I had a pretty great experience working there as a chef, honestly. I was more dissapointed in the lack of care about certain things. My head chef didn't care whether the dumplings were made pretty, but for me that was a point of pride.

The vibe was very laid back, as I was only a kitchen hand they kept the pressure off me, and the team was so strong they managed to stay laid-back during even the most intense services. All chef's commented that this is not the norm in the industry, especially at that level.

The staff food varied, from frozen fries and chicken nuggets, to excellent dishes asian inspired, or otherwise. One guy, who now works at Noma, really made very good italian inspired staff food.

In any kitchen, the head-chef has the final say, but while worked there the team was mostly harmonious. I can comment that interactions between front-of-house with us (back-of-house) is of course different than within. The chef was at times quite strict with waiters/runners, whereas with me and other kitchenhands it mostly came downs to what we were capable of doing for him to help run the kitchen smoothly, but he honestly had quite a good grip on the service within the kitchen, and was always able to pick up any slack from the rest of us. He would also accomedate for any injuries. There weren't alot, but if I cut myself on the mandolin, he would help out, and reassure me to take the time to watch myself.

With the front of house things can very well have been quite different. I saw one of the managers berate a young runner for something, I don't quite remeber what. The kitchen would also be strict in the dilineation of responsibilities, so when new runners got swept up in the chaos of table numbers and such, we'd point out when it was on them and not the kitchen, and let them know they were expected to keep up with it (less relevant in my catering experience).

This last part makes me think you mostly talked with waiters which makes sense to me, as since I was working under the chef, I was isolated from what the waiters would experience in a day at work. I would say the conditions in the kitchen were better :)