NYT: As Not Seen on TV

As Not Seen on TV

Restaurant Review: Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square

GUY FIERI, have you eaten at your new restaurant in Times Square? Have you pulled up one of the 500 seats at Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar and ordered a meal? Did you eat the food? Did it live up to your expectations?

Did panic grip your soul as you stared into the whirling hypno wheel of the menu, where adjectives and nouns spin in a crazy vortex? When you saw the burger described as “Guy’s Pat LaFrieda custom blend, all-natural Creekstone Farm Black Angus beef patty, LTOP (lettuce, tomato, onion + pickle), SMC (super-melty-cheese) and a slathering of Donkey Sauce on garlic-buttered brioche,” did your mind touch the void for a minute?

Did you notice that the menu was an unreliable predictor of what actually came to the table? Were the “bourbon butter crunch chips” missing from your Almond Joy ****tail, too? Was your deep-fried “boulder” of ice cream the size of a standard scoop?

What exactly about a small salad with four or five miniature croutons makes Guy’s Famous Big Bite Caesar (a) big ( famous or © Guy’s, in any meaningful sense?

Were you struck by how very far from awesome the Awesome Pretzel Chicken Tenders are? If you hadn’t come up with the recipe yourself, would you ever guess that the shiny tissue of breading that exudes grease onto the plate contains either pretzels or smoked almonds? Did you discern any buttermilk or brine in the white meat, or did you think it tasted like chewy air?

Why is one of the few things on your menu that can be eaten without fear or regret — a lunch-only sandwich of chopped soy-glazed pork with coleslaw and cucumbers — called a Roasted Pork Bahn Mi, when it resembles that item about as much as you resemble Emily Dickinson?

When you have a second, Mr. Fieri, would you see what happened to the black bean and roasted squash soup we ordered?

Hey, did you try that blue drink, the one that glows like nuclear waste? The watermelon margarita? Any idea why it tastes like some combination of radiator fluid and formaldehyde?

Click on the link for the rest

One of his restaurants is here in the Sacramento area. I've been numerous times and had good food and enjoyed the place.

To each his own, I guess.

One of his restaurants is here in the Sacramento area. I've been numerous times and had good food and enjoyed the place.

To each his own, I guess.

I think the point is that the particular one in Times Square is a tourist trap that is poorly managed and the food is mediocre and he just has his name on it without having any hands-on effort to make sure it is of decent quality. (Edit: That, and I thought it was humorous the manner in which the reviewer panned the place.)

The review of this one particular restaurant doesn't mean his other restaurants aren't more well managed and don't put out better food.

Literally just finished reading this a few moments before seeing this thread.

Hilarious.

One of his restaurants is here in the Sacramento area. I've been numerous times and had good food and enjoyed the place.

To each his own, I guess.

The review alludes to his other restaurants and their higher quality. This one doesn't seem to match-up.

Have you seen some of this guy eats on DD&D? Deep fried and fatty is a common choice. I didnt know he had restaurants in his namesake, but just seeing his show tempers my expectations a bit.

This guy exemplifies everything that sucks about Times Square

The only time I set foot in a corporate chain restaurant is when I'm looking to drop a deuce.

In every town you can find great local restaurants. No reason to reward shareholders when you can make sure people have reasonably well paid jobs and that the earned money stays in the community.

I think the point is that the particular one in Times Square is a tourist trap that is poorly managed and the food is mediocre and he just has his name on it without having any hands-on effort to make sure it is of decent quality. (Edit: That, and I thought it was humorous the manner in which the reviewer panned the place.)

The review of this one particular restaurant doesn't mean his other restaurants aren't more well managed and don't put out better food.

Tourists trap in Times Square? Fugetaboutit. Seriously, I went to the Times Square Applebees and the cheeseburger was something like $16. Never again.

"Is this how you roll in Flavor Town?" :ols:

I think the point is that the particular one in Times Square is a tourist trap that is poorly managed and the food is mediocre and he just has his name on it without having any hands-on effort to make sure it is of decent quality. (Edit: That, and I thought it was humorous the manner in which the reviewer panned the place.).

FWIW, if you're ever in Savannah don't bother with Paula Dean's joint either. Incredibly, completely and totally overrated...almost always with a long wait to boot.

NYC has about a million killer restaurants and none of them are in Times Square.

NYC has about a million killer restaurants and none of them are in Times Square.

Same with San Francisco and Fisherman's Wharf.

NYC has about a million killer restaurants and none of them are in Times Square.

Same with San Francisco and Fisherman's Wharf.

Neither does the Inner Harbour in Baltimore or the Navy Pier in Chicago and on and on....Savvy travelers avoid the tourist destination wherever they go. I always ask the front desk where they would go to eat, and no chains. Yeah Guy has blown up, you are much better off tracking his D,D and D locales and hitting them.

The one here in Sacramento is called Tex Wasabi, it is somewhat of an Asian-American-BBQ-Sushi fusion eatery. It isn't considered "high end" by any means, but it is pretty solid from what I hear.

I have yet to check it out. Not sure why....I think it is one of those situations where, you know it's in your town, so you always think "eh, I can go there anytime, I'll go here instead" haha....

Time to try it.

---------- Post added November-15th-2012 at 05:59 AM ----------

Same with San Francisco and Fisherman's Wharf.

Every been to the Brazilian Steakhouse on market street? How about The House of Prime Rib?

Have you seen some of this guy eats on DD&D? Deep fried and fatty is a common choice. I didnt know he had restaurants in his namesake, but just seeing his show tempers my expectations a bit.

I absolutely love that show. Also love that show where they spy on all the workers who are goofing off on the job, Can't remember the name.

I absolutely love that show. Also love that show where they spy on all the workers who are goofing off on the job, Can't remember the name.

Undercover Boss or something like that?

Undercover Boss or something like that?

No, there's one on the Food Network or whatever. I can't think of the name of it, but the one episode I saw had a bar owner spy on a douchey bartender who she suspected giving away too many free drinks. IIRC, it's a husband and wife team that plants cameras and mics all over the place, hires talent to come in and catch the person in question.

In this particular episode, they sent two attractive girls in to flirt with him and sure enough he gave away free drink after free drink. They had the bar owner in the next building over showing her everything as it went down in real time. It was incredibly damaging to her business. Then they brought the dude in the room and busted him, it was pretty great.

No, there's one on the Food Network or whatever. I can't think of the name of it, but the one episode I saw had a bar owner spy on a douchey bartender who she suspected giving away too many free drinks. IIRC, it's a husband and wife team that plants cameras and mics all over the place, hires talent to come in and catch the person in question.

In this particular episode, they sent two attractive girls in to flirt with him and sure enough he gave away free drink after free drink. They had the bar owner in the next building over showing her everything as it went down in real time. It was incredibly damaging to her business. Then they brought the dude in the room and busted him, it was pretty great.

I'm gonna check that out, it sounds good. I'm also a big fan of Bar Rescue and Restaurant Impossible, so I love these types of shows.

Guy Fieri fires back at searing 'NYT' restaurant review

Savannah noted that 56 reviews on Yelp give Guy's American Kitchen and Bar an average of 2.5 stars out of five, so it's not knocking people's socks off. "At two months? Not really expecting to," said Fieri. "I mean, we're trying to. We're trying as hard as we can to make it right, to do it right. ... Is it perfect right now? No. ... Let's see where we are in six months."

He mentioned he has 11 restaurants and he's into being a hands-on chef and manager, from creating the menu to training the staff, not just putting a "stamp" on the place.

And he said, "To me, it's impossible to come in and have a dining experience and have every single thing is wrong, unless you come in with a different agenda and you want to sensationalize something and you want to blow it out of the water. It's a great way to make a name for yourself — go after a celebrity chef that's not a New Yorker that's doing big concept in his second month. Great way to hit it," he said, punching his hand.

His words for Wells: "You're welcome."

And Fieri added, "I stand by my food. I stand by my team."

Click on the link for the full article

Every been to the Brazilian Steakhouse on market street? How about The House of Prime Rib?

Espetus is damn good. I think the House of Prime Rib does a pretty good job too, but I only went there once and it was years ago. Massive hunks of meat are not my thing (usually).

Massive hunks of meat are not my thing (usually).

:paranoid:

Smh at Guy Fieri's response. You expect customers to be patient with you, give you some time to get the food right? Lol, interesting business model "yeah, we know our food sucks, but hey, it's going to be better soon I promise!".

Undercover Boss or something like that?

That might be the name, I'm not sure. It's the show where the guy with the thick yankee accent watches undercover with the owner of a restaurant. As they're watching, he's telling the owner of the place what he needs to be doing to get more out of his employees. Then at the end of the show he calls all the employees in a room and drops the bomb that he and their boss have been spying on them, and that if they don't get their **** together, some heads are gonna roll.

Whoever this guy is that does the spying, he owns several restaurants of his own. Supposedly pretty high class establishments.

---------- Post added November-16th-2012 at 01:16 AM ----------

No, there's one on the Food Network or whatever. I can't think of the name of it, but the one episode I saw had a bar owner spy on a douchey bartender who she suspected giving away too many free drinks. IIRC, it's a husband and wife team that plants cameras and mics all over the place, hires talent to come in and catch the person in question.

In this particular episode, they sent two attractive girls in to flirt with him and sure enough he gave away free drink after free drink. They had the bar owner in the next building over showing her everything as it went down in real time. It was incredibly damaging to her business. Then they brought the dude in the room and busted him, it was pretty great.

Correct. It is on Food Network.

At first I was incredulous that someone dare take a shot at a legend like Guy Fieri

A man we see on TV all the time

But then I see this article by noted chef Eddie Huang which just tears apart Fieri and how he is constantly on Food Network

Quote:

This was the ill McNulty moment when Wells finally indicted all the people who've been eating off the proliferation of hot trash. It tells us anybody can get it.

He says that it's good for a critic to call trash instead of hopping on the Fieri Bandwagon

So good for him

Good for everyone for speaking their mind and starting debate

---------- Post added November-16th-2012 at 08:33 AM ----------

Guy Fieri is on the phone right now on the radio talking with his good friends and he says people should just try the food out for themselves

People are allowed to have opinions, and an elitist NYT reviewer might not like the common man food that Fieri serves to his clientele

Now I don't live in NYC so I couldn't possibly judge but I am fine with GUy Fieri, never had a problem with him at all

---------- Post added November-16th-2012 at 11:44 AM ----------

If you need an even better advertisement than that, The New York Times itself reportedly held a party for 160 people last night ... at Guy's American Kitchen and Bar.

Link

So Guy Fieri Didn't Buy The Full URL For His Restaurant's Website

But someone else did, and what they did is hilarious. Just so you know, GuysAmerican.com does not equal GuysAmericanKitchenAndBar.com.