The restaurant reviews on websites and in newspapers are often of a certain pedigree, describing meals that can cost a table for two over $200. It’s easy to forget that outside the world of expensive restaurants and celebrity chefs, restaurant reviews are limitless and can include anything from McDonald’s to Red Lobster.
Restaurant reviewer Marilyn Hagerty,85, of the Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota reviewed her local Olive Garden, and her piece got more than 200,000 views online. The newspaper’s most popular story by far, it was 10 times more popular than their next-most-read story, and was shared over 20,000 times on Facebook and over 14,000 times on Twitter.
“Yesterday morning the phone started ringing and messages started going up, and I had no clue what it was all about. These people were making fun of me…and then I thought, so what?” said Hagerty.