The Worst Restaurants in NY

[Dyna Moe]

I can't cook. None of my appliances work anyway. I eat at restaurants every day. I'm also always broke, so I get particularly irritated when I get ripped off by shitty food.

As a personal reminder to myself as well as a cautionary advisory to other people, I want to issue warnings against eating at the following eateries. Feel free to add your own.

(I'm only listing meals that I thought were totally inedible, not merely mediocre or slightly bad.)

*United Noodles/ Thai
349 E. 12th St.
Offender: (Takeout) - Shrimp Roll, Pad Thai, Basil Chicken

At first it seemed disappointly un-spiced, then distinctly rancid notes were detected. Chicken was overcooked, rubberly and full of tendony-hard-bits. Shrimp rolls were 90% cabbage. Insult to Injury - Every entree was a dollar more than comperable Thai places in the neighborhood, appetizer was $5 for 3 tiny rolls.

*Cremecafe/ Italian
65 2nd Ave
Offender: (in Restaurant) - Penne with Vodka Sauce, Margheritta Pizza

Obviously microwaved cafeteria-quality food, even the pasta. $10 individual pizza was indistinguishable from the generic brand heat-n-serve pizzas from the grocery story. Also the service at dinner time was slower than the (horrible) service at Sidewalk Cafe at 2 AM

[R and R]

Many years ago I got a take-out cheeseburger from the Moondance Diner, corner of 6th Avenue and Grand St.
Despite its fame for being the long-time employer of Jonathan Larson (who wrote Rent) the food was literally inedible. I am fairly sure the meat was rancid and the fries were so soggy and had a tinge of the rancid meat taste. I would not advise eating there if you value your health....

[MarkOn10th]

I got food poisoning from a chicken burrito at Señor Swankys on the upper west side. After a day at home spent entirely in the bathroom, I was hospitalized for two additional days at NYU Hospital.

Gracias Señor!

[Mofo1016]

The Senor Swanky's in NoHo isn't much to sing about either.

Saporro's on 12th & 1st. Very expensive Japanese cusine that taste like cardboard and the sushi isn't fresh. Bad choice.

[El Jefe]

Many years ago I got a take-out cheeseburger from the Moondance Diner, corner of 6th Avenue and Grand St.
Despite its fame for being the long-time employer of Jonathan Larson (who wrote Rent) the food was literally inedible. I am fairly sure the meat was rancid and the fries were so soggy and had a tinge of the rancid meat taste. I would not advise eating there if you value your health.... That's too bad. I used to eat there pretty often when I worked down there. I thought it was pretty good. They make good chocolate milkshakes.

Don't order takeout from City Lighting in Brooklyn. Terrible burger, dry salmon, nasty onion rings, soggy fries, wilted salad. Boo.

[Stanny!]

I complained about this about a month ago, but Purity Diner on 7th Ave in Park Slope made me throw up in the neighborhood of a dozen times.

[M. Weinachten]

I complained about this about a month ago, but Purity Diner on 7th Ave in Park Slope made me throw up in the neighborhood of a dozen times.

How's the rent in that neighborhood?

[GoldDustWoman]

Tennessee Mountain "Barbecue" Restaurant on Spring Street, where they sat my friend and I over the giant smoking pit of festering sauce and meat (and where you could see into the filthy kitchen that the smoldering pit kept at likely a too-high temperature), sent my friend and I to food poisoning hell. We weren't sure where we tasted the sour ickiness first, from the shredded funny-tasting meat that even the smoke couldn't hide, or the warmish sides that came with (things like cole slaw that shouldn't be warm, for sure).

[M. Weinachten]

Oh, Andy "Hotmail Sucks" Dickerson got food poisoning at Bereket.

[GoldDustWoman]

My friend (who got FP at the above mentioned place) also got FP at Veselka many times. Maybe I need a new dining companion.

I personally think Veselka belongs on the "Most Overrated" NY Restaurants thread, if there was such a thing.

[Moges]

I complained about this about a month ago, but Purity Diner on 7th Ave in Park Slope made me throw up in the neighborhood of a dozen times.

I used to eat at Purity a lot a couple of years ago...maybe it's gone downhill, 'cause I loved it.

Here's a reason why I will never go to the Upper East Side again -- Googie's Diner. I ordered linguine with clam sauce (I suppose I was asking for trouble), and the clams literally tasted like doodie smells. When I sent it back to the kitchen, they gave me another order, and again, BAD BAD clams. So I just asked for regular spaghetti marinara. Not so good, but edible. When my waiter tried to charge me for BOTH bad clam dishes, I objected, and got into an argument with the GM which resulted in her calling me an asshole in front of the entire restaurant. If not eating doodie-clams makes you an asshole, then I am grateful to be one.

[GoldDustWoman]

Tea and Sympathy on Greenwich Street served me tea sandwiches, one of which had a layer of crispy broken glass (blue) in it. (A shelf of blue glass bottles had one conspicuously missing). When I tried to complain, and get it removed from the bill, the snooty British (not to cast aspersions on an entire culture) owner told me "Oh, that's not so very much glass on there" and refused. I won't go to "A Salt and Battery" because the same bitches own it.

[Fancy]

I disagree on Veselka and Tea and Sympathy, two of my favorite places. But I will second Googie's and raise you a Dojo's. I call it "No-jo's."

[jezebell]

I'm so glad someone else feels my pain over a similar United Noodles take-out incident. Horrible, Bad, rip off...

[PatBaer]

I can't remember the name of the place (I will edit soon), but it's the Chinese place on the corner of 6th AVE and 27th st IS AWFUL!!!!!!!

Rice wasn't cooked, beef made me sick... and I never get sick.

[justjarret]

fresh basil on lexington somewhere near 57th st. it was the crappiest meal that i have had in YEARS, and I used to work at Pizzeria Uno. worse then airplane food. don't go there.

[Ute Giddeon]

HoJos is Times Square is horrible. They can't get anything right. And they're overpriced. I always feel buyers remorse after I go.

My friends like it (and I love the atmosphere), so I always go back, thinking "Surely I can find something on the menu" or "How bad can they screw up a hamburger?" But it always sucks.

[pickle jar]

People, let me turn you on to this:

Shameless Restaurants (http://www.shamelessrestaurants.com)


but ain't nobody taking away my Veselka.

[qnarf]

the moonstruck diner on the les made me sick in the middle of a show.

[Shannon Manning]

oh my god, howard johnson, yes. I thought I had nothing to contribute to this thread because I don't have many food preferences that don't involve desserts.

I used to coach some wonderful drinkers near it and were lured in by the false promise of decanters of Manhattans on the sign. We repeatedly attempted to order something edible and always failed. It got to be a thing with us. Seriously, not even nachos are edible. Some weird cheezewhiz paste unmelted in globs on top. And if i remember, they were about $12. Ugh. Nothing is edible. Nothing. Except the pretzels at the bar. And no decanters, sigh.

It's the last hojo restaurant in the world. There's a reason for that!

[PhantomGlennis]

[QUOTE=R and R]Many years ago I got a take-out cheeseburger from the Moondance Diner, corner of 6th Avenue and Grand St.[QUOTE]

Oh me too me too! I got breakfast there once when I lived down there and I had sausage (which I never eat) and I ate them and then did laundry and then went over to my boyfriend's house and barfed for like 2 hours. I forgot about that! Boooooo-ndance Diner.

[Jeremiah77]

I've never ordered dinner food from ho jos in time square but their ice cream bar is pretty friggin' kickass.

I second DoJo's. I had a hamburger there and it was served in a pita. Reminded me of when I was kid and i had to make do with what i had.

[El Jefe]

Oh, I forgot. I had lunch at the Friday's on 42nd Street just off Fifth Avenue. I would like to preface this by saying that my cousin from Denver chose the location and would not be dissuaded. (They wanted "family-friendly.") It was one of the top five most vile meals I've ever had. We were seated at a filthy table by a retarded waitress and there were flies. I got a side order of vegetables and it was cold and swimming in some kind of rancid yellow butter substitute. Blech.

[GoldDustWoman]

Uh, I'm the only one around here who likey the Dojo? I only ever order the Japanese breakfast (egg, brown rice, mushrooms, weird barbecue sauce) or stuff with tofu in it.

My friend and I used to go to the gross Hojos after getting depressing temp paychecks and cashing them, and going to eat fried shit.

There's one other working Hojos in Asbury Park. It's wicked cool and shaped like a circle with points sticking out of it.

http://www.drakkar91.com/ap/images/howard97.jpg

[zohar]

I've ended my 8 year ban of Dojos (surley waitress story) and now occasionally eat the vegie burger.

I 2nd the vote of Velselka being over-rated. There are plenty better Ukranian/Polish restaurants in the area, my favorite being Teresa's on 1st b/w 6th & 7th.

As for a place I will never go again, the Mexican restaurant on 2nd ave b/w 13th & 14th which I want to say is called "El Ranchero" or something along those lines. It looks very authentic from the outside, but my two tries there turned up bland food. No mariachi band will lure me in there again.

[gktkd]

Velseka made me mad ill the only time I've ever been there.

The Cupping Room has the worst coffee I've ever tasted.

And Teddy's in Brooklyn can't seem to master the concept of hot food.

[bully]

Never, EVER eat at Ginger's (7th Avenue between 28th and 29th). Your lunch special is guaranteed to have higher parasite content per square inch than actual food.

Also, while I love-a-da Kate's (Avenue B and 4th), their fake chicken sandwich got me good and sick about three weeks ago.

[youngcat]

I got food poisoning from a chicken burrito at Señor Swankys on the upper west side. After a day at home spent entirely in the bathroom, I was hospitalized for two additional days at NYU Hospital.

Gracias Señor!


Swankys on the UWS is no longer open. As of last week, the entire restaurant was gutted out.

[Skinner]

Dojo's is the devil.
Burittoville often hides plastic in their burritos. Surprise!
B&H Dairy let's roaches climb over their challah right in front of customers. No apology, no shame.
Please god, let San Loco stay non-disgusting. I can't deal with another favorite cheap food place turning on me.

Also - I used to work at a place called "fondue" on the UES. Trust me when I say you do NOT want to eat there.

[Moges]

B&H Dairy let's roaches climb over their challah right in front of customers. No apology, no shame.

NO! It can't be true! NO!

Is it okay to eat at certain "disgusting" places if you never get sick from them? Maybe they help my immune system combat the roaches I should really be scared of: the flu, bronchitis, diabetes...

Who's with me on this?

[MarkOn10th]

Swankys on the UWS is no longer open. As of last week, the entire restaurant was gutted out.

Justice!


On another note, the Roys in Penn Station is awful, and extremely expensive. I don't know what they're paying rent for that godawful space, but a roast beef "special" goes for like $9.00. It's crazy pricey and really very bad. And people come and graze at the fixin's bar. Station residents type of people. Which is sad, but also makes for unappetizin' fixin's. Just skip it.

[gktkd]

Europa- all of them!

[anodar]

NO! It can't be true! NO!

Is it okay to eat at certain "disgusting" places if you never get sick from them? Maybe they help my immune system combat the roaches I should really be scared of: the flu, bronchitis, diabetes...

Who's with me on this?


I remember a passage in "Kitchen Confidential" that had something to do with Boudain's South American kitchen hands never getting food poisoning. The theory is that the food they ate in their homelands was laden with bacteria and parasites, rendering them immune to any general nastiness they eat here.

[dash22]

Oh, I forgot. I had lunch at the Friday's on 42nd Street just off Fifth Avenue. I would like to preface this by saying that my cousin from Denver chose the location and would not be dissuaded. (They wanted "family-friendly.") It was one of the top five most vile meals I've ever had. We were seated at a filthy table by a retarded waitress and there were flies. I got a side order of vegetables and it was cold and swimming in some kind of rancid yellow butter substitute. Blech.

I ate there...the food was just O.K., but the $25 per person weekday lunch left an awful taste in my mouth. The taste of wasted money. I guess "lunch special" means "pay more".

[anodar]

Friend Of A Farmer on Irving and either 18th or 19th St. I don't get why people line up for this place on weekends. The brunches are on the lesser end of mediocre and lunch and dinner are even worse.

[Alex]

DoJo's is gross but I have to say I hate Kelloggs Diner (L train to Lorimer).

I used to eat there when it was the only place open (back when the soggy, cold greasy food at 24:7 was a pipe-dream) and I always hated it. My favorite part about the Kellogg's experience was that their menu's used to have clay representations of the food.

The funny thing is that not only did the little claymation style hot dogs, hamburgers, pasta and fish sandwich look a million times better than what they actually serve... you actually wished the food you were eating was made of Play-Dough... Oh and their bathroom is a vortex to the underworld.

[Tess]

I'd rather lick a pig's ass than eat at Dojo again.

There is also a mexican restaurant on the corner of 82nd & 2nd that is disgusting. I can't think of the name of it...something like the "Dogshit Sombrero" or whatever.

I would also generally stay away from any place that offers to give pedicures while you wait for your food.

[M. Weinachten]

I'm glad to see so many Dojo hatas. That place is rank.

[urfman]

I got steamed spring rolls here (http://greatrestaurantsmag.com/NYC/restaurant_view/157/) that were melted and stuck to the unwashed, dirt covered spinach leaves below them.

After I was...uh....done....the waitress said, "those were really good, right?"

I'm the worst improviser ever.



Also....Mustang Sally's on 7th and 28th Street. The "seasoned" fries are simply regular fries, sprinkled with paprika, all for an extra $2.

-fred

[Dave Serchuk]

Randi and I went to the Westway diner and we both ordered chile, and out came what looked like a steaming, red bowl of diarhea. It even smelled like a bowl of diarhea, with parmesan cheese. It was absolutely horrid.

Dave