With nearly 3,000 on the waitlist, a group of college students curated a convincing fake elite dining experience.
Pictured above: waiters for the fake steakhouse experience. Image credits: Aadi Bajpai/Robb Report.
About a month ago, Mehran’s Steak House, known for serving the best steak in New York, opened for one night only. Remarkably, the restaurant already had rave reviews, and reservations had to be made months in advance. But that didn’t stop hundreds of New Yorkers from rushing to be a part of this unique occasion.
As it turns out, the so-called luxury dining experience was a practical joke planned by a group of 20-something techies who lived together. Among the group was Mehran Jalali, who often cooked steaks for his roommates. One of them changed the name of their address to Mehran’s Steak House, and the rest continued the joke by writing fake reviews gushing about the Jalali’s steaks. Soon after, however, people from across the city came to their door, setting off the scheme that made headlines.
Six months later, after developing a four-course menu and inviting every guest on the waitlist, the roommates rented an event space for the grande finale of their elaborate conspiracy. The “staff,” which largely consisted of college students who had no cooking experience, flew in to help prepare during the afternoon before the restaurant’s opening. When the guests arrived, they were surprised by what they found.
The dinner service supposedly followed the life cycle of a cow, from a salad to meatballs. As Jalali and his friends cooked the entire menu on a six-burner stove in the downstairs kitchen, some of the diners became suspicious of the establishment. After watching the servers struggle to open bottles and calculate basic numbers, they began to realize that Mehran’s Steak House was just the punch line of an elaborate joke. While some of the restaurant-goers found Jalali and his roommates’ escapade to be hilarious, others were irritated that they spent that much money only to receive a subpar dinner service. What’s your take on this enterprise–was it just a playful prank or a deliberate act of fraud?