Rant: critique circles that only praise, should we push back more?

I still think about a guy in my writing group last March who handed back my 9 page short story with just "nice pacing" scribbled on it. No notes on the weak middle, no questions about the main character's decision, nothing. Meanwhile I spent 20 minutes tearing apart his piece because that's what I thought we were there for. He said he didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so he only pointed out what worked. That got me wondering if our feedback culture went too soft. Do we owe each other harder truths, or does that just kill motivation for new writers? Has anyone else had a critique exchange that stuck with you for the wrong reasons?