Customers at two-Michelin-starred eatery Cesar on Hudson Street pay up to $368 for a 13-course tasting menu. But chef and owner Cesar Ramirez and his partner, wife Adriana Rodriguez, served employees a tasting menu of state labor law violations, according to a class action lawsuit filed last month.
Former captain and expediter Oscar Molina, who was fired in July, and at least three current employees claim 333 Hospitality Group cheated them out of tips by illegally sharing them with managers, paid workers below minimum wage, and cheated them out of overtime pay.
Ramirez even “personally” forced them to understate the number of hours they worked, among other allegations in the civil case in US District Court.
“The class includes all past and present service employees at Cesar,” said the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Michael Digiulio — up to 40 people.
The attorney said Molina hopes to “recover all of his and his co-workers’ stolen wages and tips. He worked extremely hard and devoted his life to this restaurant. It is unfortunate that, in return, Cesar treated him, and his co-workers, so poorly and refused to pay them what they are owed.”
If the court rules in the employees’ favor, “damages could run into the millions,” a source said.
Ramirez’s lawyer Aaron Nathaniel Solomon said he couldn’t comment on pending litigation. The defendants have until Sept. 14 to respond to the claims.
Cesar is a marquee establishment in the thriving Hudson Square restaurant scene. It has annual revenue “in excess of” $500,000, according to the suit.
It earned its two Michelin stars less than five months after Ramirez opened in a former printing plant at 333 Hudson Street in 2024. The Michelin Guide praised its “world-class seafood menu” and Ramirez as one of a “select few top-level chefs who can still be seen presiding over the stoves night after night.”
The prestigious OAD, Opinionated About Dining, platform named Cesar the No. 1 restaurant in North America, ahead of acclaimed spots such as Le Bernardin and Atomix in the Big Apple and The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif.
Ramirez is no stranger to courtroom drama. He previously manned the stoves at three-Michelin-starred Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare from 2009 to 2023. After it moved to Manhattan, he was fired by owner Moe Issa, which set off a bitter round of legal claims and counterclaims — including that Ramirez stole over $500,000 worth of wine and equipment and that Issa diverted $400,000 from the restaurant’s account and had the chef and his wife falsely arrested in front of their kids.
The cases are still winding their way through the courts.
In 2014, employees at Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, where Ramirez was head chief, sued him and Issa for alleged labor law violations in a case that ended in an undisclosed settlement.