California Chinese Restaurant Turns the Tables on Yelp Reviewer

LOS ANGELES— -- The owner of a Chinese restaurant in the California city of Millbrae, near San Francisco, is taking a stand against a scathing review, and he says he has video to disprove the negative comments.

Yelp user “Dan W.” gave Wonderful restaurant a one-star review, claiming it was “busy and potentially understaffed. It’s not that classy of a place, but they refused to seat [him],” so he says he left after waiting one minute.

Wonderful owner Joseph Xue, who could not be reached for comment, and his management team responded by posting surveillance video on the restaurant’s website from the day in question. It revealed that a man who they surmised was Dan W. walked into the eatery, looked at the waiting list, then left after about 22 seconds.

Yelp’s website crowdsources reviews on local businesses from users like Dan. W, and allows the companies to reply.

The management team says on their website that Dan W. is banned from Wonderful, and if he returns, he will be arrested for trespassing. Dan W. responded by toning down his original review, accusing the restaurant of online bullying, according to the restaurant’s website. He also requested the management take the video down.

Dan W.’s comments about Wonderful are no longer on Yelp, but the restaurant says it has screenshots of both the original and the tweaked review on its website.

ABC News was unable to identify Dan. W so he could not be reached for comment.

In a statement to ABC News, Yelp said, “Our records show user Dan W. has closed his account and removed his Yelp review himself.”