Peter Luger Has Lost Its Sizzle, Zero-Star NY Times Review Says

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — Iconic Williamsburg steakhouse Peter Luger isn't so iconic anymore.

In fact, it's gone so far downhill it feels less like a New York City institution and more like a scam, at least according to New York Times reviewer Pete Wells.

Wells dropped a scathing zero-star review Tuesday on the historic steakhouse, claiming that the "sizzle" it once had a few decades ago has been replaced with staff less lively than at the DMV and fried potatoes about as exciting as an irregularly shaped mole.

The steakhouse — which has been around for a century and earned at least 30 number one NYC steakhouse Zagat ratings — has turned into a scam luring customers into a sub-par dining experience with its grandeur, Wells writes.

"What gnaws at me every time I eat a Luger porterhouse is the realization that it’s just another steak, and far from the best New York has to offer," he writes. "...The list goes on, and gets harder to swallow, until you start to wonder who really needs to go to Peter Luger, and start to think the answer is nobody."

The brutal review had New Yorkers reeling online, both singing Wells' praise for calling out what they had always known or condemning him for daring to speak ill of the iconic eatery.

Or, for some, just sitting back and enjoying the savage takedown.

"I look forward to a zero-star review from Pete Wells the way most people look forward to Christmas," Twitter user Scott Bixby wrote.

"There hasn't been a murder at a steakhouse this bad since Castellano got clipped outside Sparks," another, Anthony DeRosa, chimed in, comparing the review to the 1985 Gambino crime family shootout.

Wells contends that Luger's downfall starts before customers even take a seat.

The restaurant's diners "aren't greeted; they're processed" and then asked to standing in a long line that makes the Department of Motor Vehicles seem like a "block party" in comparison, he writes.

"The servers, who once were charmingly brusque, now give the strong impression that these endless demands for food and drink are all that’s standing between them and a hard-earned nap," he writes.

But the food isn't much better, Wells says.

The shrimp cocktail is more like "cold latex dipped in horseradish," the fries mealy and bland and the Caesar salad a drippy, rubbery-cheese mess, he argues.

And even the menu items the restaurant should do best — steak and burgers — have fallen off from their once sought-after quality, Wells said.

The review comes just weeks after Wells dug into the restaurant for its burger, arguing that the new Red Hook Tavern's burger had surpassed Peter Luger's.

But as for where New Yorkers should take their steak-spending money instead, Wells didn't have an answer.

"And before everybody asks 'so what IS the best steak house in New York, Mister Smarty Pants,' I'll just say right here that I don't think there is one," Wells wrote on Twitter.