If I didn't know any better, the dustup between Sac Bee Food Restaurant Critic Blair Anthony Robertson and The Waterboy Owner Rick Mahan would be the classic Festivus airing of the grievances, followed by a reconciliation of sorts.

After Mahan went after Robertson's restaurant-reviewing credentials last week, the Sac Bee critic responded yesterday.

But here, I will take a different approach, for this space (and the space we allot in the newspaper) is not solely for the sake of the chefs or their restaurants. It is for the readers. For Chef Mahan to suggest that I am neither experienced nor savvy enough to review what is, by any reasonable standard, a neighborhood bistro (serving often lovely food), shows not only an unfortunate penchant for personal attacks but a misunderstanding of what a restaurant critic does. I will focus on addressing that point because readers might find it worthwhile. What do restaurant critics do? Maybe it's shows like "Chopped" and "Iron Chef" that perpetuate this image of the restaurant critic as some kind of all-knowing judge. It's nothing like that. We don't sit at a table, take a bite of something and make a face. And we're not writing solely for restaurants, chefs, waiters or even foodies. While about 25 percent of my readers are what we would call avid epicureans, many others are casual diners and voyeurs who simply want something interesting to read. I represent the dining public and the general reader.

Read his entire response in the Sac Bee.

Mahan again took to Facebook to respond:

Just got off the phone with Blair Robertson. He called me Friday and I was really busy so i didn't get back to him until this morning. Let me start by saying I'm amazed at the hullabaloo my response caused - I'm not a social media, Facebook guy. (at least I wasn't before last week) Although I'm humbled and flattered by all those coming to Waterboy's defense, if I had waited a day or two before putting it all out there, I would have deleted the line about him "not having enough information, knowledge or savvy to write about restaurants, (at least not mine)". I apologize. That was an over-reactionary statement and I'm recanting it. Those who know me well know that I'm capable of being that way - a bit thin skinned and too sensitive to criticism. I'm working on it.

In retrospect, I have no quarrel with Blair or his writing. As much as we all think his is an easy job (it's much more than just dining out a lot), I'm quite sure it's not. I've spoken with him many times over the past few years and he's always had great things to say about me and my restaurants. After speaking with him for an hour before the review went to print, I just felt blindsided by his comments regarding my waitstaff and decor, and it got the better of me. I still don't agree with his take on those things but I'm OK with it. And him. He's a stand-up guy, writes what he feels and would never use his platform to be intentionally unfair or hurtful. I'd like to think the same of myself.

You can find that and all the associated Facebook comments on that Facebook post here.