Update: James Corden is no longer banned from the famed New York City restaurant Balthazar. According to owner Keith McNally, the late night host “profusely apologized” for his actions. Our original story follows below.
James Corden was booted from the famed New York City restaurant Balthazar and accused Monday of being a “tiny cretin of a man” by Keith McNally, the notorious restauranteur who also owns Manhattan staples Pastis, Minetta and Tavern.
“James Corden is a Hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny Cretin of a man,” McNally wrote on Instagram alongside an image of the late night host. “And the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago. I don’t often 86 a customer, to today I 86’d Corden.”
The restauranteur went on to list two occasions which sparked the decision to “86” Corden, adding that the late-night host behaved similarly in his former restaurant, Cafe Luxembourg, several years prior to the incidents at hand.
According to McNally, the first incident took place in June and was kick-started when Corden discovered a piece of hair in his main course and showed the hair to a Balthazar manager who was “very apologetic.”
“Corden was extremely nasty to G,” McNally wrote. “[Corden] said: ‘Get us another round of drinks this second. And also take care of all of our drinks so far. This way I write any nasty reviews in yelp or anything like that.’”
McNally then described a more recent incident, taking place on Oct. 9 during brunch, when Corden’s wife ordered an omelette with gruyere cheese and salad. After Corden informed their sever that there was some egg white mixed with the egg yolk, the kitchen remade the entree but mistakenly delivered the omelette with fries instead of salad.
“That’s when James Corden began yelling like crazy to the server: ‘You can’t do your job! You can’t do your job! Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelette myself!’” McNally wrote, adding that the management was apologetic, fixed the mistake and brought their table champagne glasses “to smooth things out.”
“G. said that Corden was pleasant to him but nasty to the server,” the owner continued. “M.K. was very shaken, but professional that she is, continued to finish her shift.”