A few weeks back, I tweeted a couple of harsh comments about a restaurant in downtown called BLT Steak Atlanta. More specifically, the shots were fired at their General Manager (who happened to be named Nick). Since that day, I've gotten quite a few texts/emails from you guys wanting to know exactly what happened. Well, here goes.
On my very first day of taping the ATL Bite Life television show (coming sooner than you think), we arrived at BLT at 2pm sharp for what was scheduled to be a 2-hour shoot. Within those 2 hours, we would be shooting footage of the restaurant and kitchen, interviewing the owner or manager, interviewing the chef, and then interviewing AND eating with our celebrity guest. It sounds like a lot but it's really not. Everything was set up and cleared with Green Olive, the company that handles PR and Marketing for BLT Steak Atlanta, and relayed to the staff at BLT a week in advance.
Initially, everything seemed cool. Me and the camera crew were greeted with smiles and pleasantries by Nick the GM and Rebecca the Event Coordinator. But then, things took a turn. Since Nick was the GM of the restaurant and the acting manager on duty that day, he was supposed to be the person who spoke with us and represented BLT on camera. However, for some reason, he insisted that Rebecca do it instead. Nick stated that he'd done "a million of these things" and that Rebecca should "get her feet wet". Rebecca was clearly unprepared, flustered, and didn't know some of the answers to some of the basic questions we had about BLT. She pleaded with Nick, in front of us and the staff there, to go ahead and do it AS PLANNED but he refused. Eventually, we all just decided to work together to prep Rebecca and get the interview completed.
A second hiccup happened in the middle of all of this as well. Our celebrity guest for the day was supposed to be newly cemented Hip Hop superstar,
B.O.B. I found out right before we walked in the door that he had to reschedule with us because his plane from Germany had just landed a few hours prior and he was tired. So now, not only are we slightly behind schedule because we're prepping Rebecca, we also don't have a celebrity guest for the day. At this point, I'm scrambling. But, I did what I always do - I hustled and figured things out. I get my man
DJ Teknikz on the phone and I pull the favor card to get the hottest Hip Hop artist in the ATL to come out and do the show -
2 CHAINZ!!! Because me and 2 Chainz have a solid relationship, he agreed to do it. However, because the call came to him so last minute, he wouldn't be able to show up until 3:30 or 3:45 which would put us right up against the clock. So, I informed Nick and Rebecca about our 2 dilemmas and offered 2 options - #1. We could do everything as planned but we'd more than likely run over time OR #2. We could shoot just the restaurant and kitchen portion today and then come back another time with our celebrity guest and be out of the restaurant by 4 as was discussed. In the middle of talking, Nick walks away. Rebecca, realizing that she was some what to blame for our time crunch, gave the green light for us to complete our show taping all today. So we're good. . . so it seemed.
Now, keep in mind that when we arrived, there were about 8 customers in the restaurant. By the time we stared shooting, there were ZERO. They told us they were getting set up for a party of 40 that had a reservation time of 4:00. So, WE suggested that we set up in a corner booth that would put us out of the way of the party since we'd probably still be there when they arrived. No worries. Then it's time to order the food that me and 2 Chainz would eat on the show. Nick offered to make us some BREAD. That's it!!! From across the restaurant, he yells to Rebecca "I don't wanna WASTE a steak for some TV show". First of all, you're a STEAK restaurant and we're not gonna eat BREAD on camera. That's just stupid!!! Second, the steaks were already approved and cleared BEFORE we got here. We didn't just spring this on you. Now, me and my team are getting noticeably agitated.
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| The Oven Toppers Bread |
Then, 2 Chainz arrives.
Grim goes outside to film him getting out of his car and walking into the restaurant. As soon as he steps out of his car, Nick AGAIN yells across the restaurant, "He can't come in here with that hat on!!! If he wears that hat, we'll just shut this whole thing down!!!". First off, once again, WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT US FROM ACROSS THIS RESTAURANT LIKE WE'RE YOUR CHILDREN?? Second, we have no problem following your establishment's dress code. Once 2 gets in, I'll speak with him and we can proceed. IMMEDIATELY after 2 sits down (and before I could even say one word to him), Nick runs over and says "Let me explain to you guys how this is gonna go. First, you need to remove your hat. Second, I need you guys to wrap this up in the next few mins because we have a party of 40 coming in and I don't want these cameras in here when they show up". The only reason that we didn't get up and leave at that moment was because this was our first show and we really wanted to get that first episode in the can. Plus, we got 2 Chainz to show up at the last minute and we didn't wanna just say "forget it" and further inconvenience him.
We proceeded to do our interview. 2 Chainz, who had politely removed his hat with no problem, actually ended up ordering AND PAYING FOR some grilled chicken and asparagus since he doesn't eat steak. An extremely rude Bar Manager (who had very harshly insulted Rebecca in front of us earlier for letting our cameras into the wine cellar without notifying her) continuously came to the table, while we were taping, in attempts to pick up the money for the check. Then, at 4:05, Nick walks over and tells us to wrap up the interview. Mind you, the restaurant is still COMPLETELY EMPTY!!! Not one person from this "party of 40" had shown up yet. Actually, by the time we packed up, took pictures, and said our goodbyes, it was about 4:30 and STILL NO ONE WAS THERE!!!
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| Grilled Chicken + Asparagus |
The only plus side to the day was that we got an incredible interview from 2 Chainz. I can't wait for you guys to see it. But, for real, me and Grim actually considered scrapping the entire thing just so we wouldn't shed any light on BLT Steak Atlanta. But, here I am talking about it. We might figure out a way to show the interview without showing the restaurant. I don't know.
But, to summarize, BLT and especially their clown-ass General Manager can catch fire as far as I'm concerned. I won't EVER spend a penny in that place and I plan on letting all my family, friends, and fellow ATL Bite Lifers know. I do wanna say THANK YOU to Rebecca because she was so sweet and so cooperative. She actually convinced me and 2 Chainz to try some tuna tartare. But, other than that. . .
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| Tuna Tartare |
I'll see ya'll tomorrow!!!
Happy Eating!!!
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