One day after it was announced that James Corden was persona non grata at one of New York City's most known restaurants, his ban has been lifted.
Balthazar owner Keith McNally took to Instagram on Monday, Oct. 17, to publicly 86 James from the restaurant, calling the "Late Late Show" host "a tiny Cretin of a man." In fact, the restaurateur said James is "the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago."
After the James reported behavior made headlines, Keith told Page Six that the "Cats" actor called the restauranteur on Monday night and "apologized profusely" for allegedly treating the staff horribly on several occasions.
"Anyone magnanimous enough to apologize to a deadbeat layabout like me (and my staff) doesn't deserve to be banned from anywhere. Especially Balthazar," Keith said, adding, "all is forgiven."
The quick change is tone is noticeable, considering Keith trashed James just a few hours earlier, claiming the TV host has a history of mistreating restaurant staff. Keith also went on to detail two incidents at the New York City hot spot.
Citing a manager's report, he said James ate a meal in June and summoned a manager over once he was finished. There, he allegedly showed the apologetic manager a hair. "Corden was extremely nasty" to the manager, Keith said. Further, James supposedly demanded that Balthazar cover several rounds of drinks in exchange for him not leaving a nasty review of the restaurant, which is listed in the Michelin guide.
On Oct. 9, the TV host returned to the restaurant with his wife, Julia Carey, for brunch. After Julia ordered an egg yolk omelette and salad, James became upset with the dish. Keith said James called their server to complain about "a little bit of egg white mixed with the egg yolk."
"The kitchen remade the dish but unfortunately sent it with home fries instead of salad," Keith claimed. "That's when James Corden began yelling like crazy to the server: 'You can't do your job! You can't do your job! Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelette myself!'"
Cooler heads prevailed after the manager — the same one from the earlier incident — came over. The restaurant ended up giving James and Julia glasses of champagne to smooth things over.
"[The manager] said that Corden was pleasant to him but nasty to the server," Keith said, adding that the female server was "very shaken" but continued to finish her shift.