Keith McNally, the provocative restaurateur behind Manhattan restaurants Pastis, Minetta Tavern, and Balthazar, appears to have banned British comedian James Corden from the latter restaurant for mistreating its workers over multiple visits. The alleged incidents, which surfaced in an Instagram post shared by McNally on Monday, involve Corden yelling at servers and demanding free drinks from the French bistro’s staff.
In the post, McNally claims that Corden has been “86’d,” a term used to indicate that a dish is no longer available or a customer is being denied service. “James Corden is a Hugely [sic] gifted comedian, but a tiny Cretin [sic] of a man,” McNally shared in the post. “And the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.”
McNally recounted an incident in June, when Corden allegedly found a hair in his meal and demanded, “another round of drinks this second,” threatening to write “nasty reviews” of the restaurant online. During a separate incident at Balthazar in October, the comedian began “yelling like crazy” after finding traces of egg white in his wife Julia Carey’s “egg yolk omelette with gruyere cheese,” McNally claims.
“You can’t do your job,” Corden allegedly yelled at staff during the October incident. “Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelette myself!’” McNally claims the comedian “behaved similarly” at Cafe Luxembourg, the Upper West Side restaurant he opened in 1983 and has since stepped away from.
Eater has contacted Corden’s publicist and representative for more information.
Since joining Instagram roughly two years ago, McNally has become known for his unconventional and at times problematic social media presence. The restaurateur is an outspoken defender of Woody Allen, the director accused but not charged of child abuse by daughter Dylan Farrow, and recently praised Roman Polansky, a separate director who was arrested and charged with statutory rape in 1979.
This is a developing story and Eater will continue to update this post with more information.
