1/10/2013

Guy's American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square, NY

We saw a terrible review of a restaurant produced by Guy Fieri, an American chef and  TV show host, maybe most famous show is "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" on Food Network.
Signs outside was big enough and you won't miss it.
The photos above were the TV shows he's hosting and the video was constantly played.
The screen was facing to the street, so you get to "see" him on the street.
He opened a new restaurant in Times Square called "Guy's American Kitchen & Bar" on September 6, 2012, but New York Times gave this restaurant 0 star out of 5 and wrote a lot of not funny but harsh reviews.
I've heard it's the first time ever they gave 0 star to any restaurant (Lady GAGA's dad's place got at least 1).
Surprisingly, it's translated into Japanese, which enabled me to know this incident and had to research New York Times review to see if it's really infuriating contents for Guy Fieri, and it was satirical article indeed.

If you're interested in reading, here is the link.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/dining/reviews/restaurant-review-guys-american-kitchen-bar-in-times-square.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

However, for us, the more awful and bad they say, the more attractive it gets.
So, needless to say, we decided to try the restaurant and see if it deserves 0 star.
We happened to book on New Year's Eve, which means Times Square area is crazily crowded and police start locking the streets and subways.

One day before the reservation, we received an e-mail (as we booked via internet) from the restaurant with an attachment.
It was a pass for the locked street. 
On New Year's Eve, they start closing streets early in the afternoon and as we booked at 1:30PM, the restaurant provided us a brochure which lets us go through those closed streets/areas when police stop us and ask where we're heading to.
(If you're just cutting the street, they won't let you in and tell you to go around several blocks, which is pretty annoying.)

I thought it was so kind of them to remind us the special day of the year and confusion.
The service and hospitality already deserves stars.
As I've never been or booked any restaurant in Times Square on that day, I have no idea if other places do the same thing, so I can't praise them like they're the best but still I think it's clever.

When we got to the restaurant, it was already crowded and saw some waiting lines.
At the reception, a woman was wearing a pair of pink "Honey Boo Boo" glasses, which was interesting as it's not "2013" glasses.
She's really talkative but also handling customers well so we're soon lead to our table on the 2nd floor.
This place is massive and 2 stories restaurant with bar counters with various types of liquors, where I saw my favorite Frangelico, too.
We're seating at a big table and on the wall, there's a giant photo (or painting) of his well-known red convertible car used in "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives."
Cover of the menu book and it only contains appetizers, side dishes and main dishes but no dessert.
We had "California Egg Rolls" for appetizer.
Even though it only says "chicken," we're in the states, so we're sure that would be breast meat and sure it was. Yaaaaay.
Interestingly, egg rolls were placed on daikon sprouts (and I love those).
Outside was crispy, chicken was not too big or not too small, decent amount of avocado so that its unique texture and flavor didn't ruin the crispiness and other ingredients' flavors.

It was my first time to dip egg rolls into Thai sweet chili in my life.
As I grew up in Japan, we usually use soy sauce (depending on what's inside).
Never imagined I'd use sweet chili sauce for egg rolls ever, but it went well with simply made appetizer.

He ordered "Big Bite Burger & Rojo Ring," which the review said they didn't like the name. 
To me, it's interesting that this burger uses brioche because it contains a lot of butter to make it soft and it tends to be a sweet bun.
Maybe it boosts up the flavor and texture of beef?
As Donkey sauce contains mayo, I didn't touch this food.
He said it was tasty burger but a little bit too much sauce.
The reason he ordered without asking "no mayo" was that it was our first time to try that place so we should just order as it is to see what it'd look and taste.

I tried some fries on the side and they're fresh.
It came with a Big Bite Burger, there's not much to say.

I tried "Sangria Glazed Shrimp."
It's been a while I had shrimp so I decided to try it with his signature sangria glaze as it's mentioned.
It was quite large plate and about 10 shrimps were covering rice.
Bell pepper was largely cut and cooked nicely and not too soft as if it's been stir fried for a long time.
I didn't find green apple visually or by the taste.
Shrimps were well sauteed and the characteristic and famous sauce was sweet and spicy.
Crispy noodle was interesting but I wish there're less on the plate.
As it's an American restaurant, most of the plates were big portioned and casually served on the plates, they just wanted to add their originality I guess.

I shortly mentioned the receptionist in earlier part, but all the waiters and waitresses seemed nice and having fun working there. 
Our waiter resembled Sam Warthington (an Australian actor of Avatar and Wrath of Titans).
When he brought us dessert menu (but we're full and didn't get any but hot teas), I asked him if he's been said he looks like the actor.
He's laughing and said, "No, never. But I can take it as a compliment, right? Hahaha."
It may sound conceited when you read it but he's just joking.

Overall, for the food and service, I'd give 3.5 stars out of 5.
It can't be zero...

The price range could be a little bit high but as my fiance thinks, if you consider the location, I don't think it's extravagant.

We've heard people are actually going there because it's got 0 star and ironically wanted to try that place.
So if you're bothered and sick of his "Triple D" on Food Network but still interested in this restaurant, I'd highly recommend you book in advance.
I don't think you'd end up waiting forever, but I bet everyone would rather sit as soon as they walk into a restaurant, especially when you're dying to eat.

Guy's American Kitchen & Bar
220 West 44th Street
Between 7th and 8th Ave.
New York, NY 10036

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