The Gordon Ramsey-hosted Kitchen Nightmares was a pop culture phenomenon in the late 2000s and early 2010s, but the worst episodes of Kitchen Nightmares stand out just as much as the best ones. With three Michelin stars and almost twenty restaurants, Gordon Ramsay is a true superstar chef, but above all else, Ramsey is an incredible entertainer. The British chef managed to harness his fame as an amazing cook to also become a reality television star. Possibly the most famous series Ramsay's ever created is Kitchen Nightmares, which lives on forever with YouTube clips that have garnered hundreds of millions of views.
What started as a British show soon had its extra-dramatic American debut, which ran for seven seasons and almost 100 episodes. Kitchen Nightmares follows the superstar chef as he travels across the United States visiting the worst restaurants in the country. Though his mean persona is one of the fakest things about Kitchen Nightmares, Ramsey lambasts the restaurants with extremely colorful language after trying out the restaurants' cuisines. The TV chef then helps the owners turn them into potential Michelin-star restaurants of their own. However, as popular as Kitchen Nightmares is, no show is without fault, and the series has its fair share of skippable episodes.
10 Revisited #6 (Season 5, Episode 5)
There's something about the special "revisited" episodes that don't work as well as the regular episodes. In Season 5, episode 5, "Revisited #6," Ramsey revisits season 4's Classic American, Davide, and DownCity. All the owners and employees are in good spirits, and it's nice to see some businesses actually succeed following appearing on Kitchen Nightmares, as so many news stories report on the featured restaurants reverting to their old ways. However, while Kitchen Nightmares is known for horrific arguments, the episode simply lacks the tension and drama of the usual episodes, and that's the very reason the show is so popular.
9 Kati Allo (Season 7, Episode 4)
No one needs to be a business expert to know that buying into an industry they know nothing about is a terrible idea, but that's exactly what Manny did when he bought Kati Allo, a Greek restaurant in New York that serves overcooked meat. The intense focus on Manny's relationship with his wife and daughter took away from what could've been a good episode overall. The episode felt as if Ramsey was more of a marriage counselor than a professional TV chef. The bickering between the husband and wife didn't work from a comedy standpoint, and it was instead exhausting watching a marriage fall apart.
8 Fleming (Season 3, Episode 11)
In Season 3, Episode 11, "Fleming," Chef Ramsay visited the restaurant Fleming in Miami, Florida. The restaurant had been around for thirty years, always being ed around between the family that owns it. What was once a favorite in the region, always packed to the brim, had become infrequently visited by anyone. The restaurant owners' commitment to turning their businesses around usually dictates the quality of the episodes, and that's why "Fleming" is one of Kitchen Nightmare's lesser episodes. Even though Gordon worked his magic, the owners soon returned to their old ways. Fleming is overall an unenthusiastic episode, and the restaurant inevitably closed in 2010 (via Reality TV Updates).
7 Levanti's Italian Restaurant (Season 6, Episode 8)
Season 6, episode 8, "Levanti's Italian Restaurant," tells the story of Dino and Tina, who run Levanti's, and though Dino owns the Italian restaurant, it's Tina who's burdened with running the sinking ship. It's hard to say whether it was the two-month-old tiramisu they served Ramsay or the exhaustive arguments that the siblings had that ruined the episode. Either way, Gordon's attempts to turn the failing restaurant into an American bistro fell flat. What makes the episode most disappointing is that Levanti's actually had the potential to be great, but Dino didn't have the business mindset or the work ethic to make it work.
6 Mama Maria's (Season 6, Episode 3)
Season 6, Episode 3, "Mama Maria's" is one of the worst episodes of Kitchen Nightmares simply due to how hard it is to watch. What is supposed to be a typical Italian restaurant in New York is horribly managed and serves moldy food. The rotten lobster tail is the grossest thing Ramsey ever found. "Mama Maria's" is a typical episode, as John the manager is incredibly stubborn and resistant to change in the beginning, but Ramsay inevitably turns it around. However, while part of the appeal of Kitchen Nightmares is the embarrassing behavior and difficult-to-watch arguments between the owners and Ramsey, John the manager's behavior was way too offputting.
5 Zayna Flaming Grill: Part 2 (Season 7, Episode 8)
Zayna Flaming Grill was such a flaming mess that the show dedicated two episodes to the restaurant. However, it's season 7, episode 8, "Zayna Flaming Grill: Part 2," where the two-parter really falls flat and has infamously become one of the worst episodes of Kitchen Nightmares. Kitchen Nightmares' best episodes strike a perfect mix of fallouts and heartfelt moments where the owners and employees see the errors of their ways, but the season 8 episode was nothing but fallouts. Zayna Flaming Grill was owned by five family , but two family ended up leaving, and without the making up, watching a family being torn apart just isn't entertaining.
4 Revisited #8 (Season 6, Episode 6)
Season 6, episode 6, "Revisited #8," saw Gordon Ramsay revisiting some of the most problematic restaurants — Cafe Hon, Chiarella's Restaurant, and Leones. Leones was the subject of one of the most emotional arcs in the series, as the owner's son had to take over running the business after the father underwent a medical emergency. Cafe Hon is also an iconic Kitchen Nightmares location for the trademark giant flamingo statue. As a result, it was actually exciting to return to these locations, and it was a relief to see that they were still doing well. Unfortunately, the episode fell into the same problems that all "revisited" episodes do.
3 Revisited #7 (Season 5, Episode 11)
Season 5, episode 11, "Revisited #7," was cursed simply due to how the network decided to order the season 5 episodes. While "revisited" episodes were never that entertaining in the first place, "Revisited #7" followed "Revisited #6" in quick succession, and fatigue quickly started to set in. In the season 5 episode, the British chef revisited three other restaurants that had appeared in season four - Spanish Pavillion, Kingston Café, and La Frite. Unfortunately, just like all the "revisited" episodes, "Revisited #7" was lacking in tension, drama, and high stakes, and following six other episodes in the same format, it just wasn't that refreshing anymore.
2 Bella Luna (Season 7, Episode 9)
Bella Luna was the last restaurant ever taken over by Gordon Ramsay on Kitchen Nightmares, as it was the series' penultimate episode (with a "revisited" special being the finale). The episode was ultimately frustrating due to Rosario, the mother of the restaurateurs badly running the business. Rosario thought her children were perfect and could do no wrong, and as a result, "Bella Luna" is one of the worst episodes of Kitchen Nightmares. However, at the very least, the final proper episode of the series totally lived up to its name, and Rosario could very well have been the author of Ramsey's nightmares
1 Revisited #9 (Season 7, Episode 10)
Unfortunately, Kitchen Nightmares didn't go out with a bang but a whimper, as the show's very last episode, season 7, episode 10, "Revisited No. 9," is the very worst episode of the series. While a "revisited" episode could perfectly give the show closure, the finale could have revisited Kitchen Nightmares' most famous restaurants that featured in the series' seven-year run. Instead, the episode revisited La Galleria 33 in Boston, the Olde Hitching Post, and Prohibition Gastropub, which were all featured in just the season before. The episode was totally vanilla and lacked any bite whatsoever, which isn't the way an almost 100-episode series of Gordan Ramsey yelling should have ended.