Kitchen Nightmares was back in New Orleans for this week’s episode, and it was definitely an interesting one. The restaurant that needed help, Blake’s Place, was run by a woman who clearly wants to be the next Gordon Ramsay. She is already doing the social media aspect of getting her name out there, she has merch that she is apparently selling, and she has a restaurant. The problem is that things are not going well in her restaurant at this point.
One of the big issues seems to be the lack of quality control with the dishes. When Chef Ramsay sat down to taste some of the items on the menu, he found them to be way too salty, things were soggy, and after his complaint about the salt, they even served him an unseasoned plate of catfish.
Basically, the owner of the restaurant did not want to hear any criticisms. Instead of toning down the salt, they decided to skip it entirely. It was very clear that at some point, the owner felt like she knew best and that was the end of the discussion.
Interestingly enough, one of my favorite moments from this episode was actually when Gordon Ramsay was explaining how he became who he is. He talked about the struggles to succeed and how his family was there with him the whole way. He talked about the issues around having a child and a restaurant and how it impacted his relationship with his wife.
However, that was not the only moment with Chef Ramsay that really made an impact. The other scene that really stood out was when he basically kicked out all of the crew and cameramen and had a sit down with the owner. He made it clear that if she wasn’t willing to listen and learn and understand that things can be done a different way in order to succeed, then he was out. He had no problem saying I’m done. It really felt like the kind of Kitchen Nightmares episode that we have been waiting for all season long.
This restaurant did not have some of the same issues that we’ve seen a lot of of them have. The kitchen was clean. The food wasn’t rotten or old. The problem was that the finer details of preparing food for customers was being ignored. And I think in a lot of ways, this made the episode that much better. Because how can every restaurant be a disaster in the back? They can’t be. There have to be restaurants that are failing for other reasons than their kitchen and food. And that’s what we got in this episode.
Even during the relaunch, there were problems. There were struggles. And honestly, we expected that. But it was nice to see the update where it seemed like our restaurant owner took accountability and listened to what Gordon Ramsay had to say. It sounds like things have finally turned around for her, and we love that. We love when Kitchen Nightmares is a success.