Despite the critics, some New York restaurants torn by reviews, are still a buzzing destination for tourists and locals.
‘Unappealing.” “Undistinguished.”
“Better suited to coal mining than supping.”
Hardly the kind of reviews a restaurant wants to hear. And yet, despite the critics, Ninja New York – pummeled by a scathing critique from the New York Times’ Frank Bruni in October 2005 – is still a buzzing destination for tourists and locals.
“We are very, very busy,” says Ninja owner Haruo Yazaki, through a Japanese translator. He acknowledges Bruni’s brutal review initially hurt business and forced him to make improvements in service, food quality and prices. But those changes, paired with publicity from the write-up, lured a flood of customers. “I believe that [review] was a good thing for us,” he says.
