Secret codes of restaurants after James Corden was '86d' by New York boss
James Corden has been banned from a restaurant after they labelled him their 'most abusive customer' ever.
Balthazar restaurant in New York City banned the talk show host after claiming he treated their staff poorly.
Restaurant owner Kevin McNally took to social media to say that Corden was a 'hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny cretin of a man', while writing about two incidents which led him to impose a ban.
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In his post, he said he'd '86'd Corden', which is a nifty bit of restaurant code you might already be familiar with if you've ever spent any time watching Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.
The phrase '86', which got shouted all the time on the show, was used when Gordon discovered that some ingredients of a dish had been left out so long the mould growing on them had developed sentience.
It usually means getting rid of something, normally because the restaurant has run out of an ingredient for a dish, but in this case it was Corden himself who ended up getting 86'd.
Restaurants have all sorts of other codes they use to secretly communicate, usually to let each other know what sort of customers they're dealing with at each table.
If you ever hear staff describing you as a 'PX' that's a very good thing, as it means 'person extraordinaire' and it means they know you're someone who spends a lot of money, so they should treat you well.
Other names for this type of guest include 'VIP' (very important person, which you probably knew already), though some restaurants don't like using phrases everyone knows, and 'BLR', which stands for 'baller'.
If you're a really big spender who they want to keep coming back time and time again, then you might be a 'PPX', a 'person particulièrement extraordinaire'.
Staff who know you are mates with the owner might call you an 'F/O', 'friend with owner', and if they want to avoid you complaining to their boss they'll tell their colleagues to 'HWC', meaning handle with care.
Above all, you want to avoid getting 86'd because if the staff are using it to refer to you then either prepare your grovelling apology or find somewhere else to eat.
But if the place really likes you, then they might refer to you as 'Never Refuse', meaning they'll always find you a spot if you want to go there.
The codes are slightly different in each country as slang develops in all sorts of wonderful ways, as The Guardian found some phrases more native to British restaurants.
If you overhear staff in a British restaurant referring to your table as a 'HAF' that means they reckon you've 'had a few' and it's a sign your group is getting pretty rowdy.
Still, it's much better than being referred to as a 'PIA', which you might be able to guess means a 'pain in the arse'.
If you're branded a 'LAL' then it means the staff think you're a celebrity lookalike, while being a 'doughnut' means they think you won't want to be bothered during your meal so they'll take your order at the start and come round at the end.
As for Corden, he ended up getting himself unbanned pretty quickly after making a big apology to the Balthazar owner, who joked that he wanted to host The Late Late Show for a few months in return.
Topics: James Corden, Food And Drink, Celebrity
Joe Harker