Jon Taffer goes to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to help rescue a golf-themed bar called Fairways Golf and Grill. However, what Jon and his experts discover is one of the most disgusting kitchens they have seen and a chef who is beyond incompetent.
Episode Tropes:
- Blatant Lies: Kevin claims to have graduated from culinary school and cleaned regularly. Not only did he not know how to cook anything, even a simple hamburger, but the kitchen and walk-in refrigerator were so filthy that fungal blooms were growing inside the fridge. He maintained his lies even after he was fired for his astounding incompetence.
- From Bad to Worse: The health problems snowball from poor proper handling of raw products into mushrooms growing in the walk-in!
- Humble Hero: James, the cook. admits he doesn't know much about food, but he cared way more about the situation than Kevin did, and he was flat-out disgusted. Jon even promoted him to the chef on the relaunch because he knew he'd do a better job.
- Lethal Chef: Kevin was clearly one of the reasons why Fairways Golf and Grill struggled. Despite his claims that he graduated from culinary school, he did little to prove that to Jon and Brian by handling products without gloves or washing his hands, sending out fried mushrooms that still had dirt on them, and leaving raw chicken outside that went over the danger zone in temperature. And that's not getting into the mess of the kitchen he left it in. He did not last long in the Stress Test and was fired soon afterwards.
- Rage Breaking Point: Seeing the mushrooms growing in the walk-in angered Jon so much that he stormed out of the bar and threw all the food that Brian and Phil ordered off the bar table.
- Trash of the Titans: Where do we even begin to describe this kitchen? From having uncleaned cooking bowls to a return air system with a layer of grease that hasn't been inspected since 2010 (and it was 2013 when this episode was filmed), a deep fryer with gunk at the bottom, visible traces of black mold inside the coolers, and mushrooms growing inside one of them, it's a wonder nobody else outside the restaurant saw this before Jon and his experts came in. There's a damn good reason Jon brought in a health inspector for the recon.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Phil pukes after drinking expired beer.
