Whew, the kitchen that Chef Ramsey visited in last night’s episode truly was a nightmare. The cute-looking Family-Owned Irish Pub and Restaurant was not getting nearly the kind of business that it needed to survive. While owner Daddy isn’t getting his paycheck, his oldest son and cook, Brian, is cutting corners and turning out food that can only be called gross. Meanwhile, the youngest son, Jason and his wife are the bartender and server, respectively, and they’re worried about their father, who has invested everything in his family business.
Needless to say, Chef was not impressed when he walked in. The gloomy place had a distinctly unfriendly aura, and when Chef received the food, he was horrified. And when he puked – or at least did a lot of coughing – in the restroom, the whole restaurant was, too.
Then Chef Ramsey got down to business, trying to figure out when, exactly, Brian stopped caring about the food they were turning out, and the customers. All along, Brian’s been telling the camera about how he knows what he’s doing, and he’s good at it. “I don’t like to come off conceited or cocky,” but he is. Thing is, even Dad is saying that if he weren’t his son, he would fire him.
And when Chef Ramsey tells him he’s not quite making it up to par, the overly confident terd had the gall to say, “He has no idea what he’s talking about, so I don’t really care.” I’m a TV-yeller, and this (to the amusement of my roommate) caused me to cry out, “Doesn’t know what he’s talking about! Do you know what you’re talking about!?”
So, with only a week to turn the place around, Chef Ramsey gets started right away. He goes to the fire department and tries to get them to come to the restaurant, first asking what they thought of the food, and what could be done to make the food better. They tell him it’s greasy, and then they pretty much went mum, so he invites them back to the restaurant, promising better food and improved service.
Unfortunately, when they do come, they aren’t satisfied, and Chef has them tell their complaints to Brian. Brian’s reaction is predictable: complaining about how he does this all day, and he knows what he’s doing – they’re not the ones cooking. My roommate yelled “But they eat!” My sentiments exactly.
Somehow, though, after a lot of hard work – and renewed appreciation for what one another does after Brian quits and comes back – they are ready for opening night. And it was packed. People were complaining, and even I was getting antsy. If you’ve ever been a server, you know how awful it is to have a packed restaurant and a long line of people going out the door, especially when people are complaining. I think that could have been done better, somehow, maybe add to the staff. I mean, there’s only one cook, and 2 or 3 servers and there were 60 people inside. When they all come at once, that’s not sufficient.
In any case, the restaurant had a complete turn around, Brian’s attitude changed 100 percent, and Dad finally got paid.
