A recent one-star Google review of The Highroller Lobster Co., complaining that a staffer was allegedly stoned, sparked the restaurant’s owners to put the critique on what is now one of their best-selling pieces of merch.
The negative review, posted by a diner named Sandra, said she was visiting Highroller on vacation in late June, waiting outside for the restaurant to open. She and her group spied a man in a car outside the restaurant smoking marijuana.
“He then went inside the restaurant to work,” the review reads in part. “He was stoned out of his mind, and reeked of marijuana, so we decided not to even go in. Like we want someone in that condition near our food!”
The reviewer said when they walked down the street to find another place to eat, they saw other Highroller employees, which she identified by their shirts, smoking either cigarettes or weed. “Pretty much a turn-off for the expectation of good food,” her review ended.
Highroller leadership didn’t even wait for the smoke to clear before taking action, though probably not how Sandra expected.
“My partner Andy (Gerry) jumped on it and started a joke in the management group chat, mocking up the shirt with the review on it,” said Highroller co-owner Peter Bissell. “Then I found out he ordered some from our screen printer, Riptide. And I said, ‘Oh my God, are you for real?’
But they sold out of the shirts in the last few days, and Andy has placed another order.”
The restaurant displays the full review on their Instagram page, with the message, “To the Sandras of the world, don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it.” More than 1,000 commenters have chimed in with support for Highroller, and mockery for the review. Many noted the irony of suspecting marijuana use at a restaurant named Highroller, while others gently ragged on the reviewer’s naivete.
“Tell me you’ve never worked in a restaurant without telling me you never worked in a restaurant,” wrote one commenter. “Oh Sandra, you sweet summer child, come closer and let me tell you about the service industry,” another posted.
Bissell said Highroller management has not seen any cannabis-related performance problem with employees. “I don’t know exactly who it was or if it really was a Highroller employee. But I think they were probably just getting normal so they could do their work,” he laughed.
“Sorry you didn’t like what you saw,” he added, addressing the reviewer. “Highroller is busier than it’s ever been, and with that, you just got us about 1,000 new followers and a ton of sales, so thank you.”
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Tim Cebula can be reached at tcebula@pressherald.com.