Gaga's parents open restaurant, first review scathing

LADY Gaga's parents opened the doors of their New York City restaurant overnight, attracting a throng of the pop star's "little monsters," crooner Tony Bennett and at least one dissatisfied critic.

"I'm so proud of my parents! Tonight their restaurant opens in New York - Joanne Trattoria. My dad built with his two hands, mommy decorated," Lady Gaga tweeted Wednesday afternoon.

The musician's parents, Joseph and Cynthia Germanotta, have teamed up with star chef Art Smith to serve up Southern Italian fare at the low-key restaurant on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Joanne Trattoria is named after Joseph's late sister, a poet and painter who died of lupus at age 19.

While Lady Gaga's fame has generated buzz about the new joint, the Germanottas have insisted that the place is intended to be a casual neighborhood dining spot and warned that their daughter's fans might be disappointed if they come flocking.

"If they're expecting to come in here and see Grammys and pictures and stuff like that, it's not going to happen," Joseph Germanotta told The New York Times last week.

Nonetheless, groups of Lady Gaga's fans -- endearingly known as her "little monsters" -- showed up for the big night.

"I heard there's a 99 percent chance she'll be here. She's very supportive of her parents, so I'm hoping she'll be here," 21-year-old Anthony Carter, of Staten Island, told local New York news website DNAinfo.com.

Lady Gaga did not make an appearance, but her friend and previous collaborator Tony Bennett popped in, drawing "oohs" at the bar.

That celebrity sighting was apparently one of the few opening night highlights for New York Post critic Steve Cuozzo, who panned the restaurant in a harsh review published Thursday.

"You don't expect a brand-new eatery to be running on all cylinders," he wrote. "But Joanne, owned by the pop superstar's parents, last night was running mainly on acrid-smelling burnt vinegar wafting inte! rmittent ly through the raucous dining room."

Cuozzo lambasted the "unspeakably fatty veal osso bucco," which he said was overpriced at $38, appetizers that took 50 minutes to arrive and grilled calamari that he described as "the worst I've had in a lifetime of squid-mongering."

The critic defended himself for reviewing the restaurant on its opening night, saying that "the Germanottas, Smith and Gaga herself, with the windiest hype machine east of the Pacific, have been trumpeting the joint for months. For Day One, couldn't they at least get some people who act like they've seen the inside of a restaurant before?"