Levanti’s Kitchen Nightmares Update – Open Or Closed?

Is Levanti's still open?

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

Season: 6 | View All Season 6 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: February 1, 2013
Levanti's Address: 690 3rd St Beaver, PA 15009
Levanti's Kitchen Nightmares update


Episode Recap

Levanti’s American Bistro was a Beaver, Pennsylvania restaurant featured on season 6 of Kitchen Nightmares. The episode aired in February 2013, but Gordon’s visit and filming took place earlier in June 2012. It was episode 7 of season 6.

In this episode of Kitchen Nightmares we are taken to Levanti’s American Bistro, owned by Dino Fratangeli, in Beaver, Pennsylvania (not too far from Pittsburgh).

It was Dino’s dream to own and operate his own restaurant, so in 1998, Dino’s father invested his life savings of $250,000 into Dino’s dream.

The restaurant was busy at first, but instead of welcoming this success, Dino instead became overwhelmed with the work the restaurant demanded from him.

Dino’s sister, who sold her florist business to help out at Dino’s restaurant, believes the restaurant’s business declined as a result of a rival restaurant opening on the same block of Levanti’s.

However, the staff disagrees with Tina’s claim and believes the reason for Levanti’s problems go much deeper than that.

The staff believe Dino and Tina are the problem as they argue too much and don’t know how to run a restaurant, claiming that Dino is clueless in the kitchen.

Upon arrival, Gordon sits down with the siblings to discuss the restaurant. Gordon quickly learns of the dysfunctional dynamic between Tina and Dino and discovers that the two can’t even agree on who owns the restaurant.

Gordon then decides to sample the menu and orders: stuffed banana peppers, filet mignon, and the chicken carletta capellini. Gordon also requests to taste the bread and oil he sees another table eating, claiming that the oil tastes like fryer oil rather than olive oil.

Gordon discovers that the months old dessert samples are rock hard and smell bad. When his filet arrives he claims it was raw and firmly believes the filet was frozen. Gordon begins looking around the restaurant and notices how filthy it is.

Finally, Gordon’s food arrives and the stuffed banana peppers are frozen and watery and the chicken carletta has too much garlic and rock hard chicken in it.

Gordon claims that it is the worst Italian food he has ever tasted and believes the owners no longer care about the restaurant.

Later that night, Gordon observes the dinner rush to see how the restaurant operates when it is busy.

As the evening begins, Gordon discovers that half of the stoves in the kitchen are non-functioning, there is no one expediting the food, and the food is being sent back to the kitchen due to customer complaints.

Gordon then decides to tour the fridge and discovers green, slimy chicken and a molded fermented sauce that is being served to customers. Gordon is furious and demands that the kitchen stop serving the food instantly.

That night the restaurant is given a makeover.

Gordon discovers that there is a gap in the local market for an American Bistro so Gordon decides that that is the direction Levanti’s will take. Instead of being Levanti’s Italian Restaurant, it will be renamed to Levanti’s American Bistro.

Gordon and his team then transform the restaurant with modern decor and a new POS system that doesn’t make obnoxiously loud noise.

Gordon revamps the kitchen and adds top of the line equipment, he also changes the menu to feature American classics.

The night of the relaunch the customers are impressed with the restaurant’s new decor, however, they aren’t happy with how long their food is taking, due to Dino struggling to keep up.

But after everyone steps up, the night runs smoothly and the relaunch was a total success.


Levanti's Update - What Happened Next?

After the Levanti’s Kitchen Nightmares episode aired and was filmed, some of Gordon’s consultants stayed on to continue training Dino, Tina, and the rest of the Levanti’s team.

The restaurant seemed to be doing well, as it had a four star average on the new Levanti’s American Bistro Yelp page.

People seemed very happy. For example, one person had given the restaurant a one star review in 2012 but returned after the Levanti’s Kitchen Nightmares episode aired. In his new review, he bumped the rating up to four stars:

We went back this past weekend to see the changes in food since it is no longer Italian and now an American Bistro since Gordon Ramsey was here. The simple changes that they made overnight to give the place a more modern feel is very nice.

There is a lot to like about levantis now–gone is the canned and frozen food, in is the new fresh, local creations. Where else could you go and get food created by a worldwide chef locally?

However, the good times would not last and eventually Levanti’s closed in November 2013, which was a little over a year after the episode was filmed.

They sold the Levanti’s restaurant to Rich Montini, an executive chef at PNC Park. Rich opened up a new restaurant called Heirloom at the old Levanti’s location. However, Heirloom also ended up closing in 2018.

As of 2021, the old Levanti’s location is now occupied by a photographer called Photography by James.

Why did Levanti’s close?

When closing the restaurant, Tina said that her father, Tony, made the final decision to close the restaurant because Tony wanted to retire. She said that she didn’t blame the closure on Kitchen Nightmares – it was just “time”.

She said the Kitchen Nightmares brought both good and bad. She valued the help and the remodel, but some of their existing customers missed the old Italian items.

What happened to waitress Sam from Levanti’s?

A lot of people became fans of Sam, the waitress from Levanti’s. Unfortunately, we can’t find any update on what happened to her after the Levanti’s Kitchen Nightmares episode. If you know anything, please leave a comment and let us know!

👉 Read other Season 6 updates:


More Information

https://www.yelp.com/biz/levantis-american-bistro-beaver




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Last updated: 2022-01-06 09:25

13 thoughts on “Levanti’s Kitchen Nightmares Update – Open Or Closed?”

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

  1. With these kitchen nightmares why would the owners say lot of my old customers like the old restaurant my opinion you want new people it’s good to have some old but good is always an eye opener and for god sack if you thought your sh..it was good why ask for the damn help

    Reply
  2. This one failed because the owners turned down Gordon’s original plan. He wanted to replace the Italian food on the menu with human flesh, as he noticed there were no local restaurants for cannibals. However, the owners refused and Gordon had to switch to the less exciting bistro concept.

    Reply
  3. I love this episode. Gordon stomps put at one point and walks straight into a swing door that refuses to swing.
    It’s very funny and Ramsey could easily have had that edited out. I love that he didn’t.

    Reply
  4. They wasted their Father’s money because they were not capable of working together like adults. Sad theme that is repeated a few times. Parents helping immature adult kids with money, and then losing it all.

    Reply
  5. I would have liked KN better if at some places, like Levanti’s, he just closed it down and told the Dad to save his money and walk away. Levanti’s was a dirty dump, and the brother was no chef, the sister had no clue how to run a lemonade stand, they both needed jobs at some retail store doing simple work.

    Reply
    • If Gordon just told them to close, and they did, then there wouldn’t be a show and Gordon wouldn’t make money off it. The brother wasn’t a chef and never claimed to be.

      Reply
  6. One thing I would agree with was the professional level from server Sam. I hope & pray Gordon would staff her or mentor her somewhere else. She is a sweet young lady & deserves better.

    Reply
    • Not the same guy, according to the obituary…which in itself is confusing. At first it lists his six brothers, none named Tony, later it lists two brothers (and six sisters in law!) one brother is named Tony. That explains the likeness…sort of.

      BTW the family name is pronounced fran-TAN-je-lee in Italian. It means Guardian Angel.

      Reply

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