http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/di...tml?ref=dining

Now tell us how you really feel! I will be interesting to see how the restaurant fares. Often ,these kind of places, in a tourist laden hotspot like Times Square rely on single visits from people who are drawn in by the name alone. Time will tell.

This was a big deal on Today, but I missed most of it -- including the visit by Savannah with Guy at the restaurant.

I honestly think from reading the review -- the critic saw a chance to grind an axe about "low class TV chefs" as much of what he said simply ran down the "diners, drive-ins, and dives" types of places which Guy does his show about. The critic went four times, and I find it hard to believe that he wasn't going looking for things he could really make fun of each time.

And let's face it -- Guy was looking for a Times Square tourist audience -- not attempting to attract New York's finest diners. Sounds like he might succeed at what he was attempting.

There are quite a few places in that neighborhood that are shunned by locals but that still manage to pack in the diners, so who knows.

Review of same restaurtant, in NYpost:

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainmen...zqTXWiqWK4SpdK



I meant to post this on the USA board (thought I did that...); hopefully the moderators will move it to the proper board.

I herd about this on the news last night, thanks for posting the link! The worst reviews are always the most amusing.

Neo, I disagree with what seems to be your premise, that a "tourist audience" either deserves bad service (many examples of missing food, failure to clear tables, and indifferent responses to questions), or bad food, or both, or won't know the difference. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting what you meant by "And let's face it -- Guy was looking for a Times Square tourist audience -- not attempting to attract New York's finest diners." Certainly I wouldn't expect a fine dining experience from such a place, but I would expect competent execution, such as one would find at most chain restaurants around the country. My point is that I see a difference between dull-but-acceptable and outright cynically bad.

Sorry, want to add that the real problem with places like this is that most people--tourists--go only once. So even if they hate it, staying open and profitable is like shooting fish in a barrel because word-of-mouth is mostly moot. Perhaps that's why this critic decided to shout his disgust to the rooftops, in an effort to reach every ear.

500 seat restaurant? I doubt the local elementary school serves that many people throughout the day. With about 5 or 6 table turns of the day, there is no way to have any quality control at that level of customer. Does anyone know what was in the space before this restaurant?

I wouldn't go there for a couple of reasons.

First, I dislike huge restaurants, I'd rather eat at a small place.

Second, as much as I don’t mind Guy because I stop on his show every now and then, I wouldn’t want to eat anywhere that he could be in the kitchen. He’s always got his fat little fingers in the food. It grosses me out.

Third, it looks noisy.

would his fingers gross you out less if they weren't fat?

"Neo, I disagree with what seems to be your premise, that a "tourist audience" either deserves bad service (many examples of missing food, failure to clear tables, and indifferent responses to questions), or bad food, or both, or won't know the difference."

Yes, you DID totally misunderstand my post. I was not saying or suggested that any of those shortcomings should or would be present in such a place. I guess I'm thinking more like "would you review Virgil's BarBQ the same way you would Le Bernadin"? I only meant that Guy's restaurant is probably just what he means it to be -- a great place to go for "good" diner type popular foods, not a gourmet dining experience. And clearly I only meant that his locating it IN Times Square is surely to capture HIS audience, the millions of tourists who know him and would appreciate that type of food. I am proud to be a tourist when I travel and I do not run down tourists for being uneducated and uncouth "bums" as some people here do.

Those who know me here, know that I am one who generally scolds those who write off everything touristy or everything located near Times Square as being bad. So clearly, I have not joined THOSE ranks!

http://www.johnnygarlics.com/index.p...113&Itemid=235

I've eaten at his Johnny Garlic restaurant in Santa Rosa. It was small, food good and a lot of fun.

much of what he said simply ran down the "diners, drive-ins, and dives" types of places which Guy does his show about.

That wasn't the impression I got from the review. My sense of what Pete Wells was saying was that it's possible to do that type of food well, but Fieri's restaurant is doing it poorly. For example:

When you cruise around the country for your show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” rasping out slangy odes to the unfancy places where Americans like to get down and greasy, do you really mean it?

Or is it all an act? Is that why the kind of cooking you celebrate on television is treated with so little respect at Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar?