Kitchen Nightmares aired for seven seasons, and while many of the restaurants featured have since closed, there are still restaurants open in California that were in the series.
Kitchen Nightmares was the popular reality television show by culinary expert and television personality Gordon Ramsay, which premiered in 2007.
Unlike his well-known cooking competition reality shows, Hell’s Kitchen and MasterChef, Kitchen Nightmares focused on restaurateurs rather than aspiring and professional chefs.
Helping restaurateurs seemingly proved more difficult than giving aspiring and professional chefs the opportunity to make a name for themselves.
As a result, after seven seasons, most of the restaurants that were featured have since closed down, but some have remained open with favourable reviews.
What was Kitchen Nightmares?
Created and produced by Gordon Ramsay, Kitchen Nightmares first premiered on the FOX Network in 2004.
The premise of the series was, “Gordon Ramsay visits struggling restaurants across America and spends one week trying to help them become successful.”
As each restaurant faced different difficulties, mostly caused by interpersonal conflict which trickled down into the quality of the service and food, Ramsay seemingly could not manage to resolve these issues in the week that he was there.
As a result, the restaurants would often return to their default settings and subsequently close down after his visit.
Kitchen Nightmares: Three memorable restaurants still open in California
In light of more restaurants closing down in the time after Gordon Ramsay and his team had come in to intervene with the struggling restaurants, Ramsay received backlash.
The public suggested that the series exploited the restaurateurs for ratings by exposing their drama, instead of being intent on helping the businesses make a turnaround.
As a result of the narrative that these growing voices continued pushing, as more seasons aired and more restaurants closed, Ramsay decided to end the series to avoid the backlash.
Considering that Gordon Ramsay’s own flagship restaurant, Hell’s Kitchen, is in California, fans that have watched the series are interested in finding out whether there are restaurants that were featured in the series that are still open.
Below we look at three of the most memorable restaurants in California that are still open for business in 2022.
1. Zayna Flaming Grill
Zayna Flaming Grill featured in the seventh episode of season seven. The Middle Eastern restaurant was failing due to the interpersonal conflict between the owners, which also resulted in the insufficient quality of the food.
Following the restaurant’s appearance on the series, there was allegedly a shake-up in the staff. A decision which has been credited for the favourable reviews that the restaurant has received in the years since.
It is to be noted, however, that the restaurant was already receiving some favourable reviews which suggests that Ramsay’s intervention was directed at addressing the internal conflict rather than the success of the restaurant.
2. Luigi’s D’Italia
Luigi’s D’Italia was featured in season four’s fourth episode. It is an Italian restaurant which is owned and run by Luigi Catizone.
Catizone opened the restaurant with the help of his father, but when his uncle stepped in, the restaurant’s issues began because they were constantly arguing with one another.
Moreover, as a result of this conflict, the food was affected and regarded as of a subpar quality.
While Luigi’s D’Italia’s initial reception was slow, it has – in the years since – gotten favourable reviews with an approval rating of 4.5 out of 5 from Google reviews.
3. Spin-A-Yarn
Spin-A-Yarn was episode 13 of season four. Featuring steakhouse restaurant owners and married couple, Saki and Jennifer Kavouniaris.
Ramsay found out that the problem with the restaurant was insufficient food quality and an understaffed kitchen, which further resulted in the kitchen being unhygienic as food would become mouldy and not be thrown out.
In light of this, Ramsay decided to close down the restaurant until its relaunch. After reducing the complicated menu and relaunching the restaurant, it flourished, and in 2012, the head chef, Victor, was replaced with a new head chef.
The business continues to run to this day.
Final thoughts
Kitchen Nightmares might have not helped every restaurateur featured to turn around their businesses, but it was only in hindsight that Gordon Ramsay realised the problem, by which time it was too late as he had already cancelled the series.
This does not mean he did not help any of the restaurants outside of the three memorable restaurants that are still open. There are other restaurants in California like The Greek at the Harbor and La Serenata that are also still open.
