Per Se’s Thomas Keller Says Sorry After Poor New York Times Review
Photo: Yahoo
In a rare move for a chef of his caliber, Per Se’s Thomas Keller issued a touching and humble apology to his patrons after receiving two out of four stars in a review from restaurant critic Pete Wells of the New York Times.
Wells criticized the New York City restaurant for offering lackluster dishes and sometimes spotty service at high prices (a dinner for four cost close to $3,000) and knocked the restaurant down from four to two stars.
“With each fresh review, a restaurant has to earn its stars again. In its current form and at its current price, Per Se struggled and failed to do this, ranging from respectably dull at best to disappointingly flat-footed at worst,” Wells wrote.
As some of Wells reviews tend to do, this one went viral inside and beyond the food world.
Not all chefs have shown such grace under fire.
Ahmass Fakahany and chef Michael White, who own NYC French restaurant Vaucluse, didn’t take it lightly when Wells gave their restaurant one star and described its fare as food one could “safely serve to a patient on a no-flavor diet.”
They responded with a harsh letter to Wells, accusing him of degrading the New York Times with his reviews and said he “cut corners in your haste to develop preconceived notions and to get quickly to silly childish jabs.”
Another chef, John Tesar, went so far as to ban a critic after he was awarded three out of five stars in a review. Tesar, chef of the Dallas restaurant Knife, tweeted to Dallas Morning News food critic Leslie Brenner, “F*** you! Your reviews are misleading poorly written,self serving and you have destroyed the star system and you really suck.” [sic]
And when Pete Wells issued a scathing review of Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen and Bar in New York City, he went on the Today show the very next day to declare the zero-star review ridiculous.
But Thomas Keller is a different kind of chef. He didn’t go on a Twitter rant. He didn’t book an appearance on Today. Instead, he waited for the clamor to die down and wrote a heartfelt letter to his patrons promising to do better.
To our guests:
At all of our restaurants, in our kitchens and dining rooms, we make every effort to provide you with the best possible experience. We consider it our professional responsibility to ensure that every one of you feels special and cared for. To us, it is imperative that we improve and evolve every day. We constantly examine ourselves, our menu, our service and our standards.
Regretfully, there are times when we do not meet those standards. The fact that The New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells’ dining experiences at Per Se did not live up to his expectations and to ours is greatly disappointing to me and to my team. We pride ourselves on maintaining the highest standards, but we make mistakes along the way. We are sorry we let you down.
We are not content resting on what we did yesterday. We believe we can do better for ourselves, our profession and most importantly our guests. We have the opportunity, the tools, the self-motivation and the dedication to do so.
When we fall short, we work even harder. We are confident that the next time you visit Per Se or any of our other restaurants, our team will deliver a most memorable experience.
— Thomas Keller, Chef / Proprietor
A rep for Thomas Keller Restaurant Group declined to comment to Yahoo Food.
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