How's that for awkward? 

The New York Times confirmed to food website The Braiser that the party did, indeed happen. “The Times ad sales department hosted an event for clients at the restaurant last night. The event was planned two months ago,” reported The Braiser.

Mr. Fieri brought up the point when he defended himself from the Times' hate this morning on The TODAY Show. “And by the way,” Mr. Fieri said, “last night, they hosted — The New York Times hosted a 160-person party at that restaurant.”

That's 160 people who had to eat dishes described in the pages of the Times as "a plate of pale, unsalted squid rings next to a dish of sweet mayonnaise with a distant rumor of spice," "ghostly nubs of unblackened, unspiced white meat," unlovable nachos and "Awesome Pretzel Chicken Tenders" that taste like "chewy air" rather than pretzel or awesome. Perhaps the guests drank blue cocktails that Mr. Wells wrote tasted like nuclear waste or watermelon margaritas that he found reminiscent of a "combination of radiator fluid and formaldehyde."

Well, we guess this means that the ad sales team who planned the party doesn't read The New York Observer. Because we were on to the disappointing quality of Mr. Fieri's Times Square eatery back on October 2. To think, the whole situation could have been avoided if they had just listened to us.

Or if they had  just asked their own, in-house restaurant reviewer for advice when selecting restaurants.