Friends create fake restaurant with nearly 3,000 on wait list, pull it off for one night only

NEW YORK -- A group of friends created one of New York City's most exclusive restaurants that turned out to be fake.

The prank started in 2021 when they were hosting bi-weekly steak dinners. 

As a joke, they made a Google page where they could leave reviews. Strangers then found the reviews, thinking they were real. 

So the friends created a website for Mehran's Steakhouse and by 2022, the wait list had nearly 3,000 names on it.

For one night only, they rented an event space in the East Village, got a liquor license and food permit and then invited people on the reservation list. 

"Inside Edition" spoke to some of those involved. 

"We had some of our friends come and hold posters for Drake, so that way people walking by would think that Drake was actually inside when he really wasn't," one of the hoaxers, Riley Walz, said.

The friends said everyone who showed up had no idea the restaurant was fake.