In the early hours of November 1, 2025, Adam Sindler's SHO Restaurant in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood — a Japanese omakase spot that had been open for just a few months — was buried under 20+ fake one-star reviews in three to four hours. The Google rating crashed from 4.9 to 3.0 in a ten-hour span.
The absurdity
The fake reviews complained about "raw chicken," "bad curry," and "cold pasta" — none of which appear on an omakase menu. Identical reviews appeared simultaneously on Beity, a Lebanese restaurant in the West Loop, with the same bizarre food complaints.
"We're a small business. This is my first solo venture. So, yeah, it feels vulnerable."
— Adam Sindler, Block Club Chicago
Sindler noted that new restaurants are particularly easy targets because "they don't have that kind of built-in audience" — no review buffer to absorb a coordinated hit.
Resolution
Sindler filed a report using Google's new Merchant Extortion form, launched in late 2025 specifically for this kind of attack. Google removed the fraudulent reviews within a week, and the rating was restored to 4.9. But the experience cost him "a lot of anxiety and at least one sleepless night."
What this case reveals
New restaurants live or die by their early reviews. A business that's been open for months has no cushion — a single coordinated attack can make it look like one of the worst restaurants in the city. For a first-time owner like Sindler, the vulnerability is existential.