A trendy New York City restaurant — and some of its fans — are roasting a veteran food critic very publicly, after receiving a less than enthusiastic review.
On Monday, Eater.com’s Robert Sietsema published a review of Foxface Natural on the popular food-centric website, titled: “This East Village Hype Machine Charges $28 for Two Shrimp.”
“Sure, they’re from Hawaii, but last I checked, most shrimp or prawns (and seafood for that matter) are shipped from far-flung locales, and they’re not that expensive, not for this size, and not for the privilege of eating the heads as a separate dish,” Sietsema wrote of the skimpy scampi.
He continued on, describing another dish as a “Halloween nightmare” that “didn’t quite qualify as food” but more as an “experiment in metafood.”
Sietsema explained that while the restaurant’s “absurdly sourced ingredients are made into almost-edible dishes,” they mostly seemed to be aimed at pleasing social media rather than the diner’s palate or wallet.
But not everyone agreed with the longtime food critic’s opinion — starting with the couple behind Foxface Natural, Sivan Lahat and Ori Kushnir.
The top East Village restaurant wasted no time calling the review a “hit piece,” written because — in Lahat and Kushnir’s estimation — they hadn’t paid a PR company to cozy up to the critic and his employer.
![A representative from Foxface Natural told The Post that the responses to their reply were “overwhelmingly positive comments although a handful felt [the] language about Sietsema’s palate was a bit much.”](https://24hbongdda.site/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/NYPICHPDPICT000062353919.jpg)
“Do you know what happens when you don’t pay a PR agency to feed garbage publications your content? They send @rsietsema, whose refined palate is usually satisfied by Boar’s Head sandwiches to write a hit piece,” the seafood spot’s official Instagram account posted on Monday.
“Well this little hype machine is going to keep selling wild sustainability caught prawns at the highest ingredient cost of any casual restaurant in town and will continue not to give @eater_ny @eater the time of day.”
“At least no fact checkers were hurt in the editing of this wildly inaccurate piece,” the post ended.
A representative for Foxface Natural told The Post that while some felt the language about Sietsema’s palate was “a bit much,” the team were heartened by the “overwhelmingly positive comments” and had no regrets about sticking up for their business.
“It’s important to distinguish professional publications that pay multiple visits, do thorough fact checking, and do not come with an agenda from Eater,” they said.
Sietsema was the chief food critic at the Village Voice from 1993 to 2013, where he earned a reputation as one of Gotham’s most intrepid eaters, traveling to all five boroughs and beyond. He joined Eater shortly after being downsized from the legendary alt-weekly.
Foxface Natural opened on Avenue A in the spring to rave reviews.
New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells gave the boisterous boite a generous three stars, calling it one of his favorite new restaurants, noting that it “may depend on your tolerance for eccentricity.”
The New Yorker’s Helen Rosner, an Eater.com alum, found it “exhilarating to encounter a meal that’s genuinely interesting.”
The hidden spot was started by Lahat and Kushnir as a continuation of the couple’s previous restaurant Foxface.
Foxface served sandwiches on St. Marks Place for three years, before closing last September.
Although Foxface Natural still has limited user reviews, the spot has already earned 5 stars on Google and 4.5 stars on Yelp. Fans turned out to support the spot on social media, in the wake of the Eater review.
Plenty of people responded to Foxface Natural’s Instagram post, defending the restaurant’s “perfect prawns,” “generous” portions and “insanely delicious” servings.
However, some did interpret the restaurant’s reaction as “petty” as one Instagrammer maintained that “28$ for 2 shrimp is really crazy.”
Some diners — fans of the restaurant and Sietsema both — expressed their disappointment directly to the critic on X.
“Wow — I’ve never disagreed with you on a restaurant as much as we do here — sorry that you didn’t have the same experience that we did,” said Lee Kowarski.
“Seconded…long-time reader, shocked by this review of what is legitimately one of the pound-for-pound best restaurants in NYC right now,” Adam Silverschotz chimed in.
Regardless of any negative feedback, Foxface Natural told The Post they plan to change “nothing at all.”
“We believe in what we do, our guests like it, and we wouldn’t make changes based on the opinions of a random guy,” the representative said.
Sietsema and Eater did not respond to The Post’s request to comment.
![A representative from Foxface Natural told The Post that the responses to their reply were “overwhelmingly positive comments although a handful felt [the] language about Sietsema’s palate was a bit much.”](https://24hbongdda.site/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/10/NYPICHPDPICT000062353919.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=881)
