The owner of New York City restaurant Balthazar claimed James Corden is the “most abusive” customer he’s had since the hotspot opened its doors 25 years ago.
“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,” Keith McNally, 71, claimed in a scathing Instagram post Monday.
McNally — who is known as “The Restaurateur Who Invented Downtown” — said he had to “86” (kick out or ban) the actor from his establishments before sharing “two examples of the funny man’s treatment” of his staff at the iconic French brasserie and another one of his restaurants, Cafe Luxembourg.
The restauranter first claimed Corden demanded freebies and threatened the NYC hotspot with a bad review after finding a hair in his food back in June.
“After eating his main course, Corden showed the hair to Balthazar manager G. who was very apologetic,” he wrote alongside a snap of the comedian. “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.'”
In another incident that happened Oct.9, McNally claimed the comedian lashed out at his staff after his wife’s eggs were not prepared to her liking during brunch.
“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.”
The memo continued, “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!'”
McNally claimed the server was “very apologetic” and brought the manager over, who returned the dish and gave Corden and his wife, Julia Carey, complimentary champagne.
However, the comedian allegedly was so “nasty” to their server for the remainder of brunch that she was “shaken” for the rest of her shift.
McNally exclusively told Page Six that he was “reluctant” to publicly blast Corden, but “did so out of loyalty to restaurant servers everywhere.”
“Their jobs are hard enough already. They shouldn’t have to take this kind of abuse from anyone, especially the rich and famous,” he told us.
The shocking allegations come months after the “Into the Woods” star announced he would no longer be hosting the late-night talk show in 2023.
Page Six has reached out to Corden’s reps but they did not immediately return our request for comment.
