Location: Manhattan Beach, California
An upscale eatery has great potential for growth but is floundering under the management of its young and inexperienced owner. With overpriced, subpar food and a filthy kitchen, Gordon must get through to the owner so that she can take responsibility for her business.
Tropes
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Lisa was a business graduate, yet couldn't manage a restaurant and was too busy trying to be friendly with everyone. The fact that her restaurant is not only still open but has even updated the menu and launched its own wine brand shows that she's actually quite competent as an owner.
- The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Lisa is a business graduate who gets flustered and spends a lot of time crying in the bathroom. However, she's far more competent than it seems.
- Happy Ending: Is easily the most successful of the restaurants Ramsay has turned around. It continues to thrive now, and Lisa has since expanded to create her own brand of wine, too.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Lisa had never paid attention to her staff's behavior until Gordon's intervention, assuming that by hiring the right people, everything would fall into place. When she actually steps into the kitchen and sees how the place is actually being run and the how the food is actually being cooked, she becomes disgusted. Realizing this was the result of her own neglect, she resolves to leading more actively and does a 180 in her priorities.
- Percussive Therapy: Gordon notices that the 30-year-old Point-Of-Sale system is the biggest headache in the restaurant, with him humorously pointing out that NASA engineers press fewer buttons to launch astronauts into space. He proceeds to bring the computer out and hit it with a baseball bat a few times, and proceeds to hand the bat to the employees to help them get out their frustration with the machine before presenting them with a brand new modern system that works much more effectively.
