The Del Posto Team on Life After a Four Star Review

Capital New York runs an excellent piece about how the recent four star New York Times review of Del Posto has affected business at the restaurant. For one thing, they've been able to "control the flow of customers more so than before" because of an increase in demand. But GM Jeff Katz also notes that:

Any moment there's something the guest doesn't particularly like, the first sentence is, 'This is not a four-star experience.' Immediately. It doesn't matter what it is, it's the first thing that comes out of anybody's mouth.

Former Times restaurant reviewer Frank Bruni says that "It has always been something of a gut feeling." And in terms of number of visits for the review: "I can say this much: ten to twelve times is an exaggeration, even?" While Sam Sifton remarks: "I never eat at a restaurant I am going to review fewer than three times. Particularly in the case of a four-star restaurant, it could well be higher. I've eaten at Del Posto a lot."

Chef Mark Ladner and crew were well aware that Sifton was in the house, but weren't expecting four stars from the critic. If anything, Ladner thought that it might be three stars, and that he'd be able to open up a dialogue with Sifton about how to improve for a potential four star review down the road.
· Living With Four Stars at Del Posto [Capital NY]
· All Del Posto Coverage [~ENY~]
[photo: Krieger]