Tuesday, November 01, 2011

EVIL HIPPIE OCCUPIERS FORCE PEOPLE NOT TO ORDER CRAPPY FOOD FOR LUNCH

This story has a lot of right-wingers whining:

Cafe Laid Off 21 Workers Because of Occupy Wall Street, Owner Says

Twenty-one restaurant workers lost their jobs last week because of the Occupy Wall Street protests, the cafe owner said Tuesday.

Marc Epstein, owner of the Milk Street Cafe at 40 Wall St., said he had no choice but to let nearly a quarter of his staff go last Friday after he saw his sales drop by 30 percent in the six weeks since the protests started.

"What are [the protesters] trying to accomplish here?" Epstein asked Monday. "The end result is that I and all the wonderful people who work for me are collateral damage."

... Epstein just opened the 23,000-square-foot Milk Street Cafe in June, marking the first expansion of the eatery and catering business with the same name that he and his wife opened in Boston 30 years ago....


Yup, it's all OWS's fault -- it can't possibly be the fact that maybe Epstein misjudged the revenue he'd make from the restaurant he opened five months ago, especially when it gets reviews like these found on Yelp:

Eww. Live close by, so I decided to stop in to pick something up for dinner. The manager (?) couldn't really tell me what was gluten free, as they only know this info for the catering menu, which is pretty unacceptable. Got the rotisserie chicken, green beans, and garlic mashed potatoes. The food had obviously been sitting there for a long time. The chicken probably would have been decent if it hadn't been so old. The green beans were cooked in a really salty broth and were cold. The mashed potatoes were all around foul....

****

Let me be blunt. This establishment provided me with the worst lunch I have ever eaten in the Financial District. The turkey for my sandwich was pre-sliced and pre-portioned, then kept covered in a steam tray so that it was dried out and had no taste. My co-worker ordered the beef brisket sandwich and the portion of beef was so small that it was dwarfed by the bread. And the BBQ sauce for the brisket sandwich could not be dispensed as the sauce in the tip of the squeeze bottle had hardened.

Obviously there is more on the menu than sandwiches, but based on the overpriced, subpar food that was served, no one from my office will go back. You can get better food for much less $$$. Based on how empty the seats were, this place will either improve, lower its prices or fail soon.

****

The only 2 things that were a somewhat value (and that I can justify purchasing) at this excuse for a restaurant were the Sloppy Joe and Griddled Chilli Dog, both $4.95. This morning, walking behind the building, a lady gives me a $2.00 off $4.00 dollar purchase coupon. I figured $2.95 for a sloppy joe, why not? ... Guess what? They changed the price on both items to $6.95, thus negating the coupon. Good luck getting anything else there for less than $5.00. $7.50 for an egg sandwhich?!?!? I can get the same thing in Penn Station for $.99 cents....

****

This place gets two stars because 1. its wayyyy to expensive for a casual lunch place; 2. it's always too crowded and overwhelming; and 3. their coffee is terrible. Milk Street Cafe happens to be directly under my bldg, so I go there more often than I would to for a quick lunch. The food is decent but its nothing special. Also, a normal sandwich and drink will run you close to $15....

****

Came in for breakfast before a hectic day. $7.50 for an egg sandwich? I get the bialy for $1.25 with butter. Oh, of course butter costs $0.75 extra! The bialy and butter were tasteless- was the butter unsalted? Afterward I felt gross, since it was drenched in the useless fat. Oh, and saying you're dining in doesn't matter, they still hand you your sandwich in unappetizing foil.

****

BIGGEST RIP OFF ON WALL STREET!!!

Stopped in to pick up a sandwich for lunch. I asked for whole wheat bread, they didn't have it, so I opted for turkey salad on rye bread. The turkey tasted manufactured & the bread was stale!!! All for $12, are you kidding???? DO NOT go to this place.

****

... Everything was nasty. Clearly, the money went into making the place look "Wall Street", which is undoubtedly does. Everything is nice and shiny and it's a big space. To me, that doesn't matter if the food sucks... especially since I had no intention of dining in.

The chicken was really, really dry. The mashed- also dry. The gravy..watery (which went on the chicken, not the mashed, by the way) and the string beans really, really greasy. And a bit bitter with all cloves of garlic mixed in.

... This meal undoubtedly gave me a low level of food poisoning, hence the real reason why I am writing this review. I know what it feels like..I've had it before. I felt like shit eating it, and I feel like shit now. Don't even try to argue with me... I felt it when I was eating it; that something didn't taste right/wasn't settling well in my stomach....

Lots to offer.. but I don't think any of the other stuff looked any good. The pizza/sandwiches looked very cheap and processed. I wouldn't even TOUCH their Asian food....


In case you're wondering about possible OWS sabotage of this restaurant's Yelp page, all but the last of these reviews were posted before the occupation started.

(Oh, and I'm going to ignore the fact that Mr. Epstein's two recorded federal campaign contributions are to John McCain and Joe Lieberman.)

The guy opened a lunch place that's huge by Manhattan standards (commercial real estate here still costs a king's ransom per square foot by comparison with the rest of America), and then he serves overpriced, underwhelming food -- but the layoffs are all OWS's fault. Yeah, right.

4 comments:

The Kenosha Kid said...

2 blocks down and 2 blocks over from Zucotti Park. May as well be in Montana.

Unknown said...

nice new look, steve! me likee!

c u n d gulag said...

Yeah, it's OWS's fault you didn't know your market, got too big a space, and make shitty high-priced food.

I lived an worked in NYC for years. And you can charge a hefty price for a meal. BUT IT BETTER BE GOOD!

You wanna charge $15-20 for lunch?
No biggie!
But you need to appeal not just to the corner office crowd, but the assistants and low level folks who look at your place as a destination place for a special meal. And for that money, the ambiance and food had better be good.

Rule of thumb, Mr. Epstein - if there are little bodega's or kosher deli's down the block that make nice fresh Boarshead or Thumann's sandwiches which are bigger, and less than 1/2 the price, you might be in trouble.

But, I suppose it's nice to have an excuse for failure like the OWS protesters, and not look into a mirror and what was occupying your mind when you decided to rent that huge space to make shitty food at prices no one wants to pay?
I think, Mr. Epstein, you know the definition of putz. If not, look in the mirror!

jazz lover said...

this was a news article in the NY post this morning. i was reading it over some woman's shoulder (rude, i know) and chuckling (also rude) on my way to work this morning.