Tatiana, who used to manage Kitchen Nightmares’ Charlie’s Italian Bistro, is now working in the entertainment news industry as a photo editor.
The pre-revival episodes of Gordon Ramsay’s hit television show, Kitchen Nightmares, were filmed and aired more than a decade ago.
And while we still enjoy watching this celebrity chef dole out compliments and insults about the food, service, décor and management of the restaurants profiled on the show to this day, there are always lingering questions about what happened to the owners, staff and restaurants after the cameras stopped rolling.
The sad reality is that Charlie’s Italian Bistro, which was originally featured in the 14th episode of Kitchen Nightmares’ fifth season in 2012, closed down without much of an explanation. This was just months after Ramsay and his team left Charlie’s.
What happened to Tatiana after Charlie’s closure?
However, it seems like the restaurant’s owner, Tatiana Leiva, managed to get her life back on track after this (likely) difficult period.
According to Tatiana’s LinkedIn profile, she has been slowly working her way up the ladder at the entertainment news company TheWrap for years now.
Tatiana started out in a part-time position at TheWrap back in 2016, but as of 2022, she now holds the position of the company’s full-time Photo Editor.
And judging by her Facebook bio which currently reads “When life seems hopeless, rearrange things for a dose of dopeness”, it seems like she has kept a fairly positive outlook on life.
All about Charlie’s closure
Even though Ramsay, Tatiana, Val and Pat all tried their best to keep Charlie’s afloat after the business’s slow pre-Kitchen Nightmares decline, their efforts have proven to be fruitless, as Charlie’s ended up closing down mere months after the episode first aired.
The full Charlie’s Kitchen Nightmares timeline can be summarized as follows:
| Date | Event |
| 2010 | Restaurant purchased by Leiva family |
| October 2011 | Gordon Ramsay and the Kitchen Nightmares crew arrive to start filming |
| February 17, 2012 | The “Charlie’s” Kitchen Nightmares episode premieres |
| August 2012 | Charlie’s closes its doors |
The City of La Verne’s Chamber of Commerce officially welcomed a new restaurant called Café X20 to Charlie’s old space in December of 2012.
This restaurant is still open today, and currently has a 4.1 out of 5-star rating on Yelp, and a similar 4-star rating on TripAdvisor.
Genevieve sadly passed away after the episode aired
Genevieve, the server who had been so open with Ramsay about the issues plaguing Charlie’s during his visit, sadly passed away after the episode aired.
Furthermore, the restaurant closed down as a result of complications brought on by her epilepsy.
However, Genevieve’s memory lives on, and her family has continued to spread awareness about the illness that took her life at such an early age.
And based on what Val has posted on her personal Facebook page, it seems like Genevieve is sorely missed by all of her old Charlie’s co-workers, despite the occasional spats which were shown during this episode.
What happened to Daniella?
Kitchen Nightmares episodes are packed full of action, and between exploring a restaurant’s backstory, trying the menu, observing the service, and giving it a full makeover, staff members are usually only on screen for a few moments at a time.
But though this was also the case for Charlie’s sous chef, Daniella, she did manage to make quite the impression on fans watching from home. Unfortunately though, Daniella seems to keep her life fairly private these days.
And whilst you may be tempted to confuse her with the Disney Chef, Daniella Malfitano, Chef Daniella does not list her years working for Charlie’s anywhere on her LinkedIn page and they are likely not the same person.
What happened to Tatiana’s sister and mother?
If you tuned in to watch this episode of Kitchen Nightmares way back when, then you may remember that Tatiana’s sister (Val) and her mother (Pat) had put their home on the line in an effort to help her with the business financially.
And since Charlie’s ended up closing down so soon after the Kitchen Nightmares episode aired, you may be wondering whether this meant that they lost their house.
The reality is that Val, Pat and Tatiana never provided any official update as to what exactly happened in the months following the restaurant’s closure.
But a recent post from Val’s Facebook page reveals that she and her sister are still close to this day.
And the faculty and staff directory for a high school in Glendora reveals that Pat was hopefully able to bounce back after this setback, by focusing on her primary job as the head of the Foreign Languages Department.
