Robert Sietsema
American restaurant critic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Sietsema is an American restaurant critic.[1] He wrote reviews and articles for the Village Voice from 1993 to 2013.[2][3] He has also contributed to Gourmet magazine.[4] After being let go from the Voice in a round of downsizing, he was hired the following week by Eater, the New York City-based food website, as a feature writer before moving into the role of senior food critic.[5] In December 2024, he was laid off from Eater as part of a round of downsizing.[6]
Biography
Of Dutch descent, Sietsema is from the Midwest. Around 1978, he left college to move to New York City, where his wife-to-be was moving. He worked for a book publishing house and played bass in the band Mofungo alongside guitarist Elliott Sharp.[7]
In 1989, he started a newsletter called Down the Hatch and charged $10 a year for five issues.[8] In 2025, he started a Substack newsletter called Robert Sietsema's New York.[9]
He is a "distant cousin" of Washington Post restaurant critic Tom Sietsema.[10][11]
