In a dramatic takedown of a high-end Montauk restaurant, influencers Meg Radice and Audrey Jongens have stirred up controversy after being charged a staggering $2,000 for what they described as a disastrous dining experience. The pair, known for their no-holds-barred food review account VIP LIST, labeled their meal at Mavericks Montauk as nothing short of “criminal.”
In a TikTok video that quickly went viral, racking up nearly 40,000 likes, Radice and Jongens didn’t hold back. They recounted a night marred by “flavorless” food and a calamitous incident where a seafood tower collapsed, soaking one of their friends in sauce and ruining her dress. The video was captioned, “The real tea on Maverick’s Montauk, go cry about it.”
Mavericks Montauk, touted by Forbes and Hamptons.com as one of Montauk’s “most anticipated new restaurants” before its 2023 launch, has vehemently denied the criticisms. Nonetheless, the video paints a vivid picture of a chaotic evening, featuring footage of raw-looking dishes and a friend’s dress splattered with seafood sauce.
According to the influencers, their ordeal began with a two-and-a-half-hour wait just to place an appetizer order. Radice remarked, “The first red flag was an A5 wagyu tartar disguised as beet sauce.” The night went downhill from there, culminating in the seafood tower disaster. “Thank God it didn’t fall on me because I would’ve done a Teresa Giudice table flip,” Radice quipped.
The influencers also lambasted the misleading menu descriptions, with one dish described 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 ended with Radice declaring, “I thought we were being punk’d—Mavericks, you have a lot of audacity.”
Located in the trendy town of Montauk near the Hamptons, Mavericks 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 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 is said to have been running kitchens on the East End and in New York City for the past 15 years.
However, the reaction from VIP LIST’s followers was overwhelmingly negative. One commenter wrote, “$2000 and it looks like they barely bothered to cook anything,” while another added, “None of this looks edible tbh.”
Despite attempts to reach Mavericks for comment, DailyMail.com reported that the restaurant has yet to respond.
This incident underscores the growing power of social media reviews and the precarious position restaurants can find themselves in when influencers wield their influence. The scathing review from VIP LIST starkly contrasts with the restaurant’s previously hyped status, calling into question the consistency and quality of Mavericks’ offerings. As the story continues to unfold online, Mavericks faces a critical challenge in managing its public image and addressing customer complaints.
In an era where online reputation can make or break a business, Mavericks Montauk is learning firsthand the impact of influential voices. Whether they can recover from this PR nightmare remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: in the age of social media, no restaurant is immune to the court of public opinion.
