(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 1 | View All Season 1 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: October 10, 2007
Seascape Inn Address: 116 Main St Islip, NY 11751
Episode Recap
Seascape Inn was an Islip, New York restaurant featured on Season 1 of Kitchen Nightmares.
Though the Seascape Kitchen Nightmares episode aired in October 2007, the actual filming and visit from Gordon Ramsay took place earlier in March 2007.
It was Kitchen Nightmares Season 1 Episode 4.
The Seascape Inn opened all the way back in 1962 in Islip, New York.
If you’re not familiar with New York geography, Islip is a small town on Long Island in Suffolk County, so it’s right near New York City.
Opened by Irene and her late husband, the Seascape Inn was once one of the best restaurants on Long Island.
Now, run by Irene and her son Peter, the restaurant is a shadow of its former self.
You can see the signs of neglect in the decor.
Peter, the owner and Irene’s son, thinks Chef Doug is the issue.
Seascape Inn needs about $800,000.00 to $1,000,000.00 to keep the Seascape Inn from sinking, so Gordon Ramsay definitely has his work cut out for him if he wants to save this restaurant.
Gordon Ramsay arrives and is greeted by Peter.
In their first conversation, Peter sits down with Gordon and compares the restaurant to a sinking ship.
Not a good start, but maybe the food will turn out to be better than expected (just kidding – it’s Kitchen Nightmares haha).
To test things out, Gordon orders three dishes: the cajun Atlantic salmon, crab cakes, and lobster ravioli.
As Gordon waits for his food, he takes in the foul smell and the crumbling walls.
Unfortunately, the food isn’t much better than the Seascape restaurant decor when it finally arrives.
The lobster ravioli is not fresh, and neither are the crab cakes.
The salmon dish is served with a greasy pesto sauce, and the salmon itself is dry.
Irene offers Gordon dry, powdery cookies, which he then chokes on.
Gordon wants to get a complete picture of the restaurant and its problems, so he watches what happens during a typical dinner service at the Seascape restaurant.
It wasn’t good…
Pretty much every customer had complaints during dinner service.
Gordon then moved into the kitchen, where he saw Doug doing whatever he wanted.
There is a spill in the kitchen, and Peter comes in to clean it because he is too afraid to tell his employees what to do.
There is grease and grime on nearly every surface in the kitchen.
To add to the general hygiene issues, Gordon sees the ingredients from yesterday’s order, and everything looks inedible.
This includes a weird scene where Gordon finds disgusting pork, but Doug insists that the pork is just for his personal food.
W.t.f….
The owners stated that the kitchen was clean and appalled at the area’s state.
Because it was so dirty, Gordon shuts down the restaurant and orders a deep clean of the kitchen.
The Seascape restaurant owners and staff must clean every nook and cranny.
What’s more, Peter is admonished by Gordon and his mother for not taking responsibility and stepping up.
Once the kitchen is finally clean, Gordon teaches the cooks how to prepare seafood the right way, much to Chef Doug’s dismay.
Chef Doug acts very unprofessionally as Gordon teaches him how to cook fish dishes.
Gordon orders Peter to fire Chef Doug for his insubordination.
Gordon also stated that Chef Doug was a burden on the business.
While the restaurant is being remodeled, Gordon takes Peter to a boxing ring to blow off some steam and reenergize Peter.
Peter explains that his father always puts him down, and he is finally ready to prove his father wrong.
Back at the restaurant, the walls are newly splashed with red which looks beautiful with the brown finishing.
There are pictures from the glory days of the Seascape Inn all over the walls.
It’s a huge upgrade from before the visit from Gordon Ramsay.
Gordon brings in a new chef who is a massive improvement from Doug.
Gordon also brings in the head chef from his restaurant to teach Peter how to dress and stand properly.
At first, the restaurant is chaotic because of the influx of customers, but as the staff works together, the night ends well.
After that, Scott, the chef that Gordon brought in, stayed for an additional week to train the new chef.
When the episode ends, Gordon Ramsay gives hugs and Irene and Peter seemed very grateful for his help.
So was the Seascape Inn Kitchen Nightmares episode a long-term success?
Keep reading our update to learn what happened next and if it’s still open in 2024 and beyond.
Seascape Inn Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Seascape Kitchen Nightmares episode, let’s talk about what happened after Gordon Ramsay’s visit.
Unfortunately, the Seascape restaurant Yelp page didn’t have any reviews, so I can’t share any firsthand experiences from customers about what the restaurant was like.
However, I can say that Seascape Inn did not achieve success after Gordon Ramsay left, which is probably no surprise given the state of the restaurant on the show.
Is Seascape still open?
Seascape closed in August 2007, just five months after Gordon Ramsay’s visit and before the episode aired on TV.
The restaurant was sold to new owners who originally planned to open a new restaurant called The Coast.
We’re not sure how much the Seascape Inn sold for as we can’t find a public record of the sale.
However, that didn’t happen either and the old Seascape Inn New York location was sold again.
As of 2023, the old Seascape Islip location is occupied by a restaurant called J&R’s Islip Steak House.
The reviews aren’t great, as the new restaurant has just three stars on Yelp, though its Google Reviews are a bit better.
Either way, the new restaurant does seem to be successful for now.
Here’s what the old Seascape Inn Islip NY location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view:
Why did Seascape close?
One reason why Seascape closed was the huge debt burden.
Beyond that, Seascape went back to their old menu after Gordon Ramsay left.
This change was unpopular with customers who came to visit Seascape because they heard about Gordon Ramsay’s makeover.
What happened to Chef Doug from the Seascape Kitchen Nightmares episode?
Sadly, Chef Doug from Seascape Inn passed away in 2010 at age 57.
This was around three years after the Seascape Inn episode aired on TV.
You can see his obituary here.
RIP, Doug.
Final thoughts on the Seascape restaurant
Overall, Seascape Inn and Restaurant did not achieve success after the Kitchen Nightmares episode, as it was already closed by the time the episode aired on TV.
The old Seascape Inn Islip location was sold multiple times and now operates as a restaurant named J&R’s Islip Steak House.
In terms of what happened to Doug, Peter, and Irene, I can’t find any information. If you know anything, please let me know in the comments.
If you want to see some other updates for Long Island Kitchen Nightmares episodes, you can check out my posts for Finn McCool’s in Westhampton Beach, Handlebar in Mount Sinai, Peter’s Italian Restaurant in Babylon, and Classic American in West Babylon.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the post!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/seascape-islipWhat did you think about the Seascape Inn episode of Kitchen Nightmares? I'd love it if you shared your thoughts on the episode in the comments below!
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Last updated: 2023-04-22 06:36
How did that foul-mouthed bint, Irene expect her son to be some dynamo full of confidence when his Dad sounded dominant and unfeeling and she couldn’t speak to her son normally? She is a horrible woman.
I was stupefied by two “chefs” the kitchen was extremely filthy! You don’t need to be a great chef to know how to clean! And you don’t need to be a great chef to properly pan fry a fish! I suppose lack of supervision and responsibility combined with no pride in your craft and laziness was a reason for that…
I wanted to scream at Doug. As a Chef myself I pride myself on being able to take criticism and opinions of colleagues. Guests too. So arrogant
Hopefully Peter is doing well now. I sympathize with him because my father was a control freak and used me as an example of failure to my siblings. Proved him wrong when I showed I didn’t need him. The two chefs were horrible and the mother for doing the same thing the father did to Peter. Sad it closed but honestly wish the best for peter
Agreed!! She was a terrible woman. I can’t imagine what it must be like being raised by a mother like that and what sounds like a tyrant of a father. No wonder poor Peter behaved the way he did; he had been beaten down his whole life.
Gordo is Boss!! Peter rules and Doug blew chunks!!
Its a pitty that things went down as they did. Gordon is an incredible person and to do what he has done takes much patience, im sure you chefs out there will back me up on that.
Some of you might disagree but before you do, Peter didnt have to take over the restaurant he decided to himself maybe his mother pushed him or maybe he tried to impress her and get the attention from her to make up for his father I don’t know.
He had the choice in my opinion to go with it or leave it be and he went with it and could not apprehend the pressure that comes with running a restaurant never mind owning one 🤷♂️
I honestly hope that Peter went on to accomplish great things that were more suited to him as working in hospitality did not suit him enough.
This is one of my favorite episodes. I was a little surprised to read that they had reverted back to the old menu after Gordon’s visit and I am now wondering if they went back to the old menu with the new chef that Ramsay hired or if they hired Doug back in the five months before closing
What about that devoted darling waitress who took such pride in the restaurant since the 60’s. These employees give their lives and the owners just shat on them. Wonder if she’s still alive ❤️
Moderator, the reason you haven’t been able to find anything about Chef Doug is that he entered the federal witness protection program after he was a key witness in a prosecution for serving bad seafood. That program really does a good job! So do you on this site.
Watching the episode as writing this. Really feel for Peter. Think if Gordon had been able to help earlier before it was past the point of no return I think he might have had a chance. And the way his parents were with him is horrible. No wonder he’s like that hearing negative comments about himself all his life. Gordan did such a great job pumping him up. Hope he’s found his place in the world and is a strong happy man now. Peter wishing you the best
The way the two cooks brought the seascape restaurant,down especially when Gordon came in to retrain them to cook food the night way,but refused to learn (like most episodes of kitchen nightmares) is no surprise,even when Doug has put 20,30 years on the job,shows most people in the workplace are set in their own ways that being inflexible is what they would do and trying to get them in the latest way of new job attitudes of how the assembly line works with not happen if I live in the 60’s to 70’s era when its the 2000’s so some of us are too shocked to realize that. I know I had worked with folks who don’t like changes and too stubborn to understand old methods doesn’t work at all.
*FYI,Islip is about an hour and a half outside of Manhattan.*
The fact that they went back to the old menu suggests to me that perhaps they hired Doug back. I can’t imagine that the chef Gordon hired would’ve been okay with that decision, and he probably quit because of it. Peter probably didn’t want to spend the money on fresh product, but he knew that Doug would be okay with that. Chances are that Doug probably worked for less money too.
Ultimately, what happened here is what happens to a lot of the places on KN; despite the shows best efforts, the places are just too far in debt to recover.
Also, Peter didn’t really seem to want to be there anyway, so it’s just as well that they sold it.
Doug died a few years after the episode aired.
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/miller-place-ny/douglas-ali-4290062