On tonight's edition of "Kitchen Nightmares" on Fox-TV, Chef Gordon Ramsay came to a Greek restaurant called "Yanni's Greek Restaurant" in Seattle's Phinney Ridge section of Washington.
The restaurant is in the second generation of ownership. Now son Peter is responsible for the place where family is at each other's throats as he tries to control everything in the establishment. Peter's wife Karen knows where the fault lies, but it has hit a critical point where they are close to losing everything.
Peter requested to meet with Gordon before coming to the restaurant. They opened in 1984, in 2007 Peter took over. He blames the neighborhood for changing. His wife Karen runs the front; his daughter Alyse works in the kitchen with him, and their other daughter Tariya is a server and cries all the time. Gordon met with the three women and got a different perspective of the man who came to see him earlier. He said he is too lax with them, while they believe him to be a tyrant. When the whole family was together, Gordon saw a man who would not listen and will not change.
When Gordon observed a service, he saw a menu that was more like a novel than a bill of fare. With nine specials that day, Gordon ordered pumpkin hummus, something he has never seen before. The restaurant is stuck in the 1980s. And Gordon hated the hummus, stating that the marriage did not mix between the pumpkin and hummus. The moussaka was nice looking, but the meat was sweet and the eggplant was bitter, and it was greasy. Tariya started crying upon hearing that Gordon did not like the food. Next dish was the House Gyro, that Gordon said looked like a plate full of puke.
Gordon took a walk after meeting again with the family and when he told them how bad the food was; Alyse did not completely agree. Karen knows that it must change, and Tariya still had tears in her eyes.
At dinner service, Peter yelled at Alyse most of the night. Gordon watched food come back at a record pace. Then he checked the walk-in and found part of the problem. He found lots of rotten food with mold and slime, one of the worst "Kitchen Nightmares"
Alyse tried to make an excuse, but Gordon would not accept it. As Peter pointed fingers at everyone, he would not accept any responsibility. They closed the restaurant for the night, and customers did not get charged for anything.
Next day, he is hoping that Peter and Alyse are no longer in denial. Peter continued to make excuses, as did Alyse. There was no reason why the bad food was there, just a denial that they would serve it. Gordon told them that he was done. That was the wake-up call Peter needed. They agreed to accept Gordon's suggestions. This time, both daughters were crying.
First assignment, trim down the menu. As they called out the items, Peter was hesitant to eliminate much of the fifty-five items. Now the family was blindfolded and saw the new interior. It was beautiful with new China and lovely gradient blue walls. This time Peter was crying. A new POS system that will give them a daily update as to what is and is not selling.
The new menu was updated by Gordon, and his crew was elated. Alyse was thrilled to learn from the master. The customers were raving about the food and there were smiles all around and after a short while, the restaurant was making money, and Tariya finally stopped crying, thanks to Gordon Ramsay and the staff of "Kitchen Nightmares"
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