In his TV show ‘Ramsay’s Kitchen Nigtmares’, world-renowned Michelin starred chef Gordon Ramsay visits struggling restaurants in crisis and tries to turn them around.
A video extract entitled “A Greek that can’t even cook gyros?!” from a recent episode called ‘A Greek Restaurant That Lacks The Basics’ was recently posted on the Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares Facebook page.
With a caption reading ‘How can you call yourself a Greek restaurant?’, the video commenced with Ramsay sitting in the ‘Greek’ restaurant 'Kati Allo' in Flushing, Queens, who can be heard muttering “Look at this place, it’s bloody depressing. The colours in here are dreadful. Yuckkk! Horrible!”
But it seems as though bad taste in décor is not the only problem that the restaurant is currently facing.
Ramsay places his order of what the restaurant calls pastitsio, loukaniko (Greek-style pork sausage) and a gryro platter, with a shamefaced and clearly apologetic Greek waitress named Irene, who explained that the restaurant’s woes were due to the conflicting and poor decisions made its owners, Manny and his wife Christina.
Manny bought the restaurant on a whim without Christina's knowledge, and neither of them has any experience in the restaurant industry. Their lack of expertise and constant bickering, both in front of customers and among the staff, have led to a decline in the restaurant's success. Despite being married for 35 years, Manny and Christina's relationship has broken down irreparably, leading to divorce proceedings. They have even sold their home to try and save the failing business. Gordon Ramsay is surprised to learn that Manny bought the restaurant impulsively after noticing it was for sale during a haircut next door.
“Is it fresh?” a dour faced Ramsay asks Irene when his food arrives.
“That comes is frozen, the gyro, they don’t make it here,” answers Irene.
"Wow, that's terrible," says Ramsay in disbelief. "Why would you serve a frozen gyro here?"
"That's the style he makes it here," answers Irene, referring to restaurant owner and chef, Manny.
"That's not the way you cook it," comes the reply from Ramsay, asking," Does anyone ever complain about this?"
"Yes," says Irene, adding, "I don't know what to say..."
"This is embarrassing," says Ramsay, handing her back his more-or-less untouched plate to be returned to the kitchen. "This is one thing that you should nail..the gyro. It's the hallmark of any good Greek restaurant."
When the loukaniko was brought to the table Ramsay was similarly unimpressed remarking; "It looks like the remainder of a dog chew. There's more grease on this plate than there is in the Greek isles."
"Does this taste like Greece to you?" he asks Irene, offering her some loukaniko to try.
"All I taste is garlic," comes the answer from the hapless Irene who is then overcome with a coughing fit and needs to run to the kitchen for a glass of water to help wash the loukaniko down.
"This area of Queens is called Flushing," says Ramsay. "Right now I'd like to flush this right down the toilet."
Watch the video here:
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