Kitchen Nightmares

Its always the same thing, Gordon rocks up and finds the place is dirty (why you wouldn't clean it before Gordon turned up and outed you on TV is beyond me) then its the chefs who cant cook the basics so Ramsay somehow gets them to ditch all that and then cook all fancy stuff?

Place is filled with customers who just happen to say the food or drink is gross just when the camera looks at them....someone will lie even when they know there is cameras which makes no sense.."did you microwave it" continues to say no to Ramsay knowing full well a camera crew filmed him cook it and put it in microwave!

Often one of the owners will be in denial or say "Gordon will come here wanting to change everything" hello?? Did you not just agree to be on a tv show to save your business?

If this wasn't scripted then any business with a braincell would clean the whole place before Gordon turns up outing the mess on TV, secondly no owners or staff would be rejecting change to create an argument for TV when their the ones who phoned him in the first place and you can just tell most of the responses are not natural and are forced arguments or comments to cause a scene for the show

You cant turn up to a place and just scream at people and give them a small makeover and menu then expect any benefit which is why something like 80% of places featured in the show are closed..dont get me wrong i love watching this show but dont think for a second this show is real lol.

Every episode of Kitchen Nightmares is the same. There's a failing restaurant, and we get an overview of the restaurant and why it's failing. The problems vary from a stubborn chef, a spineless owner, a clueless staff, or some mix of the above, but one thing is common: the food is terrible, but the owners don't seem to believe that. Gordon comes in, sees the restaurant, tries the food (big shock, he doesn't like the food) and he tells the owners that the food is not good, and the owners disagree and insist that their food is good, which leaves Chef Ramsay speechless. Later that night, he observes a terrible dinner service and then later inspects a more than filthy kitchen and Ramsay is furious. After getting the owners on board with change (which takes some time), they relaunch the menu (and most of the time, the decor), and the relaunch is a success, with the exception of a minor hiccup. That is your average Kitchen Nightmares episode........and I love it! There's something hypnotic about watching stubborn people so deep in denial getting yelled at by a decorated chef over how terrible their service and food are. My only concern with this show is how dramatized it is. They seem to focus more on drama between family and coworkers than they do on how a restaurant operates. In addition, some of the exercises Gordon Ramsay does with the owners seemed pointless. There was one episode that took place in a courtroom halfway through and two episodes had the owners boxing their feelings out. Those felt bizarre, like it was purely for theatrics. Other than that, I enjoyed this show. It had a capable formula and even featured some colorful personalities, and it actually made me want start cooking more.

After my wife got me addicted to Hell's Kitchen (US) during its first season, we've jumped at the opportunity to watch every show or series we could with Gordon in it.

We had previously watched several episodes of his show "The F Word" before eventually getting bored with it. This show, however, seems to be much more entertaining and worth watching. If you enjoy documentaries and/or reality shows, this series might be worth watching. To me, this series is to the restaurant industry as The Biggest Loser is to the obese. Although Kitchen Nightmares is not in any way a competitive series, its ultimate goal is very similar to that of The Biggest Loser. Where TBL takes several fat people (some of whom are heart attacks waiting to happen) and "saves" them by whipping them into shape and making them skinny again, Kitchen Nightmares each week showcases a single restaurant on the verge of shutting down due to any number of reasons (food quality, service, management, organization, etc) and attempts to transform the business into one that is popular and profitable.

Overall, I'm impressed with the quality of Gordon's "consultant" skills. He does bring out some of his brutally honest mannerisms in this series, but he doesn't take it to extremes like he's some drill sergeant constantly yelling at recruits. Although he does occasionally get in face-to-face jawing matches with some of the people involved, he does often show a more human side, being very professional and down to earth with the owner(s) of each restaurant and telling them what he thinks needs to change. He helps them by giving their dining area a makeover and occasionally replaces old, run down kitchen equipment with new and fancy ones. He's also good about complementing the restaurants and individuals on any positive changes he observes.

While one of the other posters wrote about the US version lacking some features present in the UK version of the show (which I don't see as a problem because Americans and Britons often have different tastes anyway), I will agree that the series could be improved by including a segment on how each showcased restaurant is doing several months after Gordon's visit. Such an inclusion would certainly be nice to see, but it might have been deliberately left out for a good reason - why cut out other dramatic details that are definitely worth leaving in the show when they can always throw in 1-2 episodes dedicated specifically to the "how are they now" questions later in the season (or even 1 at the mid-point and another at the end of the season)?

Gordon Ramsay, a rich and famous chef, years ago hit the reality TV circuit by acting as a consultant to failing restaurants.

Two things strike me about this series.

First, these restaurant owners and employees, despite having so many problems when they agree to be one of these shows that they are on the verge of bankruptcy, have the gall to actually argue with his suggestions for becoming successful.

Second, I often wonder why, after seeing one of these shows, I ever go to eat at a restaurant again! LOL Interesting in the manner that makes people slow down to view the details of a car wreck, Nightmares often provides an uplifting story of a group of people getting it together to run their business properly for the very first time. Sadly, there are those that are so stubborn, and/or so inept, that they fail despite Gordon's intervention.

There is a lot of bad language and bad food, so this is not for small children. If you run a business of ANY type, you can learn real lessons for success from these shows.

I like reboot because of the more low key Ramsey. It reminds me of the original EU episodes. I don't know if this was by design or that the fact he is older. I do know that when the show was originally filmed they thought it would be more appealing to Americans if Gordon would be more aggressive towards the staff. I guess that worked, it went 7 seasons.

Post covid I feel like many people started to understand the plight of the restaurant worker. Don't worry we still get some of that Ramsey angst as anyone working in the industry would expect out of 80% of chefs. The reboot gives us a little rest from.all that.

I am going to keep watching, like a rubber necking a car accident, so that I can say to my boss " Well at least I'm not that bad!"