If you’ve been a cooking fan, kitchen nightmares sure would have been one of your favorite cooking reality shows of all time. Despite the modern simulative new cooking games taking over, the craze for such cooking shows is enduring. Kitchen Nightmares is one such popular reality TV show that reflects Gordon Ramsay’s no-nonsense and abrasive approach to cooking throughout the seven-season run with 36 episodes from 2007-14. Being one of the most recognizable celebrity chefs worldwide, he has managed to shine through this one-of-a-kind cooking game show and wooed the viewers with his unapologetic charm.
Kitchen Nightmares: The show format
Kitchen nightmares, a popular FOX network reality show, was restaurateur-centered. The host, Gordon Ramsay, visited struggling restaurants across the US and helped them become successful. The show format is quite simple where the chef is invited by a failing restaurant for a week to identify the issues and help resolve them for revival. His stay at each of these restaurants involves being served awful dishes, investigating the unhygienic kitchen, and observing the overall dysfunctionality on the premises. Apart from these, the show also discovers the varied interpersonal issues among the owners and staff that fuel the underperformance of many restaurants. Most of the episodes concluded with an established restaurant that has successfully overcome the hitches and is ready to take over the market.
Kitchen nightmares restaurant still open
Despite being one of the most talented and influential chef personalities, Gordon Ramsay failed to help most restaurants revive. Of the nearly 77 restaurants that were a part of the show, only 16 have made it to the list of Kitchen nightmares restaurant still open in 2022. Gordon Ramsay contributed significantly to the improvements in the restaurant’s venue, menu, expert training, etc.; however, most restaurants were way past the revival zone. In some cases, the owners were too stubborn and resistant to change that ultimately led to failure. On average, the complete series witnessed a 22% success rate whereas season six managed to be one of the most successful seasons of the entire series. Of the 16, some popular restaurants are listed as follows:
# Greek Cuisine – Yanni
One from the most popular sixth season of Kitchen nightmares, this is a greek family-run restaurant that was seen to be struggling with debts and poor quality food during its appearance on the show. Key issues discovered by Gordon Ramsay during his one-week stay at the restaurant included poor hygiene, outdated menu, etc. which led to a temporary shutdown of the restaurant. However, with expert training and major renovations, Greek Cuisine managed to revive and is doing great business in the present times.
# Luigi’s D’Italia – Luigi
This is another famous restaurant that has still managed to keep the spark alive by offering delicious Italian cuisine to its customers. Luigi Catizone, the owner has been running the restaurant since 1981 with the assistance of his father. The major cause behind the collapse of his restaurant business was the family intervention that often kept the owners squabbling. Apart from this, poor food quality and cooking skills were a concern raised by Gordon Ramsay during his visit. With improvements made post its appearance on the reality show, the restaurant has managed to thrive successfully.
# Zayna’s flaming Grill – Fay & Brenda
Disagreements and conflicts between the owners, staff, and others have been a common issue raised during the Kitchen nightmares episodes. Gordon Ramsay seems to have excelled in resolving such fallouts in his own unique ways. Zayna’s flaming grill is one such Kitchen nightmares restaurants still open that got the Gordon Ramsay treatment and have been rated as ‘good’ & ‘exceptional’ ever since. The episode opened with Ramsay interviewing the co-owners Fay and her niece Brenda which brought in a whole lot of entertainment for the viewers. Nevertheless, its successful change in management post the show did wonders for the restaurant’s popularity and profitability.
What made Kitchen Nightmares so popular?
Well, there’s no denying the fact that Kitchen Nightmares has managed to be one of the best cooking reality shows among the new cooking games & similar shows. Although the series lasted for a total of seven seasons, it became one of the best shows by Gordon Ramsay which created an unlikely fan following that is still growing. There are multiple reasons behind this enduring appeal of Kitchen nightmares. Be it Gordon Ramsay’s quirky appeal, the inane editing, or the Internet meme fest, there’s no one reason behind it.
One of the key aspects of this show that set it apart from the rest is the real-time arguments and conflicts between Gordon Ramsay and the deluded restaurant owners recorded on camera. The constant disagreements interest the viewers and keep them waiting for what’s coming next, similar to any simulation games. However, what led to an end to this interesting reality TV show was the low success rate of restaurants that were a part of the show. Well, from a reality show perspective, Kitchen Nightmares has surely enjoyed the TRPs and popularity over the years.
