There is something that I absolutely love about the behind the scenes intricacies of how the restaurant business work.

I loved reading this collection of stories from some of the most well known places in NYC. I've always wanted to work in a restaurant, but after reading some of these, I don't think I ever could!

As someone who used to work in a restaurant and was a host, this book was amazing. Hit home and loved the stories.

This was a fascinating look a bit behind the curtain in the food service industry. I have a lot of respect for people who work in the food service/hospitality industry - and a lot of the stories in this memoir highlight exactly the types of things that these folks have to deal with on a regular basis. The author highlights why the hospitality business is a lifestyle, not just a career, and gives a glimpse into some of the highs (and lows) of spending time in that lifestyle.

The flow of the writing was fast paced and engaging. A lot of quick stories and anecdotes grouped together in a flow that generally made sense - bookended by the food critics award show. The epilogue addressing what has happened to the hospitality industry as a result of Covid was fascinating and on point, while also highlighting the opportunities that exist.

I found some of the stories to be laugh out loud funny and irreverent. The style of prose is also very obviously "New York" - a bit rough around the edges and profane. There's a bit of a seedy quality to some of the stories that I wasn't necessarily expecting. What I did expect (based on the well documented nature of employee hostility in the hospitality industry) was to read the stories of abuse and mistreatment of individuals working in hospitality.

Definitely an interesting memoir and would be highly entertaining for foodies who are familiar with the landscape of New York restaurants and/or have spent time in that space. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC for me to read and review.

Michael's memoir describes in detail his 35 plus years of working every front of the house job in high end restaurants in New York City. With plenty of celebrity gossip he describes the many ups and many downs (some defying belief) of his profession.
Fascinating, Eye-Opening and Page Turning!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I love a memoir, and I especially love a memoir that deals with the food/restaurant industry. Your Table Is Ready by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina behind the scenes of the "it" restaurants in NYC. As a self-proclaimed foodie, I loved the journey.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

YOUR TABLE IS READY is a fabulous read for anyone who loves to read tales of New York's foodie world. This book is wildly entertaining and completely bingeworthy.

This feels like an extreme version of the new york waiter life or someone with the worst hand in life. Hopefully besides the underpaying and high stress, the rest of the drama is not the normal for waiters.

A very interesting look at the New York City restaurant industry with lots of behind the scenes
stories. A must-read for anyone who works or has worked in the restaurant business. A quick and fun read.

While this might not be fore everyone, I found the book enjoyable and a fun read. There were some parts I skimmed a little but overall, it was interesting to read about the interactions and experiences. Always love an insider's point of view and this was definitely one of those books.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC copy.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Your Table is Ready is a fascinating look at the world of restaurants from the front of the house. I’ve seen people call it Kitchen Confidential from the front and I think that’s 100% accurate. I’ve never worked in a restaurant so I can’t say if all these stories are accurate, but it tracks with what Bourdain said - lots of drugs, alcohol, and sexism. If you don’t want to read about that… don’t pick up this book. If you, like me, are fascinated by the alien world of fancy restaurants and want the inside scoop (narcissistic narrator included), give this one a try.

Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy!

Thank you, @stmartinspress for this gifted copy! Your Table Is Ready was such an enjoyable read. Mike takes us back to the beginning of his long career in the wild world of restaurant business, starting as a nervous server, finding his place in and passion for foodservice, and becoming a highly sought-after Maître D'. He shares funny and cringy stories all throughout (that sort of made me question if I ever want to visit a restaurant again) and brought readers along on his mountains-and-valleys journey splendidly. This would be fun for anyone in NYC who may have visited or simply seen some of the establishments mentioned.
For anyone who works in the food service industry, or appreciates good food or memoirs in general, add this to your list.

This was a really interesting peek behind the curtain of some of New York City's elite dining experiences.

I did not finish this book. The author spent too much time talking about the terrible things he has done, and this did not live up to my expectations at reading the inside scoop of the restaurant industry. This was a wolf of wallstreet wannabe.

3.75
while the first 120 pages took a while to crack through, the last 120 were a breeze. this book is not classy, it isn't touched by a poetic pen, nor does it revolutionize the genre of restauration nonfiction. but that's its charm. it delivers on what it intended to be and it's lack of class is what makes it unique. cecchi takes you through the filthy environment that was lux nyc restauration in the 70-90s with the intention of making your mouth drop.

cecchi is a story teller, and i really liked how the book was structured and how it flowed, but the best parts of this were when it stayed about the story. the times when opinions or feelings were discussed (or one-liner reactions were added), it made it somewhat cringey and sometimes even gave me the ick. some of the "this behaviour wouldn't be accepted today" lines read as something he was forced to say.

overall, this book takes you on a trip; you'll see drugs, medium-rare lamb, sex dungeons, wine lists, problematic characters, mobsters, influencers, the AIDS crisis, 9/11, celebrity name-drops, food critics, and so much more. it's a person's life put on paper for our entertainment. all that is left for you to see if it's your type of entertainment!

This insiders look into the elite world of dining was utterly fascinating. I loved the personal, and public, tea that was spilled all over this book. It was a page turning appetizer, main course, and dessert wrapped into one.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this advanced copy Netgalley and the publisher.

Highly engrossing & entertaining. I learned alot about the restaurant industry that I never knew. The stories and tidbits along I read along the way are so wonderfully amusing. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever wanted to learn about the inner workings of a fine dining establishment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Libro FM for providing me with both digital and audio copies of Michael Cecchi-Azzolina’s memoir, Your Table is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maitre D’.

I appreciate having access to both the digital and audio arcs, but decided to go with the audio, as it was narrated by the author. Authors are not always the ideal person to narrate their books, but Cecchi-Azzolina is a larger-than-life type of person and a riot. His memoir is filled with outrageous stories, but hearing them in his heavy New York accent with the thrill in his voice, lended to the overall experience.

Your Table is Ready is a great pick for anyone who would like a behind-the- scenes look at the restaurant industry. It has shades of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, but instead of a chef’s perspective, Cecchi-Azzolina gives us a glimpse of the chaos happening in the front of house. The chaos that professionals in high-end dining manage to conceal from patrons, usually giving us a calm restaurant experience. Primarily set in the 1980’s, Cecchi-Azzolina’s career in the restaurant industry was drug-fueled and rife with sexism among other aspects of the era that would be considered taboo now. He also speaks of the many friends and colleagues that he lost to the AIDS epidemic, ending the memoir with a very touching tribute. As much as his memoir is a look at the restaurant industry, it is also a peek into the norms of a different era.

Cecchi-Azzolina has plenty of wild stories, including getting entangled with the mob. I’m not going to give the story away, but it’s intense and will have you worried as it unfolds.

Towards the end of the book, I had the surreal experience of realizing that I have friends in common with the author. Cecchi-Azzolina is also an actor and my friends were producers of one of his films. However, the story is better than that, as one of Cecchi-Azzolina’s customers helped fund the film. I immediately paused the audio and called my friend, who had only nice things to say about Cecchi-Azzolina, mentioning that he was the kind of guy, who “always knows a guy.” This confirms my impression of him from his book- he’s a character in the best possible sense!

Your Table is Ready is a fun, fast-paced, engaging read. I’ve never worked in the restaurant industry, but I find the behind-the-scenes of it to be fascinating. It has made me more aware and appreciative of the complexities of running a successful restaurant.

I went into this book thinking it was going to be in the vein of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. Because that’s how it was marketed.

But because the author was a maître d’ and not a chef, the ratio of food to shenanigans was really off for me. I didn’t find it fun to read about all the drugs the author did, or how many of their friends and colleagues died of AIDS.

It got better in the last quarter of the book as the author grew up, but it wasn’t enough to redeem the book for me.

Would be a better fit for readers more interested in reading about the excesses of the 80s than for food lovers.

I love this book, it was such an entertaining, read! I loved all the anecdotes, it made me wish that I could have gone to some of these restaurants at the time. It’s fascinating, and instructive, to hear how the people who work in the restaurant think of the patrons. Definitely something to think of the next time I go out to eat. Five stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

My review comes a little late but this book was fantastic! I loved all the stories the author shared about being a maitre d'hotel at many famed NYC restaurants from the 1970s through the 2000s. I was a server and a hostess myself many years ago so perhaps I enjoyed this so much because I could relate to it in some ways? It was just a really interesting memoir, and I enjoyed reading about the shocking antics of some very famous guests. If you're a foodie, a memoir lover, or just love hot gossip then pick this one up!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.