New York foodies tricked by friend group turning their inside joke into fake restaurant

A friend group decided to turn an inside joke into an exclusive restaurant that opened for only one night, tricking New York foodies who had been waiting for over a year.

The Shed at Dulwich was a 2017 hoax that saw journalist Oobah Butler set up a fake restaurant in his backyard by making it the top-rated restaurant in London on TripAdvisor.

Serving £1 ready-meals to ten customers, some diners said they would recommend the restaurant to others by the end of the experience. In an article for Vice, Butler wrote that the hoax demonstrated “Society’s willingness to believe absolute bulls**t.”

And now, it has been done again — a friend group’s inside joke has fooled New York foodies into waiting almost one year for an exclusive restaurant that doesn’t exist.

The joke began when college student Mehran Jalali began hosting biweekly steak dinners for his housemates and friends in their Upper East Side apartment in 2021.

Setting up a Google page so that the group could leave reviews for each meal, “Mehran’s Steakhouse” was born. And with the caliber of comments left behind, it wasn’t long before New York foodies started to take notice.

“​​Never have I tasted something so delicious and exquisite. As you take a bite, your entire being is transported to pure bliss and serenity. It’s evident that the steak was cooked by the hands of god,” one reviewer wrote.

Another said, “I am unwilling to say any more about the details of this excursion as it was a deeply emotional experience that I will remember for the rest of my life.”

After creating a fake website for their steakhouse, the friends decided to bring the restaurant to life for one night after their waitlist grew to nearly 3,000 names.

At $114 a head, approximately 140 diners showed up at a venue the group had booked out and decorated. The unsuspecting restaurant-goers were then served by 65 of the group’s friends, many of whom had zero hospitality experience.

The night included a fake proposal, Drake fans, and a menu based on the lifecycle of a cow. Most diners did catch onto the hoax but nonetheless enjoyed being part of the joke.

However, not everyone was impressed to see the friend group capitalizing on Butler’s idea; “What made The Shed impressive was that they did it [with] much less resources [and money]. The fact they don’t acknowledge The Shed is weird.”

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