This is your permission slip to stop chasing fine dining – because it’s just fine. Here, we’ll face places with overdressed rooms, tight tables, and enough hype to propagate propaganda accusations. Each of these places might seem to have plenty of fans, but then again, so does Taylor Swift.
Carbone is still the celebrity red-sauce cathedral. Lifestyle outlets write about this place like its pasta is an NYC rite of passage. It’s not.
Read enough firsthand complaints and you start seeing the same words: overpriced, overhyped, basic, “not worth the circus.”
Via Carota gets framed as the cozy West Village Italian ideal and has plenty of critics swearing with hands raised that the wait is worth it. Here’s what they don’t tell you: the wait is literally part of the mythology.
Food always tastes a lot better when you’re starving, doesn’t it?.
Don Angie’s pinwheel lasagna is nothing short of a disappointment in person. Even Eater has reported on the “viral” effect and the demand it drives.
The problem here is: viral dishes only photograph like a dream (sandwiches especially - but that’s a different article).
EMP is objectively elite on paper. Michelin Guide lists it at three stars.
Just like Beyoncé in 2015, EMP’s vegan-era pivot (and reversal) caused public upheaval. Despite having more dietary choices, plenty walk out disappointed.
The honest online forums of NYC have spoken: Give Resy a rest-y.
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