Iconic restaurant receives 'zero star' review from The New York Times

The review notes "Peter Luger used to sizzle. Now it sputters." Photo / Getty Images

An iconic New York restaurant, Peter Luger, has received a blistering zero star critique from The New York Times.

Food writer Pete Wells' scathing review has gone viral after he called the foodie institution a pricey scam of a joint and "far from the best New York has to offer."

The review notes "Peter Luger used to sizzle. Now it sputters." Wells writes that he left with an unshakeable sense of being scammed.

From the shrimp cocktail, which Wells described as tasting like "cold latex dipped in ketchup and horseradish" to the German fried potatoes - "mushy, dingy, grey and sometimes cold." - he went on to ponder if Caesar salad was always "drippy" and the grated cheese so "white and rubbery"?

But it didn't end with the food. Wells said the waiters were rude and the management was awful too.

The review sparked commentary from other unsatisfied diners who agree that the steak icon that opened in 1887 is no longer worth the long waits and seismic bills.

"I feel like that Peter Luger review has been coming for a while now," wrote former Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes on Twitter, calling the restaurant "wildly forgettable in every way".

"You start to wonder who really needs to go to Peter Luger and start to think the answer is nobody," says Wells.

Porterhouse has been dubbed one of the best steakhouses in the city and will set you back a whopping $US229.80. But Wells has deemed it incapable of producing a delicious and well-cooked slab of beef saying the kitchen is well past its prime.

"Other restaurants, not just steakhouses, can put a formidable crust on both sides of the cut; Luger caramelises the top side only, while the underside is barely past raw, as if it had done all its cooking on the hot platter," he says.

Wells goes on to say that it seemed like the staff went out of their way to make things inconvenient.

"Diners who walk in the door eager to hand over literal piles of money aren't greeted; they're processed," he says.