Salt Bae is in the headlines again… But for all the wrong reasons. The Internet-famous butcher’s New York burger joint has unexpectedly and unceremoniously closed its doors in yet another sign that his restaurant empire might be set to crumble.
Salt Bae (real name Nusret Gökçe) is under fire at the moment. Not only is he facing a litany of lawsuits and complaints for everything from stealing employees’ tips, selling customers’ leftover wine and sex discrimination, but a number of his restaurants around the globe, including his Nusr-Et steakhouse in London, have been reviewed exceptionally severely.
The latest blow for the world’s most annoying Lionel Messi fan? His Manhattan burger restaurant, simply named ‘Salt Bae Burger’, quietly closed its doors over the weekend after only three years in operation, with neither the restaurant nor Gökçe himself offering a decent explanation for the closure.
WATCH a behind-the-scenes look at Salt Bae’s providore operations in Istanbul below.
Like many of his other restaurants, Salt Bae Burger has stared down some seriously bad reviews. Local blog Gothamist famously called the place “the worst restaurant in NYC” and “an insult to our city”, saying that the restaurant’s burgers tasted worse than hospital food. Yikes.
When Salt Bae Burger opened in NYC, it courted controversy on day 1 by offering free veggie burgers (with pink buns to boot) to ladies, a move that was questionably legal as well as in questionable taste.
Now, Salt Bae Burger now sports a sign out the front claiming it is “moving to a new location” – however, that “new location” is simply the address of one of the two Nusr-Et Steakhouses in NYC.
Salt Bae Burger opened its first location in Dubai in 2019, followed by its now-closed NYC spot. A Los Angeles location was set to open later this year, but it never materialized, Eater reports – despite the fact Salt Bae clearly made a trip to the city, posing in front of the Hollywood Hills sign and so on.
While Salt Bae’s myriad restaurants around the globe remain popular – especially among celebrities – the critical consensus is that they’re wildly overpriced, not very good and more of a spectacle than a genuine fine dining experience.
At some point, we wonder if the Salt Bae meme will lose its lustre… For the moment though, he might just need to stick to steaks and sprinkling salt down his forearms. Yummy.