Featured Image Credit: Simon McGill/Getty Images
Topics: US Food, Instagram, Social Media
Ella Scott
If you’ve spent any time on social media recently, then you may have come across a viral one-star review of a Mexican restaurant that a Google user named Rebecca O posted online.
"Absolutely awful tamale. It was chewy, stringy, and I couldn't even bite through it,” she ruthlessly typed on Google Reviews.
However, after initially slamming the restaurant, Rebecca quickly followed up on the review, admitting that she was totally wrong about the traditional Mesoamerican dish.
"OK, I was just told I'm not supposed to eat the cornhusk. That just changed the whole experience,” the internet user typed in a second review.
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"Seriously the best thing I've ever tried omg. Sorry I don't know how to delete my other review, my bad.”
According to Newsweek, the tamale that the so-called customer reviewed originated from The Tamale Store, a family-run Mexican restaurant and marketplace based in Phoenix, Arizona.
"It's OK Rebecca we forgive you,” they said in response on 29 January.
In a follow-up interview with the publication, Pauline Alvarado, who serves as The Tamale Store’s co-owner and chief marketing officer, said that she couldn’t believe ‘how viral’ the review became.
However - and here’s the plot twist - it turns out Rebecca O was never real.
Alvarado admitted that she totally made the character up, as the company often received complaints about its tamales.
“We receive this complaint from new customers all the time. They are not always sure how to eat a tamale and sometimes start with the corn husk,” she informed the publication.
"In our 18 years in business, I cannot count how many Rebecca O’s we have had. I wanted to showcase that in a lighthearted and funny way!
"The idea came from a woman who purchased a hot tamale the day before and came back to complain.
“When I went to see which one she had been eating, I realized she had eaten part of the corn husk. We both laughed, and I gave her another tamale on the house so she could try again. That moment inspired the Rebecca character,”
While Rebecca was fake, Alvarado admitted that she really ‘represents many first-time customers’.
Before finding out that the customer was a phoney, fans came out in droves to praise her posts.
“If I could go back in time, the FIRST thing I would do is watch Rebecca go through this husk journey,” said one Instagram user.
A second replied: “Had a friend from Ohio also eat the husk and was trying to be polite and still said it was good. Such a good laugh lol.”
“Rebecca is just out here living life for the first time,” joked someone else.
Let this be your sign for you not believe everything you read on the internet!