"Jealousy"? What does this guy have that anybody would want for even half a day except maybe his money but even that wouldn't tempt me?
What makes people jealous(maybe not you)...money....fame....recognition.
Why is he famous? His personality....Why is he hated? His personality.
I can only think of one "Celebrity" restaurant that is worth a damn.(And even this one the critics love to lambast)
Who goes to Jimmy Buffet / Hard Rock / Planet Hollywood restaurants expecting fine dining?
Running a restaurant (one! restaurant) is a ton of work. Coming up with a creative menu, monitoring execution, giving the place the style and look you want etc. I can't even understand how one person could run two places. Being a celebrity on top of all that just can not work. It just can't, no way at all. OK, somebody who totally knows his shit and who has an incredibly lucky hand with choosing his staff could maybe run a restaurant from afar but then would it still be "his" restaurant? I would never waste my time and money to go to the restaurant of anybody with a tv show.
"Jimmy Buffet / Hard Rock / Planet Hollywood restaurants", are franchise restaurants.
Guy Fieri's is the signature restaurant of a tv celebrity who claims to be a chef. He has himself written the menu that is filled with "unusual" items he himself came up with. As he himself has explained in his recent interview, he expects to be taken serious as a chef and restaurant owner. Nobody ever said anything about "fine dining". Guy claims to be creative with food and he "invented" those dishes. He claims to be a "chef". He calls his place a "restaurant". He's a "famous chef" who has just opened up a "restaurant" in NYC so why on earth should the NY Times not send one of their critics to give the place a review?
If they would have told him they're not going to take notice of his restaurant because after all, they also don't bother reviewing a new franchise of "Jimmy Buffet / Hard Rock / Planet Hollywood", I'm sure Guy would not have agreed.
Well, goddammit...pass the donkey sauce cuz I need to eat a large portion of my own words.
Everyone's valid POV on this critic and critics in general reminded me there is a critic who I do actually enjoy...David Edelstein the movie critic. He does reviews for NPR's Fresh Air and Sunday Morning. He's great and I totally forgot about him. When he gives a film a negative review it doesn't come off like a dude who is about to say "hey come gather around while I shit on this dude's hard work"...which is kind of how Pete's review looked to me. I don't know much about David but I assume he's never made a movie...so there are some more words I'll gladly eat.
Furthermore, I enjoy 'critics/bloggers' who dig up old records I've never heard of and talk about em'...almost all those sites (at least the ones I enjoy) focus way more on telling you about great music that you might not know about...not scathing and mean spirited rants about how bad an album is.
There just seems to be so many critics who sound butt hurt and vindictive that I forget there are people like David and others that I do enjoy...my bad.
Dude's celebrity is bigger than he is......obviously some financial backers hired this guy to front their spot, talk the good talk and come up with a menu.....is he there cooking...no....is dude there doing quality control....no.......is he a sell out....ABSOLUTELY.
Here are some reviews from a similar spot....can anyone guess which one??
The restaurant is way overprice for the quality of the food. I was very disappoint and expect more from a place XXX name on it.
The food was absolutely horrible, in taste and presentation. , way overpriced.
If you spend $60 each on dinner, you deserve at least mediocrity. If XXX puts his name n the door,you expect at least average. This fell short, way short. There are too many other choices in the area, try them.
I didn't like this place at all. They are too on top of you all the time! My mother put a packet of sugar down for a second on her plate and a waiter came within seconds to pick it up. The food was alright, nothing fabulous. It was also fancy for a theme park. It was hard to decide what to wear when right afterward we were going to the park
Wow, what a disappointment. We took my parents there for their anniversary...bad choice. The wait was very long. The servers were not apologetic, as if that is the usual. The food took a long time to arrive after we ordered. The food was way overpriced and not worth it at all. My mother ordered a shrimp dish and the shrimp were overcooked, mealy and mushy. My father ordered the lamb which must have been from an anorexic lamb,(very small portion) the veggies were soggy and overcooked. Everyone in our party was disappointed but my parents did not complain because they knew we really wanted to make them happy and we were going to be spending a lot, but we could see the disappointment in their faces. The only thing that was decent was the pizza, not because it tasted good, but because it was "only" $15!! Don't go here unless you want to pay a couple hundred bucks just to say that you ate at XXX
I had always dreamed of celebrating my birthday at XXX. Imagine my disappointment when my food came out completely RAW in the center. I sent it back (something that is against my personal policy but a) it was completely raw and b) it was my "special" day), they re-cooked the same piece of meat, and it came back absolutely disgusting looking. They didn't do anything to apologize and as I wasn't in the mood to make a big deal about it, paid for my meal, and went home hungry (on my birthday). The decor and my the company of my friends was the only thing I enjoyed. What a waste of money on expensive uncooked food. I will never go back. ...p.s...shame on you XXX
This has to be the worst restaurant experience that I have ever had. The waiter tried to act like was a high class waiter but he was just full of total B.S.
He didn't know his food very well and knew his wine even less. As soon as a party of "regular" older women showed up he totally blew us off knowing that he wasn't going to get a great tip from us. When he asked how our food was he didn't even wait for a response because I was trying to tell him it was absolutely disgusting!
The dishes were awful! The bread was stale and tasteless. The scallops that I had were not cooked well, they came with squash that was so sour that I could not even eat it. The waiter didn't even question why we didn't touch some our food. He could care less. The fish that my spouse had was tasteless.
The bill was VERY expensive. The food was HORRIBLE.
I could not believe the lack of sanitation, lack of service, and poor attitude exhibited. I reached an epiphany! I DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS! NEVER AGAIN WILL I MEEKLY SIT BACK AND ACCEPT THIS ATROCIOUS SERVICE! After making an offer to pay for the bread served and eaten by my family (God, I hope we don't get diarrhea from their filthy kitchen), I told the manager what he could do with his "Mai Tais", collected my family, and left. I encourage you all to do the same if you choose to ignore my warning to avoid this dump altogether and receive the same sorry service.
Worse food ever from a supposed fine dine rest.
Food was "Very bad"!!!!!!!!
The family gathered for the Feast on Thanksgiving Day 2007...
Well lets just say Mom's Crusted Red Fish was CRUDDY!!!!
SIS, Her " Turkey, mostly, dark meat,and trimmings,really didn't FLY"!!!!!!
The Boys, "ROASTED RIBEYE" could of been "ROAST BEAST"!!!!!!
Highly over rated and way over priced even for the average fan!!!!!!!!!!
I wish XXX would of showed-up......
He could have Enjoyed Our Discuss.......
Save you money and you taste buds!!!!!!!!!!
I normally do not write reviews, but I decided to help other people interested in going by giving them my honest opinion. My husband is a fan of XXX and I decided to take him there as a treat. The food was horrible and certainly not worth the cost. I could write a long detailed review of my experience and humiliate the restaurant but I will not. I will just say, my children each ordered pizza and they both only ate one slice and refused to eat anymore...so that says a lot. If you can manage to mess up pizza you do not deserve to be in business. I personally did not finish my $28.00 entree although I tried very hard to force myself so I would not feel like I was wasting money. I only took one spoonful of my soup which was also horrible and tried to give it to my nine year old who also did not like it. I thought when the waiter noticed I had not eaten it and asked if I liked it and I told him no they would have removed it from the bill...but they did not. I was tempted to take it out of the tip, but we still end up leaving a generous $15.00 tip. Just because the restaurant is owned by XXX does not mean the food is good...lesson learned.
"PRICES Soups, salads and appetizers, $8.95 to $16.50; sandwiches, pastas and main courses, $16.95 to $31.50."
$17 for a sandwich?
$30 for a main?
These are restaurant prices. Prices you would have to expect to pay at a "better" restaurant.
Guy has that "man of the people" image , he's known to "champion mom & pop restaurants". His approach to food is simple, down to earth, he likes his food to be extra yummi, with personality and perhaps with a bit of a twist. He favors honest, privately owned restaurants and never stops at some fast food franchise with that red car of his. This is the personality that he sells on TV and this is how the restaurant tries to sell itself. While in fact, this is a food factory that seats 500 at a time but charges upscale restaurant prices and then doesn't even deliver a halfway acceptable quality.
Would this shit fly, these would be thousands of diners a day spending their hard earned money there instead at a real restaurant with a real chef who's in the house, taking care of business and who's pouring his heart and his soul into his dishes.
So thank god this idiot was exposed for the fraud that he is. To try and make this look like some uppity fine dining food critic just let loose on low brow down home style American diner fare is completely wrong from every possible angle you could look at it.
If you can't stand the heat, get out the fucking kitchen and drive that red car into the sunset!
Yes, plenty of legitimately talented chefs have sold their souls and opened shitty joints. But, they at least showed talent to begin with, while I think there are real questions about Fieri's. And, to equate Yelp reviews with Pete Wells critique is total non-starter.
I can't believe people are defending this garbage, like Fieri needs some bodyguards. That food- along with the Applefridaytuesdaycakefactory shit- is straight garbage. I've eaten it, and as I travel a lot, will probably continue to, but it's pretty much indefensible as far as "food," goes.
Yes, plenty of legitimately talented chefs have sold their souls and opened shitty joints. But, they at least showed talent to begin with, while I think there are real questions about Fieri's. And, to equate Yelp reviews with Pete Wells critique is total non-starter.
I can't believe people are defending this garbage, like Fieri needs some bodyguards. That food- along with the Applefridaytuesdaycakefactory shit- is straight garbage. I've eaten it, and as I travel a lot, will probably continue to, but it's pretty much indefensible as far as "food," goes.
1) I might need to patent this "Rockadelic move" you speak of.
2) I'd much rather know what 20 citizens say about a restaurant than one food critic.
3) I've never thought of Guy Fieri as a talented chef, just a colorful, over the top dude who happens to host a TV Show that has turned me on to some good eating spots
I travel a lot, will probably continue to, but it's pretty much indefensible as far as "food," goes.
I refuse to eat at those generic chain restaurants...ever.....I'd have a Diet Coke and a pack of crackers before I ate at Ruby Tuesdays(or Fill In The Blank)...and I probably would never eat at Fieri's Times Square spot either....especially if there was a good Pizza joint around the corner.
But hating on this dude seems too easy and expecting his restaurant to be a 4-5 Star place seems misguided.
Does this really surprise anyone? It isnt because you have a tv show where you scarf down the greasiest shit you can find that you can make a out of the box amazing menu. You want to eat food that will take 10 years off your life and make you go to heaven at the same time? Come to Montreal and eat in a real restaurant like Pied de cochon or just have an amazing meal at Bis.
I'm with Richler: APDC has been mediocre and well overrated for at least the past seven years. Brown, heavy food lacking in finesse and consistency.
I went back to PDC this week for a family supper and i have to agree with you it was far from my first experiences there but im sure its still better then the food this guy serves up in his place. Anyway all i was trying saying is the highly hyped food spots tend to be big dissapointments especially in these days and times. When i hear Guy Fieri i dont expect much more than Boston Pizza or Jack Astors to be honest.
I'm no food expert by any stretch of the imagination (except if you count quantity), but regarding the validity of celebrity-owned restaurants, I will say the best meal I probably ever ate in my life was at Del Posto.
Comments
What makes people jealous(maybe not you)...money....fame....recognition.
Why is he famous? His personality....Why is he hated? His personality.
I can only think of one "Celebrity" restaurant that is worth a damn.(And even this one the critics love to lambast)
Who goes to Jimmy Buffet / Hard Rock / Planet Hollywood restaurants expecting fine dining?
Running a restaurant (one! restaurant) is a ton of work. Coming up with a creative menu, monitoring execution, giving the place the style and look you want etc. I can't even understand how one person could run two places. Being a celebrity on top of all that just can not work. It just can't, no way at all. OK, somebody who totally knows his shit and who has an incredibly lucky hand with choosing his staff could maybe run a restaurant from afar but then would it still be "his" restaurant? I would never waste my time and money to go to the restaurant of anybody with a tv show.
"Jimmy Buffet / Hard Rock / Planet Hollywood restaurants", are franchise restaurants.
Guy Fieri's is the signature restaurant of a tv celebrity who claims to be a chef. He has himself written the menu that is filled with "unusual" items he himself came up with. As he himself has explained in his recent interview, he expects to be taken serious as a chef and restaurant owner. Nobody ever said anything about "fine dining". Guy claims to be creative with food and he "invented" those dishes. He claims to be a "chef". He calls his place a "restaurant". He's a "famous chef" who has just opened up a "restaurant" in NYC so why on earth should the NY Times not send one of their critics to give the place a review?
If they would have told him they're not going to take notice of his restaurant because after all, they also don't bother reviewing a new franchise of "Jimmy Buffet / Hard Rock / Planet Hollywood", I'm sure Guy would not have agreed.
"Guy Puts Donkey Sauce On His Angus"
Everyone's valid POV on this critic and critics in general reminded me there is a critic who I do actually enjoy...David Edelstein the movie critic. He does reviews for NPR's Fresh Air and Sunday Morning. He's great and I totally forgot about him. When he gives a film a negative review it doesn't come off like a dude who is about to say "hey come gather around while I shit on this dude's hard work"...which is kind of how Pete's review looked to me. I don't know much about David but I assume he's never made a movie...so there are some more words I'll gladly eat.
Furthermore, I enjoy 'critics/bloggers' who dig up old records I've never heard of and talk about em'...almost all those sites (at least the ones I enjoy) focus way more on telling you about great music that you might not know about...not scathing and mean spirited rants about how bad an album is.
There just seems to be so many critics who sound butt hurt and vindictive that I forget there are people like David and others that I do enjoy...my bad.
Here are some reviews from a similar spot....can anyone guess which one??
The restaurant is way overprice for the quality of the food. I was very disappoint and expect more from a place XXX name on it.
The food was absolutely horrible, in taste and presentation. , way overpriced.
If you spend $60 each on dinner, you deserve at least mediocrity. If XXX puts his name n the door,you expect at least average. This fell short, way short. There are too many other choices in the area, try them.
I didn't like this place at all. They are too on top of you all the time! My mother put a packet of sugar down for a second on her plate and a waiter came within seconds to pick it up. The food was alright, nothing fabulous. It was also fancy for a theme park. It was hard to decide what to wear when right afterward we were going to the park
Wow, what a disappointment. We took my parents there for their anniversary...bad choice. The wait was very long. The servers were not apologetic, as if that is the usual. The food took a long time to arrive after we ordered. The food was way overpriced and not worth it at all. My mother ordered a shrimp dish and the shrimp were overcooked, mealy and mushy. My father ordered the lamb which must have been from an anorexic lamb,(very small portion) the veggies were soggy and overcooked. Everyone in our party was disappointed but my parents did not complain because they knew we really wanted to make them happy and we were going to be spending a lot, but we could see the disappointment in their faces. The only thing that was decent was the pizza, not because it tasted good, but because it was "only" $15!! Don't go here unless you want to pay a couple hundred bucks just to say that you ate at XXX
I had always dreamed of celebrating my birthday at XXX. Imagine my disappointment when my food came out completely RAW in the center. I sent it back (something that is against my personal policy but a) it was completely raw and b) it was my "special" day), they re-cooked the same piece of meat, and it came back absolutely disgusting looking. They didn't do anything to apologize and as I wasn't in the mood to make a big deal about it, paid for my meal, and went home hungry (on my birthday). The decor and my the company of my friends was the only thing I enjoyed. What a waste of money on expensive uncooked food. I will never go back. ...p.s...shame on you XXX
This has to be the worst restaurant experience that I have ever had. The waiter tried to act like was a high class waiter but he was just full of total B.S.
He didn't know his food very well and knew his wine even less. As soon as a party of "regular" older women showed up he totally blew us off knowing that he wasn't going to get a great tip from us. When he asked how our food was he didn't even wait for a response because I was trying to tell him it was absolutely disgusting!
The dishes were awful! The bread was stale and tasteless. The scallops that I had were not cooked well, they came with squash that was so sour that I could not even eat it. The waiter didn't even question why we didn't touch some our food. He could care less. The fish that my spouse had was tasteless.
The bill was VERY expensive. The food was HORRIBLE.
I could not believe the lack of sanitation, lack of service, and poor attitude exhibited. I reached an epiphany! I DON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS! NEVER AGAIN WILL I MEEKLY SIT BACK AND ACCEPT THIS ATROCIOUS SERVICE! After making an offer to pay for the bread served and eaten by my family (God, I hope we don't get diarrhea from their filthy kitchen), I told the manager what he could do with his "Mai Tais", collected my family, and left. I encourage you all to do the same if you choose to ignore my warning to avoid this dump altogether and receive the same sorry service.
Worse food ever from a supposed fine dine rest.
Food was "Very bad"!!!!!!!!
The family gathered for the Feast on Thanksgiving Day 2007...
Well lets just say Mom's Crusted Red Fish was CRUDDY!!!!
SIS, Her " Turkey, mostly, dark meat,and trimmings,really didn't FLY"!!!!!!
The Boys, "ROASTED RIBEYE" could of been "ROAST BEAST"!!!!!!
Highly over rated and way over priced even for the average fan!!!!!!!!!!
I wish XXX would of showed-up......
He could have Enjoyed Our Discuss.......
Save you money and you taste buds!!!!!!!!!!
I normally do not write reviews, but I decided to help other people interested in going by giving them my honest opinion. My husband is a fan of XXX and I decided to take him there as a treat. The food was horrible and certainly not worth the cost. I could write a long detailed review of my experience and humiliate the restaurant but I will not. I will just say, my children each ordered pizza and they both only ate one slice and refused to eat anymore...so that says a lot. If you can manage to mess up pizza you do not deserve to be in business. I personally did not finish my $28.00 entree although I tried very hard to force myself so I would not feel like I was wasting money. I only took one spoonful of my soup which was also horrible and tried to give it to my nine year old who also did not like it. I thought when the waiter noticed I had not eaten it and asked if I liked it and I told him no they would have removed it from the bill...but they did not. I was tempted to take it out of the tip, but we still end up leaving a generous $15.00 tip. Just because the restaurant is owned by XXX does not mean the food is good...lesson learned.
$17 for a sandwich?
$30 for a main?
These are restaurant prices. Prices you would have to expect to pay at a "better" restaurant.
Guy has that "man of the people" image , he's known to "champion mom & pop restaurants". His approach to food is simple, down to earth, he likes his food to be extra yummi, with personality and perhaps with a bit of a twist. He favors honest, privately owned restaurants and never stops at some fast food franchise with that red car of his. This is the personality that he sells on TV and this is how the restaurant tries to sell itself. While in fact, this is a food factory that seats 500 at a time but charges upscale restaurant prices and then doesn't even deliver a halfway acceptable quality.
Would this shit fly, these would be thousands of diners a day spending their hard earned money there instead at a real restaurant with a real chef who's in the house, taking care of business and who's pouring his heart and his soul into his dishes.
So thank god this idiot was exposed for the fraud that he is. To try and make this look like some uppity fine dining food critic just let loose on low brow down home style American diner fare is completely wrong from every possible angle you could look at it.
If you can't stand the heat, get out the fucking kitchen and drive that red car into the sunset!
Flav's Chicken Shack?
"Hi! Today on Triple D were gonna get a grub on w/ Barry and them!!!"
Yes, plenty of legitimately talented chefs have sold their souls and opened shitty joints. But, they at least showed talent to begin with, while I think there are real questions about Fieri's. And, to equate Yelp reviews with Pete Wells critique is total non-starter.
I can't believe people are defending this garbage, like Fieri needs some bodyguards. That food- along with the Applefridaytuesdaycakefactory shit- is straight garbage. I've eaten it, and as I travel a lot, will probably continue to, but it's pretty much indefensible as far as "food," goes.
1) I might need to patent this "Rockadelic move" you speak of.
2) I'd much rather know what 20 citizens say about a restaurant than one food critic.
3) I've never thought of Guy Fieri as a talented chef, just a colorful, over the top dude who happens to host a TV Show that has turned me on to some good eating spots
4) It was Emeril's
That was my second guess.
I refuse to eat at those generic chain restaurants...ever.....I'd have a Diet Coke and a pack of crackers before I ate at Ruby Tuesdays(or Fill In The Blank)...and I probably would never eat at Fieri's Times Square spot either....especially if there was a good Pizza joint around the corner.
But hating on this dude seems too easy and expecting his restaurant to be a 4-5 Star place seems misguided.
I don't think anybody is expecting his place to be a 4-5 star joint. They just think it shouldn't be gawdawful, which by all accounts it is.
Anybody who sells themselves as a chef should at least serve something acceptable.
I have, but it was the one that used to be in DC.
2) I had a terrible meal at one of Emerill's joints.
His pizza made me shart.
Your "LOC:" entry has never been more relevant.
I think it is Sacramento.
I went back to PDC this week for a family supper and i have to agree with you it was far from my first experiences there but im sure its still better then the food this guy serves up in his place. Anyway all i was trying saying is the highly hyped food spots tend to be big dissapointments especially in these days and times. When i hear Guy Fieri i dont expect much more than Boston Pizza or Jack Astors to be honest.
agreed
Hah! That's on Astoria Blvd, no?
I think its Brook-Lyn.