Spanish Pavillion Kitchen Nightmares Update – Open or Closed?

Episode Recap

Spanish Pavillion was a Harrison, New Jersey restaurant featured on season 4 of Kitchen Nightmares. The Spanish Pavillion Kitchen Nightmares episode aired on January 21, 2011, but the actual filming and Gordon Ramsay’s visit took place in November 2010. It was episode 1 of season 4.

Spanish Pavillion in Harrison, New Jersey was opened by Antoni Fernandez in 1976. After Antonio retired, he left the restaurant to his daughter, Balbina, and grandsons, Michael and Jerry.

Nonetheless, after Antonio left the restaurant to his grandson and daughter it began to experience financial struggles.

One of the biggest reasons why the restaurant is struggling is simply because customers do not like the food.

Antonio’s daughter and grandson have shown lack of interest in the business as one can easily notice that they are never in the business.

To make matters worse the restaurant is now in a whopping $550,000 of debt.

With that much debt to pay off, Spanish Pavillion definitely needs some expert help from Gordon.

When Gordon Ramsay decides to visit the restaurant, he orders lobster bisque, chicken and garlic and paella main course. According to Chef Ramsay, the lobster was not fresh and it looked like it had been dead for a while before it was actually cooked.

Upon enquiring with the restaurant owners, he is informed that the lobster came straight from the tank.

Nonetheless, Gordon decides to take a look at the tank and he is surprised to find dead lobsters inside that are already decaying.

The risky thing about having dead lobster in the tank is that live lobsters will eat the dead lobsters and get infected and the restaurant will continue to serve infected meat.

After the awful incident with the lobster, Gordon is hoping to have something better in the next course.

When the chicken and garlic dish arrives, it has excessive oil and the chicken looks dry. To add salt to the injury, the paella arrives overcooked and over seasoned.

Apparently, the head chef in the restaurant does not taste the meals before serving and hence he does not know if the food being served to customer is well cooked.

Gordon decides to finally observe a dinner service. At the same time Michael is behind the bar. According to Gordon’s observation, the food is sold quickly but it is also returned to the kitchen just as fast.

When Michael and his brother try to rectify the issue they argue. Eventually the cook, Al, is pushed out and reprimanded.

The next morning, Gordon decides to take a look around the restaurant.

He is surprised to find multiple buckets full of shellfish in the freezer without dates on.

The fridge is full of dead lobsters and the walking area has a large amount of meat.

The condition of the kitchen is made worse by the presence of rogue pigeon flying around.

When Gordon finally confronts Michael about the condition of the kitchen, Michael claims he is overwhelmed.

Finally, Gordon offers to teach Michael how to make a chicken dish. At the same time, Michael makes an octopus. Both dishes are served as the specials for the evening service.

The customers love the new dish despite Michael’s hesitation at first.

Nonetheless, the evening does not go without a hiccup as one chicken is returned as it is spoiled.

Jerry responds to the issue quickly and service continues.

Gordon acknowledges that there has been a control issue in the restaurant and is happy to see how Jerry is able to deal with issues in the restaurant.

When the service is over, the restaurant is given a makeover. New china and furniture is brought in to the restaurant. Tapas dishes are also introduced. The brothers are impressed with the results and this makes the restaurant stand out.

So – was the Spanish Pavillion Kitchen Nightmares episode a success? Keep reading to find out!