A Manhattan man claims in a lawsuit his cappuccino at a swanky Upper East Side steakhouse came with a nasty addition: a large cockroach.
The insect was a nightmarish way to end a meal at The Arlington Club, where dinners can easily hit the $500 mark, said Steven Fleming, who brought friends to the eatery in April.
His pals were interested in opening a restaurant, so Fleming wanted to show them the place launched by star chef Laurent Tourondel in 2012.
They chowed down on salad, steak, and a glass of wine before ordering dessert and coffee, he said.
“I took a sip of my cappuccino, I felt something disgusting in my throat, and then something crunchy,” Fleming, 43, told The Post. “And then I spit it out and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’”
Fleming, who is now suing The Arlington Club in Manhattan Supreme Court, snapped a couple of pictures before running outside to vomit on Lexington Avenue, he said.
He claims he then spent 12 hours in the emergency room with a variety of symptoms, including nausea and high blood pressure.
“We want to make sure we hold this restaurant accountable, and that this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” said his lawyer, Michael Joseph. “For the prices they’re charging the very least they could do is make sure the customers don’t have bugs in their food. We think New Yorkers deserve better.”
Fleming, who runs the executive search firm Wall Street Options, said the incident “really grossed me out.”
“On the surface, it looks like a very nice place,” he said. “I thought this would be a good example of something relatively trendy and with above average food. … I’ve been going to restaurants for 20 years in New York City and nothing like this has ever happened to me.”
A manager at The Arlington Club, where Tourondel is no longer the chef, declined comment, adding he was unaware of the lawsuit.