(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 3 | View All Season 3 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: January 29, 2010
Hot Potato Cafe Address: 529 E Girard Ave Philadelphia, PA 19125
Episode Recap
Hot Potato Cafe was a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania restaurant featured on Season 3 of Kitchen Nightmares.
Though the Hot Potato Cafe Kitchen Nightmares episode aired in January 2010, the actual visit from Gordon Ramsay happened before that in mid-2009.
It was Kitchen Nightmares Season 3 Episode 1.
When Gordon Ramsey set foot in the Hot Potato Café he was shocked by the lack of any kind of culinary delight in this homestyle eatery.
The food was tasteless, I mean 3-week old potato skins that had been frozen is horror enough but there was nothing on the menu that he even likes a little bit!
The town heard Gordon was there and packed the place that night.
The service was disorganized and sloppy with the food being sub-par (I wouldn’t have fed my dogs that stuff).
Gordon gathered them together and gave them a talking to about the way no one in the place really cared about what they were putting out.
He actually left that first night!
The owners actually followed him down the street and convinced him to come back to help their restaurant.
He relented and returned to work with them.
First up was showing the chef how to do a proper shepherd’s pie and a potato Florentine that the chef made.
The new items went over very well on the second night and the owners had a new commitment to their restaurant.
After that night, the menu was revamped and portions trimmed from their gargantuan sizes.
Gordon brought in help for the chef so she could get the help she needed to learn how to do the job right.
They opened for the next night with a new menu and renewed hope.
The food critic who originally trashed the restaurant is back for the relaunch; adding to the tension in the kitchen.
He gave them an excellent review after trying many of the new dishes.
So was the Kitchen Nightmares Hot Potato Cafe episode a long-term success? Keep reading to learn what happened next and if this Philadelphia PA restaurant is still open in 2023.
Hot Potato Cafe Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Hot Potato Cafe Kitchen Nightmares episode, let’s talk about what happened to the restaurant after Gordon Ramsay and his crew left Philadelphia.
Unfortunately, soon after Gordon’s visit, Danielle left the restaurant and as a result, the quality dipped back down to the old poor standards.
Is Hot Potato Cafe still open?
Hot Potato Cafe closed in May, 2010, just four short months after its episode aired on Kitchen Nightmares.
The Hot Potato Cafe owners ended up putting Hot Potato Cafe up for sale on Craigslist.
The asking price was $175,000.
You can still see the Hot Potato Cafe Craigslist post on archive.org:
Though Hot Potato Cafe is no more, there is still a bar/eatery in that location.
529 E Girard Ave is now occupied by Lloyd Whiskey Bar, which appears to be doing much better than Hot Potato Cafe ever did.
You can view Lloyd Whiskey Bar’s Yelp page if you’re interested in learning more about what’s going on at the original location of Hot Potato Cafe.
As of 2021, the Lloyd Whiskey Bar is still open, so it seems like this restaurant has a lot more staying power than Hot Potato Cafe.
The reviews are around 4-stars for Lloyd Whiskey Bar, which isn’t bad.
You can see the new tenant of the old Hot Potato Cafe Philadelphia location in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view:
What happened to Danielle from Hot Potato Cafe?
Danielle Keller was the head chef at Hot Potato Cafe.
As of 2021, she’s left the restaurant industry and is now a registered nurse working at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital system in Philadelphia.
After Hot Potato Cafe closed, Danielle did have a few jobs working as a bartender at bars like Molly Malloy’s and Tir Na Nog Bar & Grill.
But since 2017, she’s been exclusively working as a nurse.
Congratulations to her – I hope she likes the new career!
More Information
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Last updated: 2023-01-16 07:00
I think obviously it’s a gimmick – and I’m referring to what chef Ramsey does-i’ve been to one of his awful chain restaurants and the food was very poor and the waitress was allegedly pretending that chef Ramsey was actually there and I doubt he’ll ever seen it-i’m referring to the gimmick burger restaurant in America-everything looks staged on his nightmares show and gives fake hope ordinary people not just Media lovers -Exploitation and pure car crash TV
Cooking isn’t magic mate
Please learn to spell Gordon Ramsay’s name.
Good call ….. and not one word about “magic”.
Gordon should have changed the restaurant from Hot Potato to Hot Pockets and played to the gamer / stoner crowd.