Context:

So a few weeks ago we, a choir group, were in Leipzig touring around Germany. At noon we split up to go to get food. One of the groups, went to a restaurant, where they ordered food. Luckily before eating, they found that there were some sort of maggots or worms, (might be something else) crawling around in there. I can't upload a video but you can see them squirming, they are clearly alive. When they told the restruant staff about this, they denied it and when they told the staff there weren't going to pay for it they got agressive and demanded pay. Eventually they settled on an amount to pay, (I think it was half) and left. I then posted this review on google, just stating that there were maggots in food and they made us pay.

Fast track a week, I got an email saying my review had been removed for being 'off topic'. Strange, but I didn't think much of it. When I went onto google maps today, I noticed that I had got a reply from the owner, and it had said this. None of it is true, either they are thinking of another event or they are lying to get my review removed. Anyways it wasn't a pleasant experience, but we had a great time in Germany otherwise.

Also, I'm sure this was in Germany. It was in Leipzig, Idk why the response was in Italian.

by AccomplishedReach416

38 comments

  1. Upload this as a review on their Google review site. They can’t just be going around deleting that

  3. In Leipzig. I’d appreciate the name of the restaurant to know to avoid it!

  4. I‘d take this one step further and file a complaint at the Lebensmittelüberwachung. If you have the proof of purchase and video, this should be sufficient

  5. You’re talking about

    >One of the groups […] they ordered food […] they found worms

    That sounds like you weren’t part of this group. If you weren’t there and didn’t experience it it’s illegal to post such a thing.

    However it’s concerning. I’d search up the email-contact of the local Gesundheitsamt (public health department) and inform them about the circumstances. They usually react pretty fast in Germany. (They will probably check the store immediately and if they see anything it will be closed)

  8. All negative Google reviews will be deleted in Germany. Even if there were maggots, you are still hurting the restaurant’s reputation and that’s why they will get it removed.

    There is a whole “industry” of firms you can pay to get rid of negative Google reviews.

  9. How would this even be physically possible? Living maggots inside a cooked haxn?

    Edit:

    It’s absolutely beyond me how people from this thread are writing bad reviews right now.

    1) It is impossible for maggots to survive being in the oven for hours.

    2) How would the maggots even get inside there?

    The only chance is the cooked but already served knuckle laying outside for days to be served later.

    And why is there hardly any meat on it?

    There are other pictures of the same dish that do not look even remotely close.

    Not buying this.

    OP said they heard the argument from across the street. The restaurant mentioned here isn’t even on a street.

  10. I just searched for your Video on Google Maps, and these are live maggots.

    Please contact the food inspection: veterinaeramt@leipzig.de and tell them Name of the Restaurant and address (Brauhaus an der Thomaskirche, Thomaskirchhof 3-5, 04109 Leipzig), and add your receipt as proof + attach the video if possible.

  11. hm i live in leipzig. Now im curious which restaurant this is

  12. I don’t understand why you accepted to (partially) pay. I would have called the police if they wanted me to pay for clearly food that has maggots in it. This is disgusting.

  13. The phenomenon of businesses having unfavourable reviews removed is a real thing. And yes, even I have received spam from shady companies offering to remove bad reviews even though I don’t even own or run a business that could be reviewed.

    Live maggots in cooked food is difficult to believe, because you’d expect the cooking process to kill the maggots — maggots shouldn’t be able to survive temperatures of more than 60°C. I have found one claim that it’s possible for a fly to lay eggs on food that has just been cooked, and for the heat to cause the eggs to hatch within minutes, but I can’t verify this.

    That said, the proper way to deal with this is not to just post a Google review, which can simply be removed completely legally (your free speech doesn’t negate Google’s protection against forced speech), but to contact the local authorities — in this case veterinaeramt@leipzig.de — and report the business, giving as much information as you can.

    Looking at the restaurant’s website, it does look kinda cheap and trashy, and appears to be run by Italians, hence the Italian response. I can’t even find a valid “Impressum”, a page with all the legally required contact and other information. Personally, with the cheap lettering stuck to the windows and the menu with photos seemingly designed with Microsoft Publisher running on Windows 95, I wouldn’t have even considered eating there.

  14. Seriously, somebody showed you a video of some maggots and asked you to use it in a review of a restaurant you haven’t been at yourself? That sounds more fishy than maggots in food. As does your title, starting with “We went…” and then it turns out you didn’t.

  15. I assume this answer is not only directed to you, but also to everybody involved in a potential future. Let’s say you want to challenge the removal, maybe a Google employee might review the case so they will read this reply, which of course has to be aligned with the story these people want to tell to avoid consequences.

  16. PLEASE contact the gesundheitsamt@leipzig.de which will thoroughly check that shop and shut it down. Trust me. They are not playing games and will act (though they often need 2-4 weeks due to bureaucracy).

  17. “We went to a restaurant in Leizpig” – big mistake

  18. Disclaimer: Title is a bit off which is my mistake. “I” This Reddit user was not there when this happened, I was across the street, however my friends were and I uploaded the review on behalf of them, using their evidence, and this reddit post which was my idea, none of them are reddit users.

  19. Seen the review on Google. To be honest I would not have told them, that you will delete the review if they apologize to you…

    This should be a warning for everyone willing to eat there, an apology will not solve this hazard.

    You need to contact the Gesundheitsamt and let them now.

  21. Are you trying to say you were served a cold meal? Because Maggots or worms would not be crawling out of a hot meal. So is this post target at enticing public reactions? Just asking before delving into unjustified contents that could tarnish the image of a Business?
    Crawling, means the maggots are alive, and Meats are cooked and served at a particular temperature in Germany which is to hot for Margot to survive. I am just capitalising on your word „crawling“ which indicates movement and connotes that something is alive.

  23. Yea, it’s quite a problem in Germany that restaurant owners/businesses can easily dispute bad reviews, have them removed and threaten legal actions… So many places that I know for a fact are just simply terrible, got such high ratings simply for having the bad ones removed via lawyers and getting good reviews from friends/bots

  24. You can call police non emergecy line for that and tjey will send someone from Lebensmittelaufsicht.

  25. Just a possible explanation: There are actually companies that contact other companies about their bed reviews and offer to get rid of them for money. It’s a whole business. So I guess the shop owner might’ve actually gotten these emails and genuinely thinks it came from you.

  26. I just saw your review with the video on Google maps, it’s revolting 🤢🤢🤢

  28. I dont understand how there can be live maggots in there. The food looks cooked/ fried they should at least be dead. To me it looks like they were placed on purpose 🤷🏻‍♂️

  29. Nothing new here, you can’t trust google maps reviews because any honest review highlighting problems can easily get removed. this is one of the many ways Germany oppresses free speech all the while making it difficult for international businesses to operate here. Sometimes I really wonder does the government even try to make business wanna work here? I mean, since they are extremely narrow sighted, can’t they think more businesses operating more means more tax money?

  30. Slightly out of topic, let me add that Google review is totally useless in Germany.
    Many restaurant owners are simply filing complaints to Google about any negative review, claiming “defamatory intent” from the reviewer.
    Google is removing without arguing. I don’t know why.
    It happened 2 times to me and in both cases I was not really giving terrible reviews, just my honest opinion (2/5 and 3/5).
    Google is providing you the possibility to call against their decision by YOUR LAWYER
    Consequently I stopped reviewing and reading reviews on German restaurants

  31. Yeah, unfortunately one can hardly post an honest review in Germany.. they almost always bully you to delete it. I had a boss who explained to me they would do that always.

  33. At this point Googles review system is broken beyond repair.

    Reviews will be taken down pretty much every time the owner complains.

  38. I got food poisoning at a place twice. Posted a review the second time about what happened and Google legally removed it due to it being defamation. Of course it’s a bit hard to prove where you get food poisoning but for it to happen the night after eating at a place twice then you can, in my opinion, safely say it was from there. Anywho restaurants will try to remove every negative review even if it’s legit. Some don’t and actually try to do better but a lot do this tactic

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