(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 7 | View All Season 7 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: May 16, 2014
Bella Luna Address: 3417 Sullivan Trl Easton, Pennsylvania 18040
Episode Recap
Bella Luna was an Easton, Pennsylvania restaurant featured on Season 7 of Kitchen Nightmares.
Though the Bella Luna Kitchen Nightmares episode aired in May 2014, the actual filming and visit from Gordon Ramsay took place much earlier in July 2013.
It was Kitchen Nightmares Season 7 Episode 9.
The scene opens to an Italian restaurant just outside of downtown Easton in Pennsylvania – Bella Luna.
Owned by mom Rosaria, who bought the place in 2010 for son Gianfranco when he completed culinary school and Maurizio – her other son, Bella Luna does not stand anywhere close to its name, leave alone do justice to it.
Having survived 3 years, this Italian place is the chosen challenge of Chef Gordon Ramsay for this week.
The only question on the owner’s and chefs’ minds is “Why isn’t our restaurant thriving?”
Enter Gordon Ramsay — who is welcomed by the only sane person on the staff, the manager Traci — against the backdrop of a disgusting décor.
Traci describes the eatery’s interior as a morgue and criticizes owner Rosaria for lacking organizational and leadership skills. The place, along with its occupants, is messed up and sub-par.
Rosario, the owner, is adamant that the community they serve is a fan of frozen food and unable to truly cherish freshness of food here.
After promises of fresh and authentic Italian food from Rosario, Gordon sits down to sample three dishes on the menu – Veal Saltimbocca, Penne alla Vodka and Mussels Marinara.
None of the dishes are able to capture even a shred of his appreciation and he labels the veal as overcooked and repulsive, the pasta sauce as baby vomit and the mussels as super chewy and frozen.
Neither is the food authentic, nor fresh.
On further questioning, Ramsay finds out that Rosaria is unaware and in constant denial over the use of frozen foods and produce.
Whereas, Gianfranco and the other chefs honestly reveal to him that they can’t keep fresh mussels since the menu is too large.
Their regular dinner service is no-better and Gordon points out that the place even lacks basic tickets for orders and make-do with scraps of white paper.
Gordon then goes on a heist down the deep freezer and walk-in refrigerator where he confronts frozen chicken, shrimps, and moldy and smelly food.
With no ownership of the mess on the owner’s part, the place is shut down that very instant.
The very next day, a fake trial is held in a public building amidst some old customers where charges are filed against the owner for being a pushover and lazy, and against the chef for losing his passion and not having a voice.
Relaunch evening soon arrives where the restaurant staff are dumbfounded on walking into a radiant version of Bella Luna filled with rustic charm, credits Gordon Ramsay.
New menu, new food, and new machines are able to convince the disgruntled customers and the staff; the relaunch turns into a success despite a few hiccups.
So was the Kitchen Nightmares Bella Luna episode a success? Keep reading our update to learn what happened next and if this Easton, PA restaurant is still open in 2024 and beyond.
Bella Luna Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Bella Luna Kitchen Nightmares episode, let’s talk about what happened to the restaurant after Gordon Ramsay and his crew left Easton, Pennsylvania.
The place got busy post the not-so-perfect relaunch and was able to follow the roadmap for as long as 3-4 months.
Business increased significantly but a major hurdle came their way when they ran into a dispute with the landlord.
Bella Luna was also accused of illegally selling alcohol by state police, which probably didn’t help their chances of staying open.
Is Bella Luna still open after Kitchen Nightmares?
Bella Luna closed for good in late 2014.
Unfortunately, the restaurant only made it 3.5 months after their Kitchen Nightmares episode aired.
At the time of its closure, the owner had plans to reopen the Bella Luna Italian restaurant.
However, since it’s been years since Bella Luna’s reopening plans, it seems unlikely that Bella Luna will ever reopen in the future.
The old Bella Luna Easton PA location is currently for rent according to Remax.
The asking price is $3,700 per month – an absolute steal if you want to open your own Bella Luna restaurant!
As of 2022, the Bella Luna Easton Pennsylvania location seems to now be occupied by a pizza place named Tony’s Pizza and Restaurant.
If you want to see some other Pennsylvania Kitchen Nightmares episode, you have plenty of options.
You might want to check out our updates for Levanti’s in Beaver PA, Chiarella’s in Philadelphia PA, or Hot Potato Cafe in Philadelphia PA. To see even more options, you can check out the full Kitchen Nightmares location map.
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/bella-luna-eastonhttps://www.facebook.com/Bella-Luna-Ristorante-Bar-147495118683999/
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Last updated: 2022-07-23 05:36
It’s been four years, they’re obviously not reopening.
My sentiments exactly
They should have ditched the penne from Penne alla Vodka and just served vodka straight. Then again that’s what may have caused the trouble with the police. But at least they could have qualified for Bar Rescue.
By the way, is it true that Tony’s Pizza and Restaurant serves Thai food?
Also, the pasta sauce really was baby vomit. As the article states, the manager was the only sane person in the restaurant. The insane cooks sabotaged the recipes and ingredients.
The fat owner looked like she was there to launder money for the Jersey shore boys
Wow, how disrespectful of you. Were you born like that or did you just really practice a lot in front of a mirror?
Truth hurts?
How is Miss Piggy doing??
I thought the owner was so sweet and sincere She had absolutely no restaurant knowledge and like any mother she was a mother bear over her cub, once she was slapped with the truth she totally submitted- Which to me is not the attitude of a pig. I have seen people who are beautiful but their attitudes are so rotten they look like pigs. As for her size she was puffy and cute! 🙂
If someone referred to your mother that way, how would you answer that question?
What a project -Wow!! I Totally enjoyed it and very sad they have closed.
The facebook page is still active, 9 years after Bella Luna closed down. They had not updated since 2013. They have 56 Facebook reviews, and a 3.6 rating on FB.
Hey, Kitchen Nightmares is returning! So get ready for a Season 8 page!
I can’t wait! I’m already working on researching some of the restaurants, like Bel Aire Diner.
A perfect scenerio why you should not call in a TV show to give you business ideas. Every show like this are only interested in TV views and really helping you with consulting and they never do the Due Diligence and a company full audit. If they truely cared about these people and if they did any kind of due diligence the should know that financially these businesses have no chance. He should be saying to 90 % of these companies to sell the bunsiness while they can to get some money back. SMH