Danny Meyer Restaurant Quotes & Sayings

Every restaurant needs to have a point of view. — Danny Meyer

A great restaurant doesn't distinguish itself by how few mistakes it makes but by how well they handle those mistakes. — Danny Meyer

In the restaurant business, as opposed to the theater, center orchestra is an 8 P. M. reservation. Orchestra on the side is 7 or 8:30. Mezzanine is 6 and 9. But people don't take it personally when they call the theater and can't get what they want. — Danny Meyer

In one respect, it's easier to open a restaurant in New York because you get more media attention than anywhere else. Almost everyone will try a new place once, irrespective of the reviews, because it's a spectator sport. — Danny Meyer

Gramercy Tavern appeared on the cover of New York Magazine the day we opened, and it was five deep at the bar with people who were not necessarily here to dine. They just wanted to kinda sniff out the hot, new restaurant. — Danny Meyer

A great restaurant is one that just makes you feel like you're not sure whether you went out or you came home and confuses you. If it can do both of those things at the same time, you're hooked. — Danny Meyer

I learned that you shouldn't take your most esoteric concept and fit it into the largest space with the highest fixed costs. It puts too much pressure on the restaurant to hit grand slams every day when there just aren't enough people who want to watch that sport. — Danny Meyer

In an age when so many groups are rolling out restaurants faster than your local baker makes donuts, my goal is that each restaurant feels hand-crafted. That they have their own soul. — Danny Meyer

I don't get to cook in my own restaurant. — Danny Meyer

During one of his uncannily well-timed impromptu visits to my restaurant, Union Square Cafe, Pat Cetta taught me how to manage people. Pat was the owner of a storied New York City steakhouse called Sparks, and by that time, he was an old pro at running a fine restaurant. — Danny Meyer

You cannot open a major New York restaurant today and not be aware that showbiz will play a role. — Danny Meyer

A restaurant is a compendium of choices that the owner has made. If you look around a restaurant, everything represents a choice: the kind of salt shaker that's on the table, the art on the walls, the uniforms on the waiters. — Danny Meyer

You wouldn't have the same art on the walls at every restaurant or the same waiter uniforms. Neither should you have the same service style at every restaurant. — Danny Meyer

I adore going to a very, very fancy restaurant - as long as the spirit is genuine, like it's their pleasure to welcome you. — Danny Meyer

Wearing a baseball cap or sleeveless shirt in a white-tablecloth restaurant is rude and makes other diners upset, just like someone on a cellphone. — Danny Meyer