CombatCritic Reviews

CombatCritic Reviews
The Restaurants of Lawrence, Kansas

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

TripAdvisor Accused Me of Plagiarism! Are You Kidding Me?

On Dec 17, 2013, at 9:45 AM, "TripAdvisor" <members@e.tripadvisor.com> wrote:



TripAdvisor Home
Dear TripAdvisor Member,

Thank you for taking the time to write a review of Wheatfields Bakery on TripAdvisor.

We value your contribution, and would like to be able to post it to our website. However, we are unable to publish your review because it violated the following guideline(s): 

*Original 

Reviews should contain only original content and no substantial quoted material from other sources, including (but not limited to) websites, e-mail correspondence, other reviews, etc. 

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If you'd be willing to edit and resubmit your review, we'd really appreciate it, and so will your fellow travelers! Your original review is included below so you can easily copy and paste it into the review form and make the necessary edits. You may view a comprehensive list of our guidelines here: http://www.tripadvisor.com/help/our_guidelines_for_traveler_reviews

Best regards,
TripAdvisor Support Team

------original review-------

Subject: Wheatfields Bakery
Location: Lawrence, Kansas, United States, North America
Title: Wheatfields: A Field of Dreams for Bread Lovers
ID#: XXXX0666

WheatFields Bakery Café
904 Vermont Street
Lawrence, KS 66044

Phone: 785.841.5553
Web: www.WheatfieldsBakery.com

Hours:
Monday through Friday - 6:30am to 8:00pm
Saturday 6:30am to 6:30pm
Sunday - 7:30am to 4:00pm

I have been meaning to review Wheatfields, a bakery and restaurant one block West of Mass Street in downtown Lawrence, for quite some time, but this morning was the first time we actually had a meal there. I love a good, hearty breakfast, but because bacon, eggs, hash browns, biscuits and gravy are not as healthy as they are tasty, we normally only indulge on special occasions. With today being my birthday, we went for broke!

Wheatfields makes the most wonderful breads and my wife has been buying them since she started working at KU nearly three years ago. Our favorite is the raisin and pecan sourdough ($, a robust torpedo-shaped loaf with a thick crust outside and plenty of raisins and pecan pieces inside. It toasts marvelously and is delicious alone, with butter, or coated in my favorite delicacy in the world ... peanut butter ... YUUUUUM!

They have many other varieties, including sourdough, semolina with sesame and poppy seeds, and others ... Ciabatta, Country French, Pain de Campagne, Rustic Italian Round, Walnut Raisin, Walnut Sage, 100% Whole Wheat. Breads range in price from $4 to nearly $9 for their holiday specials, including chocolate cherry ($8) and anise and grape ($4) which are only made during the month of December.

When dining at Wheatfields, you order at the counter immediately in front of you as you enter through the lefthand door (the bakery counter sits in front of the right), pay, and are given a small sign to place on your table so the servers can bring your order to the correct table. Drinks are help-yourself with three varieties of coffee (two regular and one decaf) and a small selection of fountain drinks.

Always keeping it simple on a first visit, I decided on the Classic Breakfast (#1 - Two eggs, freshly grated hash browns and toast - $3.95, with sausage links or bacon - $5.95) and a full order of the biscuits and gravy (#5 - Buttermilk biscuits, spicy sausage gravy - Full order $5.75, half order $3.75) to share with my wife. Not a big meat eater, she had the French toast (#3 - Three slices dipped in egg, Irish Cream, and cinnamon, grilled, served with pure maple syrup - $6.95).

Our meals arrived rather quickly, even before I was done pouring our coffee and toasting the sourdough bread which accompanied my breakfast. My Classic Breakfast was good with the eggs cooked perfectly over-medium, the bacon crispy but not burnt, and the hash browns also crunchy, just the way I like them. The order of biscuits and gravy was HUGE with two very large biscuits smothered in a thick country gravy with loads of sausage. I was surprised that my breakfast and the biscuits were luke-warm considering the fact that they arrived so quickly, leading me to believe that they are not cooked to order, but are prepared in advance, kept semi-warm, and served buffet-style from the kitchen. The taste was good, but my meal would have been better had it been served piping-hot.

The coffee was hot, obviously fresh, and delicious! My wife's French toast consisted of three large slices of sourdough dipped in egg and fried with an overgenerous amount of cinnamon. At $6.95 for three slices of bread, a little egg, a dash of cinnamon, and a little (maybe Maple) syrup, this dish is overpriced by at least $1. Again, this dish could have also been warmer and it would have been nice if the accompanying cup of syrup had also been warm, but it seemed to be straight out of the jar (bottle or can). The cinnamon was overbearing, but otherwise the dish was good, not great.

As breakfast goes, I have had better, much better, but we enjoyed our meal and may return for lunch or dinner to see how they do. Lawrence does not have an abundance of good restaurants, but being a fairly small town of around 90,000, I guess that is to be expected. Wheatfields is a very popular meeting place with great (not cheap) bread, excellent coffees, and "very average" breakfast fare. They seem to be doing well because the place was nearly full at 10:30AM on a Sunday, but I believe they would be bursting at the seams, as most GREAT breakfast restaurants do, if the food was cooked to order and hot. I would also suggest having the servers, who are already there to serve the food, take orders rather than creating a choke-point by having customers order at the counter and fiddle about with coffee, cream, sugar, drinks, silverware and napkins. The servers would likely also appreciate it, instead being tipped 15-20% instead of the loose change they receive in the jar by the register. A few smiles and an occasional "thank you" from staff would also be much appreciated.

CombatCritic Gives Wheatfields Bakery Cafe 6 Out of 10 Bombs ... BOMBS ARE GOOD!


Here is my reply TripAdvisor:

Beside a couple of words from Wheatfield's menu item descriptions, my review is completely original and I am offended by your accusations! 

I WILL NOT update my review because IT IS 100% ORIGINAL! How 'bout I simply stop providing my uncompensated reviews? Yelp, Urbansooon, and Foursquare love my original, comprehensive reviews and being that there is NO VALUE ADDED to my submitting my hard work to TripAdvisor, it's no skin off my nose if you publish them or not.

For that matter, why don't you go ahead and close my account and I will happily take my business where it is appreciated! 

Read more about your poor judgment and insult to my integrity in my increasing popular blog: http://www.CombatCritic.com

C.T. Sorrentino, LtCol, USAF (Ret)
aka CombatCritic

CombatCritic Gives TripAdvisor 1 Out of 10 Bombs ... BOMBS ARE GOOD!








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