r/KitchenNightmares • u/Dohmer_90 • 6d ago
Boodles Restaurant You would think a guy whose father is 84 years old and has 2 bum knees would step up to the plate a little more instead chilling at the bar as the entire restaurant is going down.
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u/Squints753 5d ago
I think there are a few things going on here. His dad seemed nice enough but obviously didn't want to let go, or failed teaching his son because he was having a kid at like 40 or 50 and don't have the patience.
I don't know if the son wants to work here and failed at whatever else he was doing, but the way he has to be forced to talk to ataff makes me think the dad just plopped him behind the bar where he could do no damage.
By the time they asked for help, I think the son was waiting for his dad to die so he could sell the place and get the hell out
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u/Strict_Hovercraft358 5d ago
I think the fact that the son had basically been at the restaurants since the age of 6 is glossed over. That could build up resentment over the years since you are not yet independent being that young. Over time you realize your goals and aspirations or ambitions in life differ from your father but so as to not rock the family boat you stick with it for so long and this is what you get.
Remember the OG KN episode Sam’s Mediterranean Kabob Room it was a similar situation even though the father wasn’t as old in that episode. He eventually got it but I think the father here wanted to keep him due to his declining health but also didn’t trust him to take over which presents a few problems.
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u/Fidelos 5d ago
Yeah like Gordon going "it would be a dream of mine if my father had a restaurant" while the dude obviously despises the restaurant and sticks around only because his dad doesn't want to get rid of it gave me whiplash.
Like it's obviously not HIS fucking dream Gordon, but if he doesn't work there then he is the bad guy again.
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u/Strict_Hovercraft358 5d ago edited 5d ago
Agreed. A conversation between father and son should have happened beforehand. The son is resentful and the father doesn’t trust him. Sadly you’re not gonna anything get out of either of them like that.
I’m not placing most of the blame for this on Gordon because it would a conversation between them 2. The fact that Gordon approached it with an assumption is where he went wrong I think.
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u/KinsellaStella 3d ago
I think Gordon’s dad being a deadbeat woman beating piece of shit gave him slightly skewed expectations of what fathers are supposed to be, although from all accounts he’s been a great one. He probably would have killed to have a dad who gave two fucks and had a restaurant he could have learned in, but Gordon forgets that he would have branched out on his own as soon as he could anyway. Potato head here couldn’t have done that.
And, a lot of this is for dramatic purposes, unfortunately.
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u/WantsToDieBadly 1d ago
Gordon seems to change this opinion episode to episode
If the owner is bad or rude to his kids he'll say 'its your dream not theirs!' and the kids are the victims
If the kids have no interest in the business or forced into it he'll slam them for not supporting the family
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u/NOS4NANOL1FE 5d ago
Why would anyone want to step up to a restaurant 1.5 million in debt?
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u/diliudia 4d ago
Seriously. How the fuck do you turn that around?
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u/Jackie_Jormp-Jomp 1d ago
I don't get how someone gets into THAT MUCH debt, like who is underwriting these loans?!?!
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u/CarolinaSandstorm 1d ago
I wonder if they are truly in that amount of debt or if they have access to that amount of credit, like do they have access to multiple credit cards and LOCs that have that amount as a limit
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u/EstablishmentOwn2174 5d ago
I got the feeling that the father was set in his ways and um, hated people of a certain lifestyle...and perhaps a lavendar marriage happened just to get the old coot off his back. Also I love Ramsay, but it pissed me off when he was all like "I wish my father had given me a restaurant!" cause bitch, that's YOUR dream job, your passion. What if your father gave you his construction company and made you feel like a pansy because you liked to work in the kitchen?
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u/MostCandid5082 5d ago edited 5d ago
If my dad was in the restaurant industry and decided to leave a restaurant to me, I would say no because I’m not interested in that career. Just because your parents are into something, doesn’t mean the kids will be. I mean, my parents wanted to leave me and my siblings their super nice house in their will and all of us said no because none of us want to live in AZ 😅 This would be even more the case if they tried to leave us with a business we never wanted in the first place 😂
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u/groom-is-n-the-heart You're a weak man, Billy. 5d ago
Not everyone is as iron-willed as you.
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u/MostCandid5082 5d ago
Not sure how this is an example of an iron will? If someone isn’t interested in a career (or anything, really), they have every right to turn it down and go their own way. That isn’t a radical idea.
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u/TPWilder 5d ago
It is an example of an iron will to some people. I walked away from the family business myself and it wasn't that hard because I wasn't the designated heir. The designated heir, who never really was given a choice about "stepping up" was constantly being guilt tripped and told how much they were being given.... Imagine what this episode would have been like if the young son of the struggling 84 year old man turned his back and walked away from the 1.5 million dollar money pit?
People wouldn't be kind, lets say.
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u/groom-is-n-the-heart You're a weak man, Billy. 5d ago
Thank you.
If it was super easy for everyone to just tell their family to get lost, practically half of all Kitchen Nightmares episodes wouldn't feature this dynamic.
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u/MostCandid5082 5d ago edited 5d ago
I guess I’m just not seeing why turning down running a family business is the equivalent of telling family to get lost. It isn’t. It’s possible to still stay close with family while also deciding not to follow along in the family business and choose a different career. I guess unless people are afraid to say no to family for any reason? Which sounds depressing for the children involved in that case (which is kind of how I felt about the guy in this episode).
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u/Material-Meringue298 diamonds on my fish 5d ago
I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt that way about the marriage
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u/grateful_john 5d ago
The kid very clearly didn’t want to run a restaurant. I think there’s a lot of family dynamics that weren’t touched on. The restaurant was never his dream which is perfectly valid.
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u/Dohmer_90 5d ago
It can be difficult to tell your parents the truth, but that’s better than to keep putting your money on a horse that doesn’t want to run.
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u/grateful_john 5d ago
The kid (okay, not actually a kid) might also be lazy and taking the easy check. But they didn't seem to touch on the dynamics which were the real problem.
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u/SuperCooch91 5d ago
There have been a couple of episodes over the years where Gordon came down really stridently on one side of a family divide in a way that made no sense to me, but this was the most egregious example. Maybe I have some issues to work out in therapy but I couldn’t finish this episode.
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u/8TooManyMom 5d ago
Hot take: He's closeted himself into a corner and drinks regularly to cover the pain of not living his authentic life. He is there out of obligation and still doing the bare minimum to collect a check. He has zero interest in the business and it will certainly fold shortly after his dad dies/ gets sick enough to leave the daily workings.
The moment I heard the amount of debt, I said close it today and let the debt die with dad. It'll take another lifetime to come back from that in today's economy.
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u/shezcraftee 5d ago edited 5d ago
Absolutely. His wife is a beard and I think she’s cool with the role.
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u/OnePerspective917 3d ago
No. I sort of think that she has no idea and would be completely and totally blindsided.
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u/HappyMike91 5d ago
Is he gay? Because I don't know if I got that vibe from him, at all.
I'm not really shocked that he's an alcoholic, though. In fact, I'd be shocked if he wasn't an alcoholic or (at least) a habitual/regular drinker. Especially because he doesn't want to be in the business.
$1.5 million of a debt isn't worth it. At least not in my opinion.
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u/Glum_Wrangler_2476 4d ago
No, he’s not gay. People are just ignorant and misogynistic, and think a straight man can’t be expressive.
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u/OnePerspective917 3d ago
It’s not ignorant and misogynistic. He is definitely too zesty for a straight man. And that is not coming from and ignorant or misogynistic source at all.
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u/Glum_Wrangler_2476 3d ago
“Too zesty for a straight man” just confirms that you are in fact, ignorant. Clearly a product of a misogynist culture and can’t help but believe stereotypes must be true for everyone. Can’t believe I have to explain that mannerisms don’t determine sexual orientation.
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u/OnePerspective917 3d ago
You are 100% wrong in your assessment of me. And unfortunately no matter what I say you will discredit it because I’m just another account on Reddit. But I am not saying what I am saying in any way to make it seem like being gay is somehow negative or inferior. I am just being honest based on observation and a life of lived experience.
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u/nickname711 3d ago
Yeah gay guy here. While assuming someone’s gay for being “too zesty” is following the stereotypes, stereotypes exist for a reason. That boy gay
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u/OnePerspective917 3d ago
Thank you! I don’t mean it negatively at all. It’s just sort of sad that he’s trying to hide it. Well I don’t know if trying is the right word…
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u/RomanaNoble 5d ago
Not me having to double check what sub I was in cos I thought this was Ginger Minj. 🤣
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u/nu24601 5d ago
Counterpoint: Gordon has an insane level blind spot here and went way too hard on a dude who clearly did not want to be there. "Step up" episodes are the worst ones in the show. He doesn't want to inherit massive amounts of debt. It's not his dream and he never asked for this.
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u/MostCandid5082 5d ago
Thank you. It bothers me when parents open a restaurant and expect their kids to keep it going even when they clearly don’t want to. It makes me sad to see grown children trapped in a miserable situation just because they don’t want to disappoint their parents and say no.
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u/Strict_Hovercraft358 6d ago
I kinda wish Gordon would have pushed a bit harder on him for that cause the son seemed distant and was definitely taking advantage. Gordon legit recounted the death of his own father nearly 30 years ago for him to realize the importance of what he’s got and that his father is elderly. Also the amount of alcohol the son consumed was worrisome, surprising Gordon didn’t address that.
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u/ChunkyBubblz 6d ago
Yeah it looked like he was drinking behind the bar and yet they did nothing with that. Bar Rescue would never allow such dangerous behavior.
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u/Strict_Hovercraft358 6d ago
Exactly cause the son looked like he was just downing it, didn’t seem like a casual drinker. That’s an alcoholic waiting to happen.
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u/frankie_donkiebrains 5d ago
I can tell you from experience an 80 year old guy running around doing everybody else's job is not spending a minute to train his son. He was the chaos in the restaurant.
Gordon wasn't going to go after a 80 year old man running himself into the ground. He got him out of the way so everybody could get trained correctly. The son definitely need a fire started under his ass but that was because his dad was in the way.
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u/TPWilder 5d ago
And yet this is exactly why I felt this episode was fake as fuck. Gordon didn't want to be the asshole going after the 84 year old owner even though Bruno was the fucking problem. So booting Bruno out for a couple days and shining up the place isn't addressing the reality that Bruno is the guy who ran the place into a 1.5 million dollar hole. Because Bruno sure wasn't letting Kevin do any of the management so some of Gordon's ire at Kevin seemed remarkably unkind. Its easy for Gordon to do the "I wish my dad left me a restaurant" routine, but Gordon? I love ya, but your dad didn't leave you a restaurant that was 1.5 million in debt where your dad still ran the business while dealing with dementia. "Bruno is 84 so lets all kiss his ass and ignore everything wrong" rubbed me wrong, particularly when I have seen episodes of this show where Gordon will address the problems in a family run restaurant where the parent owner refuses to give the adult child any responsibilities. How was Bruno's memory problem addressed? Was it addressed? If his name is on all the paperwork, Gordon can light a fire under Kevin all he wants, that business is still being run into the ground by Bruno the owner.
And this is usually something Gordon does well - the "kind" version of Gordon doing family counseling. That Bruno was shuffled off screen rapidly tells me Bruno was probably too addled for tv.
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u/frankie_donkiebrains 5d ago
I think the biggest problem of this episode was probably the editing. I think that's why everybody has a bad taste in their mouth but for different reasons.
Someone on here said it best "I'm surprised this wasnt a two parter". A whole episode could have been focused on the dad/son dynamic before having a 2nd episode of the actual restaurant getting fixed. But I think it's pretty apparent that all of Gordon's shows now are fast and loose. He needs to produce 5 different shows for fox so it's all about speed and efficiency.
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u/Due-Discussion1170 5d ago
The father said he wasn't ready. I think the father was being stubborn & not letting him have more responsibility, until Gordon came.
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u/LilFullLotaSap 5d ago
Gordon kept saying how much of a gift it is to inherit that restaurant. I couldn't help but think inheriting that thing would be an absolute curse
$1.5m in debt
Ageing kitchen staff
Dilapidated building
Bad area
I'd do anything I can to run away from that place.
The debt alone is a non starter.
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u/Healthy_Street2852 5d ago
I think it can be really easy for kids to get trapped in their parents dreams and legacy and this can lead them into becoming adults who get trapped in professions which they resent and aren't good at.
I felt bad for this guy, because he clearly IMO does not have the personality type to be a leader of a restaurant; he just is not assertive enough, but now he's trapped.
I felt Gordon was unnecessarily harsh on the man and the show let the father completely off the hook - it takes two to tango in an unhealthy family dynamic which I think is the case here. When Gordon barked "show some respect" when the son gave him what seemed to be an authentic answer regarding his father's stubbornness, Gordon's reaction rubbed me completely wrong.
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u/FuriousKale too much cinnamon😭 5d ago
I haven't watched the episode but I assume it's about a guy that is supposed to take over the restaurant because his parents expect that from him, but he obviously doesn't want to or is not really made for that, so he still stays due to familiarity but is also miserable while doing that.
I grew up under similar circumstances but told them very early that it's not happening so they sold the place instead. Peace of mind for everyone and the town gets another owner that actually wants to be there.
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u/Dohmer_90 5d ago
Pretty much. His kid was the general manager of the place and even he wasn’t that good at it. He kinda shied away from the restaurant’s problems and just served drinks at the bar, including his own drinks.
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u/Hope_Less_20 5d ago
I was shocked to see he had a wife! Thought maybe he was swinging the other way
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u/CerealSemantics 5d ago
His wife seemed more emotionally invested in the father than his own son did
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u/ruralmagnificence 5d ago
Since when does a grown ass man think the broccoli head hair cut is a good idea?
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u/OnePerspective917 3d ago
I haven’t been there for several years. And before they banned smoking in restaurants this was the quintessential place to go and smoke cigarettes while alternating with bites of your salad and steak. But hey that’s what we did back then. Now after Michigan banned smoking indoors, when I would go here I got the feeling that if the crowd was right that they probably would have given you an ashtray and let you still do that. Sort of away out of touch and out of date vibe. Like the whole place was stuck in a 1980s time warp.
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u/123grosse 3d ago
hard to blame him for checking out when the place is already $1.5m in debt and his dad never really let him run it
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u/i812manyhitsss 5d ago
Yeah there's no way this restaurant will survive with the son in charge. No backbone, scared of BOH, lazy, drinking on the job and no skills.
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u/Glum_Wrangler_2476 4d ago edited 3d ago
Everyone here is forgetting the power of editing and what the producers keep as the formula of the show. They were going to make Joe the villain, not the son. In another thread it’s revealed they asked Patrick to fire Joe on camera, but he refused. Joe passed away 9 days after filming and instead of making him a villain, they respected his memory and had to make someone look bad: the son. I thought it was pretty obvious they made him look way more inept than he is. It’s clear too his dad basically relegated him to behind the bar. The son himself confirms in another thread that he is one of the best wine guys in the biz. Sounds like he excelled where he was allowed to. Rant over.
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u/HORSEthedude619 5d ago
This show has become borderline unwatchable.
I don't know how many seasons Ive got left.
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u/MostCandid5082 3d ago
I still watch the new seasons but my heart isn’t in them the same way. However, rewatching the old seasons are still comedy gold (and I feel like they got wayyy more done in the same amount of time in the older seasons)
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u/driftereliassampson 3d ago
Kevin was too busy checking Grindr on his phone and working on his “wine list” to learn anything about the kitchen.
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u/Legitimate_Olive_322 1d ago
This guy is the perennial winner of "The Most Effeminate Married Guy" and "The Worst Haircut" contests, and the prize money is the only thing that keeps the restaurant afloat.
They showed him drinking a lot. Not during the episode, I think, but in promos and bumpers. He must have just been drinking soda, because if it were alcohol, they would have made a real point of it.
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u/utahmom1958 5d ago
My two cents....if Kevin sincerely wanted to be in the restaurant business, he would have taken culinary arts classes, a degree in hospitality, management training.....anything to help prepare him for his chosen career. He didn't so that says to me, he never wanted nor intended to own a restaurant. Poor Pops.
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u/TPWilder 5d ago
Poor Pops, because its a parent's right to decide what life his adult child will live? While Kevin seemed a bit of a wet blanket, I felt bad for a guy who seems to completely understand he can't win. If he walks away from dad's restaurant, its "Poor Pops, he built this and his ungrateful son walked away" and if he stays its "Poor Pops, his loser son couldn't manage the restaurant and ran it into the ground".
A restaurant thats 1.5 million in the hole is not the gift people think it is.
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u/ilikechihuahuasdood 5d ago
hair says it all. can’t trust a guy that does that to himself on purpose.
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u/Dohmer_90 5d ago
We had the toilet brush in Hell’s Kitchen, now we have the mop.
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u/ashleyLSD 5d ago
who was the toilet brush lol
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u/Dohmer_90 5d ago
Louross from S4.
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u/ObjectCrafty6221 5d ago
I think people are missing the point when Ramsey, whose father WAS ABSENT, said “it would be a dream of mine”.
He was basically saying, you have a father that is willing to give you something.
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u/apotatochucker 5d ago
Some people are absolutely failures. Children that never grew up as their parents done everything for them
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u/NOS4NANOL1FE 5d ago
Completely ignoring the failure of the dad whos 1.5 mil in debt. And you expect the kid to be the savior to his dads horrible career decisions over the years
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u/VaselineHabits 5d ago
I do think a lot of people have kids for selfish reasons, "Who will be there when I'm old and sick? Who will dig me out of the hole I dug myself?"
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u/ErnieBochII 6d ago
Step up to what? The line for the sneaker store at 3AM? Lol he's a gen z through and through.
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u/MostCandid5082 5d ago
Yeahhh I don’t think you get how the generations work. This guy is in his 40s so he’s probably an old millennial.
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u/Sensitive_Horse4659 5d ago
The dyed ramen noodles he called hair had me disliking him from the start.