Two influencers have criticized a high-end Montauk restaurant after being charged $2,000 for what they described as one of the worst dining experiences they’ve ever had. Meg Radice and Audrey Jongens, who run the brutally honest food review account VIP LIST, labeled their meal at Mavericks Montauk as “criminal.”
In addition to the “flavorless” food, they claimed the restaurant ruined a friend’s dress when a seafood tower collapsed on her. They shared their grievances in a TikTok video, which has since garnered nearly 40k likes. The caption read, “The real tea on Maverick’s Montauk, go cry about it.”
Mavericks, hailed as one of Montauk’s “most anticipated new restaurants” by Forbes and Hamptons.com before its 2023 launch, has disputed and denied these criticisms. The video review highlighted a chaotic scene with seafood sauce splattered over a friend’s dress and footage of various raw-looking dishes.
The influencers were subjected to a two-and-a-half-hour wait just to place their appetizer order. Radice commented, “The first red flag was an A5 wagyu tartar disguised as beet sauce.” The night deteriorated further when a seafood tower collapsed, dousing one of their party members in sauce and ruining her dress. Radice remarked, “Thank God it didn’t fall on me because I would’ve done a Teresa Giudice table flip.”
They also criticized the misleading menu descriptions, calling out a dish presented as chicken with caviar. “This looks like a Chad made this, and now I’m calling the coq au vin police,” they joked. Their review, delivered in their signature comically aggressive style, concluded with Radice saying, “I thought we were being punk’d—Mavericks, you have a lot of audacity.”
Mavericks, located in the trendy town of Montauk near the Hamptons, claims to offer “beautiful seafood caught right off the shore” and “vegetables from farms you actually drive by to get here.” Their website boasts that the entire menu celebrates the best New York has to offer, from the Hudson Valley to Long Island. The restaurant is managed by Vanessa Price, a sommelier and wine industry veteran, while executive chef Jeremy Blutstein has purportedly been running kitchens on the East End and in New York City for the past 15 years.
However, commenters on VIP LIST’s TikTok were unimpressed. One user wrote, “$2000 and it looks like they barely bothered to cook anything,” while another added, “None of this looks edible tbh.”
DailyMail.com reached out to Mavericks for comment, but the restaurant has yet to respond.
This incident highlights the impact of social media reviews on restaurant reputations, especially when the reviewers are influencers with a significant following. The negative publicity from VIP LIST’s review contrasts sharply with the restaurant’s anticipated status and raises questions about the consistency and quality of their offerings. As the discussion continues online, Mavericks faces a critical test in managing its public image and addressing customer complaints.