I’ve never worked in a restaurant, and I’d be interested in hearing from those who have, expecially anyone who has worked in one that’s similar in size/style to Rocco’s on 22nd Street. Is this a real depiction as to what really happens? Does the staff really grumble and complain as much? Does the owner really seem to ignore his staff as much as Rocco?
I’ve never heard of this show, but judging from your post it sounds like a reality show based in a restaurant. Is that so? When I worked at Barnes & Noble I used to think they should make “Bookstore: The Reality Show” or any other similar show set in a store. That’s awesome, it’s like my idea being realized finally.
Restaurants, like any other place with a usually underpaid and overworked staff, usually do inspire complaining and unhappiness. So I imagine that is realiztic. But I would need to see the show. What channel is it on?
It’s a reality show about opening a restaurant in New York City. You can find out more about it here.
My husband works in a nice restaurant, albeit a smaller and less ritzy one than Rocco’s. There’s drama, yes, but I believe that on the show they’ve just opened the restaurant an episode or so ago, which means that the drama is amplified to immense proportions. They’re losing money, not everything’s working yet, etc.
I would say it is very real.
Opening a restaurant in NYC is somewhat different…the rents are out of this world, the stress of trying to be the “hot new place” in a city filled with hot, new places is enough to put the owners in the hospital, employees are indeed treated like crap and considered as expendable as yesterday’s bread and the patrons are rich pains-in-the-asses with no class whose sole reason to be the first ones there is to one-up their family and friends as they drone, “Oh, we’ve already been there. The gnocci is ca-ca, but the goat cheesepuffs were ok.”
Some people find the process of being a part of the hip, new, trend setting eatery biz exciting. The process makes me ill.
I would rather go to the opening of a small, six-table Indian restaurant with mis-matched plates and a staff made up solely of family members and where the most expensive thing on the menu is less than the taxi fare it took to get there.
My girlfriend works in an acclaimed fine-dining restaurant, and I’ve been fired from more restaurants than most people will ever set foot in. Yes, restaurant people do grouse a lot, but IM not so HO, the folks on the show have plenty of legitimate gripes. As my SO said last night, “These people don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.”
I watched a little of it last night. I was going to open another thread on it, but since this one’s here…why not use it? It was both funny and painful to watch. I don’t know much about opening a restaurant in NYC, except that it is incredibly difficult. Still, it sounds like it would be fun to visit Rocco’s, except that the reservations probably aren’t dropping like flies.
Maybe it’ll be actually edible/livable in a few more months, though. Right now, what with the identity crisis, it just doesn’t strike me as accessible. And is it just me or is this Rocco fellow more irritating than Emeril? Ugh…I know some patrons must like his shtick, but I found it more than a little bit tiresome.
I’m fascinated by this show…it’s like watching a train-wreck! When Rocco consistently mispronounced the food critic’s name, to her face, after she corrected his pronunciation twice…it’s hypnotic! And Mama, cackling and clapping her hands like a giddy court jester when a customer is complaining about the cold food to her face…priceless!
Can anyone tell me what Rocco’s other restaurants are, and if they are still in business? The man never seems to go near the kitchen or look at the food being served. I realize that many of the customers on the show may be complaining about the food just to get air-time, but shouldn’t Rocco be spending a bit more time cooking and a little less time being groped and photographed?
I would say it seems pretty accurate. I never worked in that size/class but they sure seem like the servers I knew. Which is why this crazy show pulls me in. Rocco fits right in with the big ego owners I’ve met. A lot of them seem to open restaurants just to feel popular.
BTW, did a little detective work. It seems this was shot about two months ago, so the review Rocco is about to read is online. For those who want to impress friends with their ESP powers [spoiler obviously]:
University of Colorado Student Paper mirror of review.
I think they mentioned on one earlier episode that they had thrown the place together in 6 weeks instead of the usual year or so for opening a posh new place in NYC. Hence the enormous lack of preparation and general chaos.
What the heck does Rocco doe? He is always chatting with the customers…but I never see him doing anything! His staff isin a state of revolt, and most of his waitresses seem to have been chosen upon the basis of looks-most of them don’t seem to knowa damn thing about serving! the food gets to the tables cold, the orders are all messed up.and Rocco SENDS HIS MOTHER over to apologize!
The french maitre-de-hotel is an idiot-he has pissed off everybody, the top chef is an idiot, and the food is lousy! How will this place survive?
I love that show! Seems VERY real to me. Each episode is well edited, keeps the viewer’s interest up. First episode, Rocco came across as sympathetic, but things soon degenerated. The way he treated his (otherwise clueless but generally well meaning) staff was painful to watch, at times.
I think the show was a great idea to begin with, and I haven’t been disappointed yet.
Dang it, I’ve only been able to catch one episode of it! I wish that they would re-run them!
I think the show is pretty true to life. Servers don’t hesitate to complain about lously customers and I hope that some people will see the show and realize that the people who are serving them are making their living doing it!
I don’t know any restaraunt owners, but he is a crappy manager. In all fairness, the general manager is not supposed to have to deal with the servers too much, only when there is a serious problem. That’s what floor and kitchen mangers are for! That French guy pisses me off. He should be killed.
Your wish is about to come true. Well…sort of. In the trailer for next Sunday’s episode, we learn that Laurent (what an asshole:D) either threatens to quit or does quit [I don’t quite recall]. But something nasty happens to him…
Well, I haven’t seen the show, but having read Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” (a VERY funny book- it’s the “Ball Four” of the food industry), I gather that life in the kitchen of a busy upscale restaurant is often even MORE loud, crude, frantic and obscene than this TV show makes it out to be.
This show is really starting to piss me off.
He hires a bunch of actors and models and is SHOCKED they don’t know how to wait tables. And then he has the nerve to spend all his time taking pictures when being in the kitchen for even five minutes would probably calm down both the staff and the customers.
And since I know NBC is manipulating the drama to make TV (a seven week opening, how stupid!), it pisses me off even more.
From NBC’s website:
EPISODE 104 Up, then down again. At the pre-service staff meeting, Rocco gets his comeuppance. Two of his top servers tell him they are unhappy with his cavalier actions. Then his general manager threatens to quit. To right the wrongs, Rocco calls in Monsignor Marchese to bless the restaurant. Then Rocco goes back the soul of the restaurant, the kitchen. He works hard to make the kitchen better, the change is contagious, and pretty soon the whole restaurant is humming with happiness for the first time ever. Or is it?
As Laurent would say…Le plot, it thickens!
Well, 45 minutes worth of train wreck and 15 minutes worth of epiphany. Both painful and mesmerizing to watch. Gawd, I love this show…:D.
Was a hoot: the gay waiter quit, and gideon 9the young guy who broke his elbo was told to report for work in a suit (and Rocco sent him home).Rocco got his female bartender back by buying her a Vespa motor scooter, and one of the models/waitresses quit (after bad-moutbing Rocco a few times). Oh, that frnch prick (Laurent) wants to resign, but Rocco talked himout of it.
Sounds like everybody wants to quit…that and the (usual) crap from customers about how great those stupid meatballs are (if the diners could only see Rocco’s mother rolling then without gloves…yecchh!).
Presumably the place is making money…but whoknow?