NYC Restaurant Calls Alan Richman's GQ Review 'Categorically False'

The barbecue masters at Mighty Quinn's in New York City want to set the record straight and say they've "never had to create a line" before serving customers at Smorgasburg in Brooklyn. Earlier this week, GQ restaurant man Alan Richman filed a review of Smorgasburg in which he said Mighty Quinn's wouldn't serve him their buzzy barbecue "until there was a line." Claiming the experience was a milestone in "atrocious customer service," Richman writes he was made to wait until a substantial line was behind him, that the line was "taunted" by the server, and that he only got his barbecue when more than 25 customers showed up. Now, Mighty Quinn's is speaking up to tell a different story.

Mighty Quinn's pitmaster and co-owner Hugh Mangum tells Eater NY there must have been some confusion on Richman's part. He says: "We have three employees that work for us every weekend, and once we start, we don't stop until we're sold out, so he must have shown up when we were almost ready. If a line starts to form at this point, we have no control over that. We have never, ever, ever waited for a line to form." He also adds that Richman only had to wait "literally three minutes." Similarly, Mighty Quinn's partner Micha Magid told Gothamist Richman's writeup was "categorically false," and that none of his servers would have ever "taunted" customers.

This is not the first time Richman has been called out by a restaurant he reviewed. Back in 2011, Richman wrote a takedown of M. Wells in Queens shortly before it closed. The review was followed by scandal when the owner of M. Wells accused Richman of sexually harassing a female server by giving her "a hardy pat on the ass." The Mighty Quinn's team also joins a long list of restaurant owners that have bitten back at reviewers, including David Chang, José Andrés, and overseas, Keith McNally.

· Mighty Quinn's: 'We Have Never Waited for a Line to Form' [-ENY-]
· At Smorgasburg, the Tastiest Street Eats in Brooklyn [GQ]
· All Alan Richman Coverage on Eater [-E-]