http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20081113-ENTERTAIN-81113042By Amanda Hamilton
features@seacoastonline.comNovember 13, 2008 9:55 PM
Has anyone seen Fox’s reality show “Kitchen Nightmares?” The show, which stars “Hell’s Kitchen” host Gordon Ramsay, isn’t new to the Thursday night lineup, but it’s easy to overlook it.
The commercials don’t really grab your attention, but the show definitely will. And if you are a “Hell’s Kitchen” fan, and you think you’ve seen Ramsay at his nastiest, you won’t believe the things he says and does on this show. Basically, this is a show you just have to watch at least once!
Tonight’s episode featured Sabatiello’s, an Italian restaurant in Stamford, Conn. Sammy, the restaurant’s owner, has a bad attitude, a bad temper and, according to Ramsay, bad food. He isn’t just nasty to his employees and his equipment though; in his restaurant he has no problem talking back to customers he disagrees with. He says that he treats everyone in the restaurant like a superstar and that it is all about him.
Lauren is the restaurant’s hostess and Sammy’s long-time girlfriend. She says that in the beginning business was booming but that lately business has declined, and it is easy to see why. When customers try to complain to him he basically rolls his eyes and tells them to get over it or get out, and he treats his staff like they're idiots.
David, the restaurant’s head waiter, says that Sammy is the problem with the restaurant, but Sammy says that the problem with the restaurant is that his staff doesn’t listen to him. Um Sammy, I’m going to have to go with the staff on this one. I mean seriously, you are an insane mad man!
The whole story is sort of sad. This guy has put his whole life in to this restaurant, and if he loses the restaurant that’ll be it for him. But then he mouths off, and you don’t feel so bad.
When Ramsay arrives Sammy takes him upstairs to the dining room. He tells Ramsay that everything is fresh and homemade, and he says that he knows Ramsay will be doing cartwheels when he tries his stuff.
Before the order is even placed Ramsay already has comments about Sammy’s manners.
When the food does come things just get worse. The soup is bland, the lasagna tasted like there was something synthetic in it and the steak was greasy, under seasoned and too tough. “The consistency is consistent… consistently poor,” he says. I feel so bad for the waiter. It isn’t his food, yet he has to hear all the bad news. I hope he doesn’t take it too personally.
After he eats Ramsay goes in to the kitchen to talk to Sammy and the chefs. Sammy cannot believe what he hears about his food and starts to get very defensive, swearing up a storm. “I think you’re out of your f***ing mind,” he says.
Ramsay learns that the soup is three days old and that the lasagna, while it was fresh at one time, has now been in a freezer for one week. I don’t even do that! Do you know what happens to things after a week in the freezer? It isn’t good.
So, now we get to the point that isn’t for weak stomachs, the part that makes people not want to eat in restaurants. Don’t let this show scare you off though. I’ve worked in a restaurant before, and it isn’t like this at all places.
As usual Ramsay does a clean sweep of the kitchen. At first everything looks good, and for once he’s found a spotless kitchen, but when he starts to open drawers he finds marinating meat, fully cooked chicken and pre-made “fresh” items. It really looks disgusting. Even worse, he has raw chicken and cooked chicken near each other! That is horrible! Oh, and he blames and yells at his staff for him when he knew it was happening. If you’re the boss, doesn’t that make you responsible?
At dinner service that night Sammy tries to defend himself and his food when a meal is sent back, and he continues to blame his staff, particularly his head chef, for all of the problems that are happening in front of Ramsay. Sometimes I wonder if they pay these people to send food back and make comments because if this is really what happens I’m so scared for these places!
Things really get out of control when a women sends back her lamb for being under cooked, and the chef microwaves it and sends it back to her. Since the plate is now extremely hot she calls them out on it and nicely asks the waiter to take it back. This infuriates Sammy, so he goes out to talk to her about it. When she mentions the microwave he gets completely in her face and pretty much tells her to get out without saying “get out,” all in front of all of the other customers. In the back he is flipping out, yelling at people and throwing dishes.
I don’t understand why anyone would work for this guy, nevermind why his girlfriend stays with him. This is so embarrassing! I really hope that he watches this and realizes he has some serious anger issues. Oh my gosh, it reminds me of the groom for MTV’s “True Life!” Does anyone remember that?
After Sammy closes down the restaurant early because he is frustrated Ramsay tries to explain to him that the problem with the restaurant is him. You may find this shocking, but Sammy no longer wants to think it’s all about him. Before he leaves that night he tells Sammy that he needs to take his head out of his butt and realize that he is screwing up.
The next morning Ramsay sits down for a heart-to-heart conversation with Sammy. Sammy takes him down memory lane to figure out why he started his businesses in the first place and what is with his anger. Sammy says that maybe his restaurant has just gotten to big and too overwhelming.
The first thing Ramsay changes is the menu and the way the menu is presented. It looks like things are going to go really well.
Unfortunately, they don’t. None of the meat is going out cooked, and Sammy is starting to lose his cool. I don’t know, maybe it isn’t just Sammy; maybe his head chef really doesn’t know what he’s doing. The fighting between Jose, the head chef, and Sammy continues the entire night and many people wait hours for their food.
When everyone has gone home Ramsay sits down with Sammy again to talk about what went wrong with the night’s dinner service, and finally Sammy loses his cool over something worth while. He believes he has become too close with Jose, and he just isn’t cutting it anymore. Jose needs to step it up.
That night everyone sits down to devise a plan of action. The menu has been redone, and the restaurant is now a specialty restaurant, an Italian steakhouse.
Hopefully the team will be able to keep it together tomorrow night. I’m actually very impressed with how much Sammy accepts Ramsay’s changes. I’m even more impressed with the fact that Sammy admits that Ramsay is a godsend and that the restaurant has gone to hell because of him. Amazing!
I have to admit, I was a little nervous. The steaks failed last night, so how can they feel confident that things will OK now that the restaurant is an Italian steakhouse?
After a while, Ramsay is nervous too. Service is moving too slow, and the steaks are coming out rare and cold. Sammy decides that he can’t stand by and watch this fall apart any longer, so he steps on the line to help. And while things may appear to be falling apart in the kitchen, things are going great in the dining room. People are loving the food and noticing the changes. The re-launch can officially be considered a success!
Final Thoughts
This show cracks me up. Ramsay is so hard-headed and insane, but he’s just passionate, as are many of the owners he deals with. I wasn’t so sure Sammy would ever see what the real problem was. Hopefully, this restaurant will start to pick up and everyone will see a better day.
I recommend this show for a good laugh, especially if you love watching Ramsay’s head burst, but I warn everyone that not every episode is as clean and spotless as this one was. The episode that followed this one featured a restaurant that had bugs swarming around and landing on their serving dishes. So gross!
