is borderline at best. I do like the decor but turn down the AC, it’s not a walk in. Hmmm, maybe it is for assmeat.
I’ve tried hard to like Rosebud, but have just had one average meal after another. Eyester needs to worry more about his food and less about his persona.
Why is everyone so uptight? This chick knows her ass is hanging out. If you are going to have your crack out on display someone is probably going to take a picture and tweet it.
People should feel ashamed for going out in public with their butt out. People should not feel ashamed when pointing out a painfully obvious pink elephant in a room. Maybe said person with the butt will keep it in their pants from now on bc I don’t want to look at THAT while I’m eating. If you aren’t going to have common decency then don’t expect respect from others in return! Boom!
Not sure how that is exploitation. I see more skin in a Mily Cyrus video.
‘Undeniably good food?’ Really? The entire menu is fried, slathered in mayonnaise (oh, sorry..’aoli’) and wrapped in bacon. It’s about as creative as a McRib. I too have tried to like this place, but it’s hard to support an undeniable jerk who makes sub-par food.
I’m not really sure what the uproar is all about. People do this all the time – see something out of the ordinary, snap a photo, and then broadcast it to everyone within their social network. Homeless dude with a funny sign; snap it, post it. Guy ice skating down Peachtree; record it, publish it. Chick with an ass halfway out of her pants; tweeted.
That said, I also agree with the lack of enthusiasm over this guy’s food. I would consider Rosebud a good spot if I lived within walking distance – worth a stroll up there every once in a while for brunch and a drink or two on the patio, but that’s about it. The food is mediocre, at best. I’m sure Eyester would have a mouthful of insults to hurl my way, but being a mediocre chef in Atlanta doesn’t really provide you the platform. Could I cook food as good as he does? No. That’s not my job. When I go out, and pay for a meal, do I expect it to be worth it’s cost? You bet. Being disappointed from time to time is part of being a diner. Being disappointed consistently by a guy who thinks he’s God’s gift to the skillet…it’s laughable.
I am not sure if this is quality reporting, but that picture is pretty awesome. Soo..good work???
Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean that you should. I’ve never heard of this person or this restaurant, but judging by his personality and other posters’ opinions of the food, I’ll be staying far away.
I’m starting to think that this social networking + camera phone mixture is making people meaner and meaner. It’s going to be summer soon, which means another several months to look forward to people on Facebook posting photos of strangers at pools and parks who they think deserve to be ridiculed for failing to adhere to the poster’s standards of appearance.
Am I the only one who suspects Ritch Brandon has some affiliation with Rosebud/Family Dog?
I’m very disheartened no one seems to get this.
There are MANY websites (e.g. People of Walmart) where the behavior in which Mr. Eyester indulged is celebrated. The distinction is that in Mr. Eyester’s case, he is taking (or permitting his staff to take) photographs of paying customers and then posting them, without the customers’ knowledge.
This is simply unacceptable.
I will not patronize any establishment at which the owner or staff engages in this type of behavior.
This was not “stranger to stranger” as on the Walmart and other sites. A customer gave Mr. Eyester money to eat/drink at his establishment, and he repaid the business by doing this. Utterly shameful.
The What Now Atlanta story has now been retweeted by Open Table Atlanta. Mr. Eyester objects to this!!!!! He accused Open Table of “stirring the pot” and said “don’t we send u a check every month?” Oooooh, the sweet irony.
Mr. Eyester is upset that he pays money to someone who “disses” him by retweeting a reporter’s piece, yet he believes it’s perfectly acceptable to take a customer’s money and diss them by surreptitiously photographing (or allowing staff to) a paying customer.
Let me clarify, having just been admonished on Twitter by Mr. Eyester. He said he did not object.
What he did say to OpenTableAtl after it retweeted the WNA story was, “Stirring the pot? Don’t we send u a check every month?”
Now, to me, that sounds a like object-ish. It sounds to me, the reader, as if he is unhappy that OpenTableAtl further spread the WNA story and reminds OTA that it gains financially from Mr. Eyester every month.
It certainly SOUNDS TO ME as if Mr. Eyester is threatening OTA with a vote by pocketbook… but everyone else is of course free to draw their own conclusions as to what he meant, felt, intended, with his Tweet to OTA.
Well, I’m pretty sure Eyester doesn’t pay opentable for nothing. They drive a lot of business – business that he clearly doesn’t appreciate – to the restaurant the employs him. He’s not the first chef to have a huge, and entirely misplaced, ego.
After the “angry chef” antics on twitter over the last year or so, i quit going to his restaurant and will not go to the family dog. even though i’d spent quite a bit of time as I live nearby. I don’t want to go to place where I have a fear of being tweeted about – customers don’t need his abuse. There are plenty of places that are just as good and not customer unfriendly.
Brianll,
FWIW I enjoyed his tweets. There are many who work with the public from restaurants to retail to health-care who often have such “angry” tweets. I find them amusing and can identify with them.
It’s just photographing a customer and tweeting it crosses the line, IMFO. (Yes, IMFO, not IMHO.)
Ron is a pice of sh*t. His food is mediocre at best and his “angry chef” persona is a horrible way to do business. I know many people that will never give either of his establishments a dime and it looks from web postings that many others are starting to feel that way. Keep it up Ron. I can’t wait to see your business fail. Dude is cocky for no reason at all, he is a nothing and he will fail.
You can’t argue with douche… Eyester sucks.
While I haven’t eaten at The Family Dog yet, I quite enjoy the food at Rosebud and the drinks and atmosphere at TFD. They’re both quite crowded every time I’ve been there so by all means, if you have a problem with him or the way he prepares his meals, stay away. I’ll enjoy the extra room.
Ron in an ass! We used to frequent the restaurant and this continual offensive behavior toward his customers is ignorant. I can see this being funny in Athens where the audience is young, but Morningside? He has a 20 yr lease on a pricey restaurant in a declining economy. What part of good business don’t you get? Intolerable!