James Corden/Instagram
James Corden is persona non grata at Keith McNally’s Balthazar for being rude to the staff. The renowned chef posted about the two incidents which led to the banning on his social media.
James Corden is a Hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny Cretin of a man. 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. It did not make me laugh.
Here are two examples of the funny man’s treatment of my staff.
MANAGER’S REPORT # 1:
‘In June, James Corden was here on table 61. (Although this is diabolical, it happens Very occasionally in all restaurants.) After eating his main course, Corden showed the hair to Balthazar manager G. who was very apologetic. Corden was extremely nasty to G, and 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.” ‘
MANAGER’S REPORT # 2:
‘James Corden was at Balthazar with his wife on October 9th for brunch. He asked for a table outside. Brunch Maitre D’ Allie Wolters took the party to table 301. Mr. Corden’s wife ordered an egg yolk omelette with gruyere cheese and salad. A few minutes after they received the food, James called their server, M. K. and told her there was a little bit of egg white mixed with the egg yolk. M. K. informed the floor manager, G. The kitchen remade the dish but unfortunately sent it with home 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!” M.K. was very apologetic and brought G. over to the table. He returned the dish, and after that, everything was fine. He gave them promo Champagne glasses to smooth things out. G. said that Corden was pleasant to him but nasty to the server.’ M.K. was very shaken, but professional that she is, continued to finish her shift.’
This is not the first time the Late Late Show has been called out for being rude to the staff. Back when it was revealed that Ellen DeGeneres was not as nice as she pretends to be, people were saying the same about Corden. However, he did not get as much traction until this came out.
It will be interesting to see if this changes him. I think he will change temporarily. But he will go back to being who he is. You can’t teach old dogs new tricks.
UPDATE: Corden called and apologized to McNally, to read what the Chef wrote, then
“James Corden just called me and apologized profusely. Having fucked up myself more than most people, I strongly believe in second chances. So if James Corden lets me host his Late Late Show for 9 months, I’ll immediately rescind his ban from Balthazar. No, of course not.” McNally wrote. “But….anyone magnanimous enough to apologize to a deadbeat layabout like me (and my staff) doesn’t deserve to be banned from anywhere. Especially Balthazar. So Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Corden, Jimmy Corden. All is Forgiven. xx”
McNally is a bigger man than I am because I would’ve told him what he could do with his apology. But I am from NYC, unlike the two Brits, and we don’t take that shit!
