Airing of Grievances: End of the Year Blowout Edition

I try my best not to be too negative on this site, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to vent. Every once in awhile I’ll share some of the more angry useful emails I get in a post called “Airing of Grievances”. (If the Eater Complaints Dept. would like royalties, I’ll be happy to pay up…)  You would think during the holidays, the complaining would be reduced… and yet here we are.  Here are the final complaints of 2008 in one big blowout post:

West Tandoori Club is Now Touch of India

Touch of India sucks, it shouldn’t even be included in the best buffet under $11 poll. I went yesterday for their lunch buffet because one of my friends loves goat. Well the goat was super salty, not to mention the chicken tandoori, their only other meat dish. The non-meat dishes included some mixture of potatotes, peppers, onions, etc. Actually, I’m not even sure what I ate but it tasted mediocre. Touch of India’s only saving grace would be their fruit salad. It is a sweet (no pun intended) mixture of fruit pieces and what seems to be yogurt. -Dennis”

Can’t really argue with that… when I ate at Touch of India I was less than impressed. Now on to the cupcakes…

“I was on my way back to work from lunch at decided to pick up a cupcake at Crumbs on 42nd St. (btw. 5+6th). While browsing the cupcakes in the fridge I noticed a fly flying around inside the fridge. I told the lady at the counter and her response was a simple ” I know”. I asked her if she was planning on doing something about it like gee I don’t know maybe opening the fridge door to let the fly out. She said there was nothing she can do about it. I asked her for cooperates number which got the other 2 employees in the store involved. All three of them thought I was nuts for making an issue of this.”

That’s not the end of it… more on Crumbs, plus bad Vegetarian food, and “Doc Chuck” after the jump.

“(Crumbs cont.) I’m not that guy who makes a huge issue about germs. Heck, I still follow the 5 second rule. What bothered me more than anything was their lack of interest and the fact that they wont even put up an act of shock and/or disbelief when I brought it to their attention. If they don’t mind the customer seeing flies flying around in the fridge it makes you think what else might be going on in the back that doesn’t bother them. -David”

If I saw flies at, say, my favorite chinese food restaurant I probably wouldn’t complain- so it would be hypocritical of me to say anything about flies at a cupcake bakery (as much as I love complaining about cupcakes.) Speaking of things people like to complain about… here’s one about vegetarian food- but it’s from a vegetarian (as opposed to one of the many vegetarian haters who read the site.)

“Terrible. I hate Uncle Marky’s Organics (on 53rd btw. 2+3rd). This is the worst vegetarian/vegan place I have ordered from and I have been a vegetarian since I was six years old. Bottom line, you get barely anything for the ridiculously high prices. The customer and delivery service contributes to the overall horrible quality of this place. The delivery guy could not speak a word of English, which wouldn’t bother me so much if he could find the location to deliver the food, which he couldn’t, nor could he really explain himself. I received a tiny portion which took me under 5 minutes to eat; it cost $15 but could barely be counted as an appetizer, SERIOUSLY. I am not exaggerating. I don’t even eat huge portions but this could not be considered a meal. Also, the menus online for this place are not always accurately price, so beware. I would simply avoid this place forever.”

And finally… this one doesn’t have to do with food- but it’s still a complaint, and shouldn’t go unheard.

“I’m a big fan of your site. However, these people such as “DocChuck” who post non-sensical, unrelated comments really take away from it. I know you have a day job and can’t monitor the site 24/7, but I think I speak for a lot of your readers when I ask that you delete his posts. RudyMcBagel is only marginally better. Part of the fun of the comments is sometimes they venture off track a little bit, and the snarkiness towards the Tuesday guest is part of blogging in NY, but DocChuck’s posts are just wasted bandwidth. Obviously we can all ignore him but why give this guy his jollies? Thanks. Keep up the great work and happy holidays. -Eric”

(Actually, for those who didn’t know- this is my day job now… so I won’t use that as an excuse.)  Thoughts?

Or have you got a grievance you’d like to air?  Email it to zach@midtownlunch.com

39 Comments

  • My grievance, well, not really a grievance, more of a, what the heck happened with the Murry’s create a sandwich dealie? Did they pick a winner from anywhere?

  • The barrage of comments poking fun at the tuesday profile is always the worst.

  • I totally agree with the Doc Chuck complaint-I come here to find comments on food reviews and often find nonsense posts that are completely unrelated. It’s one thing to make a joke-but these guys take it too far. It’s a complete waste of bandwidth. Freedom of speech…

  • Tuesday Freak is the best bit.

    ….and what all this ‘commenting on food’?

  • Can DocChuck already!

  • Please ban the bad Dr. He poisons every food blog around and really makes it a difficult to read the good things in comments, like other recommendations.

  • Once I got a wrap from Uncle Marky’s that had a little caterpillar among the lettuce. I stopped ordering from there after that.

    Good Health Burger is now my go-to for reasonably healthy options that are still pretty tasty.

  • You do realize that OUR “doc” is not the REAL “doc” — as in not Charles Treuter — don’t you?

    It’s someone posing as him.

    Frankly, IMO he’s one of the best things about this site.

  • Zach, nice touch running a DocChuck piece with what looks like the good Doc’s blow-up doll in the Touch Of India photo on the left. Excellent thematic linkage

    Next we need a post/pic of that nutty little hamster

  • Can’t lie, Zach–normally I like characters in blog comments, but DC is just plain offputting. I read this blog regularly, but I always hesitate to recommend it for fear that the first post my friend will read will have forty comments about VD and blow-up dolls.

  • Absolutely agree on being put off by DC. Makes me much less likely to read the comments and even click through to full posts. I have been wondering if anyone has written/could write a greasemonkey script to remove his comments from view – even thought about figuring out how to write one myself but it’s easier to just read less Midtown Lunch, sadly.

  • I come to this site for the enthusiastic food writing and commentary, even though I don’t even live in NYC. All DocChuck does is complain that the food presented herein is terrible, poisonous, and/or disease ridden. His only interests, as I see it, is to disrupt this blog (and others like it) and to bring attention to himself, his ridiculous fabricated life story, and his various myspace\facebook\etcetc pages. He is a troll of the worst kind and should be ipbanned if possible, and his posts summarily and quickly removed if not. Dozens of other food websites/blogs have already made such a move.

  • Sadly, I’m with what seems to be everybody else on the DocChuck/Rudy McBagel question. I suppose it’d be different if they were actually, you know, funny rather than tedious, but this sadly isn’t the case.

    I tend to get sort of excited when I see that a post has lots of comments, thinking that means there’s a lot of feedback when it comes to the quality of a Midtown Lunching place. But half the time it turns out to be irrelevant BS from people who think they’re funny to people other than themselves.

  • Oh come on people. Jebus. Let’s not mention Rudy and D in the same line. Half the time Rudy is trying to put D in his place and that can be pretty funny. Secondly, the comments and poking fun of each other is part of how that website gained and built its strong following. I’d be bored stiff if we moderated comments and probably would not be checking this website obsessively all day anymore to see what someone posted.

    Seems like a lot of people are much too uber-sensitive. Get some perspective people! IT IS JUST THE INTERNETS, the Doc is amusing in his crazy way, as is all the other weird variations of him that come on board. Quit taking things so seriously. You act like you’ve never read any blogs in your life. Hello? Brownstoner/Gawker/Curbed… you name it, have MUCH worse comments. It’s New York, grow some already.

  • Bah! DocChuck shouldn’t be banished Zach- but perish the thought, instead! This poster (oddly AWOL from these comments as I write) make this site the breath of fresh air from family-friendly joints like SE where the gestapo color the world a rosy pink. Fuck that (to make my point).

    If anything, DocChuck should be the next profiled Midtown Lunch’er- just compile his answers based on his prolific posts! Grab a random pic from Google Images and we can all revel in the duality of human nature that compels us to absorb and respond to his twisted sense of humor; and, we’ll all get our jollies poking fun at the first Midtown Lunch celeb (after you, that is).

    And I’d just like to submit an official grievance about all the grieving on the site today. It’s the end of the year for christ’s sake- can’t we celebrate the winners in lieu of lamenting the many losers from 2008?

  • I’d like to complain about all the sourpusses trying to suck the fun out of this site. I love McBagel and the ‘Doc’. So what if it’s ‘wasted bandwidth’? Are you paying by the # of characters displayed on the screen? Just ignore them if you don’t like them.

  • Remember when they complained about Zach posting too many personal opinions with his reviews and should keep it about food??

  • Gonna second what Mamacita is saying. Even though personally Rudy’s humor sometimes makes references I don’t get so I miss them completely, the other half of the time it’s great.

    The Tuesday Profiler comments section is just… outta control. I love it. I know some people really dislike the snarky nature of the comments. I think the people who volunteer to be profiled know what’s up. Let’s give them a little credit here. Ok, occasionally they get all up in a tiffy about people being mean and sometimes Zach has to step in to check our language.

    Having real people talk about food and what they like around midtown is pretty cool. And if it’s one of those weeks and it’s some person hawking their own product, then you know what?

    WE SHOULD RIP ‘EM TO SHREADS. That’s how it should go. But then they’ll offer a free book or some shit and we forget it and then just comment wildly. Psssssh.

    I like the system we have now. Doc is an annoyance but one that I can live with. The great thing about that nutbag is that no matter how bad your day is going, no matter how asshole-ish your boss is, and no matter how much your 401k is being battered by those ponzi-scheme finance motherfuckers, you can still take solace in the fact that you, midtown lunch reader, are not as fucked in the head as some dude who wants to call himself “doc” and your significant other is not a fucking blowup doll. So yea. Keep him around. We can all use some perspective.

  • Wah! People are hiding behind internet personas! wah! not fair!!! Not fair! Ban them! String them up by their balls! We should throw rikshaw dumplings at them all! and forcefeed them watermelon juice and health food! Then make them pay for a midtown lunch buffet for all readers at Danku!

  • Whatever, guys. The informal, snarky nature of ML has always been fine with me, and I have nothing against the McBagel. I just like funny stuff to be funny, rather than epic 20-post rehashes of the same gross joke over and over and over and over again. Does it “cost” me anything? Nothing but my time. Does it make me a little less likely to click through to read comments? Actually, yeah–the more comments I see, the more likely it is that it’s a DC-fest. Should Zach care? Well…see his above comment about ML being his day job now. Comment diarrhea may cause a temporary spike in traffic, but in the end the lunatic anons get tired of it and wander off to the next sensation, and meanwhile people who like the substance of the site have given up. I like ML and want it to be around forever!

Leave a Reply

You must log in or register to post a comment.