Jay Rayner's review of Le Cinq
On 9 April 2017, The Observer's restaurant critic Jay Rayner visited Le Cinq, a three-Michelin star restaurant in Paris. He visited with the intention of writing an observational piece on how expensive some restaurants were, as he had been irritated by people complaining about the cost of eating out, and described his experience as by far the worst of his 18-year career, exacerbated by the earnestness of the waitstaff. His review went viral and was praised by writers from Vox and Vice, though many reviewers from French outlets criticised Rayner. Eater subsequently listed the review on their The Best Bad Restaurant Reviews of 2017 listicle.
History
[edit]Jay Rayner became The Observer's restaurant critic in 1999;[1] by April 2017, his reviews for the platform were averaging 60,000 views.[2] After tiring of people complaining about the cost of eating out, he visited the three Michelin starred Paris restaurant Le Cinq with the intention of writing an observational piece on how expensive some restaurants were.[3] His review described the restaurant as decorated in "various shades of taupe, biscuit, and fuck you", with thick carpet to "muffle the screams",[3] and featured press shots supplied by the restaurant throughout as the restaurant had not allowed The Observer to photograph their food.[3] According to his review, what Rayner ate included the following:[4]
- A brioche, which he complimented[5]
- A tart filled with whipped chicken liver mousse[5]
- Scallops that tasted like iodine[6]
- A spherification that tasted of "stale air with a tinge of ginger" and reminded him of a "Barbie-sized silicone breast implant" and his companion of an abandoned condom in a dusty greengrocer's[7]
- A hollowed out passionfruit with bitter watercress purée that made his lips purse "like a cat’s arse that’s brushed against nettles"[7]
- Gratinated onions that were "mostly black, like nightmares, and sticky, like the floor at a teenager's party"[3]
- Pigeon requested medium but severely undercooked[5]
- Frozen chocolate mousse cigars wrapped in tuile draped in a blister-like flap of milk skin[3]
- A cheesecake with frozen parsley powder he described as one of the worst things he had ever eaten and subsequently had removed from his bill[7]
He described his €600 experience as "by far the worst restaurant experience I have endured in my 18 years in this job",[7] exacerbated by the earnestness of the waitstaff,[8] and wrote that he had been left with unpleasant memories he would be lucky to forget about.[3] He also criticised the restaurant for giving his female companion a menu without prices[9] and ended the review with several iPhone pictures of what he ate, which also appeared on his website.[3] Rayner's review went viral[5] and received around 3,000 comments within three days;[6] the extra traffic caused his website to crash.[5] By 17 May, the review had been viewed more than 2,000,000 times and he had been dubbed "the world's most feared food critic".[2] Rayner subsequently published to Twitter an itemised receipt.[7]
The review was described by Vox as "a glorious 'the Emperor has no clothes' exercise",[10] while Vice described it as "worth a read, in a craning-your-neck-to-look-at-a-very-expensive-car-crash kind of way"[6] and the Sydney Morning Herald described his images as depicting "piles of slime on plates".[3] However, Libération's Elvira von Bardeleben felt Rayner was hypocritical for criticising the restaurant's opulence given that he had dined there for that reason[11] and dismissed his review as contrarianism,[8] while François-Régis Gaudry accused Rayner of bitterness and Alice Bosio of Le Figaro described Rayner's critique as a "diatribe as violent as it is a caricature".[6] A source close to the restaurant's head chef described Rayner's review as "rich bashing".[11]
The review was listed by Eater on their "The Best Bad Restaurant Reviews of 2017" listicle[12] and included in Rayner's 2018 book Wasted Calories and Ruined Nights, a compendium of 20 of Rayner's negative reviews.[1] In the foreword to that book, he explained that he had written the review because he had been made "eye-gougingly, bone-crunchingly, teeth-grindingly angry" by the experience, so much so that it made him wonder what he could do to Le Cinq with "a can of kerosene and a box of matches".[4] The review was described in 2023 by Sean Thomas of The Spectator as "one of the most famous British restaurant reviews of the last decade".[13]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Jay Rayner: 'I have no time for exclusionist food fads'". The Guardian. 2019-05-18. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-07-23.
- ^ a b "Why the 'world's most feared food critic' doesn't deserve the title - Interviews - delicious.com.au". delicious.com.au. Archived from the original on 2019-05-07. Retrieved 2025-06-29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Critic Jay Rayner writes searing review of Michelin-starred chef's restaurant". Good Food. 2017-04-10. Retrieved 2025-06-29.
- ^ a b Rayner, Jay (2017-04-09). "Le Cinq, Paris: restaurant review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-07-23.
- ^ a b c d e Chang, Charis (11 April 2017). "Jay Rayner delivers scathing review of Le Cinq, Paris". News.com.au. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
- ^ a b c d "We Asked French Food Critics What They Think About Jay Rayner's Le Cinq Review". Vice. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
- ^ a b c d e Rainey, Clint (2017-04-10). "Could a Restaurant Receive a Worse Review?". Grub Street. Retrieved 2025-06-29.
- ^ a b Moran, Michael (13 April 2017). "Jay Rayner under fire from French gastronomes". The Jewish Chronicle.
- ^ Zampano, Giada (2022-04-07). "Love is blind in Venice, as 'sexist' restaurant gives women menus with no prices". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
- ^ Beauchamp, Zack (10 April 2017). "Nothing today will make you happier than this scathing review of a snooty Paris restaurant". Vox.
- ^ a b Burton, Monica (11 April 2017). "The French Are Not Happy About That Scathing Review of Le Cinq". Eater.
- ^ Burton, Monica (27 December 2017). "The Best of 2017's Bad Restaurant Reviews". Eater.
- ^ Thomas, Sean (2023-09-15). "French food is the worst in the world". The Spectator. Retrieved 2025-07-18.