Ouch! Cat Cora’s New Southern Restaurant in NYC Just Got Roasted in a Review

We’ve got a real love/hate relationship with harsh restaurant reviews. The hate comes from the fact that we like to think of ourselves as decent folk who don’t support tearing down someone else’s hard work for a laugh.

But the love comes from the fact that they’re so damn fun to read.

Is it a little twisted? Maybe. But when someone compares a dish to “eating a condom that’s been left lying about in a dusty greengrocer,” we can’t help but chuckle. It’s a strange, conflicting subject.

All this is to say we’ve found another bad restaurant review to share with you—and this time it features a celebrity chef.

Robert Sietsema took to Eater to share his review of the newly opened Fatbird Southern Kitchen & Bar, a NYC restaurant from Cat Cora, the celebrity chef known for her appearances on Iron Chef America and My Kitchen Rules—and let’s just say he was less than impressed.

He describes the chicken dish by saying it was “massive, with swollen breasts, mushy and unevenly applied bread and no crisp skin. The flesh was virtually flavorless.” The grilled oysters were "repulsive, rubbery and spilling over with brownish 'chipotle garlic butter' which tasted like none of those ingredients."

Now it’s important to note that Chef Cora was not actually present at the restaurant during Sietsema’s meal; however the evening’s problems seemed to go well beyond the preparation of food.

When trying to order chicken and waffles, Sietsema was told by a waiter that the waffles "hadn’t arrived yet." ("We suppressed an impulse to ask, 'Where do you expect them to come from if you don’t make them here?'" Sietsema wrote.) When trying to order an Arnold Palmer version of a jello shot for $6, his companion was told the restaurant didn’t have that yet either. When said companion then ordered a pilsner, she was brought an IPA instead.

Sietsema’s own drink was accidentally made with salt instead of sugar, so you can imagine how that was received. (He spit it out.)

Suffice to say, it was not a great night for the diner and his guest. Read the full review here to get the scoop. It sounds like Cat Cora and her restaurant staff have at least a few problems they need to work out—before guests start to fly the coop.