(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 7 | View All Season 7 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: April 25, 2014
Mangia Mangia Address: 407 E Grace Ave Woodland Park, Colorado 80863
Episode Recap
Mangia Mangia was a Woodland Park, Colorado restaurant featured on Season 7 of Kitchen Nightmares.
Though the Mangia Mangia Kitchen Nightmares episode aired in April 2014, the actual filming and visit from Gordon Ramsay took place in mid 2013.
It was a two-part episode that spanned Kitchen Nightmares Season 7 Episode 5 and Episode 6.
Note – the restaurant’s name is spelled Mangia Mangia – it’s not the Manja Manja restaurant or Manga Manga restaurant.
Julie Watson, the owner of Mangia Mangia Italian restaurant in Woodland Park, Colorado, United States had wanted to own a restaurant for a long time.
When a fast food restaurant was available for sale, she purchased it quickly to get into the food game.
Since most of restaurants in the town served only Chinese and Mexican food, the owner decided that she would serve Italian food to stand out.
However, she had not visited Italy and had less experience in cooking commercially.
When chef Gordon Ramsay of Kitchen Nightmares visits the restaurant, he finds that the takeaway window found in fast food restaurants is still operational at Mangia Mangia.
It’s so funny – you have the restaurant with a “fine dining” theme…but then there’s also a fast food service window sitting there!
Talk about clashing motifs.
To make the Mangia Mangia episode even more dramatic, Head Chef Trevor Peterson causes a lot of problems at the restaurant with his arguments, even sometimes intentionally cooking customers’ orders wrong or walking out during dinner service.
Spoiler – Trevor disputes this and talks about the misleading editing in the show, which I’ll share later in the update.
When Gordon arrives, he uses the drive through window to talk to Janelle Watson, who is the daughter of Julie, the Mangia Mangia owner.
Gordon orders the soup of the day, chicken soup, however Janelle, the daughter of Julie offers him the soup without a spoon.
However as the soup is sludge, a fork can be used for eating it. Not a good sign!
To check out the menu, Chef Gordon orders popular Italian dishes like spaghetti and meat balls, veal picatta, salmon, mushroom ravioli, lasagna.
The ravioli is covered with a white sauce, which he returns to the kitchen and asks for fresh ravioli to be prepared using the recipe he has prepared.
The lasagna is initially served on a dirty plate, and he also finds that it is frozen in the middle.
Though the meatballs are cooked they taste like foam.
The salmon also appears to be frozen in the middle, and the veal is also partly raw.
The chef Gordon returns for the dinner service and again finds that most of the food is of poor quality.
Speaking to the staff of the restaurant like Janelle, the cook Kevin, head chef Trevor he realizes that the restaurant has a serious management and food related problem as the staff have no formal training at all in making and serving Italian food.
The staff is not motivated, and are rude to Chef Gordon Ramsay when he complains.
The Mangia Mangia owner, Julie, is getting upset when Chef Gordon is criticizing her.
Janelle complains that the cook Kevin and head chef Trevor are not punctual and regular at work, often turn up intoxicated.
The head chef Trevor also has issues with drugs and addiction.
On the other hand, the staff complains that Julie is always shouting at them and the kitchen is stocked with more than 400 servings of precooked pasta, so that the food is served quickly when an order is placed.
To improve the restaurant, Julie is asked to fire the head chef Trevor and got a new chef Don from Denver.
Gordon taught the staff to make some basic and simple Italian dishes without using microwaves.
The menu of the restaurant is revised to include more fresh food and less precooked food.
Gordon also renovates the restaurant to make it look more like an actual Italian restaurant. For example, he gets rid of the old fast food style booths.
Julie is also told to modify her management style and take more control.
To advertise the makeover of the restaurant after the Kitchen Nightmares Mangia Mangia episode, Gordon had the restaurant host a family fun day.
On relaunch, customers seem to like the new decor and the food is both tasty and going out quickly.
In a funny final moment, Gordon Ramsay swings by the drive through window to collect the restaurant’s microwave so that they can no longer subject customers to the microwaved food.
Here’s a picture immortalizing this moment for all time:
So was the Kitchen Nightmares Mangia Mangia restaurant episode a long-term success?
Keep reading my update to learn what happened next and if this Woodland Park, CO restaurant is still open in 2024 and beyond.
Mangia Mangia Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the episode, let’s talk about what happened after Gordon Ramsay and his crew left Woodland Park, Colorado.
After the Kitchen Nightmares episode makeover at Mangia Mangia, customers were mostly impressed by the new décor and improved fresh food.
The reviews of the Italian restaurant were mainly positive as the owner following the advice of Chef Gordon and incorporated the changes which he suggested.
However the Kitchen Nightmares makeover could not change the fortunes of Mangia Mangia and it would not last forever.
Is Mangia Mangia still open?
Mangia Mangia closed in November 2014, which is only five months after the Mangia Mangia Kitchen Nightmares episode aired on TV (though it was a little over a year after the actual visit from Gordon Ramsay).
At the time of its closure, reviews at the restaurant were mixed as it had just a 3 star rating on its Yelp page.
As of 2023, the old Mangia Mangia Colorado location is now occupied by a Jimmy John’s sub shop, so it seems like the building has gone back to its fast food roots.
So while it’s not exactly fine dining, you can at least grab a sandwich!
It’s a good thing Gordon Ramsay didn’t get rid of the fast food window at the Mangia Mangia building, as Jimmy John’s might be able to make use of that.
Here’s a picture of the Jimmy John’s that occupies the old Mangia Mangia Woodland Park location:
Why did Mangia Mangia close?
Part of the reason that the restaurant failed is that Julie decided to revert some of Gordon’s new menu changes and go back to a menu that was a hybrid of the original dishes and Gordon’s suggestions.
While I can’t say for certain that these menu changes are what led to Mangia Mangia closing, they probably didn’t help.
Of course, there is also always the issue of debt, which is true for a lot of the restaurants from the show.
What happened to Julie from Mangia Mangia?
Julie Watson was the Mangia Mangia owner who you saw in the episode.
After Mangia Mangia closed, Julie seems to have been working as a real estate agent in Woodland Park, Colorado, at least according to her LinkedIn page.
What happened to Trevor from Mangia Mangia?
Some people are wondering what happened to Trevor Peterson from the Mangia Mangia Kitchen Nightmares episode and whether he was able to overcome his issues.
According to a post from Trevor’s father on the Kitchen Nightmares Facebook page, Trevor went through a rehab program and was nine months clean at the time of his dad’s comment.
Trevor was also planning to enroll in culinary school to continue his career in the restaurant industry.
According to the LinkedIn page of Trevor Peterson, he’s employed as a sous chef at a Fort Collins restaurant called Sundance, so it appeared that his culinary school investment paid off.
In October 2023, there was a YouTube comment from someone claiming to be Trevor.
I can’t verify that this is indeed Trevor, but I’m including a screenshot of the comment below so that you can judge for yourself.
The comment does seem to be authentic given the level of detail that it has.
Trevor talks about his sobriety, as well as how he thought the Kitchen Nightmares episode was unfairly edited to tell a false story.
Hat tip to ZeroBlitz31 on Reddit for finding this comment.
Congratulations to Trevor on getting clean and continuing to work as a chef!
What happened to Janelle from Mangia Mangia?
Janelle Watson was the daughter of Julie, the Mangia Mangia owner.
After Mangia Mangia closed, she seems to have continued working in the hospitality industry, with jobs at places like Red Lobster, Red Robin, and other restaurants in the Colorado area.
What happened to Kevin from Mangia Mangia?
Unfortunately, I can’t find anything about what happened to Kevin, who was one of the chefs from Mangia Mangia episode.
I hope he’s doing well!
Final thoughts on Mangia Mangia
There was a lot of drama in the two-part Mangia Mangia episode, so it’s probably no surprise that the Mangia Mangia restaurant closed just a few months after the episode aired on TV.
While that sounds, it did survive for more over a year after the actual visit from Gordon Ramsay.
The old Mangia Mangia Colorado location has returned to its fast food roots and is now occupied by a Jimmy John’s.
Julie, the Mangia Mangia owner, seems to be working as a real estate agent.
Trevor, the Mangia Mangia chef, seems to have gone to rehab and is doing much better, working as a sous chef after going to culinary school.
If you want to see some other Colorado Kitchen Nightmares episodes, you can check out my updates for Pantaleone’s in Denver and The Old Neighborhood in Arvada.
And if you want to share your thoughts on the Mangia Mangia episode, you can do so using the comments section below.
This post already has quite a lot of comments and people seem to really like talking about the episode.
As always – thanks for reading!
More Information
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Last updated: 2023-12-19 04:33
Good summary of the episode. Would have been nice to know more about the reason it closed.
I have over 40 years restaurant experience as a head chef, manager, owner & consultant. I could have saved this place
You’re a wanker.
Don’t be a fruit
Then how come we’ve never heard of you?! Who are you? Can we see your website? When are your TV shows going on air?!
You couldn’t have saved it because Julie wanted to make herself more money by making too many short cuts although Chef Ramsay told her about the ramifications of it.
When a person decides to “sell your soul for the riches of this world”, then they’ve made their choice who they will serve. The ultimate Liar is a trickster and will use the love of money to get you.
Please send us a list of the places you saved.
Here it is ~8 years since 2014.
I was moved to see the transformation that took place in this restaurant.
Well, MsJulie, take what U have learned and keep trying!
U have the best advice from Gordon.I bet you will succeed , if you were to rewind and go at it again .
The entire show was quite moving.I wish everyone involved health and goodness !
Seeing the faces after the revamp was a kind of bright success in itself.Bless all of you.
+ A guy in NY, April 2022+
It’s Life Things Happen For A Reason We Have To Move On And Forget About The Restaurant Gone.
Yes, wonder why it closed if they continued to use Ramsay’s changes. They had a good chef that chef Ramsay put there temporarily. Maybe they couldn’t find another good chef or went back to their old ways. Hope Trevor got the help he needed.
I cant find this dude online, I wonder if he ever made it anywhere..
he’s gotta be about 30 now …
He’s clean and sober and doing well. I think he was treated poorly in the episode. He needed help and everyone, including Gordon Ramsey, left him to sort it all out on his own. Thankfully, he did and I’m proud of him.
He was trying to punch a girl, throwing pans against the wall, telling the lady that owned the restaurant to kiss his a** on camera, he was high on drugs, he was over 18, the guy needs to get his act together. If I was there I would step in and handle things. If you are proud of him, I’m sorry
While he didn’t behave well in the episode, Trevor seems to be clean and doing much better after rehab. Drugs can make people do things they wouldn’t normally do.
What you never heard of forgiveness.i guess you never done any things when you were young.he was 22 and immature and on drugs.thats no excuse,but he did the right thing and cleaned up his act.YEAH THATS TO BE PROUD OF so why is it a jerk like you being sarcastic and morally self righteous.
Did you even watch the episode? That ex girlfriend needled him the entire time. Anyone who has had an ex like this, knows what they’re like.
He was rude the whole way anyway he had it all figured out so let him figure out how to become sober on his own
That’s messed up to say, when someone is on drugs they are not themselves and they need help and support no one supported or helped him. The owners daughter also I thought contributed greatly to his downfall , when you work in a restaurant your first thing to say to someone is they’re worthless really? Like no common sense would be to calmly say hey you’re scaring the customers maybe chill she obviously wasn’t that scared herself if she could go up to a guy who was being violent and say things that couldve literally caused him to hurt her more than trying to punch her . That’s her fault honestly , she didn’t handle that well and the fact they all blamed him he obviously was depressed and needed help. People who are on drugs need help and become different because the drugs effect them. They didn’t even give him a chance or try . So I dont fully blame him
Jess from status below this one. I agree. The mother who didn’t help her co worker knowing and saying she didn’t then saying she did know about trevors drug issues was so insane. Made me sick. You don’t abandon your workers. You support them and help them no matter what. I wish Trevor the best and hope The owner sits on that bad choice for the rest of her life. You failed not TREVOR!! Just crazy when someone helps you and take advantage of it. My Restaurant 13 years strong 19 employees … Pay them all 4 over minimum wage and keep strong. Go VT!!!! Never put family in business/relationship.
He tried to punch me! Shut up and fire him then. She was so annoying
Evidently you didn’t read the article at all.
The owners daughter greatly contributed to the issues with the staff. She was bad at her job, bratty, arrogant, and obviously too involved in others personal lives. Acting like you’re the boss because your mom owns the restaurant is a key ingredient to failure. Good riddance.
Blaine. Your intelligence seems to be on par with that of a mentally challenged dormouse . I hope YOU seek help on your own as you surely need some R-Tard.
shut up you wanker you look like an idiot
She needled that chef the entire time, some exes just want to keep bringing you back into that same argument over n over.
So it appears they didn’t really follow Gordon’s suggestions if you read the article here: https://www.csindy.com/coloradosprings/a-woodland-nightmare/Content?oid=2859829. “Still making changes” a year after the show was filmed? No. It’s clear the owner was what was wrong with this place.
Yep
Andrea was cute
This business was in Woodland Park, Colorado. From my experience in watching this show and working in a kitchen things have to change. Like the menu to draw the locals and visitors in. Can’t continue with same old menu items.
I’m British and have been to Woodland Park annually to visit my folks.
I never had the opportunity to visit Mangia Mangia however I have seen the premises . The location within Woodland Park did not go in favour of passing trade and was left entirely to local interest. The building itself was uninviting,more like the fast food/drive thru it presented in the opening of Kitchen nightmares.
Woodland Park is a quaint Colorado community with a busy highway US24 east. Over the past few years the volume of passing trade has increased significantly .
One problem. Woodland Park has several places on par with Mangia Mangia .
The ambience,menu presentation and food are uninviting.
Nothing appears to be fresh. Most is served up after 3 minutes in a microwave.
I have several unpleasant visits to several premises and one even ended up giving members of my family a serious bout of food poisoning.
I could not and did not find one place that has given me any reason to return.
As iv said. Woodland Park is a lovely place with so much potential yet it has nothing to offer its community or passing trade anything in the way of a good dinning experience.
So sad.
I am a member of the local community near Woodland Park and I am embarrassed to add to Gordon’s comment above. It’s hard to find a good local restaurant in the area. Mountain towns find it difficult to get fresh ingredients to due to road conditions in winter. A lot of frozen ingredients are used because of that. There isn’t much storage space in our small buildings so it’s hard to store enough ingredients to meet the influx of people that come up the roads and stop in to eat in the summer. In my town, we have 300 people in the winter. In the summer, it jumps to thousands. It’s a challenge that we will always struggle with and will never make everyone happy.
U grow own vegetables your town keep fresh invited to eat like chef Ramsey said learn how to cook and taste keep clean
The town is in a semiarid climate that is very cold for all but three months of the year, so almost none of the crops necessary to pull off a restaurant (especially an Italian one) would be able to grow there. They would need to build a massive greenhouse. None of the produce in Colorado Springs or the mountain towns west of it is grown locally, for this reason.
What!! You can’t get fresh pork or cattle beef.clearly in that section of the country you should have the best advantage.and as far as vegetables you can still get vegetables in a remote place and make them shine.i live in a place where the vegetables come from Florida and California.so it takes days to get here.but I still prepare fresh tasting dishes during the week.with all the info and internet out there.anyone can learn and prepare elegant tasting dishes with any ingredient.wether it’s fresh or not so fresh.in Colorado you still have access to beautiful fresh trout,Kokanee salmon,catfish,bass.i have seen many chefs make 5 star dishes with these ingredients.you can still get high end quality seafood from far away.you have to pay a little extra.so maybe use the seafood once or twice a week as dinner specials in a restaurant and charge a good price.you can make wonderful flounder,halibut,tilapia,ahi tuna, dishes and put them with a fancy sauce and a starch,or bright acidic slaw and charge 22-30 dollars as a daily special.there should be no excuses of demographics for why you can’t have good fresh ingredients to cook with.
I couldn’t stand the owner’s daughter. She seems like an instigator, manipulator and an overall bad person. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree huh
Pen, I 100% agree with you. I wanted someone to tell her to shut up and stop acting Ike she’s right and is the boss and knows everything . She also was terrible to Trevor so I’m not surprised someone in a bad mood would try to punch someone who comes up and calls them worthless and tells them to kill themselves basically she was terrible
I Agree With You 1000%
Agree 100%, I’ve had an ex like this where they just needle the hell out of you the entire time. You end up in the same arguments over n over, they love that sort of thing, the emotional spikes
The owner Julie has nice yaboos.
It’s spelled “yabbos”.
Well pen you summed that up!! Just right!! I couldn’t agree more everytime she talked my head started hurting her ignorance made me crazy and not in a good way. To put that kids business out their was ridiculous. And the fact that Gordon Ramsey didn’t even have the decency to help this kid was even more ridiculous. He cares for nothing more than himself and his show. That’s what’s wrong with this country. Pathetic people like that!
Poor Trevor.
I Agree. Janelle Was Adding To His Problem. She Was Not A Nice Person To Be Around.
I’ve watched Kitchen Nightmares for years. The owner is one of the most unlikable characters ever. She’s a Real Estate Agent, her mentality is to exploit and profit.
Her daughter, a privileged girl, looking for an opportunity to showcase her imaginary hyper victim-hood. It was really a shame, that the owner, Julie, exploited the situation of her 21 year old Head Chef, Trevor, and threw him under the bus.
Ewwww. She underpays her employees, exploits their desperation in their current market, and it’s hard for me to imagine how such a greedy and despicable person managed to get approved by Chef Ramsay’s staff.
She was pure trash. I felt sorry that she had any children.
Am Glad The Restaurant Is Out Of Business. It’s Better Off Not In Business Now.
The boss is the problem. Weak, and should have sacked the chef years ago.
Joel you are so far off on your statement. Ramsay has a big heart and has helped many.
I don’t understand why she didn’t fire all of them. Having kids still cooking in her restaurant after all she went through…. I love Ramsey and always get why he says everything he does. The lack of common sense people have is breathtaking: buying a restaurant when you don’t know how to cook , never working in the industry before,having to be told to keep it spotless… but for the first time I didn’t agree with something he advised. When he told her to hire that kid back in the future I thought I’d flip. Out of respect for her daughter alone , he’s a kid ( and an incredibly disrespectful one, you get the point; you could go on about that one for another paragraph. I have compassion for people with problems but this woman’s life is on the line here she’s trying to run a business, not a nursery hangout for the lazy.
I guess you weren’t listening, Sarah. She couldn’t fire ANY of them, because it’s a small, relatively isolated town and there’s basically no one else available to hire.
Only that’s not true…. She was cheap and actual pros wouldn’t work there… Julie is a Karen who’s never wrong and her daughter is a drama queen carol….
I live 20 minutes away… Colorado Springs is 25 minutes the other way…
It’s not isolated…
The Business Gone Is A Good Thing. Nobody Shouldn’t Have To Work There. It Was A Restaurant Business That Shouldn’t Have Been A Business The First Place. Am Glad It’s Put Out Of It’s Misery Forever
Ramsey is all staged.
They were all on the crack
They were all on the crack. How else would the daughter know all that.
People up there don’t have crack, they have meth.
The fact that you call it “the crack” just shows how little you know about drugs. And no, you don’t need to actually use drugs to know something about them.
How people can walk around in the real world and remain so utterly ignorant is a complete mystery to me.
Kevin was gorgeous
WHATS HIS LAST NAME???
I think the daughter was also on something cause honestly she looked like it and acted like it too
This place is now a Jimmy John’s
Thanks! I’ll add it to the update
Am Glad The Restaurant Didn’t Make it. The Owner Shouldn’t Have Started A Restaurant Business The First Place. Her Daughter Shouldn’t Be Working In A Restaurant Business If She Can’t Be A Professional Employee In The Business Industry. Nobody’s Going Hire People Like Her.
let’s keep quiet on that one. I don’t want one of my sub shops being remembered for being on KN.
I’d love to date the daughter!
I agree that the owners daughter instigated a lot of the drama that went on and offered zero constructive criticism. She definitely put on a show for the cameras and jumped down the throat of anyone who dared to say anything negative besides Chef Ramsay. You could tell she is just an unhappy person in general.
For all his faults, Trevor took ownership of his actions and did not bother denying anything that was screamed at him.
The owner AND the daughter created a toxic environment that was never FULLY addressed and I absolutely believe that could drive a lessor person to drugs just to help deal. Not that I’m condoning those actions, just stating it.
This was a misstep on Chef Ramsay’s part and a family too far gone to change.
The problems started when they hired Chef Boy-ar-Dee as head chef and started serving Spaghettios.
Kevin is so “HOT”.
I have watched many of the Gordon Ramsey Kitchen Nightmare episodes and I have a list of the restaurants I would like to eat at should I ever have the opportunity to visit the USA. Mangia, Mangia (mangiare, mangiare) was one of them. Julie Watson didn’t know much about Italian cuisine, but she certainly made me laugh. If the restaurant was still open, I would love to have had the opportunity to cook some of my favorite Italian dishes including a Lasagna dish which is far better than the basic one Gordon Ramsey showed them how to prepare. Once you’ve tasted my Lasagna, you’ll never forget it.
The issue was, when they changed the name to Jimmy John’s, they had to change the menu and remove the Italian food such as your delicious lasagne because Jimmy John’s sells sandwiches, not Italian food.
None of them deserved any help anyone serving food like that needs putting down fcking disgusting – Gordon and the show should only help people who really need help not people who are clearly not interested. It was obvious the ‘restaurant’ was going to close Julie was just not interested would make a fairly reasonable actress though.
I Agree With You 1000% It’s A Restaurant I Couldn’t Work For Myself. It’s A Toxic Business That Was Better Off Not Being In Business The First Place! Nobody Shouldn’t Have To Work There!
Glad they closed soon after Ramsay. Trevor and Janelle were two trailer-park trash who deserved each other and prison time.
Fred, don’t be so coy and qualified, tell us how you really feel about them.
Stendhal, LOL!!
It’s A Good Thing It’s Something Else Now. The Other Restaurant Was A Disease To The Community. Am Glad It’s Gone Forever. The Community Deserves Better
The restaurant was a hygiene disaster. Miracle nobody died there. The owner, her daughter, and the scumbag “chef” all deserved each other, in relationship hell.
This episode is so full of trailer park white trash I couldn’t tell if I was watching Kitchen Nightmares or Jerry Springer. Jesus Christ, these people (except Chris) are fucking losers. Janelle sounded like a chipmunk when she screamed at Trevor. Speaking of who, that guy has to be the biggest scumbag on the show. Not as bad as Sammy and Amy (aka, Satan and the wicked witch of the west), but still a horrid person. I’m glad he got fired.
I talked to him on several occasion’s about his drug use. I NEVER KNEW HE WAS ON DRUGS!!! LAIR!!!! the whole time she blamed every one for the hand cuffs she put on them! every bit was her doing!! Chef’s were her and her Daughters personal flogging Post..! what the heck is that excuse all the Wrong she is doing even the reaction she got doing those wrongs, and repeating them again and again, look what you did you tried to hit me as her excuse of some how being in the Right for what she did and still doing! a Trolahdyte always in his ear calling him names and worthless unwanted and every one hates you.!!!! What an Evil little B!tc! Verbal abuse is still abuse regardless of who it’s coming from a man or a woman.! it’s the same as hitting him but don’t hit her back to defend your self Neither should be hitting one another but it’s permissible if it’s a woman abusing a man and a man having a response as the wrong, she is still in the Right because she is a Woman! what a bunch of Sexist Misandry’s.. happy it Closed happy to hear Trever is clean and is a trained Chef now, all while being pushed down and no support, accept by his father who was clearly proud of his Son’s Success..!
He Got clean inspite of being the owner and Daughters personal verbal flogging post..! ever been a verbally abusive relationships??? News flash it’s not okay from Either regardless of their Sex it’s not okay!! she was verbally and mentally abusive to him and her excuse was him having a reaction to her behavior, and the excuse while she was still actively abusing him on the show (let’s be clear if he really wanted to hit her even if he took a swing and a miss he could have easily closed the distance and hit her thats not what happened) afraid of someone you don’t keep doing the same thing over and over again that got the response they are using as an excuse to call them morally wrong, she is trying to get the same response, so she can pretend to be a more better higher worth of a person it’s also playing Victim while in reality she is the Victimizer