Guy Fieri's massive New York restaurant will close at the end of the year - here's what it's like to eat there

This is Guy's Big Bite Burger and rojo ring.

• Guy's American Kitchen & Bar in New York City will serve its last meal on December 31.
• The restaurant has become a cult favorite despite its food being poorly reviewed.
• We visited when it opened in 2012 - here's what it was like.

"Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" host Guy Fieri has become one of the biggest food personalities out there, but on December 31, one major part of his empire will be no more.

According to Eater NY, Guy's American Kitchen & Bar, located in New York City's Times Square, will close on New Year's Eve.

The food itself has not been well-received over the years. In an infamous zero-star review from 2012, The New York Times' Pete Wells effectively destroyed the restaurant, comparing its Awesome Pretzel Chicken Tenders to "chewy air" and its watermelon margarita to "some combination of radiator fluid and formaldehyde."

As Fieri's first and only restaurant in New York, the place is totally decked out in everything Guy - everything on the menu is Guy-branded, the decor represents everything that Guy likes, and there's a gift shop with Guy merchandise.

And at 16,000 square feet and with 500 seats, the place is absolutely huge. It's located in what was once The New York Times Building, where the newspaper was headquartered for nearly a century.

We visited the restaurant shortly after it opened in 2012. Here's what it was like:

Kim Bhasin contributed reporting to an earlier version of this article.

EXCLUSIVE FREE SLIDE DECK:
The Future of Retail 2018 by the BI Intelligence Research Team.
Get the Slide Deck Now »