Will Guidara Ran the World's #1 Restaurant – What Can He Teach the Comedy Cellar?

Will Guidara Ran the World's #1 Restaurant – What Can He Teach the Comedy Cellar?

From The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table by Comedy Cellar Network

July 25, 2026 · 1h 4m

About this episode

Noam interviews Will Guidara about hospitality, restaurant management, and the philosophy behind running a successful business.

0:00 "You picked the wrong guy" – the audiobook story 3:12 "You own [Comedy Cellar], one of New York's treasures" 7:28 The customer who will never tip again 15:41 Motivating a team after you've won: finite vs. infinite games 23:23 Noam doesn't like fine dining 39:55 Handling Google reviews & hunting down critics Noam sits down with Will Guidara — author of the New York Times bestseller Unreasonable Hospitality, former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park (named the best restaurant in the world under his leadership), and co-producer of The Bear — for a conversation between two obsessives who refuse to run their businesses as businesses. They compare notes on why the money has to be a byproduct, how to answer a customer who swears he'll never tip again, keeping a team motivated after you've won, why fine dining lost its way, tracking down anonymous Google reviewers, and why Will walked away from the top restaurant on earth to be a better dad.

People in this episode

Host: Noam

Guest: Will Guidara

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Eleven Madison Park, New York Times

Books & works: Unreasonable Hospitality, The Bear

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