Diners at ritzy New York City restaurants are the new targets of gun-wielding, moped-driving thieves, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “grab-and-go.”
In recent months, a smattering of stickups have reportedly taken place at several posh restaurants across Manhattan and Brooklyn.
“We’ve come to the point where restaurants need to hire armed guards at the doors,” Eric Goldie, whose Rolex watch was stolen at gunpoint after he left a West Village pizza joint back in March, tells the Sun.
Given that the watch was — intentionally — covered by his sleeve at the time of the attack, Mr. Goldie suspects that someone at the restaurant may have tipped off the thief.
“He shouted at me: ‘Rolex, Rolex, Rolex!’ He knew that I was wearing it even though my sleeves were rolled down,” he says. “It didn’t make sense.”
The thief dashed off with the loot on a moped.
While Mr. Goldie notes that many of the watch-stealing incidents have happened in upscale neighborhoods — where people are more likely to be wearing luxury jewelry items — he wonders how the thieves are being clued to specific targets.
“The more stories I hear, the more I think that it’s an inside job with people who are working in the restaurants,” he says.
Just last Friday, three patrons at Birds of a Feather, a trendy Williamsburg restaurant serving Sichuan specialties, were robbed at gunpoint after two unidentified men entered the restaurant and approached their front window table.
The bandits stole two phones and a watch, according to police reports. Nobody was hurt during the incident.
The restaurant’s owner, Xian Zhang, described the attack on his “fully seated” restaurant as “very brazen,” he told Eater. “I have heard of people being robbed in outdoor setups,” he said, but never expected thieves to target the dining room of a packed restaurant.
An individual claiming to be at the restaurant at the time took to Reddit to describe the scene, adding that the assailants were “in all black” and quickly took off on a scooter.
Another user who claimed to have witnessed the robbery chimed in, describing it as “scary as hell” and that “it all happened so fast and most people weren’t entirely sure what happened.”
The incident comes just a few weeks after two men, armed and riding mopeds, stole a man’s $100,000 watch outside of iconic Italian restaurant Carbone at Greenwich Village during peak dinner hours.
The assailants held the 39-year old victim at gunpoint and left with his luxury Patek Philippe watch.
Carbone, known for being so exclusive it has inspired the creation of Reddit threads dedicated to providing tips for snagging a highly coveted reservation, has hosted the likes of Taylor Swift, the Kardashians, Leonardo DiCaprio, the Obamas, and many other A-list celebrities.
“That’s New York for you. You gotta watch your watch,” a man leaving Carbone after the incident reportedly quipped.
Timepieces were also stolen in broad daylight from outdoor diners at a popular farm-to-table restaurant, Marlow & Sons, in May. An armed assailant reportedly approached two patrons at around 6:45pm and stole their watches, meeting up with a partner on a scooter and fleeing the scene.
After Mr. Goldie posted a series of videos of himself describing the events on TikTok, he received an outpour of messages from individuals who had fallen victims to similar crimes in the city.
“You feel a complete sense of violation,” he says. “If you can’t wear your nice things in New York City, where can you?”
It’s unclear if the same perpetrators are behind all of the incidents. The investigations are ongoing and no arrests have been made, the New York Police Department reported to the Sun.
