Kitchen Nightmares / Characters

List of memorable people from Kitchen Nightmares.

open/close all folders

Gordon Ramsay:

Gordon Ramsay

Tropes pertaining to Gordon Ramsay go here.

Notable Restaurant Personnel:

Amy's Baking Company

Amanda "Amy" Bouzaglo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bmtkwmzy0ntqwm15bml5banbnxkftztgwmtgwnzm0mje_v1_fmjpg_ux1000.jpg

The head chef and namesake of Amy's Baking Company, and Samy's wife.

Appeal to Worse Problems: When customers complain about their food the day before Gordon arrives, Amy retorts that "The food we're making is going straight into the trash, and there are starving people who could be eating it, but instead these people decide they're going to come fuck with my life."
Bad Boss: Holy shit, yes. No one is safe when Amy is out on the warpath.
Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: "You little weenie! Keep walking!"
Body Language: Amy clearly can't hide hers. Ramsay calls her on her shaking her head "no" when he informs them he is here to help them. She also shakes "no" or rolls her eyes every time she's given criticism. She continues it on the last morning when Ramsay comes in, being unable to hide her fury at even seeing him.
Body Motifs: Her large eyes are given considerable attention during shots (to the point of emphasizing them as creepy), and Ramsay criticizes her for "pulling wool over customers' eyes" over her restaurant's use of fake fresh food.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: At the end of the episode, we get to see the crew tearing down. Amy herself makes it clear she knows she's being televised.
Can't Take Criticism: Any kind of criticism lobbied at Amy or the business, including constructive criticism, is taken by her as a personal attack. Even simply telling her that she can't take criticism is enough for her to go on a tirade.
Caps Lock: Most of the posts Amy sent against the people who criticized her and Samy on the restaurant's Facebook page were written in all caps, and those who didn't still had some all caps parts.
Catchphrase: She has three of them:
- "(Insert food item that Ramsay complains about) I have customers telling me it is the best (insert food) they have ever eaten!"
- "I've never had a problem with that (insert food)."
- "They're just not used to eating food that doesn't come from a can."
Cloudcuckoolander: She drifts into this at times. In the return episode, she bizarrely (and emphatically) acts out the behaviors of lookie-loos in the restaurant.
Control Freak: She and Samy openly admit to be this. They insist on doing all of the most important tasks in the restaurant themselves. In the kitchen, a chef, Christine, is stuck on preparing salads as Amy handles just about everything else.
Cordon Bleugh Chef: As Gordon points out, the decent-quality ingredients Amy has are ruined by her unconventional recipes and cooking methods, which aren't good at all. While only a few of the recipes are explored, it's apparent that Amy does this for the restaurant's entire menu, as nobody is satisfied with their food during the course of the dinner service. Gordon's mentions include the following:
- The pizza Amy made for him was rather sweet with an undercooked crust.
- Her Blue Ribbon Burger is overloaded with random toppings (blue cheese, marinated mushrooms, garlic aioli, white truffle oil and bacon) and flavors, on top of being soaked through with grease.
- The Red Pepper Ravioli's flavor is a combination of sweet and spicy, which Gordon considers a bad flavor mix for ravioli, on top of also having an odd set of toppings (bacon, sweetcorn and cilantro).
- Amy's salmon burger is overcooked to the point of being dry and flavorless.
Crazy Cat Lady: In a side interview, Amy says that she and Samy own three cats, and claims she can speak feline. That claim is almost the least crazy thing one can say about this utter lunatic.

Disproportionate Retribution:
- Amy makes a customer's dish painfully spicy after they complained it wasn't spicy enough.
- She fires Katy on the spot for asking her a question during dinner service.
Doublethink: She tries to invoke this in an argument with Gordon by claiming that he complained the bun on his burger was "dry and soggy" and asking him which it was as a gotcha. However, she forgot that Gordon ordered two burgers to try, a beef burger that was soggy and dripping in fat and oil, and a salmon burger that was dry and flavourless.
Feet of Clay: Inverted; Amy has attempted to write a cookbook and start an online series on culinary recipes after her reputation had been irreversibly shattered from her TV appearances (not just on Kitchen Nightmares, but also Dr. Phil and various news reports). She's presumably trying to bank off her own infamy: she certainly wouldn't have the credibility to pull it off otherwise.
French Cuisine Is Haughty: Invoked. She uses a French accent when mocking Gordon's criticism of her using unfitting ingredient combinations, never mind that Gordon is British.
Hair-Trigger Temper: She goes berserk even if a server asks her if she's sure which table needs to be served.
Hope Spot: After arriving at the resturant, Ramsay was stunned by how clean and organised the kitchen was. He also tried one of the desserts and found it delicious. After that however, ... well, see the other tropes listed.
Insane Troll Logic: Amy frequently indugles herself with this mindset:
- She tells Gordon that her staff don't deserve tips because she doesn't believe that they work just as hard as Samy does... all while giving said staff minimal work, prohibiting the more qualified employees from even using the till as part of their job and leaving Samy to mainly work on his own outside the kitchen.
- She insists on cooking food for one customer at a time, which is the reason many of her customers are left waiting for more than an hour of service. What happens when they complain that they've been waiting for so long without food? Amy assumes that "they're full of shit" and are really just there to stir up trouble.
- She tells Katy that "she can go, for sure" upon firing at the end of a dining service (for simply asking Amy "are you sure?"), prompting Katy to do as she says and leave. Amy somehow interprets this as Katy deliberately ignoring her, demanding Katy to come back so she can admonish her for "walking away from her", while also reminding her that she's still fired. Katy bursts into tears in response, which makes Amy even more angry at her.
Instantly Proven Wrong: When Ramsay tells Amy and Samy that he learned that they've fired more than 50 employees in a single year, Amy calls him a liar and demands proof until Samy interjects, admitting that it's actually over 100. This causes Amy to get upset and storm off.
Insult Misfire: She thanks Gordon profusely after he tells her that "there's something not quite right here" with her and Samy's claims that they have the best food and service, as though she feels vindicated in her belief that she's being unfairly antagonized by everyone. By this point in the episode, however, Amy and Samy had already disclosed to Gordon that they have a vindictive view of their customers and employees, along with several other red flags related to their management of the restaurant. Being as self-centered as she is, Amy was unable to see that Gordon's comment was referring to them.
It's Personal: To Amy, there's no negative feedback that isn't a personal insult.
Kick the Dog:
- Amy deliberately over-spices one costumer's meal in the hopes that he would get hurt, as she proudly states. Worth mentioning is that in Arizona, tampering with food and drink in an attempt to cause physical harm is considered a felony that can get you twenty years in prison. Great job admitting to this on camera, Amy!
- After firing Katy for asking a question, Amy tells her again after working hours that she can go. The girl then tries to leave, and Amy demands her to come back. The reason? To tell her off for walking away and that she's still fired. A bonus point is that Amy picked up the habit of following Katy's name with 'little' to demean her ever since.
- She constantly talks back at Gordon when he made it clear that he wanted to help her and Samy with their business. After the restaurant's first episode, she made a False Rape Accusation towards him with Samy and continued to speak ill of him in the return episode.
Lack of Empathy: Amy doesn't understand why Katy is crying literally right after Amy fired her for no real reason. She actually gets angrier, as if this is inappropriate behavior.
Lethal Chef: At one point, she's seen saying she just made a customer's dish so spicy, that it will hurt them to eat it.
Malicious Misnaming: She never says it in the episodes themselves, but in her Facebook posts, she tended to refer to Reddit and its users (Redditors) who criticized her as "Red-shit" and "Red-shittors".
Mood-Swinger: Amy can start laughing, crying, and flying into a rage at the drop of a hat, and often shifts between extreme moods at breakneck pace.
Motor Mouth: She tends to speak very quickly whenever she's feeling threatened. It's impossible to get a word in edgewise once she really gets going.
Never My Fault: Perhaps the absolute worst case of this in the series; she had the nerve to suggest Ramsay left because "he knew they did not need his help", even after he condemned their inexcusable behavior towards their staff and customers.
Nightmare Face: Hers is absolutely terrifying once she feels provoked; her thick eye liner just makes it even more unnerving.
Psychopathic Manchild: She's constantly ready to insist that she's the greatest chef ever to exist on God's green Earth, any and all failings are the result of cheaters and liars out to get her personally, and devolves into screaming fits of rage at anybody who crosses her in the slightest way.
Small Name, Big Ego:
- Amy says that she's the "greatest chef on God's green Earth", and calls out Gordon for being wrong about everything he says, despite Gordon being a professional chef. It got to the point that she claimed herself to be Wonder Woman in one of her posts on the restaurant's Facebook page.
- There's also a bonus footage clip in the return episode where she tells Gordon that the reason Samy is the only man among the restaurant's staff is because, according to her, male chefs have incredibly large egos.
Tranquil Fury: Let's face it, she's got a lot of anger constantly, but keeps it low-key to a certain extent. Of course, until someone presses her buttons or even so much as talks to her, then she erupts.

Salomon "Samy" Bouzaglo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/filters_quality70_76.jpg

The owner of Amy's Baking Company and Amy's husband.

Cloudcuckoolander: Much like Amy, Samy also gets into this. Of particular mention is the scene where this overweight, balding, out-of-shape, nigh-on senior citizen tells Gordon that he's a gangster; the look on Gordon's face makes it clear that he's lost hope for these two. That moment was subverted when it came out that Samy wasn't just trying to sound tough — he actually used to be a gangster, and was facing deportation from the United States for not disclosing this to immigration authorities.
Control Freak: He and Amy openly admit to be this. They insist on doing all of the most important tasks in the restaurant themselves, to the level where Miranda isn't allowed to use the POS system to confirm orders despite having plenty of experience with it from previous jobs.
Dark and Troubled Past: Twenty to thirty years prior to the episode, Samy had been banned from France and Germany on charges of drug distribution, threats and extortion.
Henpecked Husband: Samy sometimes comes across as this, as he's reluctant to inform his wife about customers sending food back due to her inability to take criticism, and his attempted defense of Katie when his wife fired her for asking a question. Though he's significantly less sympathetic than most examples, given that he treats his servers like idiots while taking their tips, and harasses customers who don't like the food.
Kick the Dog:
- There was a pair of customers at the beginning who, after waiting over an hour for a single pizza, decided to leave rather than wait any further. As the two were on their way out the door, Samy demands that they pay for the pizza they never got. Not only that, he and Amy hurl abuse towards him and tell him to leave, simply because he dared to tell them that he's still waiting for his order. Samy only stops when Amy threatens to call the police, which Samy turns to discourage her from.
- Not to mention Samy admitted to stealing the servers' tips for himself and Amy.
A Lighter Shade of Black: In addition to going along with much of Amy's tendencies (especially regarding criticism), Samy gets violent with unsatisfied costumers and takes his waitresses' tips, but he at least has a measure of perspective and is nothing compared to Amy, who's straight-up just a horrible human being.
May–December Romance: Samy is over 20 years older than Amy. They do appear to have a lot in common, though.
Misplaced Retribution: Two customers got fed up and left after waiting an unreasonable amount of time for a single pizza. The customer who Samy had to be restrained from hitting was the one who didn't yell at him.
My Nayme Is: His name (or nickname, to say the least) is pronounced "Sammy" but spelled "Samy".
Not Hyperbole: When Ramsay confronts Samy over stealing the servers' tips, Samy threatens Ramsay by saying that he, not Ramsay, is "the gangster". He wasn't lying at all — Samy was facing deportation because he didn't tell the US immigration authorities that he was banned from Germany and France over drugs and extortion. He's literally a gangster, or at least a (mostly) Reformed Criminal.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Samy's name is actually a shorthand for "Salomon", but you wouldn't know that from watching the episodes themselves, as it's only been mentioned in external sources.
Pet the Dog: To his credit, albeit very small, he does try to console a worker and calls out his wife for firing Katy over Katy simply asking Amy a question, which inadvertently elicits a childish tantrum as a response.
What the Hell Is That Accent?: He's Israeli, but of Moroccan-Jewish descent, and has the very distinctive accent to show for it.
Yes-Man: Samy is one to Amy. Despite the fact that she can't really cook and the business is failing, he can't bring himself to ever criticize Amy or pass along customer complaints. This has only fueled her self-delusions, as she is able to easily claim that no-one has ever complained about the food to her. From a Certain Point of View she may be right, as Samy tends to do his utmost to prevent those comments from reaching her, and Gordon even calls them out on this in the return episode's additional footage.

Miranda Winant

A server of Amy's Baking Company, who was fired by the time of the return episode's airing.

Stepford Smiler: She has a smile on her face when she explains to Gordon what it's like to work at the restaurant, but it's clear that she thinks it's a terrible workplace, given how fake her expression looks.

Barefoot Bob's

Marc

The owner of the restaurant.

Cutting Corners: Zigzagged. The restaurant is under financial difficulties, which led Marc to fire the head chef and cook the dishes himself, along with his staff. The entire restaurant shows this attitude as well, with poor decor and wasted ingredients on bland food, but Marc's own inexperience is also damaging the business even further. Which means that while the owner is trying to save as much money as he can, he's also letting a lot of it become useless due to the subpar service. Even Gordon's way of convincing him and his wife to step up to the plate is to point out the financial losses the eatery's going through thanks to his waste of ingredients in their dirty, unkempt freezer.
Downer Ending: The restaurant eventually closed and he finally divorced Lisa after discovering that she was cheating on him.
Nice Guy: He's respectful of Gordon and the staff seem to genuinely like and care for his well-being.

Robby

Lisa's brother, the bartender for Barefoot Bob's.

Aesop Amnesia: Gordon points out one of the problems with the restaurant being the Tiki room decor, which he promptly changes with the revamp, as well as changing the menu to something slightly upper-class to draw in more customers from the neighboring towns. Robby objects to the changes and argues with Gordon over them, but seems to relent by the end. Come the aftermath, Barefoot Bob's goes back to the tiki decor and old menu, and is eventually forced to shut down, even despite Ramsay warning him that this would happen if they returned to the old ways.
Skewed Priorities: He cares more for the potential loss of their average customers than the fact that clearly said usual customers weren't making them enough money for most of the year. Gordon has to step in and remind him it's not his restaurant and that if he doesn't help out then it goes under and his sister's marriage could be ruined.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: His opinion of the new decor once Ramsay reforms the restaurant. He complains out loud that the bar has become a "hoity toity little yacht club" and that the changes have cost them their average consumer base of drivers and beach-goers who come to watch sports on their TV.invoked
Robby: We get people drunk and we feed people, we're not a five-star restaurant!

Jessica

One of the main servers at Barefoot Bob's.

Brutal Honesty: Doesn't hold back to Gordon on admitting the various problems with the restaurant, such as Lisa's non-involvement, the typos on the menu, or how the food quality has gone down.
Deadpan Snarker: Was absolutely not holding back on snarking about Lisa's (lack of) involvement.

Bazzini

Paul

The restaurant's owner and head chef.

Brilliant, but Lazy: Unlike most of the other Pointy-Haired Boss owners on the show, Paul actually was a technically proficient cook in his own right, and after some pushing managed to create a fresh pasta dish that really impressed Gordon. In addition to not really being able to run a brigade, however, he refused to open the restaurant for lunch services, effectively cutting his income in half. With that attitude, it was no surprise that the restaurant didn't last until the revisited episode.
Complexity Addiction: Insisted on serving complex, multi-course meals that were more suited to a Manhattan restaurant than one in small-town New Jersey, and didn't react too kindly to Gordon's suggestions to serve simpler meals.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Got a low-grade one from Gordon right before he left, with Gordon making little secret of the fact that he considered Paul one of the worst owners he'd seen on the show, and based on his stubborn personality and how quickly the relaunch fell apart after Al bailed out, Gordon didn't think Paul could make the restaurant work. Which he ultimately couldn't.

Al

Paul's sous-chef.

Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After getting over-stressed in the relaunch night he walked out of the restaurant, managing to do it so subtly that it wasn't even caught on camera.
The Silent Bob: Never actually said or did anything of note for most of the episode. Odds are the first time that most viewers actually knew he was supposed to be there was when it suddenly turned out he wasn't there.

Sharyn

The pastry chef (and occasional line cook) at Bazzini.

Hypercompetent Sidekick: Not that Paul was entirely untalented, but Sharyn managed to produce consistently good dishes throughout the episode. By the time of the "revisited" episode she had left the restaurant and was now running a highly successful confectionery business, which Gordon visited in lieu of not being able to visit the since-closed restaurant.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: While she stuck around until the end of Gordon's visit, it was revealed in the epilogue that she had since quit the restaurant in order to set up her own business after falling out with Paul one time too many.

Blackberry's

Shelly

The owner and executive chef of Blackberry's.

Dissonant Laughter: Has a very bad habit of this, showing virtually no concern for the very legitimate observations Gordon and her staff bring forward in the kitchen.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: She was a highly successful caterer before founding Blackberry's.
Lethal Chef: Her chitlins. Good God, her chitlins. The look, smell, and taste were so foul that Ramsay ran off to vomit.
Never My Fault: Tried to accuse Gordon of sabotage when he found a dead mouse by the front door.
No Indoor Voice
Pride: Refused to see that there was anything wrong with her food, and was convinced that it was top quality despite evidence to the contrary.

Mary

Shelly's mother, and the cook responsible for Blackberry's dessert stand.

Mama Bear: Does her damnedest to support her daughter's restaurant despite her age and financial troubles resulting from Shelly's poor practices.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: Delivers a simple yet epic one to Shelly when she becomes so hostile to Gordon's critiques that she tries to shut the restaurant down.
Supreme Chef: She cooks desserts with extraordinary results. Her red velvet cake was by far Gordon's favorite dish from the restaurant.

James

Blackberry's general manager and Shelly's fiancee.

Kayfabe: He accuses Gordon of this when the latter tells him about a dead mouse he found at the restaurant's doorstep, claiming Gordon and his crew planted it there to generate more conflict for the show. Gordon nearly stops the episode then and there, as he eventually says he'll not help someone who calls him a liar for the sake of viewership.

Black Pearl

David

One of the three owners of the Black Pearl, and easily the worst one.

Bad Boss: Was highly ineffective at running his own restaurant, often butting heads with Gordon and the staff and often letting his ego get in the way. Fittingly enough, the restaurant that followed in the wake of the Black Pearl's closing proved much more successful, staying open for well over a decade until it was forced to close by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Blatant Lies: Anyone in the Black Pearl will say this is all he can say, such as his claim that the Canadian-bought lobster was actually from Maine. Gordon shot him down repeatedly for this.
Embarrassing Nickname: Tries to give Gordon one by calling him "Gordy" toward the end of the episode. It backfires when Gordon acts totally unfazed by the childish and lame attempt at disrespect.
Establishing Character Moment: Besides what we see of the staff talking about him in the intro, he walks into the restaurant during Gordon's first visit with a pair of shades on and an absolutely smug walk towards him. Gordon takes that as the first sign to not trust him.
Never My Fault: Treats the closing of Black Pearl like it was Gordon's fault and that everything else had nothing to do with him. Even before this, he counters arguments against him by shifting the blame towards others and pointing out others' flaws.
Sore Loser: Unsurprisingly, his restaurant shuttered in spite of Gordon's intervention; half of his closing announcement consisted of him badmouthing Gordon, and wishing the worst for the man who attempted to help him.

Greg

The second of the three owners, and the most compassionate one.

Brilliant, but Lazy: He had the most interest in running the place properly, but his approach was still very hands-off and he didn't show up as often as necessary to do his job because of the constant disagreements between him and the other two owners. When Brian is dismissed and Ramsay starts leading them to take charge properly, he becomes slightly more competent in handling the restaurant and can actually expedite the dishes properly.
Nice Guy: The staff speaks well of him, at least in comparison to the apathetic David and the inactive Brian, but he does take Gordon's advice to heart and does his best to show he can do things right.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Is the most competent of the three owners and is the most reasonable with Gordon.

Brian

The last of the three owners, and the least active.

Jerkass: While he's mostly nondescript, when he's a guest at the last dinner service he's happily joining David in on shitting on Brian's work and discussing ways to screw with him down the line.
The Load: Was singled out as the most ineffective of the three managers and thus was allowed to go back home on the night of relaunch while Gordon reevaluated his place there. Gordon initially pegged his laziness as the most likely core cause of the restaurant's woes - and then he had the misfortune to get to know David a bit more.

Bonaparte's

Sue

The owner of the restaurant.

I Resemble That Remark!: Near the end of the episode, she accuses Tim of being a liar and a fantasist. Subsequently, she would claim through the press that she never did anything wrong running her restaurant, and that Tim was actually an actor who duped her into hiring him and then deliberately screwed up the restaurant so that Ramsay could come in and save it. Never mind the fact that she had admitted in the episode that she was already having trouble before Tim came along, and even if her claims were true, she'd be effectively admitting that she hired Tim without even bothering to check whether or not his references were legitimate.
Insane Troll Logic: Her claim that Tim was an actor who was hired to screw up her restaurant so that Ramsay could turn things around. Not only does it sound silly on the face of it, but it falls apart when you consider that the restaurant had deteroriated back into its previously filthy state by the time Ramsay revisited, leaving the question as to why Ramsay would deliberately himself look like a failure.
Never My Fault: To this day, she refuses to admit that Bonapartes' going under had anything to do with her management, and even threatened to sue Gordon and the show's producers for loss of earnings. Not only did that not happen, he successfully sued the paper that printed her side of the story for libel.

Tim

The restaurant's head chef.

Awesome, but Impractical: Okay, "awesome" is probably being generous, but his dishes were really more suited to London rather than a working-class town in Yorkshire. They were also impractical in the sense that Tim didn't have the skill or experience necessary to pull them off.
Brilliant, but Lazy:
- Judging by the Valentine's Day meal, he evidently can run a kitchen successfully when he's properly supervised and not using overly-complex recipes. Unfortunately, Sue proved far too hands-off, and within less than a week he'd fallen back to his previous lax standards, ultimately resulting in his being fired at the end of the revisit. Gordon still saw enough potential to offer him an internship in London, but Tim passed it up in favour of trying to get a job in TV.
- This has turned out bad for him in the long run as people have now turned him away from their shows and jobs when they find out that he was on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.
Epic Fail: When Gordon was trying to help Tim cook the new recipes, Gordon took him to Tim's house to cook for his parents. While Tim's mother was talking about how he always wanted to be a chef, he burns the food causing the smoke alarm to go off.
Lethal Chef: Managed to set the bar incredibly low for chefs who would subsequently give Gordon samples of their food, by serving up expired scallops which caused him (and Tim himself) to be sick.
Self-Deprecation: After being fired, he said that it was unbelievable how stupid people can be. The director asked if he was referring to Sue, but he clarified that he was talking about himself.
Skewed Priorities: On his trip to Leeds Market, he was evidently more interested in shopping for clothes and footwear until Gordon gave him a push towards the butchers' section.

Burger Kitchen

Alan Saffron

The founder of Burger Kitchen and one of its co-owners, Alan's father and Gen's husband.

Bumbling Dad: So much.
- He gives off a general feel of cluelessness unless he's outraged about something.
- He can't figure out why his son is upset with him after basically stealing $250,000 out of his trust fund to finance the restaurant, or even realize how his behavior towards Daniel mirrors his own father's until Ramsay tells it to him up-front.
- He can't settle on a menu or trust Chef David to create a decent one.
- Even on days his son is in charge of running the restaurant, he'll waddle in the kitchen barking about random orders, bringing confusion to the line cooks.
Can't Take Criticism: Whenever people complain about the food, he's not happy about it. He's notably very upset when Gordon calls the burger he made for him hideous. It's possible he convinced himself the Yelp reviews are from people who want to destoy his restaurant as a way of rejecting any criticism.
Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: Averted. He mentions a couple of times that he had a poor relationship with his father because he "Didn't want to join his business". What he doesn't mention is that his father was Abe Saffron, who was a notorious Australian gangster known as "Mr. Sin". His businesses included strip clubs, gambling, and prostitution.
Didn't Think This Through: His cluelessness about the culinary field was brutally evident in his burgers, and ultimately his ill-conceived business bit the dust in spite of Gordon's intervention. This is not surprising, considering the reason he thought he should open a burger restaurant was that he had eaten at a lot of steakhouses, and figured that made him an expert.
Epic Fail: Makes his own burger in an attempt to outdo his own chef, only for Ramsay to declare it hideous.
Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Prides himself as a "meat sculptor", but it's clear he knows nothing on how to prepare a proper burger, let alone an edible one. His ignorance is best exemplified by his persistent mispronunciation of "wagyu"; the way he's pronouncing it isn't even a native Japanese sound. What’s more, even if he had pronounced it right, he fails to understand that no matter how prized the breed of cattle, fresh beef is simply better than frozen beef.
Lethal Chef: When he tries to cook his own burger to impress Ramsay (and one-up his own head chef), it turns out to be no better than any of the other burgers on his menu, all of which are noted to be flavorless and improperly cooked when he's in command.
Mean Boss: Completely oblivious to the plights of his employees, especially David, whose talent and ideas he ignores; and Daniel, who's on the verge of a breakdown due to the stress of operating the restaurant.
Never My Fault: Is totally oblivious as to the reason why Daniel is so resentful towards him even after admitting he stole his own son's money. When Gordon expresses a dislike of the burgers, he blames David even though he himself came up with the recipes. Finally, he is convinced the negative reviews from Yelp were some sort of orchestrated conspiracy to kill the business. Even after Gordon introduced him to some of these reviewers in person to set the record straight, Alan continued to blame them for the restaurant's struggles after Gordon left.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: He bounces between his native accent and a non-descript American accent.
Skewed Priorities: He spent money on frozen wagyu beef because he thought it would be give a better product. Ramsay tells him his priorities are wrong, because the fancy names doesn't mean it will necessarily make a better burger.
Turn Out Like His Father: When Ramsay reads a transcript from his own book to him, Alan realises this is the case for him. After seeing Daniel's competence in running the restaurant on his own, Alan leaves the restaurant entirely to him so as to not inflict this on him once he has his own child, as Alan himself states.

Daniel Saffron

Alan and Gen's son and one of the co-owners of the restaurant.

Dating What Daddy Hates: His parents don't support his relationship with his girlfriend, since she's someone who calls them out on their mistreatment of their son and general incompetence.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He acts indifferent and uncaring to what happens in the restaurant and seems constantly at the verge of a breakdown, but given his parents' attitude towards him and the business, this is entirely justifiable. Once he finally admits everything to Ramsay and they talk to his parents, he acts a lot more open and friendly towards him.

Gen Saffron

Alan's wife, Daniel's mother and one of the restaurant's co-owners.

Bad "Bad Acting": Coughs (or very poorly pretends to cough) after tasting David's burger so that she can freely criticize it while praising her husband's burger.
Bad Boss: Kept David's paychecks on the backburner and constantly criticizes his food while praising her own husband's food... even after Gordon comes in and instantly declares David's burgers to be better. To say nothing of her employment and treatment of her own son, which follows the same beats as Alan.
Catchphrase: "I'm 64 years old...", usually preceded or followed by laments about her problems with the restaurant or excuses as to why she behaves the way she does.
- "I'm not on Prozac" almost evolved into a catch phrase after David told her she needed to be on it. Seriously, the effort she put into insisting she was not on Prozac and the number of times she kept saying it, it's clear that David really got under her skin with that comment...
Death Glare: She gives a brief, almost threatening look when Gordon tries David's burger and says that he prefers it over Alan's.
Ignored Expert: As much as Yelpers can be called experts. She fell asleep while Gordon was presenting actual Yelpers to the family to show how they're actual people with actual complaints, and not a conspiracy against the restaurant.
Never My Fault: Usually claims her old age is the reason why she doesn't do some things or tries to improve the restaurant or her own behavior.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Attempts to just get up and leave after Gordon Ramsay gives David props for his burger and dislikes Alan's recipes.
Yes-Man: To Alan, which means any point Gordon has about the restaurant will be refuted by both Gen and her husband.

David Blaine

The restaurant's head chef during the first half of the two-parter.

Determinator: After getting fired, he refuses to leave the building until he's given a check covering all the wages he's owed.
George Jetson Job Security: Makes an off-the-cuff threat to hit Daniel during the middle of service, and gets fired on the spot. Granted, he should have shown a lot more tact given what Daniel was going through, but it seems harsh to fire him just as he'd proved himself to actually be quite competent at his job.
Hair-Trigger Temper: He's got a pretty short fuse when it comes to dealing with the owners, especially Gen.
Hidden Depths: When given the money to buy ingredients to make his own burger from scratch, he manages to produce one that really impresses Gordon, showing he wasn't just trying to cover his flaws. Sadly, he doesn't hold onto his job long enough to see it implemented in the kitchen.
Ignored Expert: If Gordon's reaction to David's burger free of any oversight is anything to go by, he's a competent chef who can back up his boasting, but he's forbidden from implementing his own ideas by Alan, despite Alan's own recipes and methods being inexperienced and unpopular with customers.
Jerkass Has a Point: He may be hot-tempered and somewhat abrasive, but he's not wrong that the restaurant is in a terrible place due to Gen and Alan's incompetence.
Named Like My Name: His full name's David Blaine, the same as the magician, which he and Gordon lampshaded more than once.invoked
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Finally becomes fed up with the owners, and once Daniel fires him in a fit of anger, he accepts it and storms off... but not before getting the money he's due.
Surrounded by Idiots: He clearly thinks that he's this with the owners, if not necessarily the rest of the kitchen staff.

Jalapeño

A line cook during the first half of the two-parter, who later gets a hasty promotion to head chef during the second half.

Non-Indicative Name: While you might think from his nickname that he's a hot-tempered person, he was probably the calmest, most rational person at the restaurant. He also doesn't appear to be of Hispanic descent.
You Are in Command Now: After David gets fired, he's installed as head chef just for the lack of any other readily-available candidate, and Daniel likely realising that they'd have trouble recruiting someone new due to the George Jetson Job Security of the position.

Cafe 36

Terry and Carol

The husband and wife owners of Cafe 36.

Can't Take Criticism: Terry got very aggravated when his head server Brian offered his rather unflattering opinion of Pinto and of Terry's management style, and told Brian not to go any further with it.
Took a Level in Badass: They acted on Gordon's advice to stay on top of what goes on in both the dining and especially the kitchen, after having been reluctant to take too much of a hands-on approach to how their individual chefs performed.
Workaholic: Terry does much of the work in maintaining the restaurant, which has often left his employees short of work after service.

Pinto

The head chef of Cafe 36.

Insistent Terminology: Called all of the food he served "fresh frozen", which like with other chefs has never gone over well with Chef Ramsay. Pinto however was one of the worst offenders, feeling that the quality of the food remained the same regardless of its time spent in the fridge.
The Load: Was highly inefficient in the kitchen and often served subpar food; the head server thought so little of him that he told him to his face that he needed to be fired. Gordon was especially critical of his culinary abilities and constantly had him in his crosshairs. Unsurprisingly, he was finally let go from the restaurant the day after its relaunch.
Medal of Dishonor: Gordon considered him to be dead weight in the kitchen and told the owners that while he personally would've fired the man, that was a decision only they could make. Not too surprisingly, they soon after acted on Gordon's advice and finally cut ties with Pinto.
Never My Fault: He never saw the error of his poor work ethic and thus was reluctant to act on any of Gordon's input.

Brian

The head server at Cafe 36.

Brutal Honesty: When confronted on the dysfunction of the kitchen, Brian said Pinto needed to be kicked out and that Terry needed to take a more hands-on role in the dining room. Terry warned him not to speak out of turn again.

Barney

The sous chef, later head chef, of Cafe 36.

Hypercompetent Sidekick: He wasn't the best chef around, but he was easily more competent than Pinto and did his damnedest to keep things running as smoothly as possible in the kitchen.

Cafe Tavolini

Keith and Lisa

The husband and wife owners and "managers" of Cafe Tavolini.

Bad Boss: Neither did anything to hold up their end in managing the business. The two had the nerve to order food from their own kitchen and eat it from the privacy of their van outside the restaurant during dinner service.
Blatant Lies: Keith tells Gordon that he's usually on deck during the restaurant's seven-day work week. This didn't work however as his son had already told Ramsay in private that this was far from the truth. Even Lisa is guilty as she was accusing her son of being a liar while he was telling things how they were.
Didn't Think This Through: To say this of their decision to buy the cafe on the fly would be an understatement, to say the least, with neither of them having any prior experience in the restaurant industry; Lisa was a hairdresser by trade, and Keith owned a wine shop.
Downer Ending: They sank back into their old ways after Gordon left, and soon lost both their business and their home as a consequence of their failure to wake up to Gordon's warnings. About the only positive thing of note is that the family finally divorced Keith after the fact, but the damage had been done.
Exact Words: Both of the rather plump owners waited for dinner service to have... dinner... at their own restaurant.
Fat Bastard: Keith's a bit on the heavy side, and absolutely did not deserve all the help so graciously given to him by Gordon. Lisa too was a bit in the overweight side and she wasn't much more useful than Kieth was when things get rough and she even escaped the restaurant in the second service.

Henpecked Husband: Considering his laziness and his disrespect towards his wife and staff, odds are you won't feel bad for him when his family and Gordon call him out for it.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Their decision to buy up the restaurant ultimately led to the end of not only their business, but of their marriage as well. To make matters worse, the family fell into foreclosure as their fortunes went under.
Informed Attribute: Lisa claimed to want to divorce Keith due to the way he is but she had no problem taking his side instead of her son's even calling her son a liar when he was telling the truth. She also had no problem hiding and making her son do extra work including making a scene over a fork at the expense of her son alongside Keith during dinner service.
The Load: Both of them, Keith, so much so that his own general manager could not name one thing that Keith regularly oversaw in his own business. Lisa too, she even objected to being a waitress after making a huge speech about how she was going to change and she is committed.
My God, What Have I Done?: This is their reaction when Gordon boards up their restaurant and forces them to see for themselves what will happen if they do not change their ways, and tearfully promise to adhere to whatever advice Gordon gives them. Sadly, the message didn't stick for long. Though judging by Lisa's facial expressions when seeing the restaurant this probably only applied to Keith, as when she saw the building closed she looked more amused◊ than distraught compared to him. Judging by her actions after reading her pre written letter to Gordon it probably didn't even truly bother her.
Never My Fault: Keith never took responsibility for his restaurant's problems, constantly blaming his wife who at least made the effort to show up. Lisa took more of a "Never Keith's Fault" role.
- When Keith was out during Ramsay's initial orders Lisa called Kieth to tell him specifically not to blame her for what was going on even though she is in charge.
Returning the Wedding Ring: As their troubles at the restaurant worsened, things got so bad between the two that Lisa seriously considered divorcing him altogether. Surely enough, when the restaurant failed, that's exactly what they did.
Skewed Priorities: Keith and moreso Lisa, Lisa especially was concerned about the wrong things during Gordon's time tasting the food. Both later when they left dinner service to have... dinner... from their restaurant.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Both Keith and Lisa when things get rough, usually just heading home and watching the staff through the security cameras. Though this doesn't stop Lisa from complaining about when Keith does it.

Van

Lisa's son and Keith's stepson, and a server at Cafe Tavolini.

Brutal Honesty: Personally took Ramsay aside before he even stepped foot in the restaurant and told him of what kind of managers his parents really were, and was constantly calling out Keith for doing nothing to support his own business.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: Having had to deal with his parents' constant neglect of the restaurant, he had to become this to keep the business afloat; That said, even with the odds stacked against him, he was clearly a far more competent manager than either Keith or his mother.
Like Father, Unlike Son: He clearly was not close to his stepfather, and deeply resentful of how much he was neglecting the restaurant. Often it was Van who assumed much of the work when his parents retreated from the dining room. Ultimately his mother divorces Keith.
What the Hell, Hero?: Gives ones to his parents when he discovers they ordered dinner for themselves during service. Disgusted at their selfishness, he doesn't even bother to get them silverware before going back inside.

Michael

The kitchen manager of Cafe Tavolini.

Hypercompetent Sidekick: He often picked up the slack when Keith and Lisa refused to do their part, and he singlehandedly saves the dinner service when the two of them have retreated from the dining room. He showed himself to be far more competent at running the kitchen than the owners; especially impressive considering the surprisingly small kitchen he had to work from.

Cafe Hon

Denise Whiting

The owner of Cafe Hon. ...For better or worse.

Can't Take Criticism: Like you wouldn't believe. In the first dinner service, certain dishes getting negative reviews leads her to immediately remove them from the menu (also known as 86'ing), leading to her throwing away over $700 worth of perfectly useable ingredients in one night.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Cafe Hon is still open for business when Ramsay comes for the revisit, and Denise is noticeably kinder and in better spirits with the staff, customers and the Baltimore community, although her infamous trademark attempt is still very much talked about.
Impossibly Tacky Clothes: A Beehive hairstyle, feathered boas, and leopard-print clothes makes up her "Honderful" outfit.
Kick the Dog: Aside from trademarking the word "Hon," she goes after anyone who uses the word, sending them a "Cease and Desist" letter.
Must Make Amends: When she sees the citizens of Baltimore express how they feel about her trademarking the word "Hon," she announces that she is removing the word from the registry in order to get back in their good graces.
Only in It for the Money: The only possible justification for her trademarking the word "Hon" in the eyes of many.
Pointy-Haired Boss: Prior to her Heel Realization, she's this, and unfortunately also a Bad Boss. Among other things, she bans the chefs from seasoning fries^note, tells the chefs to drop everything so she can yell at them for things like not plating asparagus the way she wanted, and 86's dishes if just one comes out wrong (which her pointless, nitpicky lectures may cause).
Took a Level in Kindness: The revisit shows that her attitude has significantly improved and she gave up on the trademark attempt, which resulted in the majority of the community forgiving her and giving her improved Cafe a boost in business.
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Tries to make herself to be the victim by telling Gordon that she was a victim of a smear campaign and receiving death threats over trademarking the word "Hon." Conveniently leaving out the aforementioned Kick the Dog moment, which he soon does mention.

Capri

Jim and Jeff

The owners and head chefs of Capri, and identical twins.

Big Fun: The twins are both fairly heavy-set, and they're pretty light-hearted, liking to play jokes and have fun.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Both of them started as inexperienced overgrown children who had very little activity in the kitchen and cooked sub-par food with stale, expired, frozen or pre-made ingredients. But the second their morale was lifted and they received a new look and guidance, the two produced high-quality food on their own and had one of the most solid relaunches in the show. Their restaurant had favorable reviews prior to it being sold in September 9, 2019.
Identical Twin ID Tag: Jim wears a cap during service hours when working on the kitchen.
Inelegant Blubbering: Jeff when he starts crying.
Manchild: Before meeting Gordon, the two of them were basically a pair of kids at heart, being lazy and a bit temperamental. Meeting Gordon eventually helped them mature, though.
Never My Fault: Part of Jim's immature behavior, as he goes on confessional cam to say Gordon won't stop "whining about every little thing", and acting like the expired food isn't a big deal. He thankfully grows out of it.
Took a Level in Badass: They grew out of their manchild behavior fast under Gordon's instructions and managed to start making good food from scratch with fresh ingredients. Their restaurant fared well prior to it being sold, with great reviews online and still allowing them enough space to joke a bit with their customers while they served quality lunch and dinner.
Twin Switch: They pull this joke on Gordon when he first arrives at the restaurant. Gordon sees right through it.

Casa Roma

Erick

The restaurant's first head chef.

Catchphrase: "What can you do?" Which was usually his excuse for his laziness when confronted with his subpar food.
Lethal Chef: His signature dish was a Monte Cristo sandwich-a deep-fried ham and cheese sandwich coated with powdered sugar. Erick's was fried in so much oil that Gordon could squeeze it like a sponge and have grease sopping all over the place, which is not how it's supposed to be served. With that approach, he didn't even make it until the halfway point of the episode before getting the bullet.
Medal of Dishonor: Ranks among the extremely small number of people Gordon has met whom he deemed completely beyond help; the only advice he could give to Nylah was to fire him, which she eventually took.
Money, Dear Boy: As Gordon pointed out, clearly the only reason why he even bothered to show up to work. And most of the time, showing up was about all he did.invoked
Never My Fault: He never took responsibility for how slow things moved on his watch. Even after he was finally let go, he had the audacity to say he was the one who was screwed over.

Drew

The restaurant's second head chef.

Hypercompetent Sidekick: Subverted. While he was definitely more competent and had a better attitude towards his work than Erick, he ultimately proved not to be up to the job of head chef, and was fired himself some time before the revisit.

Q

The restaurant's third head chef.

You Look Familiar: Ramsay said this word-for-word after meeting him in the revisit. He actually first appeared as part of the kitchen staff of Sebastian's in that episode. After he lost his job in the wake of the restaurant closing, Nylah contacted him and offered him the job of head chef at Casa Roma.invoked

Chappy's

Chappy

The co-owner and head chef at the restaurant.

Aesop Amnesia: Given his stubbornness, was anyone the least bit surprised when he went straight back to his old ways after Gordon left?
Can't Take Criticism: As far as he was concerned, the customer was always wrong whenever it came to complaints about his food and they just couldn't handle it.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: He actually owned a successful Chappy's in Mississippi, but it was demolished by Hurricane Katarina. He tried to capture that same success in Nashville, but it's heavily implied by Gordon and the episode itself it's had an effect on him even afterwards and he's Stopped Caring.
Impossibly Tacky Clothes: While working he combined a normal-looking chef's jacket with polka-dotted pants that consisted of five or six different colors. It didn't do a whole lot to convince Ramsay of his professionalism.
Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Proudly boasts about his work, but none of his cooking impresses Gordon and when confronted on various health and safety issues he either denies them or expresses ignorance (he seemingly wasn't even aware of what a pescatarian even was before Gordon pointed it out).
The Napoleon: Likely experienced short man syndrome, due to wearing the same type of ludicrously tall chef's hat made infamous by Hell's Kitchen contestant Craig during that show's fourth season. Like with Craig, Ramsay forced him to get rid of it. Perhaps most astoundingly, he put it right back on after Gordon had left.
Never My Fault: When Ramsay called him out on how bland his food was, he tried to claim that it was only because the locals couldn't handle the full spiciness of his New Orleans cuisine. After the episode aired and his restaurant was shut down for failure to pay taxes, he predictably tried to blame Gordon's changes, even though nearly everyone who worked there said in the episode itself it had been struggling for some time.
Percussive Maintenance: Pounded the hell out of Ramsay's filet, despite it being well-known as perhaps the most tender cut of beef.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Got several from Gordon during the course of the episode, to the point where by the end of the episode Gordon was openly wondering whether his visit had just been one huge waste of time. Probably the only reason he isn't one of the more notorious owners from the show's run is the fact that his was the episode immediately before Amy's Baking Company.

Starr

Chappy's wife, and the co-owner of the restaurant.

Logic Bomb: Said that there was nothing really wrong with Chappy's food, it just needed modernizing and revamping. Something that Ramsay pointed out was actually kind of a major problem, since it wouldn't need "modernizing and revamping" if it was already excellent.
Reasonable Authority Figure: According to the staff, anyway. During the staff meeting when she worries she's also guilty of all the bad things Chappy has done, they're quick to call her amazing. Unfortunately, her influence isn't enough to improve Chappy's behavior.
Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: A mild example, as Chappy was by far the heavier of the two and the height difference was magnified by her heels, but on-screen she looked noticeably taller than him.

Charlie's

Tatiana

1/3 of the owners of Charlie's with her mother and sister Val.

Downer Ending: The restaurant would end up closing in July in 2012, five months after the original aring of the episode, and yes her mother and sister ended up losing their homes.
My God, What Have I Done?: When the full reality of the restaurant's bleak situation finally hits her, she begins to have this and realizes what is at stake if she doesn't get her act together.
Pointy-Haired Boss: Doesn't make any changes to improve the restaurant, despite going through two previous owners. She doesn't seem to even have a clue about what goes on in the restaurant. Gordon even asks her, "What Were You Thinking?".
Sadistic Choice: She must choose between a chef she considers a dear friend who'd been at the restaurant for 14 years, or a restaurant that is fast failing in part because of his neglect, a restaurant that her family's welfare now rides on. Ultimately, she must let go of Casimiro, which was a very difficult decision for her.
Title Drop: After Gordon was not impressed with the food, she says that they have a real Kitchen Nightmare.

Casimiro

Head Chef at Charlie's for 15 years.

Can't Take Criticism: After Gordon calls him out for his overall mediocre performance, he refuses to cook. Leaving the other chefs to perform service on their own.
Creator's Pet: A real-person equivalent. Tatiana intentionally keeps complaints of the food from reaching him, despite everyone from the servers to the Sous Chef saying that he's horrible. After the below Epic Fail moment, Tatiana assures him that he's still a good chef.
Epic Fail: He's unable to make a meatball despite working in an Italian restaurant for 15 years.
The Load: He firmly cemented himself as such with his apathy towards his work and his preference to "work slow" in the kitchen. The only reason Tatiana couldn't bring herself to fire him ages ago was because of their long partnership, which she finally realized wasn't working in her restaurant's favor.
Medal of Dishonor: Although he stopped short of demanding that Tatiana fire him, Gordon was so thoroughly fed up with his arrogance and incompetence that he didn't know where else to go with him, and told Tatiana to take responsibility for how badly he was holding up the kitchen with his appalling work ethic. Almost immediately, Tatiana decided that Casimiro had to leave.
The Millstone: Gordon points out that he was the common factor in every owner's tenure in the restaurant, implying that he - to some degree - led to each owner's downfall:
Gordon: When a chef outlasts two owners already, trust me, there something's not quite right...
The Quiet One: Combined with his thick accent, he was barely coherent in the kitchen. But Gordon heard more than enough to know he didn't give a damn about doing his job well.
What Were You Thinking?: Is on the receiving end of this from Gordon, as he says he prefers to work slow, as in doing only one table at a time, and constantly making excuses for when the dining room got backed up. Gordon was having none of it.

Dillon's/Purnima

Mohammad

The restaurant's owner.

Head-in-the-Sand Management: Was grossly unaware of how unsanitary the conditions in his kitchen had become.
Nice Guy: For all his faults, he was a genuinely reasonable and affable guy with both Gordon and his staff.
Oh, Crap!: Upon seeing the horrific state of the food coming out of his kitchen, he realized that immediate action was needed to decontaminate it.

Andrew

The restaurant's operations manager.

Head-in-the-Sand Management: He was not unaware of how bad his restaurant was faring, but like with the others it took Gordon to make him realize how infested and unsanitary the kitchen was.
Nice Guy: Like Mohammad, he was a genuinely reasonable and affable guy who took all of Gordon's criticisms to heart.
Pornstache: Had a very prominent handlebar mustache.
This Is Gonna Suck: He had a pretty good idea how things were going to go down with Gordon during the initial tasting of the menu when he realized the salmon Gordon ordered off the menu was something they didn't even have in stock fresh, forcing him to use frozen fish to replace it.

Martin

The restaurant's general manager.

Accidental Misnaming: Having not paid attention to Vikas Khanna, the chef that Gordon brought in to revamp the menu, Martin calls him "Vakas" during service.
Can't Take Criticism: Had a very hard time taking direct criticism from Gordon, which was frequent considering the master chef's constant frustration with both his attitude and his lack of ability.
The Chew Toy: As mentioned above, Gordon never hesitated to shoot down Martin for his ineffectiveness as a floor manager, and levied his worst feedback onto him whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Everyone Has Standards: Was genuinely irked when Gordon told off a waitress who tried to stick up for Martin during the restaurant's relaunch, but this may have been in part due to the verbal beatdown Gordon was giving him when this exchange occurred.
Head-in-the-Sand Management: Of all of them, he was considered the worst offender, exercising next to no quality control of the food exiting the kitchen and was seemingly apathetic to the troubles brewing in the dining room.
Heel Realization: Seeing Gordon's kitchen firsthand after witnessing the horrors in his own kitchen seemed a sobering reminder to him of just how bad things had gotten and how much they needed to improve to save the business. Sadly, he didn't act strong enough on it to save his job.
The Load: He preferred talking on the phone and making idle chat rather than staying on top of either the food or the produce in the refrigeration unit.
Medal of Dishonor: He was considered by far the least competent member of the management staff and Gordon urged Mohammed to cut him loose when he failed to pick up the slack during relaunch night. As far as Gordon was concerned, he had made himself too much of a liability.
Oh, Crap!: He did not look forward to having to help clean the restaurant of its hopelessly expired contents while the restaurant was cleared of the many vermin in the basement.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Received several of these from Gordon, the last of which saw Gordon accuse him of exploiting the man who had employed him. Martin did not take this accusation well at all.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The final straw for Martin was being accused of taking advantage of Mohammad and the restaurant, during which he made a passionate plea that this was not the case. Having had enough of Gordon, he soon after walked out altogether before relaunch night had even concluded.
Sore Loser: He tried to sue to keep the episode featuring Dillon's off the air; his case was ultimately dismissed.
Tranquil Fury: He never actually lost his temper despite all of his annoyance with Gordon. That is until the world class chef accused him of mooching off his employers.

Khan

The restaurant's second general manager.

The Load: His own partners seemed to view him as this.
Nice Guy: Was generally a good guy despite his comparatively meaningless position.
Took a Level in Badass: Demonstrated considerably stronger skill as a manager on relaunch night, ensuring the success of dinner service in spite of Martin's struggles.

D-Place

Israel

The restaurant's co-owner.

All for Nothing: In the end, nothing he did in improving the restaurant really mattered, nor was it ever going to — his landlords had already decided to evict him from the premises before Gordon ever showed up, even if they didn't alert Israel to this until in-between Gordon's initial visit and the revisit.
Skilled, but Naive: Said almost word-for-word by Gordon near the end of the episode; he may have been able to toughen up and get his restaurant working in the right way, but his naivety about actually owning and running a business had seen him unknowingly talk his landlords into evicting him before Gordon arrived in the first place.
Stepford Smiler: Tries to put on a brave face during the revisit despite the fact that, as Gordon points out in his narration, he's now facing virtually certain bankruptcy, and probably the loss of his and Tara's house. When the latter is weeks away from giving birth, no less.
Took a Level in Badass: Finally toughened up and fired Dave near the end of Gordon's initial visit.

Tara

Israel's wife, and the restaurant's other co-owner.

Out of Focus: Though she was apparently involved much more in the restaurant's management in the past, she had taken more of a hands-off role during the episode, as she was heavily pregnant.

Dave

The restaurant's general manager.

The Load: By later on in the episode, it's blatantly obvious that he's by far the biggest problem with the restaurant. It eventually causes him to completely tank the relaunch service, getting him fired, and only avoiding dooming the restaurant completely because it had been doomed even before Gordon arrived.

Philippe

The head chef of D-Place.

Blatant Lies: Tries to claim that a batch of deep-fried potatoes are actually roasted. Even Israel, who doesn't have any culinary expertise, immediately spots that something is off about them, and Gordon wastes no time ripping him a new asshole.
Brilliant, but Lazy: Clearly has skills as a chef, but at the start of the episode he clearly isn't giving it his all, and constantly resorts to shortcuts.
French Jerk: A mild case; for much of the episode he's kinda lazy and confrontational, but he starts putting the attitude to one side as the episode progresses, and admits during Gordon's re-visit that he needed a wake-up call.
Karma Houdini: A low-grade example, since Dave was more directly at fault for the restaurant's troubles, but despite his lazy habits and confrontational attitude, he had actually found himself a better job at the end of the episode, being hired as the head chef for the hotel in which the hotel was based.

Down City

Abby Cabral

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/land_16_9_5.jpg

"You're a disgrace to this industry!"

One of the co-owners (with Rico) and manager of Down City, and the caterer to its next-door hotel.

Blatant Lies: Lies to Gordon about the quality of her food from the hotel service not even five minutes after he sets foot inside the restaurant proper.
Can't Take Criticism: Even with clear evidence that her food is rotten being put right in front of her, she refuses to listen to Gordon and even starts a verbal fight with him over it. The staff outright admit she has this problem and they long ago stopped confronting her on issues because they know how she'll fly off the handle.
Control Freak: Easily one of the worst examples in the show's run. Nothing gets through to her in terms of suggestions or criticism, and any deviation from her norm is enough to cause a scandal, even out in public in front of the customers. Her compulsiveness is so big that she starts to talk back at Gordon even before he orders any food in the main eatery, just because he's going against her agenda that the food is perfect when he mentions that the food for the hotel service (which he didn't know was also done by them) was shit.
Department of Redundancy Department: Another owner who denies being in denial to Ramsay's face.
Fire-Forged Friends: She and Gordon end up making fairly effective partners in making the restaurant function - this is after they begin the episode wanting to kill one another.
Insane Troll Logic: Gordon arrives at her restaurant and asks her to rate the quality of the food, and she responds, unwavering, that it's a 10 out of 10. This is despite the fact that there are bills accumulating, fewer people are coming to the restaurant and Gordon Ramsay was called there to solve what is clearly a major problem.
Hair-Trigger Temper: To a worrying degree. Any complaint or counterargument is enough for her to talk back, rant and lash out at customers and staff members alike, and even after the restaurant is helped by Gordon, the revisit shows this trait hasn't quite gone away, as she now screams more at Rico than the employees.
The Napoleon: She's shorter than Rico and most of the staff in Down City, and blows up at the slightest provocation.
Took a Level in Kindness: Once she's humbled by the first night's dinner service and Gordon's dressing down, she realizes that her staff deserves better from her, and she actually becomes very competent and (relatively) patient in the kitchen, and she's willing to take criticism.

Rico

The co-owner of Down City with Abby.

Beleaguered Assistant: To Abby, since he can't get a single word in to help business.
Nice Guy: Granted, anyone comes off as a nice guy compared to Abby, but Rico was at least willing to listen to Ramsay's critiques and tried to cooperate, which did help for a while.

El Greco

Jake

Owner and head chef of El Greco.

Calling Parents by Their Name: Jake frequently calls his mother by her first name, usually when he's mad at her.
Calling the Old Man Out: Jake is severely argumentative with his mother Athina, and has been ever since the restaurant hit a downward period in service and money. When Gordon confronts the family about this, Jake finally explodes on them (when his mother was trying to stop a fight between him and his aunt, no less) and tells both women to leave the place and not come back. You can tell by Gordon's face he's holding himself back from screaming a storm back at him for so much disrespect to his own family.
Easily Forgiven: Years of volleying insults and screaming at his own mother and aunt, showing very little passion for the business he's trying to run, he finishes blowing up at both and telling them to leave... Only to pull an immediate 180 and say he doesn't mean it and earning his mother's forgiveness, and the episode goes on with the restaurant's relaunch process as if nothing else happened afterwards.
Exhausted Eyebags: Has a pair, likely as a result of stress since El Greco is going into debt.
Jaded Professional: Used to be a more passionate chef, but by the time of the episode, he is extremely burned out and serves all his dishes through "Chef Mike".
Lethal Chef: Aside from his preference to simply microwave everything in his kitchen, there was his dreadful stuffed zucchini dish, drowning in cream sauce and described by Gordon as looking like "two grenades waiting to explode". Understandably, his own staff hated what they were obligated to serve.
Never My Fault: Treats his mother's complaints about the failing business as "constant nagging" and thinks she has no right to talk back to him as his apathy lets the business fall apart around them.

Athina

Co-owner of El Greco and Jake's mother.

Abusive Parents: Verbal abuse. Doesn't get touched upon in the episode itself, but statements like "I'd rather be dead than have a son like this" to wards said son falls squarely under this.
I Have No Son!: She gets into so many arguments with Jake that she even tells Ramsay that once the money was gone, "so was her son", and constantly begs him to "bring her son back".
My Beloved Smother: Jake sees her as this, and to his credit, if she's not chastising the kitchen staff for the poor food quality, she's hurling criticism and/or insults at her son with help from his aunt - who also works there - in a regular basis. After Jake finally gets angry enough to tell them off, Gordon calmly tells her the constant complaining does need to stop if they want to work together properly once more.
Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Has a heavy Greek accent. When she gets angry enough, she slips back into a proper Greek dialect.

Kiki

Jake's hot-tempered aunt.

Calling the Young Man Out: When Jake shows up two hours late after promising to be at the restaurant by 10:00, Kiki launches into a full-on tirade against Jake, saying Athina spoiled him and generally hurling lots of insults his way.
Jerkass Has a Point: While there are certainly nicer ways of telling your nephew off than calling him a lazy pig who still acts like a child, among other things, she does have a point that his lack of passion is driving the restaurant into debt.
Language Barrier: She is unable to speak much English, so Athina has to translate when Gordon intervenes in Kiki's fight with Jake.

Chef Mike

The microwave, which is used so often that the restaurant employees refer to it as "Chef Mike".

Companion Cube: The microwave is used so often the restaurant employees treat it like a member of the staff.
I Call It "Vera": The staff jokingly named the microwave "Chef Mike" because it does more of the cooking than the cooks themselves.

Fiesta Sunrise

Vic Flores

The manager of the restaurant.

Awesome, but Impractical: His restaurant has a dispenser that serves maragaritas in the waiting area.
Captain Oblivious: Didn't seem to think there was anything at all unusual about having his fridge stocked with enormous amounts of ready-made food — including a garbage can filled with refried beans — all sitting out in the open, completely unprotected. Subverted when Ramsay finds the kitchen's cockroach infestation, which Vic admits that he did know about, but didn't bother addressing.
Didn't Think This Through: He really should have cut his losses after the failure of his earlier restaurant.
Epic Fail: The restaurant had been open only eighteen months by the time Gordon arrived, and the master chef was mindblown to learn that the place was already almost a million dollars in debt when he was called in. His family's frustration with him over this disastrous investment on which they staked everything is quite justified.
Henpecked Husband: A rare example where this trope was pretty justified, as Vic's poor practices had jeopardized his family's financial well-being, so much so that his wife wasn't sure their relationship would last if they could not save the business.
History Repeats: Was the owner of a restaurant called Fiesta Garibaldi prior to its failure and the opening of Fiesta Sunrise, even keeping the menus and decor left over from when it closed. It's pretty safe to assume that the poor practices that sank Fiesta Sunrise were also left over from that restaurant.
Perpetual Frowner: Rarely ever smiled and seemed very detached from everything around him. Even on the night of relaunch Gordon had to urge him to smile when telling him the dinner service went well.
Skewed Priorities: Asking his stepdaughter to use her credit to fund his second restaurant definitely counts as such, as it only served to drag the family further into debt when the business failed to generate any lasting income. As noted above, he'd have been wiser to simply accept the failure of his earlier eatery and move on. Worse still, when Gordon tells the customers not to eat any more of the food he had uncovered and for service to end, Vic objects to Gordon's actions even though it was him who was serving them potentially dangerous food in the first place.
Surrounded by Idiots: Played with; while Vic himself certainly wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, he was surrounded by an indifferent serving staff, and quite possibly the most incompetent kitchen brigade in the show's entire history, with even Vic being stunned at their level of incompetence during what was meant to be the night the restaurant bounced back.
The Quiet One: Never raises his voice and was prone to talking almost at a whisper, which is quite remarkable for someone who had completely take charge of a restaurant that he was not the true owner of on paper.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gordon gave him one hell of a verbal lashing after finding the kitchen full of rotting, expired food, accusing him of being unfit to run a bath, much less a restaurant. The following day, Gordon had to give him another such speech, after all the rotting food was cleaned out, which had the side-effect of exposing the restaurant's cockroach infestation.

Yolanda Flores

Vic's wife.

Hypercompetent Sidekick: After Vic's kitchen brigade managed to overcook the rice into mush, Yolanda jumped onto the line and managed to get a decent batch of rice out relatively quickly. Unfortunately, the chefs proceeded to screw everything else up, meaning that it didn't count for much.
Tempting Fate: Was frustrated by the state of the restaurant, and after Gordon uncovered cockroaches in the kitchen, she said she wasn't sure how it could possibly get worse. Sadly, after the successful relaunch a stabbing incident took place at the site of the restaurant some time after Gordon had left. Needless to say, this probably proved the last straw as the restaurant soon after went bankrupt.
What Were You Thinking?: She did not take well to Gordon's discovery of just how bad the kitchen was, and was disgusted that Vic did nothing about the cockroaches.

Patricia "Patti"

The owner (on paper, at least) of the restaurant, Yolanda's daughter, and Vic's stepdaughter.

Bad Boss: Since in terms of financials she is technically the owner, her salivating when Gordon was giving her mother and stepfather and enjoying every moment of it makes her this to a degree.
Funny Background Event: Can be seen visibly laughing her ass off◊ in the background any time Gordon is giving Vic a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, especially when the bucket of beans got involved.
I Warned You: She had been trying to warn Vic of the restaurant's low hygiene standards for quite some time, and found it very amusing when Ramsay proceeded to royally tear Vic a new asshole over the matter.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite being reduced to an in-name-only position at the restaurant, she fully supported Gordon's attempts to revamp the restaurant, finding every single one of his critiques of Vic's practices justified. She also tried to entice her frustrated husband to lend what support he could to the relaunch despite knowing how much he was at odds with Vic.

Flamango's/The Junction

Adele

The restaurant's co-owner and primary manager.

Bad Boss: Frequently swore at her employees when she was frustrated or became defensive.
Berserk Button: She hated Gordon's makeover of the restaurant, and made no secret of it to anyone after the unveiling; clearly she was still bitter over the loss of her business' poorly-received tropical setting.
Can't Take Criticism: Was very defensive and unable to hear her employees or Gordon out, especially when it came to the restaurant's questionable decor.
Captain Obvious: "I don't like fish, it tastes fishy."
Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Of the building variety, as she filled the tropical-themed restaurant with expensive and kitschy decorations and fixtures that soured many people's views of the restaurant, making the entire place come off as a leftover from the seventies, as Gordon observedinvoked.
Hypocrite: One of the reason of disliking the new decor is that she hates the colour blue. However she is seen wearing BLUE clothing before and after the renovations.
Never My Fault: She absolutely refused to accept that the tacky tropical decor that she loved so much had anything to do with the restaurant's declining business, and was resistant to any serious effort to modernize it or the food to attract new customers.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Although she didn't quite go through with it, she clearly wanted to bolt from the newly redesigned restaurant in protest of the new theme and menu, only to be talked out of it by Bill.
Skewed Priorities: She put so much stock into preserving the tropical decor she adored so much that she refused to hear out any effort to modernize the restaurant to better service her customers. Gordon told her flat out that if she continued to rely on nostalgia as she had been doing that she should go ahead and shut the place down.

Bill

The restaurant's co-owner and general manager, as well as Adele's husband.

Henpecked Husband: He was content to retire after many years of running several successful restaurants, but at the urging of his wife helped her open Flamango's, a decision that was clearly taking a toll on his physical well-being.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Was a highly successful restaurateur for most of his life, and was well off when he and Adele first retired. Then Adele decided to launch Flamango's, and her vision for the restaurant quickly rendered it a huge liability to them both, with Bill losing much of what he had invested into his retirement.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He was open to just about everything Gordon had to say of the business and even tried to talk sense to Adele when she slammed the restaurant's rebranding on relaunch night simply because she felt slighted by the changes.
Throw the Dog a Bone: Gordon gives Bill the pleasure of cooking his homemade meatloaf as part of the restaurant's relaunch, which he happily accepted as it was very dear to him and it got him out of pushing the trolley cart.
Workaholic: Personally tackled a lot of the maintenance around the restaurant, much to the chagrin of his employees who could see he was too old and tired to do it himself.

Cheryl

Adele and Bill's stay-at-home daughter and a manager at the restaurant.

Cloudcuckoolander: She had a hard time seeing what was wrong with the restaurant and seemed way too peppy in the face of how badly it was doing. She does get better though.
Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Again of the building variety, having personally had a hand in the restaurant's over-the-top tropical theme.
A Lighter Shade Of Black: She may be in denial about losing the tropical theme of the restaurant. But she is far more accepting of the changes which are shown when she got really excited about it and admits that her mother is a tough nut to crack.

Bryan

The restaurant's executive chef.

Brutal Honesty: He had no reservations over complaining about the food he was cooking, and openly considered it to be both outdated and inconsistent.
Ignored Expert: Clearly knows how to run a kitchen and clearly is prevented from doing so by the owners. Gordon freely admits that it won't work without Bryan and himself teaming up.
Supreme Chef: He can be this without Adele's constant interference.

Grasshopper Also

Mitch

The restaurant's owner and manager.

Captain Oblivious: Had no idea how bad the food in his kitchen was, or the extent of his apathetic staff's incompetence.
Manly Tears: Was often on the verge of breaking down due to stress.
Took a Level in Badass: The closing montage suggests that he finally found his mojo as a manager after overhauling the work ethic in the kitchen.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Was constantly on the receiving end of his father-in-law's criticism, who saw him as the main reason the restaurant was struggling. Mitch took it all in stride, but anyone could see how it further brought down his spirit.
Workaholic: Was very hands-off a lot of the time and often didn't focus on his duties in the kitchen, instead focusing on the upkeep of the rest of the restaurant when his leadership was most needed elsewhere.

Maureen

Mitch's wife and co-owner of the restaurant.

Undying Loyalty: Was frustrated by her husband's poor management, but was determined to save her business and with it her marriage to him. She also tried to temper her father's harsh criticism of Mitch, seeing the toll it was taking on his self-confidence.

Chief

Maureen's father and co-owner of the restaurant.

Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Gordon calls him this several times in the episode, saying that it's only because of Chief's hard work that the restaurant isn't in an even worse state, and openly wishing in his closing monologue that he was 30 years younger. It helps that Chief is a veteran restaurateur, so he knows pretty well how to handle things.
Jerkass Has a Point: While He might have been a bit too harsh with his criticism towards His Son-in-law, He isn’t exactly wrong that Mitch and his more hands-off approach towards the kitchen and staff was a prime factor as to why the restaurant was struggling in the first place. Plus, As noted above Chief was practically the only reason the place wasn’t in a worse state.
Pride: Being from Ireland, he took great pride in the restaurant and was determined to make his family's business work, usually assuming many of the responsibilities himself when Mitch did not.

Mario

The head chef of the restaurant.

Epic Fail: His effort at Gordon's shepherd's pie definitely counts as one.
Head-in-the-Sand Management: It is shown that he and his staff were easily distracted from their work, sometimes goofing off which often led to backups at dinner service.
The Load: Was one of the most apathetic cooks in the kitchen, and was one of the first to be laid off after the restaurant's relaunch.

Annette

The general manager and head waitress at the restaurant.

Brutal Honesty: Didn't think highly of the restaurant's food, as evidenced by her chat with Gordon.
Nice Girl: In spite of all the family turmoil boiling over in the kitchen, she managed to stay upbeat and supportive of the owners.

The Handlebar

Billy

The owner of the restaurant.

Badass Biker: Was an avid motorcycle enthusiast, which the restaurant is themed after.
Can't Take Criticism: Whines about Gordon's treatment of him and talks back at him regularly as he keeps elaborating on the restaurant's issues.
Character Development: On Gordon's second visit, he's far calmer and more confident and downright friendly with Gordon, freely admitting that he was wrong and Gordon was right and happily credits him for helping them turn things around.
Didn't Think This Through: A construction worker by trade, he clearly didn't quite see the scope of running a restaurant when he first bought up the place, despite its early success under his watch.
Downer Ending: The restaurant was closed sometime after the revisit, and Billy sadly passed away in 2015 of cancer.
Head-in-the-Sand Management: Was blissfully unaware of the slipping quality of the food or even of his head chef's apathy towards her job.
Heel Realization: Finally puts aside his grudge against Gordon when he watches the dinner service completely disintegrate due to the chaos in the kitchen, to the point where customers turned on each other. He said it was the worst thing he'd ever seen in his restaurant.
I Need a Freaking Drink: Frequently retreated to the bar when escaping his woes in the dining room.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Tried to pull this several times when confronted with the issues of the restaurant; even on relaunch night, he left in a huff. He did eventually come to his senses and went back to the kitchen.

Carolyn

Billy's wife and co-owner of the restaurant.

Parenting the Husband: She loved her husband, but was clearly the more responsible one between the two and struggled to help Billy see the sense in Gordon's input.
Took a Level in Badass: When Billy very nearly deserted his business, Carolyn resolved to assume leadership and told Billy that she would make it work with or without his help.

Melissa

The head chef of the restaurant.

Brilliant, but Lazy: She definitely has talent as a cook, as Gordon greatly enjoyed her clam chowder on his first sampling of the restaurant's menu. Unfortunately she was lacking in passion until Gordon helped her find her groove.
Didn't Think This Through: Seized on the opportunity to take on the job as head chef when the position happened to be there; she made no secret of her regret for that decision.
Only in It for the Money: Perhaps the only reason she stuck around doing a job she detested.
Perpetual Frowner: Rarely ever smiled during her job, only letting out a laugh when joking about how awful her own food is. With Ramsay's help, however, she does start smiling a bit more later.
Took a Level in Badass: Under Ramsay's tutelage, she finally found her passion in the kitchen.
Wrong Line of Work: Of the kitchen variety; she openly resented her position in the kitchen, and never missed an opportunity to badmouth her own food.
Workaholic: Had a hard time delegating to her cooks and tried to take on the entirety of the work herself, with predictable results. At Gordon and Billy's urging, she finally trusted them to help her with the workload.

Hannah & Mason's

Chris

One of the restaurant's two co-owners.

The Eeyore: Usually wore a perpetual half-smile on his face, but it's clear that he wasn't happy with the state of affairs at the restaurant.
Those Two Guys: Has been a friend of Brian's since the two started out as servers under the prior owners.

Brian

Chris' partner and co-owner of the restaurant.

Captain Obvious: Ramsay walks in with a full bale of fresh apples from a local market and shows them to the staff. Before he can even start explaining his plan for the menu, Brian pisses him off by pointing out "They're apples". For Gordon, this was just more evidence towards his lack of passion in the kitchen.
Dull Surprise: He has a complete lack of passion, even when...
Epic Fail: Storing cooked meat next to raw meat is always a Berserk Button for Gordon and a major health hazard, but Brian's lack of concern when he puts raw and cooked chicken IN THE SAME TRAY was a masterpiece of incompetence that brought one of the chef's most brutal shutdowns.
The Load: Pretty much sums up his entire presence in the restaurant, never delegating to his staff and not maintaining the walk-in fridge.
Never My Fault: Constantly blamed Ramsay's verbal abuse for his lack of motivation, even though it was in part because of this that the restaurant was already in trouble.

The Quiet One: Never actually raised his voice despite the hammering he took from Gordon over his apathy in the kitchen. If anything, it only further emphasized his lack of passion behind the counter.
Tranquil Fury: A variation of this as he never actually becomes angry, but at the same time is still reluctant to listen to Ramsay due to the man's usual cutting manner.

Jack's Waterfront

AJ

The general manager and the father of one of the co-owners, with 30+ years in the restaurant business.

Liquid Courage: Downs a big shot of ouzo before talking to Gordon for the first time.
The Load: In spite of his experience, AJ was essentially a waddling rock that did nothing to help with service, leeched off his son and his friends' money by earning $100,000 paychecks every year, and in fact delayed service by frequenting the bar and socializing with the customers when he was needed someplace else to make sure things were running smoothly. The three owners came to accept that he needed to significantly reduce his presence in the dining room and, sure enough, he eventually was asked to resign from the restaurant altogether.
Never My Fault: Is quick to blame others (especially the owners) or claim he has no control of what goes on in the kitchen, despite the fact as the general manager that's his job and he spends his time getting wasted instead. Ramsay takes him to task on the poor quality of the food and the condition of the stored food.
The Unintelligible: Due to his thick Greek accent and constant intoxication.

Scott, Bill & Tammer

The three owners of the restaurant, all of which are bodybuilders.

The Big Guy: All three of the owners are bodybuilders and frequent the gym often, Scott being the biggest out of them.
Brilliant, but Lazy: They do have enough competence to run a restaurant, plus enough experience with business to make the right decisions, but they were still very relaxed on their approach and needed a proper push to get things done correctly.
Calling the Old Man Out: Tammer is AJ's son, having taken the restaurant from him to own with his friends, but his father is a freeloader who uses the excuse of working for such a long time in the business to chat with the clientele and leech money off the establishment. After business picks up and AJ is forced to cut his time and money back to the Waterfront thanks to Ramsay's help, Tammer does build up the courage to finally tell his father to go home.
Character Tics: Scott's head often leans to his right when he's relaxed or talking to someone.
Face of a Thug: Gordon berates Scott for this, partially as a joke, but he also mentions how his appearance, coupled with his demeanor and constant expression of anguish, has put off clients who enter the restaurant, something he was already having trouble with. To fix this, he places Scott on reception duty during the second dinner night, and he does improve his attitude with a bit of a push. Scott manages to put this trope to good use to help Aaron gain control of an unruly kitchen staff, however.

Aaron

The head chef of the Waterfront.

Ignored Expert: He does try to take action to make sure everything runs smoothly in the kitchen, but even with his insistence, the cooks just can't be bothered to do their service right and the head chef ends up as a complete non-presence in his own kitchen.
Nice Guy: Dedicated to his job and genuinely wants things to change so the restaurant can improve. Also, while he's direct with his issues and as honest as he needs to be, he never once speaks out of line to Ramsay or the owners and is genuinely happy to receive tips for new dishes to prepare.
Surrounded by Idiots: He's overall a decent professional and invested in his job, but this doesn't really do him well when the rest of the kitchen staff are as inept as they shown to be, ignoring Aaron's orders and taking smoke breaks during dinner service.

The Fry Cook

A cook at Waterfront.

Always a Bigger Fish: Is very satisfyingly put in his place by Scott towards the end of the episode. It's also mentioned that as soon as the owners give Aaron the power to fire people, he quickly fires the fry cook.
No Name Given: His name never gets mentioned through the episode.
The Slacker: Takes a smoke break whenever he feels like it and doesn't care at all that it screws up service.

Kingston's Cafe

Dr. Una Morris

Owner of Kingston's Cafe and a former Olympic athlete for Jamaica.

Awesome, but Impractical: Her staff served salad in martini glasses.
Control Freak: To the point she'll be unsatisfied if the tablecloths aren't properly set-up by measure. Her son Keone will be sure to mention how much she micromanages the place, and the employees all state she does pretty much everything but the cooking.
Can't Take Criticism: Like many owners before her, with the same claims. Obviously the world-renowned, Michelin star-awarded chef doesn't know international cuisine (Jamaican in this case).
Character Development: Initially combative of Gordon's criticism, but once she sees the net positives to the business Gordon's changes brought, she becomes fully on board.
Doctor Jerk: A physician, and she's also lacking in humility in several ways. Even her own son is treated like he's still a child who doesn't know any better. She grows out of it a bit with Gordon's help.
Insistent Terminology: Even in the kitchen, she'll insist in being called "Dr. Morris" by staff and her own son.
Never a Self-Made Woman: Completely averted, she didn't have a mother growing up and even despite the failing restaurant draining both her reputation and financials she is rather accomplished as an individual person and even a mention of a husband isn't made. Her son even states that she migrated from Jamaica and forged her own path.
Verbal Tic: "Let me finish."

La Parra de Burriana

Lawrence

The owner and head chef.

Aesop Amnesia: Ramsay spent virtually his entire first visit drilling into his head the importance of serving high-quality local produce (the restaurant being located in southern Spain). So of course, by the time of his second revisit Lawrence had decided to build his menu around pasta dishes instead. While Ramsay was able to put him back on track again, it evidently didn't stick, and the restaurant closed two years after the second revisit.
Complexity Addiction: Took foods that would likely have worked well on their own, and added bizarre twists on them such as serving prawns with chocolate sauce, and chicken stuffed with banana. The locals and holidaymakers alike were not impressed.
Despair Event Horizon: Temporarily gets pushed over this after the restaurant is robbed during filming, forcing Ramsay to give him a pep-talk to get him back in the game.
History Repeats: Inverted; he's essentially a prototype version of Sebastian, as both men have upper-class English forenames, as well as backgrounds in the entertainment industry rather than the culinary world, Never My Fault tendencies, and a belief that it's more important to be unique and stand out than it is to serve traditional, quality food. The main difference is that Lawrence usually attempted bizarre takes on fine-dining dishes instead of Sebastian's menu full of mass-produced junk, and that while Lawrence could be a little cocksure, his ego wasn't anywhere near as rampant as Sebastian's was.
Once Done, Never Forgotten: He had trashed his reputation with the local expat community — which are vital for the survival of any restaurant over the winter months — by holding a charity gala for a local donkey sanctuary, only to serve up an awful meal consisting of chicken stuffed with bananas, and then fail to actually donate the proceeds from the meal to the sanctuary.
Skewed Priorities: Repeatedly claimed that he didn't want his food to be boring, even though Ramsay himself pointed out that merely serving quality local produce would help him stand out from the abundance of greasy spoons in the area.

Norm

The grill chef, later reassigned to preparing salads.

Butt-Monkey: It was immediately obvious that Gordon didn't have too much respect for him, and Lawrence was just too stressed and burned-out to do anything about his awful cooking. By the relaunch night, Gordon had demoted him to preparing salads, and decided that the restaurant's dish washer could do a better job of working the grill (which he did).
Cloudcuckoolander: With shades of Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant, as he repeatedly referred to his grill station as his "dungeon," and the barbecue as a "meat torturing device."
Lethal Chef: Served raw meat and day-old kebabs. He was lucky not to be fired outright instead of just being relegated to handling food that he couldn't poison anyone with.
Put on a Bus: Had returned to the UK as of Ramsay's second revisit.
Too Incompetent to Operate a Blanket: Granted, he wasn't helped by Lawrence's over-complex menu and poor delegation, but he really had absolutely no clue how to properly grill meats, and was better-suited to preparing cold salads.

Lela's

Lela

Owner of Lela's.

Dull Surprise: The strain of owning a failing restaurant has drained her emotionally.
Important Haircut: She gets a makeover before reopening night to relieve her stress and improve her outlook on the restaurant
"Shaggy Dog" Story: Despite the improvements to the restaurant, the debts were too great and they were forced to close by the time the episode aired.

Ricky Brewer

The head chef of Lela's.

Suddenly Shouting: Raps loudly while making Gordon's food, and does not hold back when bickering with Tabitha.
Took a Level in Badass: When Lex runs out after taking his role of head chef, Ricky manages to keep it together through the first reopening service and is commended by Gordon for stepping up. After Lela's closed, Ricky found employment as an executive chef at a restaurant in La Verne, and later Hollywood Park Casino in Los Angeles.

Lex

The Sous chef at Lela's.

Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Tries to run after crumbling under the pressure of being head chef, coming back a while later to his old role after being threatened with termination.
Skilled, but Naive: While he has a keener palate and more self-respect than Ricky, he folds under the resposibility of being head chef within hours.

Tabitha

The waitress, later floor manager, of Lela's.

Brutal Honesty: Does not lie to Gordon on the off-the-shelf quality of the food served.
Suddenly Shouting: Often gets into screaming matches with Ricky over the quality and quantity of food.

Daniel AKA "Buzzard"

The prep cook of Lela's.

Foreshadowing: Gordon dresses him down saying if one employee steals without consequence, others may think it's a good idea. He later reprimands another worker for picking at the food before opening.
Lovable Rogue: Tries to play the part of one, but Gordon has none of it, pointing out that stealing food and wine from a restaurant that is financially in dire straits is just unacceptable.
Stealing from the Till: earned his nickname by taking food from Lela's, likely why they often ran out of stock in the fridge. Getting caught red-handed by Gordon was the last straw that got him fired.

Leone's

Rosemary "Rose" Leone

Owner and manager of Leone's, having spent three years in a coma before the episode took place.

Brutal Honesty: She pulls no punches in telling Gordon that her son is lacking in experience and isn't stepping up to the role. Not only that, she's fully aware of her condition and makes no excuses to circumvent the fact she's still very ill.
Cool Old Lady: Not a single member of the staff has anything bad to say about her, and everyone will comment on how affable she is. Also, despite her poor health, she's rather feisty: she's not only been married and divorced three times before, she playfully hits on Gordon when he walks in, calling him "love of (her) life".
Rose: Chef Ramsay is hot! I've been married three times. I need number four!
Downer Ending: Sadly, her health problems caught up with her and she died in 2014 at the relatively young age of 64.
The Woobie: The poor lady... She spent three years of her life in a coma due to complications of surgery, only to wake up to her restaurant in danger of closing due to her son's poor management and seeming lack of concern about it, she has to hold down on her throat to speak, and her health was still not too good at the time of the episode's recording. Tellingly, Gordon spends the entire time "protecting" her from the poor kitchen hygiene, fearing she'd have a relapse.

Michael

Rose's son and current owner of the restaurant, having no managerial experience beforehand.

Dumbass Has a Point: While it was far from the main issue of the restaurant, he was right the decor was awful.
Establishing Character Moment: Besides the episode summary, Gordon walks into the restaurant to find the supposed owner and manager sitting on his rear watching football on the TV near the bar, something the staff made clear in the intro he does often. Gordon even slightly invokes this trope by having him try coming in to see Ramsay watching the TV instead, to show Michael how poor of an impression this gives customers, since it's so close to the entrance.
The Millstone: Michael had no experience in management before he was assigned to Leone's. It shows: besides spending as much time as he feasibly can away from the place or not doing anything useful, his apathy makes him unable to lead the staff properly and leaves them to do his own work most of the time. Unfortunately for his sickly mother, her son is the primary reason the restaurant was losing over $4000 a week, something he didn't seem to care about. And unfortunately, it seems to still apply, despite Leone's still being open for business and out of debt.

Trudy

The head server at Leone's.

Hypercompetent Sidekick: And how! Despite being only the head server she picked up all the slack Michael couldn't be arsed with: ordering, inventory, payroll... She was easily the reason Leone's hadn't shut down already.
Cool Old Lady: She has to be pushing 50, and yet she's taken on leadership roles that aren't part of her job as head server because Michael wouldn't. She also frequently delivers some Brutal Honesty to Gordon's questions.

Lido Di Manhattan

Lisa

The owner of the restaurant at 28 years old, having gotten it from a loan from her father when she was only 23.

Brilliant, but Lazy: She was completely unaware of what happened in the kitchen and the restaurant in general, taking a very lax approach to most of it and not truly knowing how to properly manage it. But as the episode goes on, it's clear she just needed a bit of guidance and a proper push from someone experienced like Gordon, because when she does get more active and participating, she reveals just how much potential she had.
Character Development: A very straightforward example. She was lazy and didn't realize how much she had to do to keep a restaurant working. By the end of Gordon's visit, she has nothing but success coming her way and is properly grateful for it.
Dumbass Has a Point: After a montage showing her comically out of place in the kitchen, she questions why one of the chefs wishes to heat the food with a microwave when the oven is not only workable, but usable.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Does a complete 180 on her priorities with the restaurant and becomes more active during service. This, coupled with a motivated staff and better kitchen brigade is one of the reasons why her restaurant is still active, open and successful.
Foil: Can be seen as an indirect version of this to Rachel, former owner of the Piccolo Teatro in the UK series. Both young women acquired their restaurants with the help of their fathers and both had a lack of investment on how to actually run their eateries, causing Chef Ramsay to intervene. However, while Rachel continued to show no interest to anything other than her own well-being, allowing her restaurant to shut down without ever caring about the damage this caused to the people involved, Lisa genuinely wanted to improve and tried her hardest to take charge of things so her eatery would stay afloat. Rachel's apathy and selfishness made her one of the worst restaurant owners in the series, while Lisa's fast learning and eagerness to improve made her one of the most successful.
Percussive Therapy: The restaurant's old POS system was one of the biggest problems with the place, delaying servings and food preparation by a mile. To begin improvements, Ramsay took it to the table and pulled out a baseball bat so they could vent out their frustration with the thing. Lisa was very happy to oblige.
Running Away to Cry: When Gordon pointed out the problems with her restaurant, her first instinct was to lock herself in the bathroom and cry, unable to face him or the staff.
- During the revisit, it seems she's doing it again when Gordon arrives, but it turns out she was just using the bathroom, scaring him for a second.
Took a Level in Badass: When Gordon arrived, the place was unkempt and dirty, suffering from poor communication between the wait staff and the kitchen due to an obsolete POS system, with lazy chefs and food that was mediocre at best, with Lisa herself being rather lazy about the management. It's amazing how well Gordon got to her: not only is the restaurant still open, it has several positive reviews online, and Lisa has started her own wine brand which is going pretty well.

Damien

The front of the house and Lisa's now ex-boyfriend

Hidden Depths: You'd think the guy dating the owner was just using her for job security, but he was actually one of the best workers in the building and one of the most receptive to Ramsay's changes. It wasn't enough to save his job, but it's telling when Ramsay was shocked he was fired.

Luigi's D'Italia

Luigi Catizone

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/luigi_kitchen_nightmares_800x534.jpg

The owner and head chef of the restaurant, which he opened in 1981 with help of his father.

Actually, I Am Him: When Gordon brings up the young 22 year-old chef he read about on the restaurant's website, he states that its him 29 years ago.
Can't Take Criticism: Does not take well to the complaints, from the customers, his employees, even Gordon himself. He usually ignores the complaints from the customers. As far as he's concerned, if they don't like it they can leave.
Control Freak: In contrast to Tony, Luigi takes on a more hand-on approach to running the restaurant.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The responsible sibling to Tony's foolish sibling.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Due to their contrasting tyles in management, often gets into arguments with Tony.

Tony

Luigi's younger brother, who stepped in to help run the restaurant following their father's retirement in 1999.

Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish sibling to Luigi's responsible sibling.
Only Known by Their Nickname: His full name is Antonio, but everyone calls him Tony.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Due to their contrasting styles in management, often gets into arguments with Luigi and especially Grace.

Grace Catizone

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/luigis_kitchen_nightmares.jpg

Luigi's wife and the restaurant's hostess, who constantly gets into arguments with Tony.

Berserk Button: Tony seems to be one to her in general as she's often yelling at him.
Can't Take Criticism: The rest of the restaurant's staff are afraid to say anything to Grace due to her Hair-Trigger Temper. However, when Grace finally hears what they want to tell her, she breaks into tears and threatens to quit from her position.
Glass Cannon: Her ability to aggresively criticize others is probably among the best in the whole series, but she literally has a mother of all meltdowns when she's on the receiving end of criticism, declaring herself as a victim whom everyone is targeting.
Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take much to set her off. Especially if you're Tony.
Never My Fault: When discussing the issues with the restaurant, she immediately blames Tony for everything, completely ignoring (if not outright denying) that her temper possibly scarring away customers may be a reason too.
Not Helping Your Case: When Tony explains to Gordon about how Grace's temper turns off customers, her response is to immediately start screaming at Tony.
Rambunctious Italian: Born in Italy (specifically in Calabria), and one of the most hot-tempered people seen on the show.

Mama Maria's

John

Owner of Mama Maria's, taking the restaurant from his parents ever since his mother's passing.

Breaking the Fourth Wall: After the lobster incident at dinner, he tries to ask the camera crew directly to stop rolling.
Character Development: At the start, John comes off as yet another in the long line of neglectful owners that can't listen to criticism to save their life. The second half of the episode, however, shows that there's a very good reason for his mindset and that he genuinely wants the restaurant to do well. With Gordon's help, he gets over it and grows into a competent, mature owner and restores the restaurant to its former glory.
Earn Your Happy Ending: After finally getting over his loss and a well-earned refurbishing of the restaurant and menu, the eatery has a good relaunch and John is a much happier man. The place remained open with positive reviews until February 2023, when John decided to retire.
Family Man: Deconstructed then reconstructed. It's clear this man's top priority is his family. The reason he doesn't want to change the restaurant is out of fear of losing their legacy and lets his kids run amok in the restaurant against his staff's wishes. However, once it becomes clear if he doesn't change he'll lose his family's legacy anyways and takes Gordon Ramsay's advice and the restaurant gets remodeled in a way to honor the legacy, but still keeps up with the times. The end result is someone who is absolutely happy with his new restaurant and ready to move on with a restaurant he's happy with. In hindsight, this makes letting his kids play in his restaurant as a well-intended effort to spend more time with them.
Glory Days: Didn't change the menu or the decor in his restaurant even years after his parents' passing in an attempt to keep their memory alive in some form. After a long and arduous push from Ramsay, the restaurant is finally reworked so it can look and sound fresher while still being a tribute to his parents.
I Need a Freaking Drink: After Gordon's first critiques towards the food and his restaurant nearly killing a customer with rotten food at dinner, he quickly heads to the bar to down a shot and try to calm down.
Manly Tears: When he finally opens up about his parents. You will become misty-eyed along with Gordon when you see just how lost he felt without them.
My God, What Have I Done?: It's slow, but the realization of how far he's fallen hits him hard when a customer has to be taken away to a hospital after eating a lobster tail rotten enough to reek of ammonia. It's from this point on that his process of recovery really begins.
Stopped Caring: Zigzagged. He does care about his restaurant, but he's so emotionally drained that he couldn't keep up with the most basic needs of the place, such as cleaning and maintaining the tables and fridge and restocking the food, just sending everything to be frozen and reused later, which results in a freezer disgusting enough to send Gordon running to the trashcan (and nearly proves to be fatal for a customer at dinnertime). And when confronted about it, he just decides to take all the complaints against him, figuring it's easier than trying to argue.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: He refused to change the decor and had a menu so outdated that even the specials listed in it stopped being specials after nearly a decade, all to keep the memories of the parents he worked hard to please alive. Gordon's main argument towards him was to plead for him to quit this mentality and let go of the past, which he thankfully does.

Joe

The head chef at Mama Maria's

Beleaguered Assistant: He's been trying for years to deal with the inadequate methods of food preparation given that John is the decision maker. He starts visibly smirking when Gordon tears into John over his business practices.
Brutal Honesty: Not once does he try to hide from Ramsay how bad their situation is, and is openly confrontational with John about the lowering food quality. Unlike most examples of this trope in the show, however, he's a lot less angry and explosive with his boss about it, but still firmly enforces that things need to change.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: To the completely detached John. Not only is he a capable, professional chef but he seems to be excellent at managing a kitchen during the busy dinner service of Kitchen Nightmares. He routinely expresses embarrassment at the antiquated ways in which he's forced to cook.
Ignored Expert: Has been warning John again and again about what needs to be changed for the restaurant to recover, but his nostalgia makes him constantly shoot down the requests in favor of keeping the past "alive".
My God, What Have I Done?: While he notes that John is responsible for the methods the restaurant uses to produce the food, as the chef he's still horrified when a customer gets sick during dinner service.
This Is Gonna Suck: In his own words, "I think that Chef Ramsay's gonna have a heart attack when he sees what goes on around here." He later comments of the spaghetti and meatballs (which he himself labels disgusting) that "I would say enjoy, but I know better." He's under no illusion of what's going to happen when Ramsay critiques the food and is fully prepared for it.

Mangia Mangia

Julie

Owner of the restaurant.

Abusive Parents: It's implied that she never stood up for her daughter Janelle after the latter was assaulted by Trevor.
Awesome, but Impractical: Her Italian restaurant has a drive-thru. Not only does it take a long time due to the current state of the kitchen, but few people really use it. It doesn't help that it gives the restaurant the impression of being fast food rather than a proper casual dine-in place.
Bad Boss: Has a terrible habit of venting her frustrations at her kitchen staff, Trevor in particular.
Can't Take Criticism: She walked out at the end of part 1 when all the customers pointed out her food was below standard when Ramsay asked them.

Janelle

Julie's daughter and Mangia Mangia's co-owner.

Bad Boss: Bad Co-owner, but Janelle still counts; especially with her furiously hurling verbal abuse at her own staff while not only constantly blaming them — especially Trevor — for things that are her and her mother's own fault, but also acting like she's the victim for them (justifiably) being disgruntled about it.
Catchphrase: Several variations of "YOU/HE PUNCHED ME!".
Jerkass: One of the show's biggest examples. She verbally berates her staff, tells Trevor to his face that nobody loves him and that he would be better off dead, uses his crystal meth addiction to mock and belittle him, and when Trevor confesses the full extent of his mental health issues and his drug addiction and Julie makes the decision to let him go, she is visibly delighted as Trevor walks away from the restaurant in tears and says how much better everything will be now that the "cancer" of the restaurant is gone. Just an odious piece of work.
Kick the Dog: After Trevor comes clean and confesses the full extent of his depression and drug addiction (which Janelle herself is at least partially responsible for), he's let go to recover. All the while, Janelle is smiling while he's in tears, and gleefully says how much better things will be without him afterward.
Yes-Man: To her mother, hurling insults and blames at the staff that aren't directly caused by them, such as blaming Trevor for the microwaved food when it's actually her mother's idea.

Trevor

The restaurant's head chef and a recovering crystal meth addict.

Bittersweet Ending: He was fired from his job at Mangia Mangia, but according to a post from his father on Facebook, Trevor moved to another town after the taping of the episode, kicked his drug habit, and now works as a sous chef after taking proper culinary training.
Sour Outside, Sad Inside: While he is a jerk sometimes, the fact remains that he is suffering from depression and drug addiction, for which he is constantly mocked and abused about by the owners. It's clear that a lot of his problems are at least partially Janelle's fault for treating him horribly.
Stopped Caring: Admits to Ramsay that he used to care about the restaurant, but doesn't anymore because of what he's gone through.

Mike and Nellie's

Mike

Co-owner, now owner of the business founded by him and his father.

Control Freak: Described as one by his daughter upon her initial meeting with Gordon.
Head-in-the-Sand Management: The restaurant fell into extreme disrepair under his watch.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Ran a highly successful business with his father, who was also his business partner. After his father's passing he became emotionally crippled and soon lost sight of what was needed to uphold the family business.
Lethal Chef: His steak tips were burned so thoroughly that they tasted like charcoal. Again another sign of how badly his depression had affected his cooking.

Nellie

The deceased co-owner of the restaurant and Mike's father.

Posthumous Character: Has sadly passed away long before Gordon arrived at the restaurant. It was clear to many how much his absence had affected the business.

Mill Street Bistro

Joe Nagy

The owner of Mill Street Bistro (wherein he also has the role of head chef) and a ranch near it. He's to this day considered one of the angriest, most stubborn owners in the show's run.

0% Approval Rating: It's truly a wonder how anybody in his employ could justify staying even if only for the sake of a paycheck. It's easy to see the staff rolling their eyes listening to his boasting and complaints while serving Gordon lunch. All of them listened with absolute glee when Gordon attacked his egotistical management style head on. Unsurprisingly, several of those present for Gordon's visit had quit not long after the restaurant's relaunch. About the only thing that actually seemed to like him in the episode was his own pet goat, Skinny.
Angrish: When he loses it after Gordon hands him back a raw micro-carrot.
Joe: Who cares if a fucking garnish, micro-garnished carrot was on his garnish?
Bad Boss: His response to one of his employees complaining to him about how horribly he treats her is that she should find a new place to work. Surprisingly, she's among those who leave in the Epilogue.
Bait the Dog: He actually made a good impression on Gordon during his visit to his personal ranch, building himself up as a man passionate about his work and business. A shame he managed to squander that goodwill and more when Gordon actually got a good look at what he was doing at his restaurant.
Berserk Button: Gets unreasonably furious about Gordon handing him back the raw micro-carrot he had used as a garnish on one dish, going off on a whole angrish-laced rant.
Blatant Lies:
- Joe claims to be "self-taught by the greatest European chefs". Gordon seems to brush off the oxymoron in that statement, but it becomes clearly apparent when he actually tries the restaurant's food.
- At the beginning, he convinces Gordon that all of the meat cooked at his restaurant comes from his personal ranch, but Gordon soon fails to find any of it in the kitchen's storage.
- He tells Gordon that the reason his clown-show of a Bistro can't serve a burger of any kind is because his staff were against the idea when he asked them. He was caught red-handed by Gordon asking his staff almost immediately afterwards if they were against the idea.
Can't Take Criticism:
- Even by the standards of this show, Joe gets extremely worked-up and passive-aggressive about Gordon pointing out how terrible his food is, and it only gets worse when Gordon rips into his failings as an owner.
- One of the most standout examples during Gordon's sampling of the lunch menu was when Gordon sent back a dish — the elk medallions on a grilled Portebello mushroom — stating that the elk meat was too tough. Joe proceeded to taste it himself and angrily state that Gordon was "dead wrong" and that the meat was actually tender... while taking considerable effort chewing the meat himself.
Cordon Bleugh Chef: Took great pride in his fresh and locally grown elk dishes, the most notable one being an elk quesadilla. When Ramsay tried it, it turned out about as well as you'd expect. In fact, Gordon decided to leave altogether and eat lunch somewhere else.
Department of Redundancy Department: "His [Ramsay's] verbal bullshit is just a bunch of bullshit."
Dumbass Has a Point: For all his flaws and inaccuracies, he had a certain distrust of Gordon that was visible in the show. Later, it was revealed he was noticing equipment and food items suddenly going missing when Gordon's staff was working on his restaurant. He also claimed he wasn't compensated in any way for the forced shutdowns and other requirements for the show. He sued Gordon and got a settlement from him out of court.
History Repeats Itself: It was not long before Joe retook control of the kitchen, something Gordon explicitly warned him against before leaving. Worse still, Joe ran the next restaurant he opened in virtually the exact same manner as before. Unsurprisingly, that restaurant has also shuttered.
Humiliation Conga: Undergoes possibly the most brutal conga in the series, and it's well-earned. Gordon seems to take every opportunity to humiliate Joe, including sending every dish back after one bite, leaving the restaurant out to eat elsewhere, constantly ridiculing him in front of the same staff Joe had spent all his time debasing, and even at one point kicks him out of his own kitchen in a scene straight out of Gordon's other show. While Joe initially tries to put up a fight, it's obvious Gordon has the upper hand at all times, and by the end, Joe's ego has been so torn down that all he can do to maintain some scrap of dignity is keep quiet and listen to Gordon.
Lethal Chef: Was royally ripped a new one when Ramsay discovered he was sticking raw onions in his French onion soup, something Joe's own chef confirmed was inappropriate practice at Gordon's urging.
Long Speech Tea Time: Whenever Gordon bruised his ego, Joe would go on lengthy rants to staff and customers alike as if they were his psychiatrists about how he's so much better than Ramsay, with no one being particularly interested in his prattling.
The Millstone: It's outright stated that he's the biggest reason why the restaurant is in the state that it is in. Gordon even tell him that him being in the kitchen will hinder any hope of the restaurant improving. During the episode's epilogue, which revealed that he was once again a chef, even the narrator states that the future of Mill Street Bistro is uncertain.
- One employee even mentioned that potential customers would go somewhere else if they saw his car in order to avoid him.
The Napoleon: Joe is a rather short man, especially when standing next to the 6-foot-2 Ramsay, and he runs his restaurant with an iron fist.
Never My Fault: After being confronted with the complaints of his stressed-out staff, he still had the audacity to imply that they were part of the problem while "accepting" the blame for the things he stood accused of by them. The looks on his staff's faces said it all.
Tranquil Fury: Reaches his limits with Gordon Ramsay about halfway through. After an hour of top-of-lungs yelling between Joe and Gordon (this was a two-parter), Joe suddenly, and unnervingly, becomes completely silent and reverts back to how he cooked before Gordon arrived, ignoring anything Gordon tried to tell him and walking around Gordon like he was a mannequin. You can tell from Joe's scowl alone that he's flat-out overflowing with rage.

Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack

Charita

I fed Gordon Ramsay, and he cleaned his plate!

The owner and head chef, known by her nickname as "Momma Cherri".

Badass Boast: Her quote, which also serves as the quote for the show's awesome moments page.
Determinator: Momma Cherri would face many hardships after Gordon left, most of which were things outside of her control. But she never gave up, and eventually not only landed her own thriving Youtube channel, but opened up a brand-new restaurant with a partner.
Humble Hero: She's an amazing chef, but she doesn't let it go to her head - when Gordon declares her food to be as good as it was, her first reaction is to get emotional and hug him rather than be boastful. She's also very open to deferring to Gordon's expertise on elements she knows are out of her field, such as the management of the business itself.
Motor Mouth: To quote Gordon, "she never shuts up." That said, he also has immense respect for her cooking and attitude.
Nice Girl: By far one of the most affable and laid-back owners in the show's history, and one of the ones who was most on-board with Gordon's advice and implemented changes.
Skilled, but Naive: Her initial meal got by far and away the best-ever reaction from Gordon in the entire history of the show; the only one to even come close in that regard was the one he got at La Riviera/Abstract, and even then he noted that it was over-complicated and too expensive. Unfortunately, she didn't really have much of a clue when it came to actually running the restaurant, and Gordon had to teach her a lot. It eventually paid off, and she managed to move to a bigger restaurant before closing due to financial recession. Thankfully, she's still shown cooking on her YouTube account and eventually opened a new restaurant with a partner.
Supreme Chef: Momma Cherri's had many problems, but Charita's cooking was not one of them. In a first-and-only for the show, Gordon actually liked the food and ate all of it. You know you're a good cook when one of the world's finest chefs calls your food "bloody delicious."

Nino's

Nino

The co-owner and general manager of the restaurant.

Blatant Lies: Insisted that he kept his restaurant tidy and that he had done so before Gordon arrived, even trying to prove this with photographs of him cleaning. Gordon wasn't convinced however, and said his excuses didn't begin to address the other problems in the kitchen.

Cloudcuckoolander: Nino has such a weak grasp on reality that he sometimes makes unbelievably laughable statements and his actions are sometimes just as bad, such as claiming that a customer put hair in their food or taking pictures of himself to prove to Ramsay that he does clean the restaurant, even though he obviously doesn't. Nino's behavior has fully convinced Michael that he lives in a fantasy world.
Disappeared Dad: Played with; his father was the restaurant's original founder, but by the time of Gordon's arrival had been battling Alzheimer's for several years and was no longer actively involved in the business.
Disappointing Older Sibling: He is clearly this to his siblings.

Literal-Minded:
Gordon: I... am shitting myself.
Nino: Then you need to wear diapers.
The Load: His family saw him as this, especially his brother, and it was for this reason that his aging mother, brother, and sister all had to pitch in to help their business survive.
No, You: His confrontation with Gordon has him redirecting Gordon's criticisms back at him, even if they don't make sense in context (how is Gordon the problem with Nino's? ). He even explains as such when Gordon questions it.
Tranquil Fury: He never actually became angry or aggressive, but still took criticism from Gordon and his own family very poorly.

Michael

Co-owner of Nino's as well as Nino's younger brother, often serving as a manager in Nino's stead.

Brutal Honesty: He was absolutely merciless in his criticism of Nino when Gordon was first introduced to the family, immediately cluing the chef in on the severity of the family drama that was affecting their business.
The Cynic: He's gotten pretty bitter about working with Nino over the years. Even when Nino reforms himself, Michael expresses doubt to Gordon about the change sticking. It's probably why he decided to distance himself from the restaurant.
Large Ham "HELLO! MY NAME'S NINO!!!"
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He had many misgivings about Gordon's overhaul of the restaurant and could not let go of the longstanding hostility between himself and Nino even after the latter had finally found his rhythm during service. Gordon felt Michael was resistant to change, and that accusation was enough to send him leaving in a huff. It is mentioned later that even as the restaurant began to bounce back, Michael became much less involved in its day-to-day affairs.
We Used to Be Friends: It is clear that his relationship with Nino has degraded significantly over the years due to the latter's laziness. By the time Gordon had revamped the restaurant, Michael was still unable to make amends with him.

Inge

Founder and co-owner of Nino's and the mother of Nino, Michael and their sister Carina.

Brutal Honesty: She was under no illusions about Nino's lack of management in the restaurant, and admitted to Gordon that he was undependable in the role.
Cool Old Lady: As frustrated as she was by Nino's lack of commitment, she remained supportive of her family and did not let her age slow her down in trying to save what her and her husband had built up over fifty years prior.
The Determinator: Fought to keep the family business alive in the face of Nino's laziness even though she is clearly ready to settle down and retire so she can tend to her husband's progressing Alzheimer's.
Let's Get Dangerous!: Played with; she committed to Gordon's plan of showing Nino what would happen to the restaurant if they didn't act fast to improve the state of affairs there, confronting her son in front of the boarded up building as Gordon waited to gauge Nino's response. It finally guilts Nino back to his senses and he becomes serious about saving his mother's legacy.

Oceana

Moe

One of the owners of the restaurant, along with his brother Rami.

Character Tics: When stressed, he tends to put his hands on his head in disbelief.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Easily loses his temper at the slightest opposition, and takes almost every critique of Gordon's as both an insult and a lie. It's easier to count the times it didn't look like he was about to attack Gordon right then and there.
- After seeing the true state of the kitchen and the restaurant is forced to close early for the night, he starts screaming like a lunatic towards the cleaning staff to get the place cleaned up while throwing chairs off the tables and onto the ground.
- He tells Gordon he will accept the decor changes Gordon makes... Unless he dislikes them, at which point he claims he will "send them back to British with a black eye."
Malaproper: Says "British" to mean "English" in regards to the language. Also says "British" instead of "Britain."
Never My Fault: Once the problems become too apparent to ignore, he blames his brother and the head chef entirely. Rami is quick to call him out on it.
Oh, Crap!: Realizes how bad things really are as Ramsay shows all the wasted food. He doesn't take it well.

Rami

One of the owners of the restaurant, with his brother Moe.

Brutal Honesty: The whole way through. He breaks ranks the second his brother and the chefs start lying to Gordon and just keeps on going.
Motivational Lie: Tells his brother that "busy idiot" is "a compliment in British" to get Moe to stop obsessing over the insult and get back to work. He admits he knows it's an insult and that it's true but that unless he lied Moe would never let it go.
Nice Guy: At least what's shown of his behavior to the audience. He truly does mean well for the restaurant, he just has quite a bit to put up with regarding his brother and the staff.

Damon

Oceana's executive chef.

Blatant Lies: The crab cakes are not frozen (they are). He does not know when the duck was cooked (off site sometime within the last month).
Character Tics: Has a habit of blinking one eye at a time whenever Gordon confronts him for lying.
Fat Bastard: He's overweight, and not an ounce of him is honest or competent enough to cook.
Lethal Chef: Highly inept at his job, having wasted thousands of dollars worth of food that he cooks and then freezes before simply warming them back up for service; by the time Gordon has arrived, the majority of it is hopelessly expired. Moe let him go almost immediately after the restaurant is shut down.
- Made even worst when Gordon inspected the warmer, which was cold and the fridge which was warm. He cook the food then put it in the freezer quickly and put the frozen stuff in the warmer before it was thawed out, causing the temperature to rise and fall in the equipment and destroying all of the other food in the kitchen. Making sure the food you are storing away has been cooled down is Cooking 101.
Medal of Dishonor: His dishonesty and cluelessness in the kitchen made him an easy target for Gordon's wrath, and both Gordon and Rami were of the opinion that he needed to be let go if the restaurant was to have any chance of survival. Luckily, that's exactly what Moe does after he sees how his executive chef was running the kitchen.
Never My Fault: A customer sends food back? Clearly they have bad taste buds because nothing is wrong with the food. As he puts it, there no bad food. Only "bad opinions." And later, after it turns out how disgusting the refrigerator is, he blames the staff. Both brothers have had enough and call him out as being the one responsible for how the food is stored.

The Old Neighborhood

Randy

The owner and manager of The Old Neighborhood, and Alexa's husband.

Badass Boast: He attempts to say one to Gordon as the latter uncovers the clearly-bad food in the kitchen, claiming that they serve the stuff Gordon's raising such alarm about; this immediately backfires on him when Gordon orders the kitchen closed.
Gordon: You see that? Who is hoarding all this shit?
Randy: We serve that "shit"!
Gordon: You use... that shit? (Randy's face quickly assumes the Oh, Crap! expression as Gordon orders to shut down the kitchen.)
Cloudcuckoolander: Never gives Ramsay a straight answer on the condition of the restaurant, often contradicting himself. He also had about thirty years' worth of antiques and other junk littered throughout the dining hall and in his office, which he was reluctant to part with.
Cool Old Guy: For all his faults, he was a genuinely nice guy and when he finally came to terms with the severity of the situation inside his restaurant, he became a lot more cooperative with Gordon in revamping the business.
Einstein Hair: Not as wild as most examples, but it definitely qualifies.
I Resemble That Remark!: Gordon is quick to call him out on his hoarding; Randy denies this, simply saying that it was difficult for him to throw things away.
Worst. Whatever. Ever!: He was absolutely mortified that he was forced to shut down his own restaurant after witnessing the state of the food in his fridge, calling it the worst moment of his life. Luckily, it shocked him back into reality and, with some effort, he complied with Gordon's plan to rescue the business and let go of his vast collection of worthless artifacts.

Alexa

The Old Neighborhood's co-owner and executive chef, and Randy's wife.

Cloudcuckoolander: Not as bad as Randy, but she once maintained a store mannequin named Fiona in the front entrance to greet the customers. It freaked out Gordon the second he walked in.
Cordon Bleugh Chef: Was known to add lots of cream to most of her dishes. One even came with a barbecue cream sauce. Understandably, Gordon is completely baffled.
Heroic BSoD: She became extremely emotional when finally confronted with what their lackadaisical practices had caused inside the restaurant. Completely devastated, she promised to follow every word of Gordon's advice in order to save her business.
Pride: Like many previous chefs took great pride in her food and failed to see what was wrong with it. That all changes, however, after Ramsay shows her the state of the fridge and its contents.

Park's Edge

Richard Wadlington

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1517028886271.jpg

A co-owner of Park's Edge.

Conspiracy Theorist: Richard quickly makes it clear to Gordon that he does not, in fact, believe there's anything wrong with the restaurant itself, and pegs its failing business on a conspiracy among the townspeople to ruin him due to resenting him being a successful black business owner in an upper-crust, majority-white town. Richard called Gordon in simply because he felt having a celebrity endorse his business would change his potential customers' minds. Needless to say, Gordon quickly discovers this is not the only issue in the slightest.
Didn't Think This Through: Calling the neighborhood complaining about the restaurant racist not only won't convince them to come, but also alienate those that were already coming.
Head-in-the-Sand Management: Doesn't really run the restaurant, never mind addressing its issues, and usually spends his days greeting the customers and drinking. He himself claims he just runs the front of the house, but the staff made their annoyance with the fact he doesn't actually contribute to helping run the chaos quite clear. He hadn't even tasted his restaurant's own cooking on a regular basis, and he was blindsided when Gordon had him taste several of the lunch dishes and realize how much of a food problem they really had.
Never My Fault: Possible reason for his Hero-breaking moment below: The complaints they were getting was because they didn't set up the restaurant by the guidelines of the neighborhood (they put up a tent in the parking lot without knowing they needed a permit, and they were pouring liquor without the proper license), which he decided to blame on racism. Slightly downplayed since, by the time of the episode, he admits he's made a terrible mistake and doesn't know how to fix it.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While being interviewed about the criticisms of Park's Edge by the neighborhood, he claims its because they don't like the idea of a minority-owned restaurant in a white neighborhood. Surprisingly, this alienates the neighborhood.

Jorge

A co-owner and the executive chef of Park's Edge.

Can't Take Criticism: Refused to believe his cooking wasn't up to the stuff he bragged about.
Cordon Bleugh Chef: Some of his choices for the menu were outright bizarre, such as "avocado eggrolls" and "crispy chevre wontons." Gordon expressed his opinion of it all being "fusion confusion", and it only worsened when he was served a grilled Caesar salad.
Know-Nothing Know-It-All: When Gordon sent back his complaints about the grilled Caesar salad and asked why it was spicy, Jorge disregarded the criticism by saying that Caesar salad came from Mexico, not Europe, and being a Mexican to Gordon's European means he would obviously know how a Caesar salad should be. Even ignoring the blatant disrespect, he clearly forgot or didn't realize the Caesar salad was made by Caesar Cardini, an Italian (European) immigrant in Mexico.
Never My Fault: In the beginning, he refused to believe that the food or the maintenance was the problem and that it was just their reputation with the neighborhood. The reputation was certainly an issue, but Gordon quickly found that yes, the first two were in fact issues that needed to be addressed as well.
No, You: His brilliant response to Gordon calling him a fucking joke was to angrily kick a nearby object and say Gordon's a joke too.

Matt

A line chef at Park's Edge, who actively opposes the changes done to the restaurant.

The Load: Half-heartedly cooks during the reopening while making snarky comments. When called out on it by Jorge, he mouths off to the point where he gets fired on the spot.
Single-Issue Wonk: Apparently can't get over the idea of chicken wings being added to the menu, seeing it beneath him to cook.
Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: This was basically the entire point of his clearly fake and overdone outrage over having to prepare chicken wings. It was obvious that he had no skill as a cook and knew it, also knew that he would never be able to meet Gordon's standards, and was plainly acting like an ass and pushing to get fired in order to draw unemployment. Quitting and walking away would have been easiest, but getting fired meant drawing unemployment.
Sour Supporter: Not thrilled about cooking chicken wings at all, to the point of not even trying hard (if at all) to have a good service.

Peter's

Peter

The owner of the restaurant.

Berserk Button: Do not mess with his father. When one of his bill collectors makes this mistake, Peter has to be restrained by both his staff and Gordon to prevent him from beating the guy senseless in the parking lot.
Cloudcuckoolander: As one of the staff points out, Peter spends all his time acting like his life is a real-world version of Goodfellas. Which makes a lot of sense in hindsight, considering he revelation that Peter used to work for the Mafia.
Comically Missing the Point: After Gordon has pointed out how desperately the restaurant needs to invest in new equipment and upgrades, Peter mentions how much he spends on his teeth (he's clearly had his teeth capped). Gordon asks him how much he's spent on his teeth, to which Peter replies it's about $1000 a visit. Gordon replies that he merely brushes his twice a day. The clear message that Peter is spending money on the wrong things goes right over his head.
Heel Realization: After Gordon has a stern talk with Peter, he realizes he's been taking the business for granted (even openly admitting in the Confession Cam that Gordon is right about him), and begins trying to make amends, starting with scheduling some much-needed repairs for the restaurant's walk-in refrigiration unit.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: At first he just comes across as a sullen jerk who butts heads with Gordon and apparently watches too much The Sopranos, he openly admits to taking money from the till to fund luxury items, and it later turned out he was affiliated with the Mafia. But when a rude bill collector insults Gordon, Peter has to be physically restrained to stop him beating the guy up. Afterwards he's almost in tears. "He shouldn't say that to you! Not with what you're doing for us!"
Stealing from the Till: Freely admits (and his sister confirms) that he takes money from the till to pay for his clothes, car, teeth, etc. Not only is this illegal, but it's killing the restaurant. And he's still borrowing money like crazy to keep the restaurant afloat, to the point where bill collectors showing up apparently happens regularly.

Tina

Peter's sister and the co-owner.

Determinator: The fact that she stuck with the restaurant so long and worked twice as hard to make up for Peter's shortcomings shows she was this in spades.

Piccolo Teatro

Rachel

The owner and manager of the restaurant.

Brilliant, but Lazy: Had she actually had the motivation to make her restaurant successful, she probably would have. In spite of how short-sighted her decision to open a vegetarian restaurant in the meat-centric Paris may have been, Gordon demonstrated - through proactive marketing and a lunch service that he helmed - that her restaurant still had the potential to succeed, not only in spite of its niche but because it's one of the only vegan options available in the city... but only if she were willing to open her restaurant for lunch and have a more hands-on role in management. Had she taken Gordon's advice seriously, her restaurant likely would have lived to see Paris' fledging vegetarian scene, where her restaurant would have stood out for its tenure within the city.
Can't Take Criticism: Walks out on Gordon after he rightfully tears into her for having zero passion in the restaurant and constantly giving him excuses. (See below).
Captain Oblivious: Until Gordon pointed it out to her, she didn't notice anything unusual at all about the fact that the restaurant had clearly been opened for lunch, and he was sat there with a bucket containing hundreds of euros in cash.
Crazy Enough to Work: Had Rachel stuck with it, at least. Piccolo Teatro was a vegetarian restaurant in the meat-loving Paris, but that could have worked in its favor, since there were so few vegetarian options. Gordon proves that, with some good marketing and competent management, the restaurant could be quite profitable... but Rachel just isn't willing to put in the effort needed for the restaurant to shine, resulting in its closure.
Foreshadowing: Unintentional, but after the relaunch, Gordon, her father and her go to a nighttime show to celebrate the relaunch and she talks about the showgirls and how great nightlife and red light district is. After the episode aired, she became a prostitute (which is legal in France).
Medal of Dishonor: Ramsay has branded her the single worst owner in the UK version's run — and, along with Joe, Sebastian, Michel, David, Keith, Lisa, Gen, Alan, and definitely Amy and Samy, in the running for worst overall in the series' history — for not even trying make her restaurant work, despite being given every opportunity to do so.
Never My Fault: Ramsey kept trying to help her out but she always had an excuse as to why she couldn't or why she was late. Her first excuse was her cat was giving birth then later on tried to say that lunch never worked for her because it was the customers' fault. Later on, she blamed Gordon for the restaurant failing and making her become a prostitute. Never does she ever admit that her biggest problem is simply that she's too lazy to run a restaurant.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: By the time Ramsay showed up for his revisit, she had decided that running the restaurant wasn't worth the stress. She pulled this trope again when Ramsay "The Reason You Suck" Speech called her out on her selfish attitude, and stormed out of the interview.

Daniel

The original head chef, fired during the first dinner service.

Cloudcuckoolander: He would randomly sing and dance around the restaurant. Talking to guests while cooking, also talking with them and to himself about psychological meditation.
Knife Fight: When he finally got the idea that he was going to be fired, he pulled a knife and silverware on Gordon and Rachel to keep them from firing him. Gordon had to physically pick him up and lock the door to prevent him from coming back in to cook after he was fired. Rachel was about to call the police when he finally left.
Lethal Chef: Had so much expired items that Gordon was glad nothing was meat or the place would be piling up with body bags.
Medal of Dishonor: He's one of four head chefs^note in the UK version who had been fired by the end of the episode. However, the other three were all fired either before or during the end-of-episode revisit; Daniel was fired at the end of the first day of filming. While Ramsay never made it explicit in the way that he did Rachel's being the worst owner from the UK version, this almost certainly cements Daniel as that version's worst head chef.

Fiona

The morning service chef who can only work until 5 PM due to taking care of her child.

Boring, but Practical: Her dishes are a bit bland in comparison to Daniel's (she doesn't add salt), but she's still miles ahead of him in competence.
Only Sane Employee: She's the only employee of Piccolo Teatro who's willing to listen to Ramsay (until India comes in).
Nice Girl: She quickly builds rapport with Gordon and seems to care about the restaurant a lot more than Rachel or Stephanie.

India

The restaurant's second head chef, bought in by Rachel's father late in the episode.

Distaff Counterpart: Gordon clearly saw her as a younger, female version of himself, and the success she's had in the industry suggests he wasn't wrong about that.
Earn Your Happy Ending: After losing her job courtesy of Rachel's laziness, Ramsay sets her up an internship at one of his restaurants. She was subsequently offered a permanent position there, but decided against it in favour of returning to her native Scotland, where she's since enjoyed a highly successful career as a chef.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: It's clear that she could have made the restaurant a success had Rachel properly backed her, as shown by her subsequent track record.

Stephanie

Rachel's best friend who works as the only waitress in the restaurant.

Can't Take Criticism: She is quick to leave the restaurant after Ramsay calls her out for being late, claiming she's not taking any harassment from him.

Brian

Rachel's father, who has invested a lot of money into the restaurant.

Papa Wolf: Is generally trying to help Rachel with the business and even provided Rachel a new chef. However, it is Subverted in the end when Gordon returns a month later and finds out Rachel closed down the restaurant, he seems to be generally heartbroken over what has happened, and acts apologetic to Gordon rather than trying to justify his daughter's actions.

PJ's Steakhouse

Joe

The restaurant's owner and primary manager.

Bittersweet Ending: Gordon helps him to find his way in the kitchen, but he ultimately made the difficult decision of selling his beloved brother's former eatery to return to his former occupation in construction.
Head-in-the-Sand Management: He was so despondent during dinner service that he would take every opportunity to retreat to the bar and drown his sorrows with a drink. When he wasn't drinking, he acted oblivious to the restaurant's ongoing problems through feigned optimism.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Was a highly successful man in construction before assuming ownership of his brother's steakhouse; his chronic depression over his brother's passing tremendously affected his ability to manage.
The Load: His apathy to the everyday operations in the kitchen frustrated even his wife.
Never My Fault: He failed to take ownership of the rancid state of the walk-in freezer, which his wife was quick to call him out on.
Oh, Crap!: Seeing Gordon's expose on the public's opinion of his restaurant proved a major wake-up call to him.
Wrong Line of Work: Admitted to his lack of kitchen experience in assuming ownership of his late brother's former business, and it showed in his management skills, or lack thereof.

Madalyn

Joe's wife, the restaurant's co-owner and its primary "hostess".

Head-in-the-Sand Management: A less extreme example than so many others, but she had a bad tendency to disappear from the front counter due to feeling intimidated and out of place in her role. Even worse, she didn't know anything about her own restaurant's menu.
Wrong Line of Work: She fully owned up to her aforementioned inexperience in running a restaurant, a job she expected Joe to live up to when they purchased the restaurant.

Eric

The head chef of PJ's Steakhouse.

Epic Fail: His performance in the second dinner service definitely qualifies, where nearly every single one of Gordon's Mixed Grill specials cooked by him had been sent back for being cold and undercooked. After that, Gordon and the owners had finally had enough.
Head-in-the-Sand Management: His kitchen staff were constantly frustrated by his inability to guide or even talk to them during service.
Lethal Chef: Gordon had nothing nice to say of his food, and was quite critical of his use of canned coolie mango sauce on his crab cakes. And that wasn't the half of it... — Gordon found bits of plastic in his crab cakes, the first dish served to him upon his arrival. He was quick to deny the presence of any plastic in his kitchen when this was pointed out to him. And this was before Gordon had even stepped foot into the walk-in freezer, where among many other things, he found black salad among its spoiled contents.
The Load: So much so that Gordon wasted no time in singling him out and pushing the owners to cut him loose when he failed to step up his game.
My Greatest Second Chance: Was given an ultimatum by Gordon to make sure he delivered on the second dinner service he observed. He was quick to waste it and for this he was promptly shown the door.
Never My Fault: He failed to see just how poor his food actually was and constantly made excuses, never losing his overconfident outlook when confronted.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Promptly closed the kitchen when everything he cooked was sent back in the second service and then retreated entirely. He was finally let go shortly thereafter.

PJ

Joe's deceased brother and the former owner and namesake of PJ's Stakehouse.

Big Brother Instinct: Joe mentions that he very much had this, and Joe credited a lot of his success in life to the example set by his elder brother.
Posthumous Character: He passed away some years before Gordon arrived at the restaurant. His death profoundly affected his brother, to whom he had been very close. It also affected the success of the restaurant due to Joe's struggle to effectively lead it while struggling with his own depression.

The Priory

Scott

The restaurant's owner.

Sunk Cost Fallacy: While he keeps advocating for the carvery to stay because of the numbers that it pulls in, Gordon points out that no-one's showing up because of the quality of the food, it's because of the 50% off vouchers printed in the local press, meaning that the carvery actually operated at a loss.

Matt

The restaurant's general manager, who later takes over as head chef.

You Are in Command Now: After Toby's repeated screw ups, Ramsay demotes him to sous chef and puts Matt in charge of the kitchen.

Toby

The initial head chef at the restaurant, later demoted to sous chef.

It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: While having to cook the exact same stuff every day for the restaurant's carvery certainly didn't help motivate him much, if anything he was even worse at cooking the new menu that Gordon came up with.invoked
Lethal Chef: By the time of the revisit, he'd managed to get himself fired for trying to serve expired chicken.
The Load: While Scott's bad decisions could be explained away as a combination of his conservative personality and unfamiliarity with the industry, Toby was simply flat-out incompetent.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Stormed out of the kitchen after losing control of the line in the middle of the relaunch night. This was the final straw for Gordon, who ordered that he be reduced to sous chef and Matt to take over the kitchen.
Too Incompetent to Operate a Blanket: The first person on the show to be told that they're unfit to run a bath, much less a kitchen, an insult that Gordon would use several more times (most famously with Fiesta Sunrise owner Vic) throughout the show's run.

Sabatiello's

Sammy

The owner of the restaurant.

Bad Boss: Frequently overworked his employees and badmouthed them even when they were not at fault for the failings of the restaurant. And that's to say nothing of his customer service skills...
Blatant Lies:
- Claims they only serve "fresh" food and that otherwise they would throw it out. The soup served to Gordon was 2-3 days old and one of the kitchen staff outright notes he can't throw away leftover soup per orders. The "homemade" lasagna was frozen for at least a week and reheated in the microwave. When confronted on this he then claims just because it's not fresh doesn't mean it's not bad, thus admitting to the lie without actually saying so.
- He was also guilty of lying on his menu, such as using imitation crab meat in place of real crab meat or using a different type of steak than what was advertised. Again, he tries to justify himself by saying he was Cutting Corners and couldn't afford the usual ingredients due to how money was getting tight, but Gordon points out that means he needs to just change the menu to reflect this, not lie about what he's serving.
Can't Take Criticism: It becomes quickly apparent Sammy can't stand the idea of anyone contradicting his worldview, whether that criticism comes from Gordon, his employees, or his own customers.
Control Freak: He has shades of this considering he interrupted his own server talking to Gordon to "make sure" he was getting the order right, and the server admits it's not uncommon for him to do this with other customers.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Took criticism extremely poorly and would quickly become defensive if any aspect of his business or of his management style was criticized.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Once owned a successful pizzeria before his foray into fine dining.
Never My Fault: It took a considerable amount of time for him to finally start accepting the issues Gordon was pointing out to him, primarily his brash, overly aggressive manner in and out of the kitchen. He seriously had a hard time believing that his food was not up to par with what his restaurant promised.
Rule of Three: A customer is forced to send her lamb back three times when Sammy cannot make the effort to be sure it is properly cooked, and each time he became more aggressive when she explained her complaint. By the third time, she had had enough of both him and the botched meal.
What Were You Thinking?: The only reasonable thing to be said of him actually confronting a customer who complained that her lamb had been improperly cooked and then mocking her when she realized it had been microwaved the first time she sent it back; right in front of a packed dining room.

Seascape

Peter

The owner and general manager of Seascape.

The Eeyore: Rarely ever smiled or exerted the positive or confident energy needed to inject some pride back into his restaurant; the recent loss of his father probably still weighed heavily on him.
This Is Gonna Suck: Right before Gordon sampled the restaurant's food, he joked that he was about to be insulted by one of the best chefs in the world.
Workaholic: Often stepped in to do the jobs that were to be entrusted to his chefs, almost solely because he didn't have the nerve to tell them to do their jobs properly without Gordon to prod him on.

Doug

The head chef of the restaurant.

Blatant Lies: Claimed that he and the staff worked religiously to maintain the kitchen and its contents; instead Gordon found it to be possibly one of the filthiest kitchens he's ever come across, with even the walls caked in crud.
Everyone Has Standards: As completely unapologetic as he was over his terrible food and even worse hygiene standards, even he had to admit that serving Gordon mouldy, festering pesto was completely inexcusable.
Humiliation Conga: Gordon showed him no mercy after seeing firsthand the atrocious state of his kitchen, and finally got Peter to work up the nerve to fire him before the restaurant's relaunch.
Know-Nothing Know-It-All: His thirty-eight years in the business unfortunately do not show in just about any of his conduct in the kitchen, which he could not be bothered to maintain properly on top of his subpar food. He outright refused to taste Gordon's pan-seared bass, insisted he "knew what one tasted like"; this proved to be one insult too many for Gordon.
Medal of Dishonor: Managed to somehow "win" two of these in just the few hours Gordon knew him, first by being another member of the "Gordon gives up on him completely" club, and even more shockingly, he is apparently the first person the master chef has met in his entire life to ever straight-up refuse to try his food. Gordon responded to the latter with an uncharacteristic Tranquil Fury even more unsettling to watch than his usual profanity-laden rants.

Charles

The sous-chef of the restaurant.

Epic Fail: He burns a piece of fish in a pretty low stress service. Gordon is quick to take him to task for being an experienced enough sous chef but not being able to cook a simple piece of fish.
The Load: Was little more effective than Doug and blissfully unaware of just how bad things were in the kitchen. Gordon pushed Peter to fire him along with Doug before carrying on any further with his effort to save the restaurant.
Those Two Guys: Worked closely with Doug and was just as bad at running his own work station.

Sebastian's

Sebastian Di Modica

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maxresdefault_9039.jpg

The namesake owner and head chef of Sebastian's.

Awesome, but Impractical: The most generous interpretation of Sebastian's confusing menu. Only Sebastian himself really thought it was awesome, though, and it didn't help that he was using substandard ingredients.
Berserk Button: Got defensive whenever his batshit insane menu (pardon me, the batshit insane "concept") was challenged or threatened.
Bullying a Dragon: Actually thought he could get in Gordon's face and intimidate him. Gordon, who is taller, fitter, stronger, and a trained martial artist, quickly lets Sebastian know that it was not going to go the way he was thinking. One guess as to who backed down.
Can't Take Criticism: Sebastian goes from singing Gordon's praises when he first shows up (even claiming that having him come help at the restaurant to be like if Robert De Niro offered to help his acting career), to saying Gordon doesn't know jackshit after he lays out the problems with the food, the service, and most of all Sebastian himself.
Cordon Bleugh Chef: All of the entries in Sebastian's "unique" menu were just mixtures of ingredients that made no sense at all together, without concern for flavors or consistency, just caring about looking cool or different. After twenty minutes of trying to understand the menu through Sonja, Gordon just asked her to serve the best they had. He was not amused.
Exact Words: He brings up that he's an actor as one of his many attempts to show himself as a great figure. While he indeed had an acting role once prior to founding the restaurant, it was a speechless bit part on a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen film. This is hardly enough to say one had experience in acting.^note
Gilligan Cut: When Sebastian says he's "very polite" to his staff, the episode cuts to scenes of him berating his employees... and Lou-Bertha and Q talking about his Hair-Trigger Temper and his "abrasive" personality, respectively.
His Own Worst Enemy: As said by Gordon, Sebastian is the only thing that doesn't change about the restaurant, and he rightfully worries Sebastian wouldn't stick to the revamp... which he doesn't. Sebastian is far too prideful and wants to stick hard to his "concept" despite it clear nobody else likes it. Despite the new menu being the success he needed, his ego and childish pride rejects in favor of what he considered "unique", not getting that "unique" doesn't necessarily mean good or successful. It would also lead his head chef leaving after the episode aired and Sebastian just decides to close the restaurant without informing his employees ahead of time.
Hollywood New England: His Boston accent shows when he's angry.
Insane Troll Logic:
- He somehow managed to convince himself that Gordon saying his menu (a confusing, over-complicated, impossible to understand one filled with crap dishes that were made out of frozen ingredients and "prepared" in a microwave oven) was like nothing he'd ever seen before was a good thing. Having it completely dismissed by a world-renowned chef like Gordon should have been nothing other than a huge wake-up call, but Sebastian took it in a completely different direction.
- From his statement that he prefers to serve low-quality food and make up for it by meeting the customers and ensuring that they had a good time, it's clear that Sebastian thought he was the main attraction of the restaurant, rather than the food it was serving. Leaving aside the fact that an actor with a couple of bit-part roles isn't exactly a huge draw, it's unclear how his plan to franchise the restaurant would have worked, unless part of his franchising plans involved cloning himself.
- And of course, he seemed to believe that he could (and would) form a successful international franchise of Sebastian's restaurants, when the one restaurant he already did have was failing miserably. Gordon calls out the insanity of this.
I Take Offense to That Last One: Gordon angrily told him that 95% of his menu was made up of "disgusting, bought-in crap." Sebastian protested that the figure was really more like 80%.
Never My Fault:
- When Gordon goes through his kitchen storage and points out how everything is pre-made and frozen (therefore costing a fortune and being the complete opposite of what a fine dining experience is supposed to be), Sebastian goes back in and blames all the kitchen staff for basically doing what he told them to do.
- After his restaurant closed, Sebastian posted anonymously on local culinary websites to badmouth Ramsay. The other posters immediately realized it was him and called him on it. Lesson: When trashing somebody and trying to stay anonymous, don't mention bad breath.
Pretender Diss: A truly special case after listening to him talk about franchising around the world: "You haven't got fucking one right so far, how can you think about two?"
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gordon gave him quite a scalding one. For context, keep in mind that the "Sebastian's" episode is from the US series' first season, well before the infamous "Amy's Baking Company" from Season 6.
"I'm forty years of age, and I've gone to a lot of restaurants, but I've never, ever, ever, ever met someone I believe in as little as you."
Skewed Priorities: He's more concerned about a menu being "unique" than if it's actually good or doable. He also flat-out admitted to Gordon that he considered promoting the restaurant's brand and making a name for himself to be more important than actually serving quality food.
Spoiled Brat: When he is calling his parents, he tells them about Gordon's negative response to his "concept" and poor food. His father's response? Throw Gordon out. Suddenly, everything about him makes a lot more sense.
Tantrum Throwing: Takes out his frustration with Gordon by smashing a vacuum cleaner.
True Art Is Incomprehensible: Sebastian has this opinion of his menu, which he calls a "concept" and is less a list of dishes as it is a collection of ingredients that guests can request be put together in any way. Sebastian seems to think doing it this way will result in bold creative statements by both the guests and the restaurant; both Gordon and the customers found it to be nigh-incomprehensible gibberish.

Lou-Bertha

Sebastian's sous-chef.

Hypercompetent Sidekick: Was clearly the person who Sebastian should have delegated the actual day-to-day running of the restaurant to, as she was not only a naturally talented chef, she had a much better idea of what would go down well with the locals.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Not in the episode itself, but when fellow cook Q later reappeared on the show in the "Casa Roma Revisited" episode, he says that Lou-Bertha quit after falling out with Sebastian one time too many, and everything totally fell apart after that, leading to the restaurant closing not long after.

Q

One of the line cooks at Sebastian's.

Chekhov's Gunman: During this episode he doesn't get all that much screentime beyond occasionally badmouthing Sebastian and showing off his skills in the relaunch. That little bit of screentime was evidently still enough to impress Casa Roma owner Nylah, who employed him as her restaurant's head chef ahead of the revisit episode.

Sonja

One of the waitresses at Sebastian's, and the one who serves Gordon his first meal there.

The Ditz: Made a big show of delivering a dish to Ramsay, while not noticing the very slight fact that she hadn't bought a knife and fork.
Everybody Has Standards: While she was easily the staff member most supportive of Sebastian, even she refused to lie to Gordon about the seafood being frozen.
Only Friend: Whereas most of the staff clearly didn't like working with Sebastian, she actually seemed to get on reasonably well with him, to the point of supporting his decision to switch back to the original menu in the middle of the relaunch service, though it's unclear whether she genuinely thought he was doing the right thing, or was just being a Professional Butt-Kisser.

Spin A Yarn

Jen

Co-Owner and wife of Saki

Females Are More Innocent: She seemingly tries to play this herself to get all the heat shifted to Saki, but Gordon manages to turn more responsibilities to her (she seemingly complains all episode about not being able to do anything since no one will let her but it appears to just be an excuse). Once he gets Saki and the kitchen staff to "allow" her he doesn't let her make any excuses why she can't do anything.
Hysterical Woman: The commotion she made after seeing the freezer's condition included, verbally accost everyone around her, cry, seemingly puke in the bathroom, and complain no one will ever come back. She also didn't even appear to help with the cleanup.
The Load: She always complains about never being allowed to do anything, but when she actually is allowed it appears those were just excuses—she's hesitant to do her one job of cutting fatty meats and isn't doing much of a good job.
Never My Fault: Never really took responsibility for the restaurant's failings, always somehow attempted to blame Saki for them.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Got a rather light one several times from Gordon once the facade of "no one lets her do anything" faded away and she just simply wasn't willing or couldn't do her jobs.

Zeke's

Darryl and Ellen

The husband and wife co-owners of Zeke's.

Bad Boss: Darryl was known to be condescending towards his employees, with his two chefs in particular feeling like they had zero input in the kitchen they had worked in since before he had ever owned the place. Worse still, they had forced their staff to take a pay cut and increased hours, and were able to make time for multiple vacations while their staff and their restaurant struggled to make ends meet.
Can't Take Criticism: Darryl was extremely defensive of the food he was putting out and of the ill-advised practices he enforced for the sake of cost effectiveness. Ellen later became no less hostile when confronted on how their management style had destroyed morale among the staff.
Control Freak: He insisted on dictating nearly every aspect of the kitchen and the food, and didn't trust his two head chefs to put out quality food that didn't follow his own design.
Cutting Corners: The big reason for why the restaurant struggled under his leadership, as Darryl drastically reduced the portions of food served as well as using cheaper alternatives for ingredients (such as frozen shrimp rather than fresh shrimp while living in a region known for quality shrimp) in his efforts to drive up profit; instead it led to a severe drop in quality of the food and put off many of the restaurant's most loyal patrons.
Head-in-the-Sand Management: They were utterly oblivious as to how their cost-cutting practices were driving away business, and generally failed to do anything beyond insisting that the staff do things the way only they saw fit.
Insistent Terminology: You can tell how much these two care about money by the fact that Darryl will always call the dishes they serve "a good product".
Lethal Chef: Their chicken and oyster dishes that carried their namesake were considered among the restaurant's worst entrees. Special mention goes to their chicken-fried steak, where Gordon discovered a fatty slab of skin he compared to a deep-fried giraffe's tongue.
Only in It for the Money: Given their fixation on money and cutting costs, it's not terribly shocking that pretty much their entire staff felt that this was their sole motivation in keeping and maintaining the restaurant. Darryl even admits he wants the financial rewards of the business, and he admits they kept the restaurant's name after buying it because it "made sense business-wise," not because it was a way to honor the original owner.
- It's easier to tell by their approach towards the food itself. Darryl in particular will repeat ad nauseum that the food they serve is a "good product", and separates the food to be used in a dish in transparent plastic bags, at one point revealing he actually measures how much shrimp to use for a portion. His Insistent Terminology is right, they DO see the food as a "product", and nothing BUT a product. They don't care about making it taste or look good, they care about serving it and getting it over with to get paid after service, as coldly and "efficiently" as possible.
Tempting Fate: Ellen challenged Gordon's concern that the kitchen was serving lasagna prepared a week ago, frozen and reheated, and actually implied the customers would be pleasantly surprised to find that their old food was as good as it was when first cooked. When Gordon told her he would inform the dining room of his discovery, she laughed it off. She finds herself in the hot seat when the customers react negatively to Gordon's announcement.
Wrong Line of Work: It was pretty clear that neither of them had any genuine interest in being true restaurateurs, seeing their business as merely a moneymaker but being clueless on how to run it properly as a result of said disinterest.

Emil and Jason

The restaurant's two head chefs.

Heterosexual Life-Partners: The two are best friends and worked in the restaurant together for a very long time, being virtually inseparable.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: Gordon saw how much Darryl and Ellen's inflexible management style had impacted their work ethic, and so he gave them both the chance to prove to the owners that they could both cook some amazing dishes without their input or interference; they quickly proved themselves to be way better chefs when finally left to their own devices.
Supreme Chef: When not bogged down by Darryl's unreasonable demands, they are both this. Their southern-style fish dishes amazed both owners who were surprised to learn that Gordon was not the one to cook them. Additionally, their bread pudding was easily Gordon's favorite dish when first tasting the food, a dessert established as not being influenced by Darryl's intrusive measures.
Those Two Guys: Have been working together since first coming to work for Zeke's original owner; they even both wore caps while on the clock.

Candace

One of the servers at Zeke's.

Brutal Honesty: She was very honest about how she saw the quality of most of the food under Darryl's watch as shit...er, "crap", joked about the arrogance of Darryl and Ellen naming dishes after themselves, and didn't sugarcoat to Gordon the oxymoron of "fresh-frozen" shrimp. She was also the one who recommended the bread pudding that ended up being the only thing he actually liked in the initial tasting.
Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Briefly panics when she realizes she said "shit" on camera, and changes it to the more PG "crap."
So Proud of You: Supportive of the restaurant's head chefs and smiles after Ramsay presents their dishes to their bosses.

Zocalo

Greg

The owner of Zocalo.

Earn Your Happy Ending: In spite of Zocalo ultimately shutting down despite Gordon's efforts and divorcing Mary, Greg managed to not only find a Second Love with his server Maria, but also open another business that's doing quite well.
Henpecked Husband: Has to constantly deal with his wife nagging him on the best of days.
Nice Guy: Whatever his faults at managing the restaurant, it's very apparent Greg is a good man who puts up with the stress because it's not only his own livelihood but that of his family's on the line. The majority of the staff, while somewhat annoyed by how he insists on doing things himself, do like him and worry that he's pushing himself too far. Lampshaded by Gordon himself, who says that Greg "has to be one of the nicest owners (he's) ever met".
Workaholic: Greg admits he puts in 18-hour workdays seven days a week and hadn't had a day off in over a year by the time Gordon showed up. It's also a big part of his issues, as not only is he constantly stressed, but he also insists on doing many things himself which causes orders to get backed up.

Mary

Greg's wife and (on-paper) co-owner of Zocalo.

Jerkass: Yep. She belittles her husband for everything, tries to boss everyone around in spite of not doing any work herself and blames her husband and anyone else around her for her own issues. It even extends to the opening night as she still talks down to him.
Never My Fault: Refuses to accept blame for her own failings, whether that be setting the high prices of the dishes without Greg's consent (and then claiming Greg sets the prices when Gordon asks her) or complaining about how Greg prepares dishes or runs the kitchen despite refusing to do work there herself.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After she was caught for all her lying and was confronted (after her saying "let me finish" repeatedly), instead of answering for her crimes or even taking any responsibility she just leaves.
Verbal Tic: Not to the extent of Dr. Una Morris but when confronted and question Mary herself had her own healthy helping of "let me finish".

Characters / Kitchen Nightmares

Edit Locked

Gordon Ramsay:

Gordon Ramsay

Notable Restaurant Personnel:

Amanda "Amy" Bouzaglo

Salomon "Samy" Bouzaglo

Miranda Winant

Marc

Robby

Jessica

Paul

Al

Sharyn

Shelly

Mary

James

David

Greg

Brian

Sue

Tim

Alan Saffron

Daniel Saffron

Gen Saffron

David Blaine

Jalapeño

Terry and Carol

Pinto

Brian

Barney

Keith and Lisa

Van

Michael

Denise Whiting

Jim and Jeff

Erick

Drew

Q

Chappy

Starr

Tatiana

Casimiro

Mohammad

Andrew

Martin

Khan

Israel

Tara

Dave

Philippe

Abby Cabral

Rico

Jake

Athina

Kiki

Chef Mike

Vic Flores

Yolanda Flores

Patricia "Patti"

Adele

Bill

Cheryl

Bryan

Mitch

Maureen

Chief

Mario

Annette

Billy

Carolyn

Melissa

Chris

Brian

AJ

Scott, Bill & Tammer

Aaron

The Fry Cook

Dr. Una Morris

Lawrence