A restaurant in the Hamptons is sharing its side of a viral TikTok in which two influencers claimed they had their “worst” dining experience “ever.”
On Tuesday, June 11, influencers Meg Radice and Audrey Jongens of The VIP List posted a clip in which they heavily critiqued the Montauk, New York, establishment Mavericks Montauk. In the footage — which they captioned “the real tea on Mavericks Montauk, go cry about it” — they labeled their meal as “the worst $2,000 meal we’ve ever had,” while calling the hospitality of the location “criminal.”
Among their complaints about the restaurant, the VIP List duo claimed they waited three hours for appetizers, alleged that a seafood tower collapsed on a friend and “ruined” her dress and called the “level of cap” in the menu “unprecedented.”
“Every dish was flavorless, the steak was okay, but everything’s okay when it’s drowned in butter,” the video’s narrator said, before saying that they were “hit with a $2,000 bill” after a five-hour visit and thought they were being “Punk’d.”
The steakhouse’s owners have since responded to several of the claims made by the influencers — telling The New York Post that the women arrived 20 minutes late to their reservation, refused to order their food in one instance (which is their policy) and ultimately misrepresented the price they were charged for the meal in the viral video.
According to the restaurant, the group — which showed up as a table of six — was charged $1,246 before tax, and half of their bill was the cost of the alcohol they ordered. The restaurant also told The New York Post it declined to give the group comped meals.
“They spent $638 on food and $608 on alcohol … The driving cost behind their bill was all of the alcohol they consumed,” the owner said.
Mavericks also told The Independent that the influencers’ seafood tower arrived at their table fully intact and that they had been “shaking [the tower] until it fell over.” The restaurant also claimed to The New York Post that the influencers’ alleged timeframe of the meal was inaccurate and that they were seated at 8:22 p.m. and paid at 11:18 p.m.
“Our server approached the table three times to take the complete order and was denied,” the owners said. “When they finally did give the order, it was [rung up] immediately after at 9:38 p.m. They received their first course at 9:47 p.m.”
The current conversation surrounding the restaurant “has real, meaningful and lasting consequences for us as a small business,” the owners told The New York Post.
A spokesperson for Mavericks Montauk did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for additional comment on Saturday.
In a statement to PEOPLE, the influencers said, “If we’re wrong, the general public can go in and try for themselves. Hopefully they do better — our dinner was awful. Mad that we said it? Go cry about it!”
A rep for the VIP List also said that the food reviewers’ “goal is to give an honest review and sometimes the review is really positive and other times it’s negative, but it’s their experience and their truth.”
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“The restaurant’s claims are outrageous and defamatory and honestly an embarrassing attempt to smear the girls. Meg and Audrey have never nor would ever demand free food from a restaurant,” the rep added, noting that the women have “timestamps” to prove their reservation was for 8 p.m. and their seafood tower didn’t arrive until 9:48 p.m.
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“To try and claim the girls would tamper with the tower and sacrifice their friend’s dress for the night is also ridiculous,” the VIP List rep continued. “Their bill came to $1,613.53 after the tip, which was more than 20% because the girls recognize that even when the food is terrible the staff is still working. The seafood tower that was taken off the bill would’ve been an additional $185 that would’ve made the bill $1,798. They also bought a round of shots at the bar prior to dinner… so yes, the meal was closest to $2k and not by exaggeration.”
“This is the nature of the business for Meg and Audrey. You can value their taste, their word, and appreciate their satirical play off of critiquing restaurants or not. In all the restaurants that they’ve ever roasted, they’ve never had this desperate or outrageous of a response,” the rep added.
Mavericks Montauk told The New York Post it stands by its food and service, noting, “To say we take what we do seriously is an understatement.”
