Pete Wells

Peter Andrew Wells (born 1963) is an American journalist who was the restaurant critic for The New York Times from 2011 to 2024.

Early life and career Wells was adopted as an infant by Shirley and Raymond Wells and grew up in Rhode Island. He attended Cumberland High School during a period in which student Aaron Fricke successfully sued the high school on First Amendment grounds over a rule against same-sex prom dates. Wells later attended the University of Pennsylvania graduating in 1985 as a history major. Wells received five James Beard awards for food writing published in Food & Wine. and a 2003 essay on a tour Wells took of Southern smokehouses with the founder of a "Bacon of the Month" club.

Wells freelanced and served as articles editor for Details magazine from 2001 to 2006, when he joined The New York Times as dining editor. He also frequently produced dispatches for the newspaper's "Diner's Journal" blog and occasionally wrote restaurant reviews and essays. While dining editor, Wells wrote an extensive memo about the position of the restaurant critic at the newspaper since Craig Claiborne formalized the role in 1963.

Wells's caustic November 14, 2012, review of Guy Fieri's American Kitchen and Bar, which consisted entirely of sarcastic questions about the poor quality of the food and service, was described by Larry Olmsted of Forbes as "the most scathing review in the history of the New York Times," and "likely the most widely read restaurant review ever." It was the fifth-most-emailed New York Times article of 2012. Following the review, Per Se's founder and owner Thomas Keller published an open letter apologizing to patrons for the negative review. Wells also attracted considerable attention for his October 29, 2019, zero-star review of Peter Luger Steak House.

Wells received a sixth James Beard award, the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award, in 2020. The award cited his reviews of Peter Luger, as well as the restaurants Benno and Mercado Little Spain.

In July 2024, Wells announced he would step down as restaurant critic for the Times the following month. Wells will remain at the Times in an unspecified role.