The Leierkasten in Munich is well-known locally as a brothel, but unwitting tourists keep turning up expecting a gourmet meal after online reviews continue to claim it is a restaurant.
People new to Munich who are using the the app “Jodel” to work their way around the Bavarian metropolis have been given a different recommendation recently.
Reviews read: “I can only recommend the Leierkasten. Nice ambience, friendly service and excellent wines.”
The reviews are obviously meant as a joke, but the manager of the bordello in the district of Schwabing-Freimann has long lost his sense of humour.
Velica A complained in a recent report by the Munich news outlet “tz”: “It has been like this for three weeks.
“There are tourists who are quite astonished when they visit us.”
Even families have found themselves in the Leierkasten. Velica said: “Just recently, a young couple from Pfaffenhofen came to visit with their children.
“They actually wanted to go to a theatre.”
The recommendations on the app are not the only reason for the mistaken visits, but also the misleading ratings on Google.
“Rarely eaten so well in Munich”, says one person.
“We can not delete the ratings”, says A., “Google would have to do that themselves, but they’re not doing anything.”
One thing that has been deleted is the Wikipedia entry, which had the title “Leierkasten (gourmet temple)”.
However, the trolls even went so far as to create a homepage on the Internet at www.leierkasten.tk, where they celebrate culinary specialties.
Together with the false ratings, they managed to make a fake menu item – “lava cake” – famous.
Velica A. can not laugh about this anymore. It is unclear why his establishment has become the target of the digital campaign run by students.
The managing director does not want to change his business model anyway: “We are a brothel and therefore want to be declared as such,” he said.
