TikTok is very divided about Bryant Park Winter Village. Nightmare or wonderland?

Stroll into Bryant Park and you’ll see sparkling lights, figure skaters and cups of chocolate strawberries going for nearly $30 a pop.

“They said the wait’s 45 minutes,” one passerby said while gazing longingly at Strawberro, a food stand promising the “perfect cup” of strawberries doused with Belgian chocolate.

To some tourists, Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park, as it is officially known, is a winter wonderland beloved by locals and tourists alike for its twinkling lights, charming decorations and creative food stands. But some New Yorkers say they’re iced out by crowds and prices. In fact, a flurry of them are going viral for their hot takes.

Look up “Bryant Park Winter Village” on TikTok and you’ll find hundreds of videos from the last two months alone. But what started as people simply recording the holiday market quickly turned to cynical takes. Vloggers complained about the crowds, steep prices and unfavorable smells, with some gaining 600,000 views for their Grinch-like opinions.

“There’s a lot of things that are enticing there,” said Caroline Roth, 33, who left a frustrated TikTok comment agreeing with a review that was said to be by an incognito employee. “But not waiting in like a three-hour line enticing.”

Roth, who grew up going to the market, said she’s been “de-influenced” by TikTok.

“The prices also feel like they’ve changed quite dramatically in recent years,” she said. “You hear about gentrification where people get priced out of their neighborhood — now New Yorkers are getting priced out of their holiday traditions.”

TikTok user Charlie Greenwald gained fame overnight with his “honest review" of Bryant Park’s holiday village, which he called a “tourist-filled nightmare” in which he could “barely walk.”

When asked about it, Greenwald said, the reactions to his video were “very divisive.”

“Some people are like: ‘Oh my God, typical New Yorkers complaining about crowds, get a grip,'” he said, in a phone interview this week. “Other people were like, ‘I totally agree with you. It’s gotten worse. I hate going there.’”

Greenwald said the food is overpriced and getting more outlandish, a move he speculated was driven by vendors gunning for social media attention.

In recent years, food stalls at Bryant Park have gained attention on social media for serving foods that go viral. Last year, for example, there were long waits for Baked Cheese Haus’ raclette sandwich and cheese wheel pasta from Mrs. Claus Cafe.

This year, social media has been flooded with takes on Pickle Me Pete, Destination Dumplings and Doughnuttery.

Californian Chloe Chernitskiy had booked her tickets to New York City when she started seeing videos online about the market.

“I was doing my TikTok research, as one does before they travel,” she said. “After seeing a few videos of how nice it was, I started getting the ones like, do not go here. Save your money.”

She said she looks for videos from employees or locals. “I get to see it from their perspective and how it actually is — versus the glamorization of it on TikTok or Instagram, as some influencers do.”

She said she's hesitant to visit after watching TikToks from angry employees ranting about crowds. She’s staying nearby, so said she’d consider going in the morning if it doesn’t look too packed.

Organizers know that there’s been some criticism of their holiday market, which started in 2002 with just 80 vendors. Today, there are 180.

“Since its inception, Bank of America Winter Village has focused on providing a platform and space for local businesses to thrive,” said John Zeitoun, Bryant Park’s Director of Partnerships, in an emailed statement. “Some have even started their businesses here at the park!”

Zeitoun said that the park has implemented “mindful operational improvements,” “flow zones,” and “expanded walkways” to combat congestion. But while admission to the skating rink stays free, he chalked up high costs to expenses rising post-pandemic.

Some New Yorkers say the market is indeed worth the hype, like Julian Rivera, 24, who has been five times this season alone. The self-proclaimed conscious consumer said he rarely spends money: “I just come for the Christmas environment.”

Samantha Palazzolo, who runs the TikTok account @food_of_long_island, said that the market’s the perfect way to kick off the holiday season.

Still, her video only received about 5,000 views, far less than those filmed by haters, some of which have been seen by hundreds of thousands.

Claire Robertson, an NYU postdoctoral research fellow examining online communication, said there’s a reason why this holiday season has a strong dose of online hate.

“Engagement is king online,” she said. “This could be part of what’s leading to this overabundance of really extreme or hot takes.”

The issue, she said, is that people posting online are not representative of the general population. But to get views, they become more critical.

Still, even critics aren’t immune to sweets. Greenwald, whose video critique of the market went viral, had a change of heart once he saw a sign for a waffle stand and joined the line.

“You show up kind of grouchy and by the end you're like, that was pretty fun,” he said in the phone interview. “I think I'm in the Christmas spirit now.”