“Any businessman would’ve said, enough’s enough, pull the plug.” – John Esposito
In this edition of Kitchen Nightmares, we visit the combination of Sal’s Pizzeria and Mama Maria’s, owned by John Esposito, located in the Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City.
Kitchen Nightmares, “Mama Maria’s”: background and intro
John tells us that he ran Sal’s Pizzeria successfully for years, and eventually purchased the storefront next to Sal’s. Then his mom was diagnosed with cancer, and that became the inspiration to name the new adjoining restaurant as Mama Maria’s.
“As the years passed, it started to go down” Fran, a waitress, tells us
One of the problems, it seems, is that there are younger “hipsters” moving into Cobble Hill. However, John says he’s not going to “put a funky earring in his ear” just to attract new customers to his restaurants.
One of the great joys of this kind of episode of Kitchen Nightmares is seeing what I like to call legit New York people with legit New York attitudes – with the accents to match. Example: “It is a f—ing nightmare,” Fabio the restaurant manager says. “John is holding onto the past and the way things were done when his parents ran the business.”
“Any businessman would’ve said, enough’s enough, pull the plug,” John says. “But how do you pull the plug on family history?”
Kitchen Nightmares, “Mama Maria’s”: here comes Gordon Ramsay
Gordon Ramsay rolls up to Mama Maria’s and immediately takes issue with the ripped up canape on the exterior. “What is that – that is ghastly,” he says.
Gordon meets John, who relays that the number one problem with the business is “we’re not busy,” due to more competition in the neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Lori the waitress has a different take: “lack of leadership,” she tells Ramsay. “He doesn’t want to change anything because this is what his parents knew,” she adds.
Gordon orders a meal to test out the operation, including the tortellini, spaghetti and meatballs (pasta “made fresh daily on the premises”), and margherita pizza.
Joe the chef, who seems like a real character, tells the camera that he thinks that Ramsay will “have a heart attack when he sees what’s going on around here.”
The first person in Ramsay’s direct firing line is Fabio, who tries to defend showing customers a display of desserts that have mold on the bottom of them. “Have you lost the plot?” Gordon asks. “It absolutely reeks,” he adds.
Gordon seems to have an enormous supply of rhetorical questions at the ready, really.
Meanwhile, John is wandering around the back muttering about how Ramsay is “ripping into Fabio” already. And then he asks Fran if she has any “Tylenol with codeine.” She says no, thankfully.
Ramsay’s take on the tortellini: very bland, and visually it looks like someone ate the dessert display, and it “shot out twice as fast as it was taken in.”
In the back of the house, Joe confirms Gordon’s suspicion that the pasta is frozen. “It’s fresh frozen – we make it fresh and then freeze it,” Joe says, which he views as a “mind boggling” practice.
Fran and Fabio appear to be stunned to learn that the pasta is “fresh frozen,” “It makes… no sense,” Fabio stammers.
Gordon’s not nearly done, of course. “Does anyone clean here?”
Fabio, the restaurant manager, isn’t sure. “You’ll have to ask John,” he says.
Or maybe he does know, and the answer’s a hard no.
Ramsay’s assessment of the spaghetti with meatballs: “dry and disgusting.” And the margherita pizza: “greasy… it’s like an oil slick in here.”
At this point, John starts really having a tantrum, repeating, “I’ve had enough… I’ve had enough,” while tossing empty pizza boxes around.
Gordon then meets Joe and the kitchen staff and says, “I don’t know where to start… I’ve just had one of the most disgusting lunches I’ve ever had.”
So, it seems, he did know where to start.
Joe is all about trying to throw owner John under the bus. “I’m embarrassed to do some of the things we’re doing here, you kidding me?” he says.
“You’re running on nostalgia – you’re in love with the memories,” Gordon tells John, trying to shake him out of his stubbornness to change.
Kitchen Nightmares, “Mama Maria’s”: dinner service
As Gordon returns to oversee a dinner service, we see John open a bottle of beer. The suds pour out immediately and hit the floor. “Oh my god…” John says.
As dinner starts, Ramsay confirms that John stays in the front of Sal’s Pizzeria making pizza while ignoring the kitchen of Mama Maria’s. And immediately, people complain like crazy about their meals.
John goes back to his mantra of I’ve had enough… I’ve had enough. It seems to soothe him, perhaps.
Meanwhile, one of the customers heads to the bathroom to be sick after eating the lobster. Gordon sniffs the dish and recoils at the odor of ammonia. “It’s fishy,” John grudgingly admits.
“Should we call an ambulance?” John asks Gordon, nearly whining. And then he heads to the bar and frantically asks for a “shot of something.” Eventually he lands on vodka.
Something to help soothe him, perhaps.
As the ambulance arrives, John says, “Kill the cameras!”
At this point, Gordon makes the call to shut the entire restaurant down. No checks, everyone out.
“Tonight was beyond a disaster,” Gordon tells John privately. Appropriately broken down by now, Gordon shifts to his softer tone and urges John to keep fighting and to change.
“I want you to win, man-to-man,” Ramsay says, “but you have got to change.”
Kitchen Nightmares, “Mama Maria’s”: the next day
The next morning, Ramsay goes into his recon mode in the kitchen. He’s appalled at the amount of frozen food he finds. And the lack of dates and names on the containers really sets him off.
To be fair, there really does seem to be an enormous amount of frozen stuff laying around. Kitchen Nightmares: Hoarders edition, anyone?
Gordon confronts the staff and John with an enormous table of random frozen gunk, and John finally breaks down, muttering, “This is my fault… this is my fault…” At least he’s off his I’ve had enough… shtick for now. “I let this get out of my grasp,” he admits.
During another private conversation, John laments his lot in life, how he bypassed getting an education to help run the restaurant decades ago, how he doesn’t want to be scared anymore, and doesn’t want to fight with his wife. He breaks down (again), and it’s clear that John is really a hot mess.
Kitchen Nightmares, “Mama Maria’s”: the big reveal
The big reveal includes a brand new and not completely ripped to shreds awning that heralds a new era for Mama Maria’s.
The interior is overhauled: it’s “bright, vibrant, and my god does it scream Brooklyn,” Gordon notes. The metal artwork that displays the Brooklyn Bridge is pretty cool, and on the walls are historical pictures of John’s family from back in the day.
The new dishes are on display for the staff and they really do appear to be a 1,100% upgrade. The bruschetta is bursting with color and looks delicious, the muscles are “rustic and charming,” and then there’s fancier dishes that I can’t accurately track the names of to be honest.
Kitchen Nightmares, “Mama Maria’s”: relaunch night
Ramsay has arranged for a bunch of bloggers and local news outlets to cover Mama Maria’s relaunch night.
John still seems pretty whiny about embracing his new role of being the actual owner of his restaurant versus camping out in the pizzeria.
After some stumbles – and a quick shake-up/pep talk from Gordon to John – service seems to pick up and the diners and bloggers enjoy their meals.
The episode ends on a positive note, with Ramsay encouraging John to keep it up.
Kitchen Nightmares, “Mama Maria’s”: post-episode epilogue
The narrator tells us that John has kept his promise to keep away from the pizza counter. Also: “Mama Maria’s has already generated a ton of positive buzz from bloggers and websites.”
🍽 Want more? Check out Pop Thruster’s Kitchen Nightmares episode reviews (there’s a lot).
Kitchen Nightmares, “Mama Maria’s”: where are they now?
It looks like both Sal’s Pizzeria (or Sal’s Pizza Store, as it’s referred to here) and Mama Maria’s stayed open all the way until early 2023, when it was announced both were to close at the same time.
Some stats and info about Kitchen Nightmares, “Mama Maria’s”
TV SHOW – Kitchen Nightmares
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 6, Episode 3
AIRED ON – November 9th, 2012
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FOX
GENRE – Docuseries, Office Culture, Trashtastic TV, Food Shows
CAST – Gordon Ramsay