(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 6 | View All Season 6 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: January 25, 2013
Olde Hitching Post Address: 48 Spring St Hanson, MA 02341
Episode Recap
Olde Hitching Post was a Hanson, Massachusetts restaurant featured on Season 6 of Kitchen Nightmares.
Though the Olde Hitching Post Kitchen Nightmares episode aired in January 2013, the actual visit from Gordon Ramsay happened earlier in June 2012.
It was Kitchen Nightmares Season 6 Episode 7.
In this episode of Kitchen Nightmares, chef Gordon Ramsay graced the Olde Hitching Post with his presence.
The restaurant is based in Hanson, Massachusetts, which is a small town located just to the south of Boston.
The episode started on an interesting note when the Olde Hitching Post owner, Tom Kessaris, went to pick Gordon from the train station.
As soon as Tom met him, he tried to impress Ramsay with his background.
Kessaris told Ramsay that he had run two successful restaurants in the past and this restaurant was his third business venture.
He clarified that he only bought it for his daughter Andrea but she doesn’t show any interest in it.
He also said that the restaurant was losing $7,000 to $8,000 a week, which is why he needed help from Gordon Ramsay and his team in the Olde Hitching Post Kitchen Nightmares.
After getting to the Olde Hitching Post, the first person Ramsay meets is Janice, the restaurant manager.
She wasted no time in telling Ramsay that whatever Tom has said to him might not be the truth and he shouldn’t believe the guy.
Uh-ho! That doesn’t sound like a good sign for the restaurant.
Gordon was then introduced to Andrea who also quashed everything that her father said about her.
Andrea clarified that in seven years her father has not let her take charge even for one day.
Tom is the one who runs the place – he is in control of everything from the menu to the accounts.
After hearing everything about the behind-the-scenes drama, Chef Ramsay thinks its time to taste the food.
To that end, he then ordered the meatloaf, lobster ravioli, and cranberry haddock.
When the waitress Carla brought the food, Ramsay asked her some questions regarding its preparation and she was visibly struggling with her lies.
After some more interrogation, she comes clean about the food being of low-quality and store bought.
Again, not a good sign!
Gordon Ramsay took one bite of Lobster Ravioli and couldn’t even swallow it.
He noted only meatloaf was alright for human consumption, which isn’t exactly high praise.
There were also some other expletives mixed in, in true Gordon Ramsay fashion.
After checking the terrible food, Ramsay once again meets with Tom to confront him about low-quality ingredients.
This time Tom’s defensiveness can be seen clearly and he even says that people love frozen food, they especially come for their meatloaf from far off.
During their heated exchange, it is clear that even the restaurant’s chef (Dan) and other kitchen helpers are well-aware of the problems.
None of them tried to defend Tom even once and his ego didn’t like it.
Ramsay then visits during the evening when a few customers have already arrived.
Upon inspection, he tells Tom that the frozen method is hard as a brick.
Instead of apologizing, Tom tells him that people order it like that.
Ramsay then dares him to go tell customers that he is serving them frozen meatloaf.
Tom disagrees and then Gordon does that himself.
After this whole ordeal, Ramsay makes it very clear that this restaurant would be dead soon if Tom stays in charge.
At last, he convinced Tom to pass the restaurant to his daughter who clearly has shown immense potential throughout the episode.
He also improved the restaurant and put in place a new menu, as you’d expect from any rescue.
So was the Kitchen Nightmares Olde Hitching Post episode a success? Keep reading our update to learn what happened next and if the restaurant is open or closed in 2024 and beyond.
Olde Hitching Post Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Hitching Post Kitchen Nightmares episode, let’s talk about what happened to the restaurant after Gordon Ramsay and his crew left Hanson MA.
First off, it seems like Tom really did stick with his decision to hand the restaurant over to Andrea.
This seems to have been a good call, as you’ll see in a second.
But first, let’s talk about the Olde Hitching Post Gordon Ramsay revisit..
The Olde Hitching Post Gordon Ramsay Re-Visit
Before talking about where the restaurant is today, I want to note that Gordon Ramsay revisited The Olde Hitching Post in Season 7 episode 10.
This was the last episode of Kitchen Nightmares to air on TV.
In addition to revisiting The Olde Hitching Post, he also went to La Galleria 33 in Boston MA and Prohibition Gastropub in Everett, WA.
The Olde Hitching Post revisit part starts at the 22:11 mark in this YouTube video:
Now, let’s talk about the most important question on your mind…
Is The Olde Hitching Post still open in 2024?
As of 2023, I am happy to say that the Olde Hitching Post Kitchen Nightmares was a success and the restaurant is still open and doing business in Hanson, MA!
However, it’s now doing so under new ownership as Andrea sold The Olde Hitching Post in 2022.
Lori and Jason Cook, the new owners, kept the same concept and staff, which is why I’m leaving it marked as open.
Before selling it, the restaurant had only flourished under Andrea’s ownership and leadership.
Here’s what the Olde Hitching Post Hanson MA location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view:
If you want to learn more about the restaurant, you can check out the official Olde Hitching Post Hanson MA website.
Here’s a direct link to the Olde Hitching Post menu.
To give you an idea of the current prices, here’s a screenshot of the burger menu:
The Olde Hitching Post reviews after Kitchen Nightmares
The Olde Hitching Post is one of the higher-rated restaurants that you’ll see on Kitchen Nightmares, which is great to see.
It has an impressive 4.6 Google rating voted by 450 people.
On the Olde Hitching Post Yelp page, it also has a solid 3.5 star rating on over 98 reviews.
The Yelp review did used to be 4 stars when I first wrote my Olde Hitching Post update, so I guess it has dropped a bit.
The TripAdvisor reviews are similarly good, with a 4 star rating on over 100 reviews.
Here’s a sampling of a few The Olde Hitching Post reviews that were written after the visit from Gordon Ramsay…
5 star Yelp review from October 2018:
I went here for the first time tonight on October 17, 2018 for a birthday dinner with my 2 brothers and dad!
I have been wanting to try the place after seeing it on Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay.
I have to say that the food is pretty good especially the homemade maple butter used for the freshly baked rolls they serve.
My entree for the night was Chicken Parm and it tasted a lot like one that is made at The Chateau, which is pretty good Chicken Parm as well.
The interior is exactly how I have seen it redone on Kitchen Nightmares and it looks really nice.
I would love to come back here again and try different foods and maybe even a dessert.
4 star Yelp review from August 2012:
3.5 stars – big potential!
Thumbs up to the “new” Old Hitching Post, cooking up Gordon Ramsay recipes after a makeover this summer.
We went recently with a large group, and service was attentive, food was delivered quickly, and everyone enjoyed their meals.
The seafood (haddock, lobster, crabcakes) was all fresh and well prepared.
No complaints on the dishes – job well done!
I will go back and hope folks in Hanson and surrounding towns support this restaurant.
The one thing it needs now is customers and some life/buzz in the dining room – it was quiet on a recent weekend night.
Try it out, I think you will like!
2 star Yelp review from October 2013:
Well, I may be the first to say it, but I actually liked this place better before Gordon Ramsay came in.
We went there about 3 weeks after, and it didn’t seem to be much better.
The decor was way up from what it used to be, but other than that there’s nothing to shout about.
First of all, the menu is very limited. There isn’t really much to choose from, especially for a person who doesn’t eat much meat.
But anyway, I got the haddock and it was extremely chewy, so much that I couldn’t even eat half of it.
The clam strips were good, but for the most part the whole meal was very disappointing.
I would say go there once and try for yourself, because you never know if my taste is different than yours; just be warned that it’s not the best restaurant in town.
Does Andrea still own the Olde Hitching Post?
Andrea was still the owner and manager of the Olde Hitching Post restaurant up until 2022, when she and her husband sold the restaurant to new owners – Lori and Jason Cook.
Gordon was able to get through to Tom and Andrea was in control for a while, which explains why the restaurant has done so well.
In fact, Andrea actually bought The Olde Hitching Post from her father in 2014.
On the Old Hitching Post website up until 2022, it used to say that the restaurant was owned by Andrea and her husband Spiro Garnavos.
However, as I mentioned above, Andrea and her husband sold The Olde Hitching Post to a new owner in 2022.
You can see this confirmed in an article from the Whitman-Hanson Express.
Here’s Andrea’s statement about selling the restaurant:
It’s been a really good 17 strong years.
It’s been home to us.
We’ve made so many friends.
I thank the community — Hanson, all the surrounding towns — we’ve had a really good run, and these two are going to have a great run.
Again, the new Olde Hitching Post owners plan to continue with the concept and staff.
What happened to Tom Kessaris (original The Olde Hitching Post owner)?
Tom Kessaris was the original Olde Hitching Post owner before passing the restaurant to his daughter Andrea.
As far as I can tell, Tom is now retired. However, he did dabble in other restaurants after the Olde Hitching Post Kitchen Nightmares episode.
For example, he opened a restaurant named Fotini’s Restaurant in Bolton, MA.
Tom eventually sold that restaurant in 2022, with his stated goal being to retire and travel.
Overall, it seems like Tom really was pretty experienced at running successful restaurants.
That’s great to see!
Final thoughts on The Olde Hitching Post
Overall, the Olde Hitching Post Hanson MA restaurant seems to be a real Kitchen Nightmares success story.
Under the ownership of Andrea, it flourished for around a decade and got lots of good reviews.
While Andrea did sell The Olde Hitching Post to new owners in 2022, it still seems like a succesful business and the name and concept continue.
Congratulations to everyone involved!
If you want to see some other Massachusetts Kitchen Nightmares episodes, you can check out our updates for La Galleria 33 in Boston and Barefoot Bob’s in Hull.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/olde-hitching-post-restaurant-hansonhttps://www.facebook.com/Olde-Hitching-Post-Restaurant-299737511958/
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Last updated: 2023-02-05 06:03
Another great success story!
What’s so bad about store bought food? Food has to come from somewhere. What do you think, restaurants grow their own vegetables and slaughter their own cows for beef? No, that’s why they buy things from stores.
Actually restuarants DO go to farmers markets and butcher shops for fresh produce so you sound pretty dumb right now.
That’s my point, Doggbutt (are you related to Snoop Dogg?). Restaurants buy these things from someone else, they don’t grow them on their own. And markets and shops are “stores”.
PS, most of my comments are meant to be funny, it’s non sequitur humor.
It’s fine when you go to the store and buy it yourself, but not fine when you’re going to a restaurant that tells you everything is made fresh and then you’re charged a premium price for it
Wow! Didn’t know it was sold to new owners. It was never mentioned on Facebook.
Also a successful episode because Andrea is smokin’ hot.
I couldn’t agree more! 🥵🥵🥵
Andrea is such a well spoken, lovely, smart gorgeous woman. Glad she indeed showed she can run a restaurant successfully. Happy for her.
Some episodes I wish Ramsay were also a karate expert and would take the owner outside and pound him like cheap steak.
This is the best comment I’ve seen!
He is. Gordon has a black belt in karate and does boxing.
It’s nice to see that the restaurant is successful, regardless of who owns it. But god damn, Tom is one stubborn asshat! I felt bad for Andrea (as well as everyone else who had to put up with this man) and it’s obvious that she has a lot of potential to run a restaurant. Very refreshing to see that she wasn’t some lazy spoiled little princess who was handed everything in life (like some of the other people on the show). Andrea has great work ethic, but her jackass of a father was too controlling to let her do anything. Best regards to everyone else though.
You should update this to say that this is no longer the last episode of Kitchen Nightmares on TV
Good catch! Gordon added a lot of extra work for me when they rebooted the series lol
Here’s an article on Tom before KN and how he went from being homeless to restaurant owner.
https://eu.enterprisenews.com/story/news/2008/08/04/from-homeless-immigrant-to-hanson/40213190007/