(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 3 | View All Season 3 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: March 26, 2010
Anna Vincenzo's Address: 1930 NE 5th Ave Boca Raton, FL 33431
Episode Recap
Anna Vincenzo’s was a Boca Raton, Florida restaurant featured on season 3 of Kitchen Nightmares.
Though the Anna Vincenzo’s Kitchen Nightmares episode aired on March 26, 2010, the actual filming and visit from Gordon Ramsay happened all the way back in July, 2009.
It was Kitchen Nightmares Season 3 Episode 9.
In this episode of Kitchen Nightmares Chef Gordon Ramsay takes us to Anna Vincenzo’s restaurant, in Boca Raton, Florida, where we meet the owner, CeCe.
CeCe is a self-taught cook who doesn’t think there are any rules when it comes to cooking.
Her menu is based on serving whatever she likes and wants to cook at the time.
When the restaurant first opened, business was booming and she was making a lot of money.
However, the restaurant started to decline; it has gotten so bad and overwhelming that CeCe is now losing interest in her own business.
CeCe is on the verge of bankruptcy and is about to lose her house, with over $190,000 in debt owed to her father.
These are the main reasons why she reached out to Gordon Ramsay for help and why the Kitchen Nightmares Anna Vincenzo’s restaurant episode exists.
When Gordon Ramsay arrives, he is impressed with the decor of the restaurant.
He meets CeCe, CeCe’s father, and CeCe’s husband, Michael, who is also the head server.
Gordon then sits down to eat and orders the salmon divino salad, snapper Anna, and a pizza.
When the salmon arrives it is dry and overcooked.
Despite the restaurant claiming that the salmon is fresh, Gordon can tell that it was frozen.
When the snapper Anna arrives Gordon claims that it looks like a dog’s dinner, which isn’t something you want to hear about food from a restaurant.
That’s an understatement lol.
Last to arrive is the pizza and Gordon says that it is soggy in the middle and crispy on the outside and very bland.
Afterwards, Gordon gives his feedback to CeCe and the kitchen staff, but CeCe is defensive and not receptive to Gordon’s criticism.
In fact, more than just not listening to Gordon, they get angry in response to him.
I mean, he’s only Gordon Ramsay – what could he known about food? /sarcasm
Later that night Gordon returns to observe the restaurant during a dinner rush.
He begins by inspecting the kitchen, where he finds frozen gnocchi and a tray of over-cooked meatballs.
The food that night goes out quickly, but it is sent back just as fast, and the customers are unhappy with what they received.
The next day Gordon comes in and tells CeCe that the menu is too big and has a negative effect on the kitchen.
Gordon Ramsay then introduces a special that is not only fresh but it’s delicious.
His aim is to position the restaurant as an ideal place to get value and quality for a family dinner.
Gordon revamped the menu by eliminating a lot of the items and introduced a family style lasagna special and a new soup.
That night Gordon and his team give the restaurant a makeover with new tableware, a caricature of CeCe, and a new family style menu.
As part of the makeover, Gordon invites players from a bunch of local sports teams for a pizza contest.
This included the Miami Dolphins (football), the Miami Heat (basketball), and the Florida Panthers (hockey).
Gordon also has the staff taste the new menu items and they all love it.
The night of relaunch and the service starts with the food going out quickly and enjoyed by the customers.
At the end of the night the customers complimented the food and the relaunch was a total success.
So was the Kitchen Nightmares Anna Vincenzo’s episode a long-term success?
Keep reading our update to learn what happened next and if this Florida restaurant is still open in 2024 and beyond.
Anna Vincenzo's Update - What Happened Next?
While things seemed to be going well after the Anna Vincenzo’s Kitchen Nightmares episode aired, the good times would not last.
Here’s the bad news…
Is Anna Vincenzo’s still open in 2024?
Despite the high note at the end of the episode, Anna Vincenzo’s closed in April 2010, one month after the episode aired.
Remember, the episode was actually filmed in July 2009, so the closure actually happened around nine months after Gordon’s visit.
As of 2023, the old Anna Vincenzo’s Boca Raton Florida location is occupied by a new restaurant named Arun’s Indian Kitchen.
It seems to have good reviews, with a 4.5 star rating on its Yelp page.
They’re also a NY Floral shop next door that seems to match the location from the episode, but the actual address matches the Indian restaurant.
Here’s what the old Anna Vincenzo’s Florida location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view…
The picture is from May 2022:
Gordon Ramsay tried to revisit Anna Vincenzo’s in Season 4
Gordon revisited the restaurant in the Kitchen Nightmares revisited #5 episode from season 4 in 2011.
This was the same episode where he revisited Le Bistro in Florida and Lido di Manhattan in California.
In his visit, he found that the Anna Vincenzo’s restaurant was closed.
Instead, he ended up visiting CeCe and talking about why she closed the restaurant.
In the revisit, we see that CeCe had lost a lot of weight – congratulations to CeCe on her weight loss.
Here’s a before and after picture so you can see CeCe’s weight loss – she said she reduced her weight by about half, and I can believe it:
You can see the full revisit at around the 21:50 mark of this YouTube video:
Why did Anna Vincenzo’s close?
CeCe said that the sold the Anna Vincenzo’s restaurant so that she could spend more time with her kids.
She said that the business was actually doing well, but she still wanted to get out of the business.
The reviews after Gordon’s visit were actually fairly positive, so it does seem likely that this was the reason rather than issues with the restaurant itself.
That’s totally understandable and I hope that she’s doing well.
What happened to CeCe from Anna Vincenzo’s?
Other than CeCe’s weight loss and generally lower stress life, I’m not sure what else CeCe is up to.
I hope she’s healthy and enjoying more time with her children.
What happened to Michael from Anna Vincenzo’s?
After Anna Vincenzo’s closed, Michael opened a new restaurant called Il Contadino in Delray Beach, Florida.
As of 2023, Il Contadino is still open and has a four star rating on its Yelp page.
Congratulations to Michael on his success!
Final thoughts on Anna Vincenzo’s restaurant
Though Anna Vincenzo’s seemed to be set up for success after the visit from Gordon Ramsay, it closed just one month after the Kitchen Nightmares Anna Vincenzo’s episode aired on TV.
CeCe said that she sold the restaurant to spend more time with her family.
Gordon Ramsay tried to revisit the restaurant but found that it was closed.
Instead, he had a talk with CeCe, in which she revealed her weight loss.
As of 2023, the old Anna Vincenzo’s Florida location is occupied by a new restaurant named Arun’s Indian Kitchen.
Michael opened his own restaurant in Delray Beach which seems to be doing well.
If you want to see some other South Florida Kitchen Nightmares episodes, you can check out our updates for Le Bistro in Lighthouse Point FL and Fleming in Miami.
And if you want to share your thoughts on the Anna Vincenzo’s episode, you can do so using the comments section below.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
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Last updated: 2023-05-16 07:20
CeCe lost the weight because she refused to eat the awful food she herself cooked. Meanwhile the new owners took the hint from Gordon’s review of the salmon Anna and changed the place to a dog restaurant.
You’re kinda c*nty.
So is the neon-colored sewer cleanser most Indian restaurants try to pass as food before it passes as diarrhea.
Glad to hear that Cece failed, it couldn’t have happened to someone more deserving.
How awful at this comment
CeCe had a mouth like a toilet bowl and was incredibly nasty. She looked and acted like trash, and I would never eat at any place where you can hear the staff yelling and cursing all the time.
The reason CeCe failed is that down the street in a strip mall, there’s a restaurant called Big joe’s Burgers & Wings. I found it moving around on the Google Maps. Joe creamed CeCe in getting the lunch crowd.
Also, if you look at the photo of the strip mall with the replacement restaurant (Arun’s), there is an H & R Block office. It’s well known by people who just make things up that H & R Block serves excellent food. The reason is that so much of their tax work is limited to just a few months of the tax season, so the rest of the year the workers are bored and have time to do something else. The company leadership decided to use that extra time to train the workers as chefs. They succeeded and of course as tax pros they have the business skills to run a profitable restaurant. CeCe couldn’t possibly compete.
Ya, that didn’t work well for me. I filed late in the year during a Bastardo del Grappa special of the week. They got Grappa all over my return and it came back saying I owed $20,378.21
Cece is the epitome of white trash. Screw her and her nasty food!! She deserved to go out of business.
She didn’t go out of business, she sold it and made out better than a senator selling out to a pharmaceutical company.
I cannot find anything about Cece. I am not sure what her last name is, but under Cece Vincenzo there is nothing.
As to Michael, here is an article that states: https://www.bocamag.com/il-contadino-debuts-in-delray/ “Michael Menna is hoping his new eatery isn’t a “Nightmare.” Menna, whose ex-wife was chef-owner of the late Anna Vincenzo’s in Boca, in 2009 the subject of a savaging by celeb chef Gordon Ramsey on his “Kitchen Nightmares” program, has opened his own place in the old Sefa Mediterranean Grill in Delray’s Pineapple Grove neighborhood.”
So apparently Miss Piggy is divorced sometime before 2015.
Thanks for sharing more details! I had the part about him opening Il Contadino but I didn’t know the other backstory.
Here is facebook page of Il Contadino Restaurant. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063754384851
I watched “The Revisited” episode with CeCe, and had a hard time believing what all she said was truthful. Her behavior and mannerisms, as well as her verbal responses, left me feeling icky. I lived with a narcissist so maybe that’s the reason I feel this way. She is selfish and tries to come across differently.
CONCETTA MENNA is her name, annavincenzo’sinc was dissolved as a Florida corporation on 9/23/2011.
Broward County Case Number: FMCE10007322 CeCe filed for divorce in June 2010.
Broward County Case Number: DVCE11008219 // Domestic Violence case filed by CeCe on Michael in December 2011.
All this is public information.
Glad to hear that Cece failed, complete darwinism.
I saw the recap of Gordon going to the restaurant just to find out that it was closed. When he spoke to one of the waitresses, I believed everything she said & I do believe that Cece was her own downfall. That restaurant was way too toxic, Cece & her father didn’t make anything better. If anything they were both encouraging their own bs & she was a mess. Everything about the place was a mess, I’m not surprised Micheal left. He didn’t look happy to begin with, so it was bound to happen including shutting down the restaurant. It was damaged goods, as for Cece good for her for losing weight. She looked good, she also looked happier & I hope she’s doing ok & maybe went back to school for a career. She has potential to be successful, definitely not on the restaurant side but I know she can make it in life. I’m not a Cece hater nor a fan but she didn’t irritate me as much as Adele from manganelos(I hope it’s spelled right).
Michael takes Cece back to the kitchen and rolls her in flour.
I really thought they filmed Cece’s episode from the north end of Boston!
Wow! CeCe was some piece of work! I’m not surprised to see that they’re divorced now; I can’t imagine who could live with her. She looks like a whole new person now, except that she’s still wearing that heavy trashy makeup with painted on eyebrows. Still, she deserves to be congratulated on such drastic weight loss! I don’t understand why people call Chef Ramsay and then insult him and argue with everything he says – why ask for his help then? I don’t get it.
It is staged for TV.
When Gordon first meets his sever and says that he’ll have one of everything, there is a copy of the menu on his table. However, he claims to not have looked at the menu before he asked for one of everything. Then, when the server suggests that he looks at the menu first, she has to get him a copy… but he already had one in a previous shot.
Il cantadino closed permanently now!