Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares

Mark Seen

Bonaparte's Restaurant Apr 27, 2004 The kitchen in Bonapartes, a restaurant in West Yorkshire, is run by 21-year-old Head Chef Tim. He truly believes that he specialises in 'fine dining' and has ambitions to be a TV chef and own restaurants in London, Paris, and New York. Unfortunately, as Gordon discovers, Tim has no customers and doesn't even know the basics of cooking.

Mark Seen

The Glass House May 4, 2004 Britain's famous Lake District is where tourists are plentiful and money is flowing. However, the Glass House Restaurant in Ambleside seems to have missed both points.

Mark Seen

The Walnut Tree May 11, 2004 In a previous life, The Walnut Tree Inn in South Wales was a Michelin-starred restaurant known throughout Britain. Under its new owners, Italian Francesco Mattioli, Gordon arrives to find the kitchen in chaos with no Head Chef and no customers.

Mark Seen

Moore Place May 18, 2004 In the final episode, Gordon tries to save Moore Place, a restaurant adjacent to a busy golf course in Surrey, in the south of England. There's plenty of money in the area with golfers, 'ladies who lunch,' and American business executives, but this place is deserted.

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La Lanterna May 24, 2005 The venue for the first programme is La Lanterna in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. Twenty-eight-year-old owner and head chef Alex offers modern Italian cuisine, a taste of Little Italy in England's first garden city, and the restaurant is run by his best mate, maitre d' Gavin, helped by Alex's ex-air hostess girlfriend Emily.Alex has no customers, cookers that don't work and an expensive menu that's about as authentically Italian as a Hawaiian Pizza. He re-mortgaged his house to buy the business, it's losing £1,000 a week, he hasn't slept for months but still runs round town in a flash car (number plate: A1CHEF) that's worth more than the restaurant. Running out of money, inspiration and energy, Alex is on the verge of losing EVERYTHING.It's a prime restaurant for a dose of TOUGH LOVE - Ramsay-style. But can a strict diet of brutal honesty, radical food surgery and undiluted energy turn things round, or is it only a matter of time before the lights go out at La Lanterna for good?

Mark Seen

D-Place May 31, 2005 Mexican-born Israel and his English partner Tara have sunk a cool £150,000 of their own money into their trendy cafe bar D-Place, which offers a vast selection of fusion cuisine.They believed they had found the WINNING FORMULA: great place, great music, great service, great food... and all at the right price.Sounds promising... but from there on it's all DOWNHILL.For the first two years, it all went swimmingly as Israel built up a mini-empire of five businesses... but the success didn't last long. Just three years later and they are all GONE - only D-Place remains and it's hanging by a thread.It's a 24-carat NIGHTMARE.The staff are at WAR, the plastic food is DIRE, the customers have evaporated, the restaurant is losing MONEY and the owners are at their WITS END. Something simply has to give or everyone is out of a job.Faced with dysfunctional staff and a disastrous menu, Gordon is about to face the LONGEST WEEK of his professional life. Can he quell the panic, banish the deep fa

Mark Seen

Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack Jun 7, 2005 Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack has hit ROCK BOTTOM.It's sounds SO GOOD: an intimate 40-seater a stone's throw from Brighton's sea front with loads of hungry locals and a steady stream of tourists. Big soul momma, owner Charita Jones produces a menu of irresistibly unique classics from the Deep South.Should be a surefire MONEYSPINNER, right?Wrong... the shack is in a hole... a very deep FINANCIAL HOLE.Despite three and a half years of hard graft it's a SPLITTING HEADACHE of a cafe.The food's hard to fault but the punters are nowhere to be seen, Head Chef Brian and a rag-tag collection of part-timers are taking the mickey - and despite working a seven-day week Charita's got an empty restaurant and owes the bank £65,000. If ever there was a case of too many cooks, this is it. Charita's a natural, but she's never made a profit on the restaurant and is now facing financial disaster.It's time to get SERIOUS... else the Soul Food Shack is finished.Can Gordon successfully shut her out o

Mark Seen

La Riviera Jun 14, 2005 What's the BEST RECIPE for a successful restaurant? Top French chefs, the finest ingredients, food fit for a king...Fine dining restaurant La Riviera in Inverness has it all and more.All except one teeny weeny thing... CUSTOMERS. Without them, you don't stand a CHANCE.And La Riviera is running out of TIME and MONEY.La Riviera is on a MISSION: to bring sophisticated French cuisine to the home of haggis, tatties and deep-fried Mars bars. So it's the BEST of everything. It boasts a real DREAM COOKING TEAM: top French chef Loic Lefebvre who's worked in some of the best restaurants in the world and an impeccably-trained kitchen staff with Michelin star-studded backgrounds. The produce is ultra-fresh and top quality - the veg is flown in from France. Even the equipment is top of the league. So far, so good.But delivering the very best costs... BIG TIME. Multi-millionaire owner Barry Larson is tearing his hair out as La Riviera is costing him a cool £8,000 a week to run - and that's on t

Mark Seen

The Glass House (Revisited) Jun 21, 2005 Have things gotten any better since Gordon left?

Mark Seen

The Walnut Tree Inn (Revisited) Jun 28, 2005 What's happened since the last time Gordon was here?

Mark Seen

Moore Place (Revisited) Jul 5, 2005 Gordon Ramsey returns to Moore Place.

Mark Seen

Oscar's Restaurant Nov 14, 2006 Gordon pays a visit to Oscars in Nantwich. On the surface this place seems idyllic - an Irish family-run restaurant in the heart of beautiful countryside. Owner Maura runs the front of house and her son Lenin is head chef, but it's not happy families. With her life savings on the line Maura is in big trouble. She constantly bickers with her son whilst the customers are forced to wait hours for their fluorescent crab stick paellas, and stodgy carbonaras from Oscar's 'bit of everything' menu. The place is losing £2,000 per week, but that isn't the worst of their problems - Lenin has got a serious drink problem and during service collapses and has to be rushed off to hospital. It's Gordon's toughest challenge yet. Can he bring the Irish heart back to Oscars, stop mother and son fighting, and get Lenin to face up to his problems?

Mark Seen

Sandgate Hotel Nov 21, 2006 Gordon travels to the seaside in aid of hotel and restaurant the Sandgate. This is happily married couple Lois and Peters' first venture into the catering industry. They used to enjoy eating in restaurants, so thought it might be fun to own one. A year and a half later their dream has turned into a nightmare - they're losing £4,000 a month. In the kitchen, their head chef Stuart is on the brink of a nervous breakdown. He's forced to cook for four restaurants, including fine dining upstairs and Japanese fare in the basement. But it's when he loses his coveted AA award that he really hits rock bottom. Eccentric, overstaffed and on the point of collapse, can Gordon bring this real life Fawlty Towers back from the edge?

Mark Seen

Clubway 41 Mar 7, 2006 Despite being voted Restaurant of the Year by Blackpool's tourist board, Clubway 41 is in dire straits. Owners David and Dawn are breaking every rule in the book, and Gordon has his work cut out getting a demoralised team back on track.

Mark Seen

La Gondola Mar 14, 2006 La Gondola - a hotel and restaurant in Derby - strikes Gordon as being stuck in the past, and indeed its glory days were back in the 1970s. The challenge is to haul the staff, decor and cuisine into the 21st century and once again fill the dining room with happy customers.

Mark Seen

La Parra de Burriana Nov 14, 2006 Gordon takes on a nightmare restaurant abroad - La Parra de Burriana in Nerja on the Spanish Costa del Sol. Nestling among the cafes lining the seafront offering all-day English breakfast and chipsEx-nightclub manager Laurence set himself up in business 18 months ago with a loan from his dad and, although he's not an experienced chef he mans the kitchen on his own determined to offer something better than chips.Laurence's menu has 72 dishes including his signature dish: prawns in garlic with chocolate sauce. Running front-of-house is Laurence's mate, Alex and sous-chef, Norman, is on the barbecue serving kebabs and steaks cooked by torchlight. The kebabs are raw, the dining room is a mess and anyone who does turn up for diner faces a interminable wait. Laurence lost £22k last year but still resists Gordon's attempts to introduce a simple menu that will bring customers back.

Mark Seen

The Fenwick Arms Nov 21, 2006 Gordon tackles a pub for the first time time - The Fenwick Arms in rural Lancashire. Landlord Brian who has been running the business for over 30 years but despite his best efforts Brian and his partner Elaine are £250k in debt, losing £1,500 a week and facing bankruptcy in three months.

Mark Seen

Rococo Dec 5, 2006 In this third helping, Gordon finds a chef caught in a time warp when he tackles a picturesque but largely unfrequented upmarket restaurant in King's Lynn, a traditional market town on the Norfolk coast. For the last eighteen months, ex-Michelin-starred chef, Nick, has owned and run Rococo but his past success is now eluding him. The menu is past its sell-by date, the service is stuffy, the food is over-priced and the only thing being fed is his ego.Yet, despite debts of £100k and the prospect of putting his home at risk and his young family on the streets, Nick continues to cook comatose in a 1990s fantasy land of his own making. Gordon forces him to face his failures, strips down the menu and dismantles the claustrophobic dining room.But when he discovers the depths of Nick's stubbornness - and that he's locked him out of the restaurant (a Kitchen Nightmares' first), even Gordon is forced to face the prospect of failure. Will Nick ever get up to speed and recapture his glory days, or will he carry on sleep-walking his way to disaster?

Mark Seen

Morgan's Dec 12, 2006 In this fourth helping, Gordon grapples with girl power when he takes on an intimate family-run restaurant in the heart of WAG territory near Liverpool. For the last three years Morgan's has been run by antiques dealer-turned-restaurateur, Sandy and her two daughters, Helen and Laura. The beautifully-designed dining room has a prime high street location and should be the perfect eatery for the trendy local clientele.But head chef Phil is grappling with an eclectic menu that includes mashed potato with apricots and his cooking's just not up to it. Meanwhile owner Sandy can't keep the books straight, the all-female front-of-house team lacks any clear line of command and they're £100k in debt. At this rate of loss they are facing the prospect of no punters and closure within six months.It's handbags at dawn as Gordon imposes some drastic changes, only to discover that when he turns up for the launch of a Sunday lunch menu, he's the only one who's bothered to get out of bed. Will the ladies that lunch carry on treating their business as an expensive hobby, or can they lure the WAG glitterati of Woolton through the door for a make-or-break celebrity relaunch?

Mark Seen

Abstract (La Riviera Revisited) Dec 19, 2006 In the penultimate programme, Gordon returns to La Riviera - now renamed Abstract - a fine dining restaurant in Inverness. Owned by multi-millionaire Barry Larson and costing £8,000 a week to run, the place boasted top French chef Loic LeFebvre and an impeccably-trained kitchen staff, all of them on a mission to bring sophisticated French cooking to the home of the haggis.

Mark Seen

Soul Food Shack (Revisited) Dec 19, 2006 In the final programme, Gordon returns to Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack, an intimate 40-seater in Brighton where he oversaw one of the most spectacular changes of fortune at a single venue. Owner Charita Jones was producing a menu of irresistible unique classics from the Deep South, but at the same facing financial disaster. The punters were missing, and so was her business acumen. But Gordon succeeded in shutting her out of the kitchen, getting the chef back on the boil and putting the soul back into the business.Today Charita is fully-booked round the clock and bursting out of the Soul Shack to take on the 110-seater Momma Cherri's Big House. But expansion brings a different set of challenges, and she's still struggling to control her staff and manage her success. Has she got what it takes to make the next step up, or will she be forced to rethink her grand plans?

Mark Seen

Ruby Tates Oct 30, 2007 The venue is Ruby Tates in Brighton, owned and run by ex-actor and failed Hollywood wannabe Allan Love.

Mark Seen

Ruby Tate's Oct 30, 2007 The new series of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares hits the ground running as Gordon comes to the aid of resting actor Allan Love.Despite an aversion to fish Allan opened Ruby Tates, a high end seafood restaurant in Brighton. But it hasn’t been a success. Thanks to a pair of lazy chefs producing badly cooked, poor quality food at premium prices Ruby Tates is losing £1500 a week.And it’s not just the food that’s off-putting. The restaurant’s name is instantly forgettable, even to locals and the décor, featuring a paint splattered pair of knickers, is keeping potential punters far from the door.Allan is in denial. He has mortgaged his house to the hilt in an attempt to keep the restaurant out of hot water but he’s failing fast. If Gordon can’t get the team to pull together and re-inject some passion back into the kitchen, the restaurant will fold in a matter of months and Allan will lose everything.So it's out with farmed sea bass and Canadian lobster and in with sustainable, locally sourced fish as Allan Love gets the Kitchen Nightmares treatment.

Mark Seen

Piccolo Teatro Nov 6, 2007 This week Gordon takes a sentimental journey back to Paris, the place where he spent his formative years as a chef. But in the city that is a gourmet's dream, he's about to encounter one of his worst ever Kitchen Nightmares.Three years ago, feisty Scot Rachel made the jump from waitress to restaurateur and, together with best friend Stephanie, bought Piccolo Teatro, a bijou vegetarian restaurant in Paris, on a mission to convert the carnivorous French into a nation of vegetarians.But handicapped by her total lack of experience she is struggling to keep the restaurant afloat. She can't motivate her staff, she doesn't bother opening for lunch and the punters are totally turned off by the awful rabbit food she's dishing up. As a result Piccolo Teatro is losing £5,500 a month.Gordon's on hand with a radical plan for an emergency wake-up call. But the combination of Rachel's stubbornness and an eccentric Brazilian chef, incapable of preparing edible food, could prove too much even for the Ramsay remedy.Will Gordon be able to perform an eleventh-hour miracle, or is he about to admit defeat?

Mark Seen

Piccola Teatro Nov 6, 2007 The venue is Piccolo Teatro, a bijou vegetarian restaurant in Paris run by feisty Scot Rachel, a former waitress at the restaurant.

Mark Seen

The Fenwick Arms (Revisited) Nov 13, 2007 When Gordon first arrived at the Fenwick Arms, in 2006, he found the pub run by landlord Brian who, after thirty years in the business and a quadruple heart-bypass, was still determined to run his kitchen his way.But despite Brian and his partner Elaine working 120 hour weeks the pub was sinking fast. Already £250,000 in debt they were losing £1500 a week and bankruptcy was mere months away.Money management was part of Brian's problem. He had spent a fortune on unnecessary kitchen equipment and an extensive collection of novelty plates. In the kitchen, he insisted on cooking his menu of over-ambitious dishes, all coated in ostentatious and cloying sauces, while his head chef was only allowed to garnish the food.Gordon stepped in to remove Brian from the kitchen and turn him into a punter to get back to basics on the appeal of a traditional British pub.Taking to the streets, they launched a Campaign for Real Gravy, and put classic pub fare back on the menu. Finally things were starting to look up for the team at the Fenwick Arms.Now, one year on, Gordon’s back only to find that morale is at an all-time low, and Brian is ready to chuck in the towel. Can Gordon save the Fenwick Arms, again?

Mark Seen

La Parra de Burriana (Revisited) Nov 20, 2007 Gordon returns to La Parra in Spain, to see how ex-nightclub manager Laurence is getting on. Has he sank or swam since Gordon's last visit?This week, Gordon is back in Spain to see how Laurence is faring at La Parra de Burriana, an ex-pat restaurant in Nerja on the Costa del Sol, one year on. When he first arrived he found 26-year-old ex-nightclub manager Laurence who set himself up in business 18 months earlier with a loan from his dad.Although he wasn't an experienced chef, Laurence manned the kitchen on his own, determined to offer something better than chips to his largely British clientele. Laurence's menu boasted 72 options including his unforgettable signature dish: prawns in garlic with chocolate sauce. Running front-of-house was Laurence's mate Alex, while sous chef Norman was on the barbecue serving up a haphazard combination of kebabs and steaks cooked by torchlight.The Mediterranean menu had a special twist: no-one wanted to eat it. The kebabs were raw, Alex had over-booked the place (and failed to clear up the dog mess that littered the dining room) and the punters that were still turning up faced an interminable wait for their food. Unsurprisingly Laurence lost £22,000 in one year but still resisted Gordon's attempts to introduce a simple menu that will bring customers back. Could Laurence survive the summer and Gordon's efforts to get him to learn bullfighting?Now, one year on, Gordon is back to find that the good news is they've survived the winter, but the bad news is that Laurence still has ideas above his station and is planning to run before he can walk with another, second La Parra. But with cremated desserts and wine gums on the menu, Gordon's about to apply the brakes, Ramsay style.

Mark Seen

The Priory Nov 27, 2007 Gordon's off to The Priory, but not to rub shoulders with wayward actors and musicians. This priory is a huge, 100 seater carvery in Haywards Heath, Sussex.This unusual venue was once a place of meditation and tranquillity as the chapel of a nineteenth-century convent. It's in a beautiful location and has been offering bargain roast dinners to its regulars for twenty years. But under its current management, things are in need of divine intervention.Owner Scott, an ex IT consultant, bought the place for £300k but with an ageing clientele eating for half-price, he’s now losing a massive £5,000 a week.And despite the heavenly setting, the food is straight from hell: recycled meat, soup in a bucket, synthetic sauces and to make matters worse, a lazy head chef content to preside over food-encrusted ovens and a disaffected staff.In one of his toughest tasks ever, Gordon’s got to move mountains to turn a time warp into a trend-setter. He'll be dishing out penance, making Scott repent for his business sins, get the staff to confess their faults and above all transform The Priory’s turgid food into ambrosia. Will he inspire a miracle, or witness a disaster?