Man Shot In Robbery At Ritzy Upper East Side Restaurant: Police

Updated 4:43 p.m. Thursday.

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — One man was shot and another had his watch stolen when robbers descended on an outdoor dining setup at an Upper East Side restaurant Wednesday night, police said.

The incident unfolded around 10 p.m. outside Philippe Chow, the upscale Chinese restaurant on East 60th Street between Madison and Park avenues.

According to police, a 28-year-old man was eating at the restaurant with another person when one of the suspects took out a gun and tried to rob him of unspecified property.

As the two men wrestled over the gun, the customer was shot in the left leg. At that point, he managed to gain control of the firearm and discarded it inside the restaurant, police said.

He was taken to Weill Cornell Hospital in stable condition.

"They wanted our jewelry," a woman who was out on a date with the victim told the Daily News. "It was our first date. I’m still in shock."

Around the same time, a second suspect approached a 31-year-old man who was seated with someone else outside the restaurant. This suspect also took out a firearm and robbed the man of his Rolex watch, police said. He was uninjured.

Police described the two suspects as men, one wearing a white hooded sweatshirt and dark jeans and another wearing a black shirt and black shorts. They fled the restaurant in a dark-colored SUV driven by a third person, driving west along East 60th Street, police said.

A black, nine-millimeter handgun was recovered at the scene, police sasid.

Parts of East 60th Street were closed Wednesday night as police investigated the robberies.

This wasn't the first time that Philippe Chow has been the site of violence. In 2018, a private security guard shot a man outside the restaurant, where the rapper Tekashi6ix9ine was throwing a party.

Crime has decreased overall this year on the Upper East Side, according to NYPD statistics, though shootings have risen from one last year to four so far this year — not including Wednesday's incident.