Peter Pellegrino from Peter’s Italian Restaurant has pretty much disappeared after the restaurant closed down and his rumored mob-ties were exposed.
Gordon Ramsay’s ever-popular show, Kitchen Nightmares, has certainly never held back when it comes to over-the-top drama.
But the very first episode of the show that aired in the United States may still hold the record for the show’s most dramatic episode ever.
In this episode, Ramsay travels to Babylon in New York to visit Tina Pellegrino at her struggling restaurant, Peter’s Italian Restaurant.
However, soon after Ramsay’s arrival (at which point he waited an hour for his promised lift), it became fairly obvious that Tina’s brother Peter Pellegrino, was one of the restaurant’s biggest problems.
Peter Pellegrino’s rumored mob-ties
And while most fans watching from home likely shared a small laugh at Peter’s wannabe-mobster antics during this episode, it was actually revealed after this episode aired that Peter had worked as a bookmaker for the notorious Bonanno family, under the pseudonym Peter ‘Pasta’ Pellegrino.
However Peter’s life seemingly came crashing down in the years following the Kitchen Nightmares episode’s premiere, as he seemingly lost all ties to his real-, and rumored mob-families.
A 2011 report from the Costa Nostra News states that Peter was reportedly labeled “a rat” by the Bonannos after becoming an informant for the FBI, and had also been disowned by his real-life family, the Pellegrinos, just a short while after the restaurant closed down in 2008.
And since Peter does not really maintain a social media presence, there has not really been any update about what happened to this former Peter’s Italian Restaurant host, ever since.
Though it is worth noting that the rumor-mill seems to be divided on whether Peter is now “swimming with the fishes”, or simply happily going about his life in New York.
Peter’s Italian Restaurant’s closure
While the news of Peter’s extracurricular activities, outside of working at the restaurant that was named after him, have pretty much overshadowed every other detail from the “Peter’s” episode from Kitchen Nightmares, it is important to note that the restaurant did end up closing down, rather suddenly in December 2008.
And, while it may seem like Peter’s shady activities are to blame for the restaurant’s closure at first glance, this may not actually be the case, as many of the other restaurants in the first season of Kitchen Nightmares also closed down around this time, as shown below:
| Restaurant | Status |
| Peter’s Italian Restaurant | Closed in 2008 |
| Dillon’s | Closed in 2009 |
| The Mixing Bowl | Closed in 2009 |
| Seascape Inn | Closed in 2017 |
| The Olde Stone Mill | Closed in 2015 (sold in 2009) |
| Sebastian’s | Closed in 2008 |
| Finn McCool’s | Closed in 2012 (sold in 2009) |
| Lela’s | Closed in 2007 |
| Campania | Closed in 2011 (sold in 2010) |
| The Secret Garden | Closed in 2010 |
Why Peter’s Italian Restaurant closed – the full story
While it is tempting to fall into the trap of believing that the bad publicity about Peter’s rumored mob-ties (or at the very least, his confrontational attitude) ultimately led to Peter’s Italian Restaurant’s closure, there may be more to it.
In reality, Tina was already drowning in debt by the time that Ramsay and his Kitchen Nightmares team showed up.
Furthermore, the Great Recession (coupled with Peter’s frequent “borrowing” from the till), likely just killed any remaining chance that the restaurant had to make a comeback.
And just like most of the other Kitchen Nightmares restaurants from this era, Peter’s Italian Restaurant likely just had a lot working against its success, both internally and externally.
What happened to Tina Pellegrino after Peter’s Italian Restaurant’s closure?
Whether or not the rumors about Tina and the rest of the Pellegrino family maintaining their distance from Peter are true, Tina does seem to have moved on with her life in the 15 years since the “Peter’s” episode aired.
Tina (like her brother) does not have much of a presence on social media, but her Facebook profile does suggest that she moved to Queens in 2014.
What happened at Peter’s Italian Restaurant after Gordon Ramsay’s visit?
Unfortunately, just like all of the other details surrounding Peter’s Italian Restaurant and what was really happening behind the scenes, there is not that much official information about how the restaurant was doing after Ramsay’s intervention.
The only Yelp review that is available is a 1-star review posted under a fake “Peter’s Pasta Specialties” page, which only serves to inform that the restaurant closed down in 2008.
However, we do know that another restaurant called the ‘Post Office Café’ now occupies the space that Peter’s Italian Restaurant used to be in, and it seems to be thriving.
