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Popular restaurateur Keith McNally has described one of his famed patrons as rude and disrespectful. McNally, who isn’t afraid to air his opinions about celebrities, called out legendary singer Patti Smith for allegedly being rude to a server at a New York City restaurant in the 70s.
The Balthazar owner, in his memoir I Regret Almost Everything: A Memoir, claimed that Patti Smith, whilst dining at One Fifth in NYC, was “incredibly rude” to staff. Smith allegedly brought a waitress to tears “because she forgot to put bread on the table.”
McNally, who owns a chain of NYC restaurants, stated that he experienced the Gloria crooner’s rude behavior when he worked as a general manager at the establishment.
Keith McNally alleged in his memoir that Patti Smith “was incredibly difficult to wait on.”
In his I Regret Everything memoir, which will be released on May 6, 2025, the controversial restaurant owner recalled that Smith would dine at One Fifth alongside ex-boyfriend Robert Mapplethorpe and art curator Sam Wagstaff on some days of the week. He added that on occasions when Wagstaff was absent from their party, Patti and Mapplethorpe were difficult customers:
"On nights when Wagstaff wasn’t at the table, Smith and Mapplethorpe could be very difficult to wait on," he wrote. "Smith, unfortunately, was incredibly rude to the servers."
Keith McNally described Patti Smith as a customer that servers didn’t want to attend to:
“I spent four years at One Fifth, and Smith was - by a country mile - the customer least liked by the servers. In fact, there was always a squabble whenever she’d arrive because none of the staff wanted to wait on her. She was the James Cordon of her day,”
The restaurateur noted that Mapplethorpe, however, “never tried to belittle” the restaurant’s staff. Keith McNally also praised Wagstaff, stating that he wished he had gotten to know the man better.
The Balthazar owner had previously called out another celebrity over the mistreatment of restaurant staff. In October 2022, he called former Late Late Show host James Corden “a tiny cretin of a man” and subsequently banned him from Balthazar, citing the latter’s “abusive” behavior towards the staff of the establishment.
Keith McNally recalled an incident where Corden was allegedly “extremely nasty” and “yelled like crazy” at staff. Corden, in an October 2022 episode of his talk show, addressed the incident and admitted that he had made a “rude, rude comment” to a waiter. The show host also vowed to apologize to the staff in person.
I Regret Almost Everything: A memoir will be released on May 6, 2025.
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