Celebrity chef Guy Fieri has always been known for his in-your-face personality, spiky blonde hair and back-of-the-head sunglasses. Now, he has a new notoriety – thanks to an unflattering restaurant review – and he’s firing back at the food critic who dug into him with a sharpened knife and fork.
“Guy Fieri, have you eaten at your new restaurant in Times Square?” the savage review by Pete Wells in the New York Times began. “Did you eat the food? Did it live up to your expectations?”
Worded entirely with questions, Wells’ review entitled “As Not Seen On TV” is as hilarious as it is uniquely effective in portraying the tone of someone who just ate a meal they did not enjoy.
“What exactly about a small salad with four or five miniature croutons makes Guy’s Famous Big Bite Caesar (a) big (b) famous or (c) Guy’s, in any meaningful sense?” he asked. “By the way, would you let our server know that when we asked for chai, he brought us a cup of hot water? When you hung that sign by the entrance that says, WELCOME TO FLAVOR TOWN!, were you just messing with our heads?”
For his part, the colorful “Diners. Drive-Ins and Dives” host stuck up for his newest restaurant, a 500-seat eatery called Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar. “I just thought it was ridiculous,” Fieri said this morning on The Today Show. “I mean, I’ve read reviews. There’s good and bad in the restaurant business. But that, to me, went so overboard, it really seemed like there was another agenda. The tone, the sarcasm, the question style.”
The 10th highest-paid chef in America, Fieri’s rise over the past few years has been meteoric – and in the eyes of at least one critic, it seems to be time for a takedown. People are already calling Wells’ article the worst restaurant review in the history of the esteemed newspaper.
“It’s a great way to make a name for yourself,” Fieri shot back. “Go after a celebrity chef, who’s not a New Yorker, that’s doing a big concept and is in his second month.”
“I think we all know what’s going on here; he came in with a different agenda,” Fieri shot back. “Do we do it perfect? No. Are we striving to do it perfect? Yes. That’s what we’re all doing in the business.”
Ultimately, there’s only one way to know who is right in this matter: Take your tastebuds over to Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar next time you’re in Times Square – depending on who you believe, you might just have one of the best or worst dining experiences of your life.