Anybody ever been to one of these restaurants Gordon Ramsay "saved"?

[Ferret_Herder]

@astorian

His restaurant is STILL in big trouble, but he figures he can hang on a while longer with his lousy frozen canneloni and his old, unsophisticated client base. He COULDN’T hang on any longer, waiting for new customers while his old customers were leaving in droves.

Picking the slow death instead of the quick one, then. I wonder how much deeper he’ll dig himself into debt in the process, rather than if he just closed up now. Many of these people mortgaged their own homes and even racked up insane credit card debt just to get themselves that far in their failing business.

Ramsay and Irvine usually do have it right when people say “but the customers won’t like X” - yeah, well, if their current customers were the be-all end-all for what’s right for that business, they probably wouldn’t be in dire financial straits. Maybe some of them can at least learn better hygiene practices and how to price their food or do good customer service, even if they serve the same old blah stuff.

[x-ray_vision]

@Cheesesteak

Ramsey did a piece in my town, Montclair, NJ, at an italian restaurant that I had gone to in the past. The Mrs. and I chose to go there before the show came in and found the food pretty lousy, much worse than when we had gone years before. Unfortunately, I haven’t been back since, though I should make it a point to. If I do get to go back, I’ll dig up this thread. I did hear that the head chef was subsequently fired, I think that’s probably a good sign.

Howdy, neighbor. I’m in Bloomfield. I have friends whose taste that I trust that have been to Leone’s since the makeover and I’m told it’s just as lousy as it ever was.

[astorian]

@Ferret_Herder

Picking the slow death instead of the quick one, then. I wonder how much deeper he’ll dig himself into debt in the process, rather than if he just closed up now. Many of these people mortgaged their own homes and even racked up insane credit card debt just to get themselves that far in their failing business.
.

I think you’ve got it. Long run, the restaurant is probably doomed, and the owner must KNOW things are desperate, or he wouldn’t have brought Irvine in.

The guy is PROBABLY screwed no matter what he does. Even if all of Irvine’s suggestions were good ones, there’s no guarantee new customers will ever show up. So, the guy can shove all his old customers out the door and HOPE a newer, better client base shows up (who knows how long that could take or how much money he could lose waiting for that?) or he can stick with his old ways and watch his restaurant die slowly.

[JohnGalt]

@Enright3

OK, so I’ve only seen one episode of (what I think was) this show.

A man owned a bbq restaurant and his “secret sauce” was a one-gallon bottle of some store brand with some extra hot sauce or something added in to make it ‘secret’. The host of the show about had a cow.

So the host help him create a recipe for a true secret sauce.

Anyway… I always wondered if that one was still opened. Does anyone know?

I think you’re referring to Pollard’s in Memphis on RI. It was formerly Arnold’s, which we had visited right before they moved out and Pollard’s moved in. (We thought Arnold’s was great.) It was kind of scary seeing someplace you’ve eaten on the show, but our case the only thing the same was the horrible interior.

[Shalmanese]

Just found out that I’ve been twice to Yanni’s, the restaurant to be featured in the upcoming show. It’s a greek restaurant near a friend’s place in Seattle. I’m honestly baffled as to why it’s on the show. It’s got a 4 star rating on Yelp, a 26 rating on Zagat. Both times I went there the food was fine, unremarkable but not grossly disappointing. The wait was a tiny bit slow but again, nothing extraordinary.

I’m looking forward to the episode to see what issues Ramsey brings up.

[Enright3]

@JohnGalt

I think you’re referring to Pollard’s in Memphis on RI. It was formerly Arnold’s, which we had visited right before they moved out and Pollard’s moved in. (We thought Arnold’s was great.) It was kind of scary seeing someplace you’ve eaten on the show, but our case the only thing the same was the horrible interior.

That has to be it. I kind of remember it was in Memphis. I’m glad to see it’s still open.