Giuseppi’s Kitchen Nightmares Update – Still Open in 2024?

Is Giuseppi’s still open?

Current Status: >> CLOSED <<
(keep reading to learn what happened)

Season: 2 | View All Season 2 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: September 18, 2008
Giuseppi’s Address: 46712 Hayes Road Macomb Township, Michigan 48044


Episode Recap

Giuseppi’s Trattoria was a Macomb Township (Detroit), Michigan restaurant featured on season 2 of Kitchen Nightmares.

Though the Giuseppi’s Kitchen Nightmares episode aired in September 2008, the actual filming and visit from Gordon Ramsay took place at the beginning of 2008.

It was Kitchen Nightmares Season 2 Episode 3.

In this episode of Kitchen Nightmares Chef Gordon Ramsay visits Giuseppi’s, a family owned Italian Trattoria located in Michigan.

For some reason, it’s listed as the Giuseppe’s Kitchen Nightmares episode in some places.

But if you look at the sign from the episode, it’s clearly spelled with an “i” and not an “e”.

The Giuseppi’s owners are Joe Borgia and his wife Kathy Borgia.

Kathy the Giuseppi's Trattoria owner

Chef Ramsay is forced to confront not only truly awful Italian food and dated décor in the restaurant, but he is tasked with uniting a fractured and feuding family.

Chef Ramsay arrives as Giuseppi’s and is treated to a bland, out-dated, and sloppy lunch.

To test the food, Gordon Ramsay sampled the potato skins, octopus salad, and Eggplant Rollatini.

Server Dawn can do nothing but apologize for the quality of the food.

At one point, Gordon Ramsay even has her sample his food to see how poor it is.

Gordon Ramsay eating at Giuseppi's

Father and son pair Joe and Sam have clearly given up on their standards and their dream.

Sam’s full name is Salvatore, but he just goes by Sam.

This lack of passion is a big part of why the Giuseppi’s Kitchen Nightmares episode exists.

In general, Chef Ramsay experiences a menu that lacks a true Italian sensibility.

Later, he returns for dinner service to see how the restaurant operates on a daily basis.

During dinner service, Chef Ramsay witnesses how many of the problems originate from laziness in the kitchen.

Sous chef Brian sends entrees out to customers that are heated in a microwave.

Joe neglects focusing on the front of the house to hover in the kitchen around Sam creating a tense atmosphere during service.

Joe the Giuseppi's Trattoria owner

Despite diners returning their entrees to the kitchen complaining of everything from food being cold to dishes tasting bland.

Overall, Joe and Sam can’t seem to get things together.

After this disastrous dinner service Chef Ramsay confronts Joe and Sam.

The father and son duo have an emotionally fraught conversation about the direction of the restaurant and their relationship as father and son.

While Sam commits to taking charge of the kitchen and says he wants to cook fresh and flavorful Italian food, Joe abdicates responsibility of the problems.

The next day, Chef Ramsay devises a cooking competition between father and son to help reignite their passion.

Each man creates a dish to potentially grace the menu as a special during dinner service.

Sam the Giuseppi's Trattoria chef

Joe crafts a sophisticated pork dish that beats Sam’s salmon entree, but Chef Ramsay decides to feature both plates.

During service that evening begins by Sam cooking in the kitchen and Joe expediting.

However, the pace of food leaving the kitchen quickly slows down.

Eventually Chef Ramsay has to step in himself on the line to get things moving.

That night Chef Ramsay’s team does a re-design of the dining room featuring a photo series of the family to make Giuseppi’s feel like the family-centered restaurant the pair always dreamed of.

During re-launch night the evening begins well, despite Joe having to take a breather from the line.

Surprisingly Brian begins to revert to his old messy habits and after a confrontation with Chef Ramsay is ejected from the kitchen.

Joe and Sam have to work together to finish service but are able to make it through the night while successfully executing a new and modern Italian menu.

Giuseppi's Kitchen Nightmares episode ending

Overall, things seem to be looking up for Giuseppi’s Trattoria.

So was the Kitchen Nightmares Giuseppe’s episode a success?

Keep reading our update to learn what happened next and if this Macomb Michigan restaurant is still open in 2024 and beyond.


Giuseppi’s Update - What Happened Next?

Now that we’ve recapped the Giuseppi’s Kitchen Nightmares episode, let’s talk about what happened to the restaurant after Gordon Ramsay and his crew left Macomb Township, Michigan.

After the Kitchen Nightmare’s intervention in 2008, Giuseppi’s seemed to have decent reviews, though there weren’t a lot of reviews written.

Gordon Ramsay also revisited the restaurant in Season 3 Episode 10, which is when he also revisited Sante La Brea and Finn McCool’s.

If you want to watch Gordon Ramsay’s Giuseppi’s restaurant revisit, you can see it in this YouTube video:

In the video, Sam seems to be doing much better as a chef and Gordon Ramsay likes his food.

Gordon Ramsay also brings along people from the Italian American Chamber of Commerce, who give Joe a plaque recognizing the restaurant for “authentic Italian cuisine”.

Overall, the Giuseppe’s Gordon Ramsay re-visit seemed to go very well.

Unfortunately, even positive reviews and a happier family would not be able to save the restaurant.

Is Giuseppi’s still open in 2024?

Giuseppi’s closed in July 2009, which was a little over a year after the actual visit from Gordon Ramsay, but less than a year after the Giuseppi Kitchen Nightmares episode aired on TV.

Despite a turn-around in business and several new positive reviews for the restaurant the family could not succeed in keeping the place open.

As of 2023, I believe that the old Giuseppi’s Trattoria Michigan location is occupied by a Chinese restaurant named Wing Wong Carryout Restaurant.

At least, it’s occupying part of the Giuseppi’s location in the strip mall.

The other part of the old location seems to be empty as far as I can tell.

Here’s a picture from Google Maps where you can kind of see it – the main Giuseppi’s property is the empty part on the far right:

If you know anything about what happened to the Giuseppi’s Michigan location, please let me know in the comments so that I can update this post.

Why did Giuseppi’s from Kitchen Nightmares close?

In explaining why Giuseppi’s closed, Joe and Sam cited an economic downturn in Michigan and troubles attaining a liquor license.

Remember – 2009 was right in the middle of the Great Recession, which was a time when a lot of businesses struggled.

In an interview with the Macomb Daily, Joe had this to say slightly before the Giuseppi’s Michigan location closed:

It’s a struggle to survive, I’m not going to lie.

Our weekends have been improving but weekdays are tough.

But even franchises restaurants around us are down 30 percent compared to a year or so ago.

That combination meant the restaurant couldn’t stay afloat and had to close its doors for good.

What happened to Joe from the Giuseppi’s Kitchen Nightmares episode?

Unfortunately, Joe doesn’t really have an online presence so I’m not sure what happened to him after Giuseppi’s closed.

Joe and Kathy were in retirement before opening the restaurant, so I hope they were able to go back to a successful retirement after it closed.

If you know anything, please let me know in the comments!

Is Joe from Giuseppi’s still alive?

Joe Borgia from Giuseppi’s is still alive as far as I can tell.

I searched around for an obituary and I couldn’t find anything that matches him.

So while I don’t know exactly what he’s doing, I’m fairly confident that Joe is still alive – and I hope it stays that way!

What happened to Sam from Giuseppi’s after Kitchen Nightmares?

After Giuseppi’s closed, Sam Borgia has continued his career in the culinary space.

He has worked at a number of different restaurants in the Detroit area.

As of 2023, Sam is working as an executive chef at Bar Verona in Romeo, Michigan.

You can see him listed as the executive chef on the Bar Verona About page.

Sam Borgia after Giuseppi's Kitchen Nightmares episode

After Giuseppi’s closed, Sam Borgia also had opened his own restaurant name Siciliano’s in Clinton Township, MI.

That restaurant stayed open for two years before Sam “stepped back” (it’s closed now, so I assume that means it closed after two years).

Congrats to Sam for making a lifelong career from his cooking!

Hat tip to the commenter below who shared these details.

Final thoughts on Giuseppi’s restaurant

Giuseppi’s Italian restaurant seemed to be doing ok after the Kitchen Nightmares episode and they were implementing a lot of Gordon Ramsay’s tips, including having a slimmed-down menu.

Unfortunately, Giuseppi’s closed in July 2009, a victim of the global financial crisis and issues with a liquor license.

If you want to see updates for another Michigan Kitchen Nightmares episode, you can check out our Jack’s Waterfront update in Saint Clair Shores, MI.

And if you want to share your thoughts on the Giuseppe’s episode, you can do so using the comments section below.


More Information

https://www.yelp.com/biz/giuseppis-trattoria-macomb-township




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And don't forget to check out all of the other Kitchen Nightmares updates.

Last updated: 2023-04-23 10:31

29 thoughts on “Giuseppi’s Kitchen Nightmares Update – Still Open in 2024?”

All comments are the sole opinion of the commenter and are not endorsed by RealityTVUpdates.

  1. I think Gordon is a very successful chef and business man! He should be listened to very hard by restauranteurs and not leave it until they are in dire straits before he is asked to sort them out. I love Gordon’s programmes😘

    Reply
  2. Joe the owner “Diabetes is the worst disease you can have…”
    WTH!?
    That guy can go screw himself. Ignorant self-absorbed person.

    Reply
      • It’s an awful disease, sure, but it’s not deadly unless you have a terrible diet. Cancer, leukemia, AIDS are just three examples of diseases far worse than diabetes.

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        • I’ve been a nurse practitioner for 36 years so I have a little knowledge when it comes to disease. There are several types (including subtypes) of diabetes. Regardless of diet, you have to realize the pancreas is NOT producing insulin, injecting insulin helps for awhile, but than the disease progresses. I’ve seen countless numbers of people loose their eyesight, loose limbs and die a slow & miserable death, and yes their diet was controlled within a hospital setting for months and they still died. You have no idea what your talking about.

          Reply
      • Can you please share where you got that information? I don’t see any obituary for Joe. I hope he’s still alive and kicking!

        Reply
  3. Even though the owners were completely incompetent when it came to running a restaurant, they were 100% spot-on when they were talking about the difficulties with getting a liquor license in Macomb Township. Not getting that license contributed to their problems because right across the street from them is a sports bar that is owned by a former Red Wings star player. The food there is not good at all, but people can get drinks there, and say they went to that player’s bar. Other business owners in the township have also had to wait for years for their liquor license, and others have also gone out of business while waiting to be “approved”. Years ago, the Macomb Township board decided to block owners from opening a bar in the same parking lot of their run-down, filthy banquet hall that is a couple of miles northeast of where Giuseppi’s was. The building was already there, was a restaurant that had closed,so the ladies that own the banquet hall bought it. The bar was completely separate, a separate building and a separate business. The township came up with all of these “ordinances” and “conditions” that the owners had to adhere to in order to open their bar, none of which had to be adhered to by the previous owner of the restaurant that had closed (such as being required to “tap in” to a different sewer line at a substantial cost). Macomb Township is notorious for being against small businesses, notorious for nepotism, and notorious for holding grudges against business owners who dare to challenge the township board and township officials, making the lives of those business owners miserable until they either give up or go broke trying to fight the township.

    Reply
    • Sounds like the Township needs a change in leadership. Vote people OFF and put people that will bring new revenues to the Township and help businesses succeed. That’s what makes a town, city GROW!

      Reply
  4. The location where GIUSEPPI’S was located is currently empty. The address for the strip mall is 46719 Hayes Rd, Shelby Twp, MI. If you watch the episode, around 11:45 into the episode they show a good view of the exterior. Giusseppi’s is on the south end of the strip mall. Businesses to the left (Wong Wing chinese food & Beauty Co), to the right is the side of building. As of January 2023, Google maps street view shows this space unoccupied. Wong wing and Beauty Co are still there.

    Reply
    • Yeah I had that. I was struggling to find the exact location in the strip mall. I think I figured it out from matching pictures on the episode to pictures on Google Maps street view. It seems to be a Chinese restaurant now.

      Reply
  5. Salvatore has continued his culinary career after the closing. He has been working at several Detroit area restaurants before becoming an executive chef at Bar Verona in Romeo, Mi where he now lives with his wife and family. the Link below is to his biography. it even mentions Guiseppi’s in the bio.

    https://barverona.com/about/

    Reply
  6. Joe the owner/retired cook was unpleasant to listen to. The nicest person was the blonde waitress. It seems like the funniest and most pleasant people on most KN shows are the waiters & waitresses. I wonder what happened to her?

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  7. Apparently Kathy and Joe are still alive ( in their late 60s early 70s) and living local to Macomb Twp. The resturant Sam is working at is down the road from me I’m going to try it out soon. The menu looks good. Also not suprised they had issues getting a Liquor license. The state of Michigan takes forever issuing them and I know a few resturant owners who have had issues getting them not just in Macomb. Macomb Twp board was super shady in the 90’s- mid 2000 ( it has gotten slightly better and Macomb Twp is a desirable place to live). You can check out Sam on FB.

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    • Thanks for letting me know! I’m glad Kathy and Joe are doing well. Let me know how the food is at Sam’s new restaurant.

      Reply
  8. Wing Wong has not replaced Giuseppe’s, it is next door and was there even when the original episode was filmed. It’s visible throughout the episode in all of the exterior shots.

    Reply

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