Baltimore Bartender Fired After Bad Review Named Her

A bar review on the Baltimore Sun's Midnight Sun blog ended up getting a server fired after she was identified in the piece. Wesley Case's review ran with the headline, "Laid back service drags down David's 1st and 10 in Hampden," and while there were some things he liked about the place, he had issues with the bartender. So he named Angela Devoti in the review, and according to City Paper, she got fired for it.

Now, naming chefs is obviously not all that uncommon for a restaurant review, good or bad. What makes this situation odd is the rarity of naming a bartender, and also the fact that Devoti has been a contributor for another Baltimore Sun property, b. Writes Case of the service, "With her slow, spacey voice, Devoti was pleasant and talkative our entire visit, but she seemed to forget her primary objective was to serve customers quickly."

Owner David Morgan told City Paper the review "ripped me in half. It was the talk of the town." So, Devoti and an unnamed GM had to go. According to Devoti, "I was never written up for anything prior to that, and the firing wasn't even to my face...I was never given any indication that anyone was in any way displeased with my performance." So, is holding servers and bartenders personally accountable in reviews the criticism of the future? Or was Case out of line?

· The curious incident of the bad review and the fired bartender [City Paper via Jim Romenesko]
· Laid back service drags down David's 1st and 10 in Hampden [Midnight Sun]
· All Critics Coverage on Eater [-E-]