An iconic French restaurant in a New York City Trump Hotel just lost a Michelin star

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October 30, 2017 9:56 PM

The latest Michelin Guide was not kind to Jean-Georges, which is located in New York's Trump International Hotel & Tower.

Jean-Georges is a vaunted French restaurant in New York City.
The restaurant lost a star in the latest version of the Michelin Guide.
The guide's reviewers said the restaurant had experienced "a slow glide downward."

Jean-Georges is no longer a three-star restaurant, according to the newest edition of the Michelin Guide for New York City.

The annual guide has stripped a star from the famous French restaurant, downgrading it to two stars from three.

"It was a difficult decision for us to make," Michelin guide director Michael Ellis told Eater. "Unfortunately, we saw a slow glide downward. It started off with small things ... and it didn’t get any better. It was kind of on cruise control."

This marks the first time that Jean-Georges has been downgraded since Michelin started publishing New York-centric guides in 2006. Jean-Georges is frequently hailed as one of the best restaurants in the US, which makes the downgrade surprising.

Michelin stars aren't guaranteed forever, though, and each restaurant is re-evaluated by the guide's reviewers every year. If a revisited restaurant is not found to be up to par, it gets docked.

Jean-Georges is housed in Trump International Hotel & Tower off of Columbus Circle, and it was the site of an infamous dinner between then-President-elect Donald Trump, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus in November 2016.

Because of its location, the restaurant has also been the site of at least one protest by anti-Trump activists.

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