Of all the notable names who have wined and dined at Tavern on the Green — one caused the most chaos.
Jim Caiola, co-owner of the famed Central Park eatery, dished that in his dozen years running the joint one young actress wreaked “Wicked” havoc.
“Ariana Grande . . . That’s the most paparazzi we’ve ever had,” he told The Post.
Ariana Grande attracted the most paparazzi to Tavern on the Green. / SplashNews.com
“She had to leave out of the kitchen. It was the only time we’ve ever had camera lenses coming through the bushes everywhere.”
She’s still apt to make a grande entrance.
“Now, she just pops in with a couple of friends of hers. Maybe she has better security now.”
Another A-lister leaves staff “Moonstruck.”
“We had Nicolas Cage three times last week,” said Chef Bill Peet.
Caiola, who has run Tavern with his partner in business and life, David Salama, since it reopened in 2014, feels it’s important to keep a record of all the famous faces who visit the Upper West Side institution.
Aaron Judge was at the VIP tent the restaurant caters for the NYC Marathon, whose finish line is at Tavern. “He came over and he asked if I wanted a picture,” Chef Bill Peet recalled. Courtesy of Tavern on the Green
“I’ve tried to maintain a little bit of at least the documentation of who’s been there, because I think it’s such a relevant part of Tavern and its history,” co-owner Jim Caiola told The Post. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post
“There’s always somebody in the dining room,” added Peet, whose “Tavern on the Green Cookbook: Seasonal Recipes and Historical Treasures from New York City’s Iconic Restaurant,” is out on April 7.
The restaurant is home to many star-studded shindigs, like the Tony Awards afterparty for “Hamilton” in 2016, where the guest list included Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin.
“Aretha Franklin actually asked me to come out. . . . She was sitting with Clive Davis, and she asked me to make mac and cheese for her,” recalled Peet.
Nick Jonas, who did an interview with Willie Geist at Tavern, has visited the restaurant with his wife, Priyanka Chopra. Willie Geist/ Instagram
One Upper West Side actor asked to sit down with the chef to go over the menu ahead of his Thanksgiving Day reservation.
“Bryan Cranston, he’s a good friend of Tavern,” he said. “He liked everything, thank God.”
Some stars bond with staff over their shared restaurant experiences.
Jackie Onassis and Pete Hamill attended the afterparty for the NYC premiere of the 1977 Al Pacino film “Bobby Deerfield,” which was held at Tavern. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
“Jon Hamm would talk to the waiters and runners about being a waiter and a runner,” Caiola said.
The restaurateur still mourns the loss of legendary patron Robert Redford, who visited in the months before his death in 2025, and always ordered trout.
“Because he had done ‘A River Runs Through It,’ and I think he could really handle that trout,” Peet said. “He was very nice to the kitchen.”
The “Tavern on the Green Cookbook: Seasonal Recipes and Historical Treasures from New York City’s Iconic Restaurant,” is out on April 7. Artisan
The most memorable celeb request came from Rihanna.
“She wanted fries. So everybody’s scurrying around to get her fries. But she wanted sweet potato fries. It wasn’t odd, but it was not what everybody thought she wanted.”
As for future dream guests, Peet hopes to cook for Streisand again.
“You would think that she would never really use her real name, so we all kind of laugh when there’s a reservation for her,” Caiola said. “And then she never shows up. So it’s just somebody pranking, I think.”