Robert Sietsema is an American restaurant critic. He wrote reviews and articles for the Village Voice from 1993 to 2013.^[1][2] He has also contributed to Gourmet magazine.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^{[citation needed]}

He started a newsletter called Down the Hatch and charged $10 a year for five issues.^[5]