Location: Everett, Washington
The owner is more concerned with putting on belly-dancing performances than maintaining good quality food.
Tropes
- Downer Ending: Rishi eventually sold the restaurant to a new owner, who closed it in 2016. The restaurant that followed in the same building did all right for three years... and then ran headlong into the COVID-19 pandemic. It didn't survive.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Rishi is oblivious to how bad her food is as long as she can entertain diners with bellydancing, she doesn't realize that her diners aren't interested in her dancing and are upset with the food.
- Everyone Has Standards: When Rishi finally accepts that Rocky is the source of almost all the restaurant's problems and works up the courage to fire him (with Gordon's assurance he'll find her a new chef), Rocky takes his firing like a champ. No cursing or outrage, no threats or violence, just calm acceptance and leaving the premises quietly (this may or may not be because he knew he was on camera). Even earlier, when Chef Ramsay is doing his kitchen inspection during dinner service, Rocky shows he knows all the problems Ramsay points out are genuine problems, even explaining a few to Rishi, and it seems to sink in that his free ride is most definitely over.
- Gaslighting: Head Chef Rocky has essentially been doing this to owner Rishi. Rishi knows absolutely nothing at all about the restaurant business, even being ignorant of what "Soup of the Day" is supposed to mean. Rocky has convinced her his food is phenomenal (it isn't), he's a brilliant chef (maybe, but he's long since stopped caring), she won't find anyone else competent who will work for what she pays, and if she fires him the restaurant will fall apart. To be fair, she did fire him in the past, and the kitchen was chaos until she hired him back. Everyone else at Prohibition Grille knows Rocky is responsible for almost all the restaurant's problems, even Rishi knows it deep down, but she's too scared of the business finally failing for her to kick him out. The biggest challenge Chef Ramsay faces is getting Rishi to realize and accept that Rocky is using her and holding her business hostage to his laziness.
- Hidden Depths: Rishi at first seems ignorant to the point of stupidity, knowing nothing at all about the restaurant business. It's not long before we realize she has a firmer grasp of the problems than she lets on, even knowing her head chef is essentially abusing her and causing most of the establishment's woes. She's just too afraid to admit she knows what the problems are. She does need help finding a new chef and learning some of the tricks of the business, but she able, and more importantly willing, to learn. And when Gordon coaches her in cooking in Prohibition's kitchen, she reveals she's always loved to cook. Gordon can only ask incredulously "Why didn't you say so?"
- Lazy Bum: Rocky, the head chef. He might have been good and committed when the restaurant first opened, but now he apparently sees it as an easy paycheck where he doesn't have to work too hard and has (almost) Ultimate Job Security. He steps outside to smoke during dinner, forcing servers to go outside to find him or text him that orders are up. He talks on his cell phone, even while cooking, and puts almost zero effort into preparing food or organizing the kitchen. His utter lack of concern is the source of almost all the restaurant's problems, and everyone working there knows it, even clueless owner Rishi (if very deep down). Even Gordon realizes almost immediately that replacing Rocky with anyone else would be a huge step forward.
- Locked in a Freezer: Played for laughs when Gordon saw the belly dancers and wanted to stay there until it's done. What makes this scene funnier is when the fire from one of the cooks is seen on the reflection of the freezer's door which makes it look like that Gordon was on fire from being so done with it
- Troll: The owner, Rishi, among other issues, used her former belly dancing career by giving extremely awkward performances, to the discomfort of all but Rishi, who was oblivious. For the turnaround, Gordon makes her swear to end the belly dances, but when he enters the restaurant during his revisit, the sitar music plays, he sees her arm around the wall clicking the castanets, and she peeks around, wearing her belly dancing headband. Gordon is shocked and afraid she didn't learn a thing, when she comes around the corner, smartly dressed and having pulled on her jacket, revealing it was all a joke.
