GoKawiilThe old logo at the Salty Otter at 110 Walnut Ave. in Santa Cruz, Calif., which the owner recently changed after the restaurant received negative reviews referencing its use of AI. Rachael Smith
Up until last week, a colorful logo of an otter on a surfboard welcomed customers to the Salty Otter, a restaurant and sports bar that opened in downtown Santa Cruz last spring. But backlash to the owner’s use of AI in creating the logo recently prompted her to change it to plain white text against a black background, reported Lookout Santa Cruz. On Friday, owner Rachael Smith shared a lengthy post on Instagram explaining why the surfing otter had vanished from the restaurant’s branding.
“A lifelong dream has been crushed by a group of locals,” Smith wrote in the post. “I have received one star reviews from people saying they want 99 Bottles back and that I should have paid for a local artist to do the logo instead of a crappy AI logo.”
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Smith debuted the Salty Otter last March at 110 Walnut Ave., a space that was most recently home to Firefly Tavern and before that 99 Bottles, a beloved pub that closed in 2020 after 28 years. Previously, Smith had another restaurant on Monterey’s Cannery Row called the Salty Seal, which she and her business partner sold last July.
Smith told SFGATE that she received numerous one-star reviews on Google and Yelp criticizing the otter logo, although many have since been removed. One remaining one-star review on Google reads, “Their logo is AI generated, if they can’t make the effort to create a logo they definitely won’t make the effort to cook good food.”
Another on Yelp reads, “The AI slop otter screams cheap and lacks in any kind of artistic taste.”
The Salty Otter’s old logo (left), which owner Rachael Smith used AI to create, and its new logo (right). Rachael Smith
“I used a little bit of AI, and it’s this big uproar thing now,” Smith told SFGATE. “But I think AI is so sensitive right now everywhere with people.”
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