Midtown Lunch

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…) Midtown Lunch operates under the assumption that most salads are a joke, so it’s hard for me to feel too bad when you get burned. That being said, these photos are kind of pathetic:

“Me and my co-workers are avid Midtownlunchers and we feel the need to vent about “Flavors”, the new spot in the Fox building on 6th between 47th and 48th. My co-worker just returned with a salad that is complete joke. The salad included 4 ingredients and cost $8, but that’s not the point. Check out the pics attached, they gave no lettuce whatsoever, its basically a half salad for $8!!! Being that we work in mid-town and are all New Yorkers, we understand what to expect when we go to lunch around here when it comes to prices, but to get half a salad and still charge full price is robbery, no wonder Flavors and Café Metro are run by the same joke company. We don’t need our names attached to anything but we wanted to vent. Thanks man and keep it up!!! PS- and the bread is stale.”

I am shocked… Flavors is owned by Cafe Metro? Hopefully this is lesson learned for everyone.

Got your own grievance you’d like to air? Feel free to email it zach@midtownlunch.com

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:

“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.

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Usually these posts are reserved for complaints about lunch spots, but just to show I am a good sport who is not immune to criticism- here’s a complaint I received yesterday in regards to my I’m-a-fat-guy-who-hates-health-food post about Recharge, the health food lunch spot opening where Good Portions used to be:

“People (like me and a lot of others) who have moderately high blood sugar levels must watch their carbs and sugar intake, lest they become diabetic. And diabetics are even worse off. Not to mention that a diet rich in carbohydrates and unrefined sugars is just simply bad for you, I’m talking about specific, necessary restrictions that are very common.

It’s not a goddamn fad, if you can get that through your wide-bodied veil of self-centrism. Some people who eat healthy food aren’t born to hippie parents and hate the taste of hamburgers, some people have no choice. And it’s fucking hard enough to find something to eat that is reasonably inexpensive, relatively tasty, and not packed with carbs/sugar, without rotund blowhards bloviating on the internet about how inconvenienced they are by one out of thousands of restaurants in NYC to offer a few menu choices that allow people with dietary restrictions to eat something that isn’t miserable or unaffordable. I’ve never heard of this place, but I assure you, you have plenty of food options available to your gaping maw.”

And then it gets personal…

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Speaking of burgers…. I guess I knew it was only a matter of time before somebody stepped up and complained about the mini-post we did a few months ago about the Ruby Tuesday Burger:

“I don’t usually feel the urge to comment on anything directly online, but I feel compelled here to make sure that everyone understands just how awful the Ruby Tuesday’s burger is. I had their triple meat burger (ooh 3 types of meats ground together!) a few months ago, or whatever they call it, it’s awful, don’t do it to yourself, it’s not worth the money! Any money! I wouldn’t eat it if it was free (that’s a lie – but I would hesitate). It was just a not-good tasting burger, not seasoned well and didn’t taste like good quality meat. Soggy bun, sad lettuce…. go anywhere else and save your taste buds!!!”

Considering that it’s Ruby Tuesday, I wouldn’t have thought this needed to be said.  But I trust A Hamburger Today when it comes to burgers, and they said it was decent.  (It has problems, but nothing that would be considered “awful”.)  Have any other lunchers subjected themselves to a Times Square tourist lunch, and want to weigh in?  Sure, Midtown Lunch is against crappy chains like this in theory- but I just want to make sure they get their fair shake.

Recently we added a Friday afternoon “Midtown Happy Hour” column, which now means we have a whole new list of places to complain about. Last friday’s review of House of Brews sparked this crazy story:

“Be wary of this place. I went there after work with my girlfriend about a year ago and the waitress scammed us. The bill came to $170. We were just drinking beer. No food. No exotic $18 a bottle beers. I questioned the waitress and said there’s no way we drank this amount of beer. She said that I drank most of them because my girlfriend only had about 4 pints. So I said, “you mean to tell me that I had between 15-20 pints of beer in 2 hours? and I’m still upright and having this conversation with you?”. She said the bill was correct because the bartender doesn’t give her beers unless she enters them in the system. I’m not sure how that justifies it…it only justified her entering extra beer on our tab to give to the group of 8 guys at a table in the back she was fawning over for free. The manager came over and said the computer system is correct and that’s what the bill was. We’ve never been back and never will go back.”

Ouch. What’s more likely? Completely trashed Midtown Lunch’er or waitress scam? You can decide for yourself… and of course, if you have a grievance to air- feel free to email it to zach@midtownlunch.com

Got this bad news about Jimmy’s Corner, one of the Midtown Happy Hours we posted about a few weeks ago:

“Thanks to some idiots, You can’t bring food into Jimmy’s any more because they were abusing Jimmy’s hospitality. Apparently Virgil’s would get so packed that you couldn’t even eat at Virgil’s bar, so people would order take-out, then go over to Jimmy’s and pig out on barbecue while using the JC facilities and only ordering a soda or asking for free water, which was wasting the JC crew’s time for almost no money (How much do you tip on free water?). They’ve since rescinded their policy of allowing food, with no exceptions. Thanks to the idiots for abusing the system and causing Jimmy’s fans to pay the price. It’s only $3 for a bud or $4 for whiskey/bourbon on the rocks, and you can’t throw them some real money?”

Another reason to hate tourists. And Times Square. And Virgil’s. And Times Square jerks who eat at Virgil’s.

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…)

I’ve got a beef with the Five Guys on 55th St. (btw. 5+6th). My beef is pretty simple: It’s the worst Five Guys I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to a lot of Five Guys (DC, Philly, two different ones in DE, the one by my apartment in Park Slope). Simply put every time I’ve been there they’ve managed screw something up.

When they were first opening my office faxed an order in and when I came to pick it up the manager claimed the fax machine wasn’t turned on. I said that wasn’t possible because our machine clearly said it went through. He agreed to go look and low and behold came back with our order. While I was then waiting to have them prepare it, someone else came in to pick up a faxed order and he told them the exact same lie he told me. Since then I’ve been there a few times and each time they find a way to screw up my order (no bacon, wrong toppings, missing 2nd patty for the regular burger!).

But wait… there’s more.

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Thought you would be interested: I met up with a friend today for lunch and based on your posting decided to check out the Obika takeout counter. Not only did they break their promise of being prepared today but they seemed to have done worse than yesterday: they apparently ran out of sandwiches at around 11am! (we arrived at 12:30) Is this some scam to get more people to eat at the sit-down area? These guys are not going to be in business very long by selling croissants for lunch. -Mike A.

*Sigh*  Has anybody actually gotten to try these elusive takeout sandwiches?

I am all for giving readers a forum to complain about restaurants.  But if a restaurant wants to complain, I don’t have a problem with that.  Yesterday, this comment was posted by the owner of Yushi- a hip Japanese take out place on that I’ve written about twice since it opened.  The first time, I complained that while the food was clearly healthy, it was not filling enough for the price (i.e. I’m fat and need a lot of food.)  The second time, I was a little more gracious… admitting that the place didn’t entirely suck.  The owner chose to respond to my second post:

Mr Midtown Lunch,

I have only just seen your July 17th comments, i’m not even sure owners are mean’t to write here but what the hell. You initially said we were too expensive when we opened, FYI:

1. We haven’t raised prices in a year, unlike the rest of the world, even though rice has doubled in price, tuna is up 30% and salmon 25% etc

2. We set up My Yushi, it’s like a coffee card for sushi, basically a 10% discount without all the hassle usually associated with this kind of thing, you should try it

But wait, there’s more…  Read more »

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…)

“I just went to Cafe Duke yesterday and I bought a mini black forest cake for $5.50!! I went home and wanted to surprise my husband with a little cake for dessert and what happens?? We bit into the cake and it tasted like sour bleach! The whole cake layer inside was alive with greyish blue mold! Needless to say, it not only ruined my evening but it spoiled my appetite for anything Duke in the future!!”

Ooops. Not sure if this was the Cafe Duke on 51st btw. 6+7th (which is one of the few generic Midtown delis I will eat in) or the one down on Broadway and 41st, but either way, it may be a good idea to stay away from their baked goods. If you’re headed to the one on 51st, stick to the by the lb. buffet, and the Korean food in the back left hand corner.

After the jump, a Tad’s complaint you knew would come eventually… Read more »