Bored Panda reached out to Steven Clarke, the owner of Café Van Gogh, which is a Brixton Road, London-based vegan restaurant and a non-profit social enterprise. The cafe works in conjunction with Toucan Employment, a learning disability employment charity, to run a program of on-the-job training for people with additional challenges in life, such as a learning disability or a mental health problem, to provide them with the support and confidence to seek paid employment.

“Along with all businesses, we do, of course, get occasional bad reviews. This is normal, and doesn’t faze us and is an opportunity for us to learn and grow,” Steven told us. “The point we were trying to make with our response is please talk to us if you have a problem,” he added.

The cafe is a non-profit social enterprise that trains and employs adults with learning disabilities, and ‘runs on kindness’

Image credits: cafevangoghldn

The owner explained that the team of Café Van Gogh is an “incredibly approachable team of staff, and will find time to discuss your problems. We move mountains to put things right, if we’re given the opportunity to do so… but a review posted perhaps days later leaves us with little opportunity to do anything about it, except exercise our right of reply.”

The customers can contribute to their pay it forward scheme that means buying coffee for those who can’t afford it

Image credits: cafevangoghldn

When asked whether it has ever happened before that a customer is unaware that their restaurant is vegan, Steven said that it shouldn’t happen. “It’s on our menus, on our chalk boards, certainly on our website and social media profiles, and it’s ALWAYS mentioned when people request a coffee, so we can work out what milk is wanted.”

In fact, “it’s our USP… I guess some people are unhappy about that, and frankly that’s just tough,” he added.

Image credits: cafevangoghldn

“We take each review as we find it, and fortunately until porridge-milk-gate we’ve not had many poor reviews,” Steven said and added: “At best they are an opportunity for us to take feedback and grow. At worst they are someone in a darkened room somewhere enraged that we do things differently at Café Van Gogh, and feeling the need to lash out.”

Image credits: cafevangoghldn

“My background pre-café is working with people with very complex needs. I pick up a real sense of unhappiness from some of these people, they should likely get out more,” the owner and the author of this viral response to the bad review concluded.

And this is what people had to comment on the incident

But some pointed out the term ‘vegan-friendly’ might have been confusing