The 'Batman' Restaurant Diners Need To Be A Wayne To Afford
Good news for fans of both fine dining and vigilante justice, there’s now a swank new Batman-themed restaurant in London. Given the history of comic book hero-centric eateries, you might be expecting a tacky joint where the servers dress in Halloween costumes and tell you about the soup of the day in a full-throated Christian Bale growl. But at Park Row, there are very few references to Batman himself. The only actual glimpse you get of the Caped Crusader, technically, is at the entrance to the restaurant, where there’s a portrait of young Bruce Wayne and his soon-to-be-murdered parents. Who’s hungry?
As you descend from the faux-Wayne study into the restaurant itself, this upscale establishment is centered mostly around the villains. The premise of Park Row, apparently, is that it exists within the world of Gotham City. The restaurant is actually comprised of multiple restaurants and bars, all purported businesses being run by supervillains like Catwoman and the Penguin. And the staff (according to their boss) are all part of the illusion because “everyone believes they work for Oswald Cobblepot, or Selina Kyle.” Hopefully, this doesn’t mean that any staff have to try and to cash a paycheck signed by Condiment King.
There’s also a cocktail bar run by Poison Ivy -- and really who wouldn’t want a drink prepared by someone whose first name is literally “Poison” -- and a section called the “Monarch Theatre” that is shrouded in mystery and hopefully doesn’t involve the staff pretending to gun down your loved ones in cold blood.
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Since it opened earlier this year, Park Row has garnered some favorable reviews. Though The Guardian’s write-up tore it to shreds, calling it “an absurdly shoddily staged sort-of Batman experience that never, ever mentions Batman,” and describing a $58 dish as something that “even a hedge-fund manager in an advanced state of refreshment would spot as a massive, cynical waste of money.”
At the very least, it’s probably a ton of fun for Batman fans … as long as said fans aren’t under the age of 30 and are in the same income bracket as Bruce Wayne’s snooty friends.
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Top Image: Warner Bros.
