(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 4 | View All Season 4 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: May 6, 2011
Capri Address: 4604 Eagle Rock Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90041
Episode Recap
Capri was an Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California restaurant featured on Season 4 of Kitchen Nightmares.
Though the Capri Kitchen Nightmares episode aired in May 2011, the actual filming and visit from Gordon Ramsay took place earlier in January 2011.
It was Kitchen Nightmares Season 4 Episode 12.
The Capri restaurant is located in Eagle Rock, a neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles, California.
It’s owned by Jim and Jeff Thiel, two identical twin brothers.
The two were regulars at the The Capri restaurant and offered to buy it on a whim.
Why did they buy The Capri restaurant? The reason was that they wanted free pizza. I guess I’ve heard worse reasons…
The twin owners are immature, but they are trying their best.
Still, they have no idea how to run a restaurant and Capri is struggling, which is why the Capri Kitchen Nightmares episode exists in the first place.
The pizza cook Darian doesn’t think the twins can cook.
The twins are behind on several bills and are hoping that Gordon Ramsay will be able to help them and Capri.
Gordon Ramsay arrives and thinks the restaurant exterior looks cheesy.
A stereotypical Italian sign says the restaurant has been open since 1963.
The dining room is empty, and Jeff greets Gordon.
As Gordon takes in the very dated atmosphere, the twins play a trick of Gordon by switching places. Classic, am I right?
However, Gordon Ramsay is less than impressed by this trickery.
Although the restaurant has been open since 1963, it was brought by the brothers 14 years ago.
They aren’t open for lunch as they just do not have the staffing.
The Capri restaurant is also only open Wednesday through Sunday.
The brothers have no answers as to why they are closed on Monday and Tuesday.
To drive home his point, Gordon says the restaurant is closed longer than it is open.
The menu Gordon is given is plastic and flimsy. Basically, it seems cheap.
It is also so dirty Gordon is having a hard time reading it, which probably doesn’t signal good things about the quality of the food at the Capri Italian restaurant.
The server tells Gordon that nothing has been updated since the twins took over the restaurant.
Gordon orders the meatball sandwich, chicken Scarpello and the Capri colossal pizza.
As Gordon waits for his food, the twins slack off in the kitchen.
Gordon inspects the restaurant and discovers dried food on the seats, old worn-out furniture, and that there is tape keeping the carpet together.
There is even a container of dirty, dusty pasta that has been out for 20 years. What the heck…
Jim is responsible for cleaning, but he can’t tell Gordon the last time he actually cleaned the restaurant.
The meatball sub is made with frozen meatballs and cubed cheese.
The Capri colossal pizza has every topping possible besides anchovies.
Gordon can barely take a bite because there’s so much stuff on it.
The final dish, chicken Scarpello, is bland and dull.
The chicken tastes off to Gordon and asks the server if the chicken is sour. The server has no idea.
The owners also have no idea, but they know they removed the chicken from the freezer yesterday.
As a result, Gordon has to tell the customers that there’s no chicken on the menu, which leads to a big argument between Jim and Gordon, with Darian, the pizza cook, adding some of his own thoughts.
Eventually, Gordon gets it through the twins heads that they need to change and communicate better if they want the Capri restaurant to survive.
Beyond that, Gordon and his crew worked overnight to perform one of the biggest Kitchen Nightmares renovations/makeovers in the show’s history.
Beyond changes to the physical space, Capri also got a brand new restaurant sign.
On the relaunch night, there are obviously a few hiccups, but things generally go well and it seems like Capri is set up for success.
So was the Kitchen Nightmares Capri restaurant episode a long-term success? Keep reading our update to learn what happened next and if this Eagle Rock Blvd restaurant is still open in 2023 and beyond.
Capri Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve covered everything that happened in the Capri restaurant Kitchen Nightmares episode, let’s talk about what happened next after Gordon Ramsay and his crew left Eagle Rock California.
Things seemed to start off well for the Capri restaurant. It stayed open after the rescue by Gordon Ramsay and reviews were generally more positive after Gordon’s visit.
Overall, the restaurant had a four star rating on its Yelp page, which ain’t too shabby for a restaurant that appeared on Kitchen Nightmares.
Business was also up, which helped improve the bottom line for Jim and Jeff Thiel.
In general, the twins seem to have kept most of Gordon Ramsay’s changes, which explain the improvements.
To win back old customers, though, they did bring back a few of the old menu items as specials.
However, it would not last forever. But first, let’s talk about what happened soon after Gordon’s visit.
Did Gordon Ramsay re-visit the Capri restaurant?
Gordon Ramsay returned to Capri in season 5 of Kitchen Nightmares as part of the Revisited #7 episode, which aired in January 2012.
This is the same episode that featured Spanish Pavillion, Kingston Cafe, and La Frite.
In the return visit, Gordon enjoyed the pizza that he ordered and the twins told him that business was up 20% since the Capri Kitchen Nightmares episode aired.
Beyond his smiling face, Gordon also surprises the twins with a gift – a certificate of appreciation for their meatballs from the local Chamber of Commerce. Congrats to the twins!
In addition to the improved business, the reviews were generally more positive and the twins had done a good job of keeping with Gordon’s menu.
Unfortunately, I can’t find a high-quality video of the Capri Gordon Ramsay revisit. However, I did find a low-quality one on YouTube – the Capri part starts around the 27:24 mark:
Is the Capri still open after Kitchen Nightmares?
Unfortunately, The Capri restaurant eventually closed in September 2019 because of declining sales and health issues for the owner.
In their Facebook goodbye message, the twins said “The end of an era Thank you all We will miss you!!!”.
Unfortunately, that means that The Capri is no longer open for business and it’s officially on our Kitchen Nightmares closed list.
However, the person who purchased The Capri from the twins does have plans to keep the Capri name when reopening the new restaurant.
As of 2022, the Capri Eagle Rock location is now occupied by Capri Club.
True to his promise, Robert Fleming, the new owner, renovated the restaurant to “harken back to its 1960s founding”, according to this Los Angeles Times article.
If you’re in the Eagle Rock, CA area and you want to check it out, you can learn more at the official Capri Club website.
Where are Jim and Jeff Thiel now?
Jeff and Jim Thiel, AKA the twins, are not very active on social media so it’s hard to keep up with them.
According to Jim’s LinkedIn page, he’s an actor looking for representation, which is one bit of information.
The twins were child actors, so this makes sense. This article from The Occidental News details some of their back story.
Jim and Jeff Thiel also have their own YouTube channel where they’ve posted two videos that show them in 2021.
You can see both of them singing in this video – they seem healthy and happy:
If you know anything else about what happened to Jim and Jeff Thiel, please let me know in the comments!
Final thoughts on The Capri Italian restaurant
Overall, the Capri had a solid run after the visit from Gordon Ramsay.
The Capri Kitchen Nightmares episode aired in 2011 and the restaurant stayed open until 2019, which is a solid eight years of business.
Sadly, the Capri closed because of declining sales and health issues.
However, the new owner has renovated the old Capri Eagle Rock California location and it’s now occupied by Capri Club, which keeps some historical references.
If you want to see updates for some other nearby California Kitchen Nightmares episodes, you can check out our posts for Kingston Cafe in Pasadena and Sebastian’s in Toluca Lake.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-capri-italian-los-angeles-3https://www.facebook.com/TheCapri1/
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Last updated: 2022-09-08 06:58
According to Jeff’s Facebook, he has been working at FedEx Ground since October 2019.
The boys needed to know that there’s no such thing as a free pizza.