'Kitchen Nightmares' Recap
Friday's Kitchen Nightmares was touted as the worst restaurant rescue yet and undeniably so; the show took viewers through many emotional highs and lows that one could never imagine. The restaurant under review was Classic American in Babylon, New York owned by Colleen and Naomi, who are former waitresses. They are assisted by Colleen’s son Kevin (Chef) and her boyfriend Dominick (Manager).
The two waitresses met when they were working at the Classic American restaurant under the original owner. Ten years ago they made the decision to purchase the restaurant for nearly $700,000 and now the restaurant owes $1 million in debt. To make matters worst the kitchen is always running out of stock and the dining room has no supplies. Dominick blames the owners for everything that goes wrong in the restaurant saying that they are too “easy going” and it’s more of a friendship atmosphere as one employee is always texting while they work.
Enter Chef Gordon Ramsay and he’s greeted by Dominick who introduces himself as the Manager. Chef Ramsay quips that there was “not much to manage” before asking Dominick about his past working history. Dominick said that he was a bricklayer; Chef Ramsay wasn’t impressed. Chef Ramsay was then introduced to the rest of the staff including Colleen and Naomi who appeared stoked and nervous on seeing the chef in person.
He then sat down to view the menu and taste the food. One of the first things that Chef Ramsay notices is that the menu was a huge one with over 100 food options to choose from.
Waitress Ashley is at Chef Ramsay’s table taking his order and she suggests that he orders the house favorite of fried calamari. Chef Ramsay then orders the calamari dish in addition to their bomb burger and Mac and Cheese.
The first dish that Chef Ramsay tried was a warmed up mac and cheese which he described as “gross” and “not good”. He then moved on to the fried calamari which he said tasted “soft and chewy, dreadful and tasted frozen”. Chef Ramsay also sent back the bomb burger which he deemed inedible because it was “bad, had no seasoning plus the meat was chewy”.
Back in the kitchen, Chef Ramsay tells the staff how he truly feels about the meals. Chef Kevin defended his food saying that he was proud of it; he even gave his food a 7 rating on the scale from one to 10. As Chef Ramsay started to identify the problems of the business Colleen tearfully revealed that neither she nor the staff has been paid in a year. Chef Ramsay departs the restaurant saying that they were depressing.
The next night Chef Ramsay set out to observe how the restaurant functions in a dinner setting. He notices that the tickets are handwritten; we later find out that the computer had stopped working and they could not afford to replace it with a new one. We also find out that the printer had also been down for the last six months. Albeit the lack of proper office equipment, the food is leaving the kitchen quickly; they are also returning to the kitchen at the same rate as well. It does not affect Colleen too much though; she says it happens often and she is not bothered by it.
In the middle of dinner service the kitchen had ran out of food including their Bomb burger and meatloaf. Also there were not enough cups and when waitress Ashleigh went into the kitchen to request that the dish-washing guy get them clean for serving, an argument ensues.
Colleen has had enough so she walks out.
Chef Ramsay follows Colleen and through tears she complained about “feeling like I am fighting a losing battle.” “I am disappointed; I feel like I fail and I’m trying hard” she lamented adding that she was “angry and scared”. Chef Ramsey told her that she was accepting too-low standards and too many friendships within the business.
The following day Chef Ramsay meets with the staff and had them each write down on paper questions that they wish to ask of each other. The first question that Chef Ramsay read out was about Ashleigh who was always texting even while on duty. “Why is she texting when she is the first person that the customers see when they come in”. Ashleigh admits her texting ways and was scolded by Chef Ramsay. The next question was about Naomi being a pushover. She immediately answered “because we are family” to which Chef Ramsay corrected her by saying “your family is at home”.
When it was Don’s turn to be questioned about keeping proper product inventory, he got defensive, denounced his own girlfriend and part owner Colleen and left the room. The meeting was explosive enough and Chef Ramsay was about to take charge of the place by implementing new rules. At the meeting he appoints Naomi as the boss of the dining room while Colleen was assigned to the kitchen. He also added a slider special to the menu and the staff started to feel positive as they entered the dinner service.
At that night’s dinner service the restaurant saw more customers than they expected; they could not seat everybody as they only had 50 seats and not to mention only 13 menus. There were customers lined up at the door waiting to go into the restaurant and those who were seated were complaining that they did not have a menu to look at. Once they are able to eat, the customers show their appreciation for the slider and not the other dishes as the calamari and the burger. Colleen is visibly worried and even more so when Chef Ramsay intercepts a plate of salad which was so sparse and brittle that Chef Ramsay said he would not serve it to his dog. The dinner service has been shut down.
Remodeling day rolls around and Chef Ramsay and his staff work overtime to make a dramatic change to the restaurant. The old country style was later replaced with vibrant red walls with big blue cutlery painted on them. The walls married well with the white chairs and tables accented with red vases giving the place a 21st century feel. Seeing the new restaurant for the first time was emotional for both Colleen and Naomi who cried tears of joy; the rest of the staff loved the new look. Chef Ramsay also installed a computer that featured stock control and point-of-sale features. He also replaced the sign at the front of the restaurant with one that was more noticeable; the restaurant also got red and white colored menus which featured new dishes. The staff gets to sample the dishes on the new menu and they love it and look forward to the next dinner service with much anticipation. Before opening Colleen talks to her staff about leadership and said that although they were all friends, “friendship does not make a business”.
Five minutes into dinner service and Ashleigh is outside smoking with the other waitress. It may seem that they are off to a bad start but Ashleigh redeems herself after being hurried to the dining room by Chef Ramsay and food starts to leave the kitchen rapidly. The staff is excited and happy; Colleen even left the kitchen to mingle with the customers for a bit. She finally takes control and the customers are enjoying the food that comes out of the kitchen. The dinner service went well with customers vowing to return again at the end of the night in what was described as the greatest comeback in Kitchen Nightmare's history.