Mike Isabella Wrangles With Tom Sietsema Over Bandolero Review

Not one to take things lying down, Mike Isabella took to Twitter last night to fire back at Tom Sietsema for yesterday's Bandolero review — which, while largely positive about the food, completely bashed the restaurant's decor and noise level, calling it "one of the grimmest restaurants to open in years." In response, Isabella tweeted to the critic: "You must have hearing like Superman to say how annoying loud @BandoleroDC is. averagenoselevel." He then added that it's "pretty hard to read FOOD review when all you talk about is sound n decor @BandoleroDC" — a point Isabella also made in a statement to Eater last night.

Sietsema later responded: "I actually like much of the food @bandolerodc. But people go to restaurants for service and scene as much as refueling." The critic also addressed the blind item chef-trashing tweets he has mysteriously written just after both his Bandolero First Bite column and his Bandolero review. As he tweeted last night, "Just because two tweets are eight minutes apart does not mean they are related!" OK, sure. Back to the drawing board then?

· Tom Sietsema Dubs Bandolero 'One of the Grimmest Restaurants to Open in Years' [-EDC-]
· Who Is Tom Sietsema Calling a 'Not-So-Top Chef'? [-EDC-]
· All Previous Bandolero Coverage [-EDC-]
· All Previous Mike Isabella Coverage [-EDC-]