(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 6 | View All Season 6 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: November 16, 2012
Ms. Jean's Southern Cuisine Address: 807 Wallace Ave Wilkinsburg, PA 15221
Episode Recap
Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine was a Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania restaurant featured on season 6 of Kitchen Nightmares.
Though the Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine Kitchen Nightmares episode aired in November 2012, the actual filming and visit from Gordon Ramsay took place earlier in May.
It was Kitchen Nightmares Season 6 Episode 4.
In this episode of Kitchen Nightmares Chef Gordon Ramsay takes us to Ms Jean’s Southern Cuisine in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania (just outside Pittsburgh).
At the start of the episode, we meet the eponymous owner – Jean Gould.
Jean opened the restaurant after members of her congregation praised her cooking and encouraged her to open a restaurant.
The original restaurant was called Jean’s Soul Food Restaurant, but she would eventually move on to Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine.
Unfortunately, tasty food isn’t enough to make a successful business because the restaurant is now empty on most days.
Jean meets Gordon Ramsay at the hotel, with a peach cobbler in hand, right before Gordon was about to head over to the restaurant.
Gordon asks Jean what she thinks the overall problem with the restaurant is.
Jean admits that her biggest problems are the staff, as they are always late and on their phones, taking unnecessary breaks, and spreading gossip during work.
Jean also shares that she is doubtful that she’s going to make it through the month as she is in a lot of debt.
She seems like such a nice lady so it’s really sad to see her having money problems.
At this point, I’m really rooting for the Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine Kitchen Nightmares visit to be a success.
Gordon Ramsay then heads to the restaurant and when he arrives he is greeted by no one.
Gordon is amazed at how empty the restaurant is, and he also notes that there is no sign that it is a restaurant at all.
Gordon then sits down to order off the menu.
Unfortunately, most of the menu items that he picks are unavailable, so he settles with the pork chops, ribs, and macaroni and cheese.
He also orders an ice tea that he claims tastes like pure sugar syrup.
The ribs arrive and Gordon sends it back claiming they are too salty.
The macaroni and cheese arrives still sizzling from the microwave, and Gordon describes it as bland, dreadful, and overcooked.
Lastly, the pork chops arrive and there are flies flying around Gordon while he is trying to eat them.
Gordon claims the pork chops were too greasy and dry and not even the flies were interested in it.
Later that night, Gordon Ramsay arrives to observe the dinner rush and he notices the orders are stuck to the fridge.
He also notices the kitchen’s disorganization and nobody working well together.
It seems like Jean has struggled with the operational parts of running a restaurant and needs some help to get a system in place.
The few dishes that manage to leave the kitchen are typically sent back, as the pork chops are over cooked and the chicken is dry.
The customers that don’t send their dishes back are being harassed by the flies in the dining room as they’re trying to eat.
That night Gordon and his crew give the restaurant a massive makeover.
Once he’s done with it, it can now seat almost twice as many people (assuming Gordon’s other changes can get that many people in the door).
Gordon also changes the menu to have a focus on southern comfort food.
He also wants to streamline it so future customers won’t have issues with dishes being out of stock.
The staff is given a sample of the new menu and they all agree it is excellent, which is what you’d expect from a chef of Gordon Ramsay’s caliber.
The night of relaunch was a total success, leaving customers happy about the food they received.
Even the Wilkinsburg mayor attends and enjoys the food – what politician would turn down a chance to be on TV, right?
Things seem to be looking up for the restaurant.
So was the Kitchen Nightmares Ms Jean’s Southern Cuisine restaurant episode a long-term success?
Keep reading to learn what happened next and if it’s still open in 2025.
Ms. Jean's Southern Cuisine Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Miss Jean’s Southern Cuisine Kitchen Nightmares episode, let’s talk about what happened to the restaurant after Gordon Ramsay and his crew left Wilkinsburg and Pittsburgh PA.
Overall, the restaurant would have a long run of success, but it would not last forever.
First off, the restaurant did have to move from the Wilkinsburg location that you saw on the episode.
The restaurant had moved from its original location to a new location because the original building was sold.
The new location was just a few blocks down the street in Hosanna House, though, so it’s not much change.
Here’s a picture from the old Ms Jean’s website that announces the change:
Given the past tense from above, you can probably guess where this is going.
Is Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine still open in 2025?
Sadly, Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine closed in October 2022 after a very long run of success.
This means it lasted for almost exactly a decade after the Ms. Jean’s Kitchen Nightmares episode aired on TV, which is definitely nothing to sneeze at.
The restaurant is now marked as permanently closed on Yelp.
I also found this Google review from a local confirming that it closed in October 2022.
I also found a Facebook post from Jean’s son selling a bunch of restaurant equipment in October 2022, which I’m guessing is from the restaurant.
With those two pieces of information, I’m confident that it’s closed (even though there are still people leaving reviews somehow).
However, while the Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine restaurant is closed, that doesn’t mean that Ms Jean is done cooking.
I found another post from her son in March 2023 that says Ms Jean is now offering catering services.
So even though the restaurant is closed, people who hire her for catering will still get to enjoy her cooking.
It’s great to see that she’s still cooking even if it’s not at the restaurant!
Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine reviews after Kitchen Nightmares
Up until its closure, the reviews for Ms. Jean’s seemed very good, as it had a four star rating on Yelp and seemed to have a lot of happy customers who describe it as “just like their grandma’s cooking” (this later moved down to a 3.5 star rating*).
The reviews were even better on Google Reviews, where it had a 4.2 star rating.
*I checked and it was rated 4 stars up until the beginning of 2022.
Here’s a sampling of a few Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine reviews that were written after the visit from Gordon Ramsay…
5 star Yelp review from December 2017:
Dropped by one day during a business trip since I had seen the place on Kitchen Nightmares.
Reminded me of my grandma’s cooking.
Very good
Would recommend to my friends and family, but I don’t live in the area lol
5 star Yelp review from June 2019:
I finally got a taste of Ms. Jean’s Cusine!
I attended the Sunday Dinner Buffet at the Hosanna House.
It was in their main auditorium, hosted with live gospel music from local artist.
And they rocked the house down!
The food buffet was amazing!
They had all Mama’s homemade Sunday best, from fried chicken, fish, mac n cheese, yams and so on. I am not even a big fan of yams, but they were awesome.
It was a very nice environment to spend time with the family and grub on some deliciousness.
The employees that served at the buffet were very friendly, and not afraid to give you a nice helping of food.
I don’t get a chance to go to Wilkinsburg much, but I will definitely check it out again on another Sunday when I can get out to the area.
5 star Yelp review from February 2020:
This place is somewhat a hole in the wall, but the food is spectacular!
On food alone, this is (at the time of review) my favorite soul food place in Pittsburgh.
The food is good all round, but don’t sleep on the corn bread its definitely worth paying for the extra piece.
The dining area is very spacious and very rarely is their ever anyone else dining, which is not a knock on the quality of the food but rather that people tend to pick up their food.
If you want a intimate place to eat that you’ll have to yourself definitely dine-in.
I also get the sense that meals are less expense than other places with larger portions.
The restaurant is at the cafeteria of a school but don’t let that dissuade you.
This place is worth checking out!
They weren’t all positive, though, and I found this negative review to be pretty funny…
1 star Yelp review from November 2017:
I got a portion of Mac N Cheese and Collard Greens to go as we were just driving through town.
We live in Maryland, so wanted some thing filling to get me home.
Honestly, i’ve been dutched ovened with the Fart from the Bowels of Satan himself before and when I opened the container, the smell that proceeded to waft through the car would have made Satan weep.
The people were rude.
Thank the lord, they skimp on portions, because if I had opened up a full portion, I feel like FEMA would have to declare my car and Disaster Area.
Collard Greens were canned and I looked at them with a only a look reserved for a Step Child of the Ginger variety.
SO much disappointment, very little reward.
Now I know what it’s like to be a Raven’s fan.
What happened to Jean Gould from the Kitchen Nightmares?
Up until Ms. Jean’s closed, Ms. Jean was still running her restaurant and cooking the food.
She also received an award from the mayor for a years of community service – June 3rd was officially declared Miss Jean’s day, though I’m not sure if the town is still celebrating.
Although the restaurant is closed, Jean Gould is still offering catering services.
So – if you want to try her food, you can hire her as a caterer.
Is Marissa still working at Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine?
This is a bit of a funny question as a Kitchen Nightmares fan actually asked this question on the Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine Facebook page.
Ms. Jean responded that “You’ll have to come in to find out.” so I’m not sure if Marissa is actually working there or not.
Final thoughts on Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine
Overall, Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine stayed open for around a decade after the episode aired on TV, so this was definitely not a failure.
However, the restaurant is now sadly closed and the Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine Wilkinsburg location is no more.
Thankfully, Ms. Jean is still offering her catering services, so people will get to enjoy her soul food still.
That wraps up my Ms. Jean’s Southern Cuisine Kitchen Nightmares update.
Ms. Jean’s was not the only Kitchen Nightmares Pittsburgh area episode.
If you want to see another nearby restaurant, check out my update for Levanti’s in Beaver PA.
Some other nearby restaurants include Mill Street Bistro in Norwalk Ohio, Bella Luna in Easton PA, and Cafe Hon in Baltimore MD.
And if you want to share your thoughts on the Ms. Jean’s episode, you can do so using the comments section below.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/ms-jeans-southern-cuisine-wilkinsburg-2https://www.facebook.com/MrsJeanSC/
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Last updated: 2023-04-16 06:06
Season 5 not 6
It’s Season 6 Episode 4. I just double-checked to make sure.
On Hulu it is marked as Season 5.
I think Hulu has it wrong then. You can see it marked as Season 6 Episode 4 on IMDB and other sources:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0983514/episodes?season=6
Hulu has a lot of the episodes listed as the wrong season and episode.
As far as I can tell Hulu has combined 2 seasons into 1. So Hulu season 1 is broadcast seasons 1 and 2, Hulu S2 is broadcast seasons 3 and 4, etc etc. Why they do this is beyond me – maybe that is how it is licensed to them or maybe the seasons were ordered as one season but broken up to be broadcast as 2.
Chef Ramsey made them some good soul food! Awesome!
Ms. Jean continue to stay nice! Being mean takes up a person’s energy! We need energy to thrive!
Marissa a sweet person, doesn’t work under pressure. too well. She needed to realize that she risk loosing tips due to her breaking down on the job in front of her customers.
I ate there, the food was just like momma used to cook, breath taking choices, but need to add a banana mayonnaise sandwich to the menu.
Sure fool
Gordon didn’t realize that they sprayed Off! on the pork chops to keep the flies away. That was very clever.
According to Yelp, this location might have closed
Thanks for letting me know! I will check into it and update if needed.
Crazy old lady needed to stick to yelling at people at reform school.
I think she seemed like a nice lady.
I thought the “eponymous owner” was named Susan Southern Cuisine.
I too was wondering about Marissa, if she was still there, she was a sweetheart.
Why did the employee who was on the phone twice and said she was a “volunteer who got paid with chicken wings” and then quit/was fired and wasn’t seen again to my knowledge show up for “Ms Jean Day” or whatever it was when the mayor spoke?
Did anyone else think that the makeover was a bit shit?
It looked better than before, but it still didn’t look like a soul food place. It looked more like a canteen in an office block.
It just looks really dull.
It looked like a hospital cafeteria. Literally *any* makeover would’ve been better than the starting point.
Also, having lived in Richmond (soul food) and San Antonio (Mexican food), the following holds true: The greasier the hole-in-the-wall, the better the food. Forget how the restaurant is decorated.