She’s a Michelin star destroyer.
A travel influencer has slammed having “the worst meal of her life” at a world-famous restaurant in Spain’s Basque Country – a meal so bad that diners next to her refused to pay.
Chloe Jade Meltzer is Video Series — Snag 8 million views on TikTok.
“I can’t believe this restaurant is so awful,” Meltzer lamented in one post.
The object of the world traveler’s anger is Mugaritzis a two-Michelin star restaurant in San Sebastian, Spain that regularly appears on lists of the world’s best restaurants.
Mugaritz chef Andoni Luis Aduriz is renowned for his culinary creativity, but during a recent visit he seemed completely unappreciated by at least one table.
“Through roughly three hours and around 23-25 different dishes, we will weave together a tale of stories, gestures and emotions,” the restaurant’s website promises potential diners.
“By enjoying the taste, texture and aroma with your hands, you stimulate the senses and are reminded of our primitive habits,” the sales pitch continues.
Meltzer said he was initially intrigued by the “ingenious” system, recalling how he picked a photo and then told the salesperson “three things about myself” to choose a wine, a la “Cabernet Charades.”
Unfortunately, the meal appeared to go bad quickly when the first dish arrived: a glob of fish slime reminiscent of Vaseline that diners had to eat with their hands.
“I was essentially eating lip gloss,” Meltzer lamented, licking the slime off his fingers like an aardvark.
Other failures include a “sea rash” which the seasoned chef likens to a “damp cigar” and a “belly button” mold made from kefir and olive oil (from which customers are “supposed to suck out the funny juices”), like an interactive cinema prosthetic.
Other insults the influencer allegedly received included “burnt spinach and barbecue sauce,” fermented potato skins and more “nasty barbecue sauce” (the influencer likened the combination to “makeup remover wipes”), “stale bucatini,” and “churros” that were actually raw plantains – the apparent culinary equivalent of catfishing.
The total bill for this evil meal? 897 euros (about $975) for Meltzer’s party.
“I have no idea how this restaurant is in business,” one content creator fumed. “This is the worst restaurant I’ve ever been to in my life.”
Meltzer is clearly a fish eater, and in his measured critique he acknowledges that he avoided at least one meat dish, but he points out that Mugaritz prefaces the meal with a warning disclaimer that “not all the dishes will please you.”
But it doesn’t make sense that the whole thing is “totally unpleasant,” she said.
The TikTok user wasn’t the only reviewer who found the restaurant’s take on the emperor’s new clothes: She claimed that one customer, seen in a second video, was “sick of this nonsense” and refused to pay until police were called.
TikTok’s comments section was baffled by Meltzer’s harsh criticism, with one commenter writing, “I am way too hung up on bad reviews of Michelin star restaurants.”
Another wrote: “This is why I never go to a Michelin star restaurant without thoroughly researching and reviewing it. I don’t mind paying the price but not for pretentious rubbish.”
Many likened the experience to the 2022 foodie thriller “The Menu,” in which unsuspecting patrons are invited to take part in a sadistic social experiment under the guise of an avant-garde tasting menu.
Mugaritz currently has an average rating of 3.5 stars out of 5. trip advisorHowever, reviews over the past few months have been overwhelmingly negative.
One reviewer described the experience as “horrible from start to finish.”
“At the end of the day, no matter how clever you think you are as a chef, the food has to taste good, and the reality is that the food was terrible,” Meltzer declared. “There was not a single dish in the 22-course menu that I would want to eat again.”
“Of course we want to experiment, support local ingredients, use seasonal ingredients and give our guests new experiences, but it has to be delicious in the process,” she said.
