(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: UK | View All Season UK Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: November 6, 2007
Piccolo Teatro Address: 6 Rue des Ecouffes, 75004 Paris, France
Episode Recap
Piccolo Teatro was a Paris, France restaurant featured on Season 5 of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares in the UK.
Though the Piccolo Teatro Kitchen Nightmares episode aired in November 2007, the actual filming and visit from Gordon Ramsay took place much earlier in 2007.
It was Episode 2 of Season 5 on the UK version.
In this episode, Gordon Ramsay is in Paris France to visit Piccolo Teatro.
The Piccolo restaurant is owned by Rachel McNally.
Rachel is from Scotland but married a frenchmen, so she moved to France.
Rachel’s father invested in her restaurant to help her out, but Rachel is in debt due to mounting debt and loans.
This debt is a big part of why the Piccolo Kitchen Nightmares episode exists.
Rachel McNally is a vegetarian, so she took the chance to buy the restaurant when it came up for sale as Piccolo Teatro also serves vegetarian food.
Gordon Ramsay arrives and notices the small size of the restaurant.
Gordon orders a variety of dishes, including carrot gratin and hummus salad.
However, when it arrives and he tries it, Gordon says the food is an insult to vegetarians.
During dinner service, Gordon can see Rachel is visibly nervous.
Daniel, the head chef, preps nothing and takes twenty minutes to prep two garden salads.
Rachel is lacking in leadership skills as Daniel begins burning food.
Gordon is sick of Daniel and asks him to leave, but he malingers around the restaurant.
He tries to take plates to the kitchen and clear them.
Gordon goes to grab him, but Daniel swings a knife/fork around. Awkward!
Daniel then is in the dining room talking to customers.
Gordon has to march him out of the restaurant and physically carry him out.
Stephanie, a server, will help in the kitchen until they can find more help.
Later, when Gordon Ramsay checks the kitchen of the restaurant, he discovers some huge issues.
Most notably, the kitchen is filthy and filled with rotten produce.
Rotten produce is a pretty big issue for any restaurant, but it’s extra bad for a vegetarian restaurant.
Gordon is concerned about how successful a vegetarian restaurant will be in France since French people love their meat.
Gordon trains a staff member, Fiona, on making a two bean chili and tomato dish.
Rachel and Stephanie haven’t arrived even though they also need to be trained.
Rachel comes and calls Stephanie, who gives an excuse as to why she can’t be there. Gordon leaves.
Gordon decides to give Rachel McNally one more chance to get his help.
Meanwhile, Rachel is on the hunt for a new chef for the vegetarian restaurant.
Her father found her chef, and Rachel and Gordon are both thrilled.
The restaurant doesn’t offer lunch service, so Gordon opens for lunch.
They made a lot of money in just one lunch service.
Chef India Innes is the new chef that Rachel’s father found for her.
Gordon retrains Rachel on cooking and time management.
India agrees to stay in France to help Rachel, and India really steps up.
India greatly impresses Gordon, but Gordon is still questioning Rachel and her priorities.
When Gordon leaves, he’s not entirely sure whether the restaurant will be able to keep going.
So was the Piccolo Teatro Kitchen Nightmares episode a long-term success?
Keep reading to learn what happened next and if this French vegetarian restaurant is still open in 2023.
Piccolo Teatro Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Kitchen Nightmares Piccolo Teatro visit, let’s talk about what happened to the vegetarian restaurant after Gordon Ramsay and his crew left Paris, France.
This includes a pretty wild Rachel McNally Kitchen Nightmares update, so I encourage you to keep reading.
While things did seem to be looking up for Piccolo Teatro after Gordon Ramsay’s visit, that wasn’t the case.
Six weeks later, the restaurant is closed.
Gordon finds India, and she tells him she went home to get her stuff, and when she came back, Rachel was gone.
The restaurant was covered in vermin when she returned.
Rachel’s father assisted India for a while, but they gave up.
Gordon offers Chef India Innes work in London, where she is from.
Gordon has plans to meet Rachel, but she is late.
Gordon is getting fed up waiting for her, so he leaves.
As he is going, Rachel appears, and Gordon admonishes her.
Is Piccolo Teatro still open after Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares?
Piccolo Teatro closed just a few weeks after the Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares episode was filmed.
Rachel just disappeared, leaving the restaurant abandoned.
It seems like the mounting debts got to her.
As of 2023, the old Piccolo Teatro Paris France location is occupied by a new restaurant named L’Alimentari.
Reviews for the new restaurant seem to be quite good, as it has a 4 star rating on both Yelp and TripAdvisor.
Here’s what the old Piccolo restaurant Paris location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view:
What happened to Rachel McNally after Kitchen Nightmares?
Rachel McNally was the Piccolo Teatro owner from the episode.
If we’re to believe tabloid reporting, she has one of the most unique stories of any Kitchen Nightmares owner.
According to The Sun, Rachel McNally, the Piccolo Teatro owner, allegedly became a “lady of the night” after having her restaurant appear on the show.
I’m not sure how to verify this, but that’s what The Sun reported.
Here’s an archived version of a more detailed article from The Sun.
That article has more details and alleges that she charged £200 a night.
Again, I’m not sure how to verify any of this.
I’m just repeating what those publications said.
I know that The Sun isn’t exactly the most reputable paper in existence.
But they do claim to have some quotes from Rachel confirming things.
What happened to Chef India Innes from Piccolo Teatro?
India Innes was the new chef that came into Piccolo Teatro.
Because she seemed to be quite good at her job, a lot of people want to know what happened to India from Kitchen Nightmares.
Though Piccolo Teatro closed, Gordon Ramsay was so impressed with Chef India that he offered her a two week work placement at his Boxwood Cafe in London.
If she did well, this would be followed by a permanent position.
However, Chef India Innes turned down the permanent position so that she could return to Edinburgh.
As of 2023, she’s raising her children and offering private catering.
She also had a brief stint at The Black Bull in Tarbolton, among other restaurants.
I wish her the best and I hope she’s enjoying herself.
Final thoughts on Piccolo Teatro
Overall, the Piccolo Teatro Kitchen Nightmares episode was definitely not a long-term success.
The restaurant closed quite shortly after the Gordon Ramsay Piccolo Teatro visit, so it never really had a chance to implement Gordon’s suggestions.
If we’re to believe the tabloid The Sun, Rachel McNally then went on to allegedly work as an escort.
Chef India Innes impressed Gordon so much that he offered her a job after Piccolo Teatro closed.
However, she turned down the job to return to Edinburgh.
She worked in a few different restaurants but is now focused on raising her children and offering some private catering services.
That wraps up my Piccolo Teatro Kitchen Nightmares update.
If you want to see another Kitchen Nightmares France episode, you can also check out my update for Le Deck in Capbreton France.
Those are the only two restaurants from France, but other restaurants from the European mainland include Quelcuttis Tapas in Setla Spain, La Parra de Burriana in Nerja Spain, and La Granada Divino in Malaga Spain.
And if you want to share your thoughts on the Piccolo Teatro episode, you can do so using the comments section below.
Thanks for reading!
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Last updated: 2023-08-20 05:37
Article quoting Rachel on her exciting work as a prostitute:
https://www.financialexpress.com/archive/chef-turned-woman-into-200-a-night-prostitute/633644/
At least she’s no longer inflicting food on Parisians.
Stephanie was a pathetic privileged skank
Omg I remember this episode, it was such a mess including the shitty chef she had working for her that was so shady about her & the food. I still can’t believe chef Ramsay had to grab the knife away from them. I mean the whole thing was bizarre, as for Rachel my sister did tell me she did go on to become a hooker but I didn’t believe her. Although I was shocked but I never looked into it cause at that time I was told I didn’t care. Now I read a link from the comment section about Rachel & the whole blog is a mess. I don’t believe she said half of the stuff on there about Gordon & her finding the idea of becoming a hooker is a “turn on”. It has been years since that episode had been aired on TV, I hope she eventually changed her ways & decided to do something better for herself instead of selling her body. Maybe it was a desperate option for her to take since she lost a lot of money & was on a lot of debt but I hope now she is doing better for herself.