Why James Corden Got Banned (And Then Unbanned) From This NYC Restaurant
Exactly what does a celebrity have to do to get publicly banned from an eatery? Restaurateur Keith McNally, owner of the longstanding and acclaimed New York restaurant Balthazar, decided James Corden's time at his establishment was up after two separate incidents. According to McNally's Instagram, Corden allegedly found a hair in a meal during a visit to the restaurant in June. The manager was apologetic but McNally described Corden as "extremely nasty" and noted that the comedian told his servers, "Get us another round of drinks this second. And also take care of all our drinks so far. This way I [won't] write any nasty reviews on Yelp."
The second incident occurred on October 9, when Corden brought his wife to Balthazar. She ordered an "egg yolk omelette with gruyere cheese and a salad". When the order arrived, the couple discovered "a little bit of egg white mixed with the egg yolk." The kitchen remade the dish, but accidentally sent it with a side of fries instead of salad. The Instagram post reports that Corden then started yelling at the server, saying "You can't do your job! You can't do your job! Maybe I should go to the kitchen and cook the omelette myself!" The post says that Corden was pleasant to the manager but continued to be irate towards the server. As a result, McNally took steps to publicly ban the comedian from his restaurant.
James Corden apologizes and is (maybe) unbanned
"James Corden is a hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny Cretin of a man," Balthazar owner Keith McNally posted on Instagram yesterday. He didn't stop there, calling the performer "the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.I don't often 86 a customer, today I 86'd Corden. It did not make me laugh."
People responded to the post in support of McNally's decision, with many saying that the restaurant always offered them "impeccable service." One said, "You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat people in the service industry." Others claimed they didn't like the comedian and many said this behavior would affect the way they saw his show from now on.
Food Network star Valerie Bertinelli also weighed on with her opinion on Twitter of the comedian's October visit: "But the omelette COMES WITH HOME FRIES.That is how the omelette is served...WITH HOME FRIES. Order a salad on the side and stfu."
However, less than 24 hours later, McNally lifted the ban. "James Corden just called me and apologized profusely," McNally said, via Instagram. He also said he empathized with the comedian as he hadn't always been perfect and then joked, "if James Corden lets me host his Late Late Show for 9 months, I'll immediately rescind his ban from Balthazar." He added that if Corden was "magnanimous enough" to apologize then he was willing to accept and lift the ban.