“They would f—ing kidnap me if I tried to serve that in Jamaica right now.” – Gordon Ramsay
Kingston Café is located in Pasadena, California, a city I lived in for a very long time.
Which immediately makes this an awesome episode of Kitchen Nightmares, people!
In fact, I know the exact location, though I never ate there (which… maybe is for the best, I guess). I can report though that the location is fantastic, on Fair Oaks just south of Old Town, which is the bustling heart of a really fun and in many ways idyllic southern California city.
I’ll also note that one of my favorite restaurants in Pasadena is just around the corner: The Luggage Room Pizzeria & La Grande Orange, located on Raymond. Fabulous food and cocktails if you’re in the area.
Okay, back to the Kingston Café, “an authentic Jamaican restaurant owned by Dr. Una Morris,” Narrator Guy tells us. Morris’ credentials are super impressive outside of being a restaurant owner, she’s a radiologist and a three-time Olympian involving track and field.
Una’s son, Keone, is the manager but it’s clear that the two often bicker, and we get a read that Dr. Morris is a super micromanager. But meanwhile, the business is doing terribly. Adding to the problem: Una constantly fires chefs because she feels they’re not preparing food the way she wants.
Matt, a British server with a great accent, tells us that they’re lucky if they get five tables filled for the entire day on some days. So, it’s not great. And again, referencing what I mention above: the location of this place is close to ideal.
Gordon Ramsay picks up Keone, who tells the chef that his mom likes to “rule with an iron fist. On his way in, Ramsay recognizes right away that the front of the Kingston Café “looks like a residence” and therefore easy to miss.
As Ramsay sits down to order up a sampling of dishes, he observes that the enormously sized menu is “something out of an office filing cabinet.” Meanwhile, Matt the server quickly relays to Gordon that Dr. Morris “can be a little overbearing at times – she just wants everything to be perfect.”
We also find out that Dr. Morris’ active radiology practice is literally next door to the Kingston Café.
Ramsay orders up something called “hot flashes,” which is jerk chicken, and a few other things, such as oxtail. Matt then reveals that Dr. Morris makes the “secret jerk sauce” for the jerk chicken, the recipe for which she won’t even tell Daniel, the head chef.
Ramsay’s first reaction to trying the secret jerk sauce: “absolutely dreadful.”
And on the rest of the food: “They would f—ing kidnap me if I tried to serve that in Jamaica right now.”
I’m not sure if that’s racist or not. Let’s say maybe?
On the jerk chicken “hot flashes”: “hideous hideous.” Meanwhile, there’s additional critiques about how dry the food is and how the temperature is all wrong.
Dr. Morris pushes back, telling the camera that Chef Ramsay doesn’t know form Jamaican food.
Later, Ramsay tells the full staff that the food is horrendous and “soulless,” an “insult to Jamaica.” Keone then adds that he’s felt from “the beginning” he thought that everything should be cooked to order instead of being prepared ahead of time, and Dr. Morris tells him to pipe down.
Then there’s a hilarious bit where Ramsay assesses (correctly) about “hot flashes”: “Aren’t they associated with menopause?” And Dr. Morris coolly says in response, “Not necessarily. Depends on how you perceive it.”
So much for the customer is always right.
Then the two argue and while Ramsay appears to be right on the merits, he then adds, “I don’t know what kind of herb you’re smoking in Jamaica but that is disgusting crap.” So we’re back to kinda probably racist-y territory here, I’d say. Or at least bigoted?
At dinner service, the “complimentary salads” get sent out to the diners first, which is oddly served in martini glasses. Ramsay’s flip out at this seems a bit blown, but this is just the first in a series of arguments involving Dr. Morris’ micromanagement versus Ramsay’s Jesus Christ I can’t believe we’re doing this-style retorts. And meanwhile Keone is deep into “I keep telling her this” mode. Keone has a bit of a Jordan Peele vibe as aside.
Meanwhile, Ramsay heads back into the storeroom, which never goes well on Kitchen Nightmares. Gordon’s conclusion: “Madame, you’ve lost the plot.” And then he does the move where he moves his finger around his head, indicating you are crazy, and this is the bit that really sets Una off.
Gordon brings things back to his argument of the moment: “Frozen, solid, disgusting, overcooked chicken.” And then, since everything is stored in bags: “Right now you’re running a hospital kitchen full of bags.”
And with that, Ramsay pulls a classic “f— that, I’m out of here” move, and storms off. “I think the doctor needs a doctor,” he then concludes.
Meanwhile, Narrator Guy makes a clever quip about Dr. Morris needing to be the “cure,” and that’s a segue to Ramsay stopping by the doc’s radiology office next door. Una soon admits that she’s sunk over $300,000 in the restaurant and needs help, but then gets all deflect-y and throws Keone under bus, calling him argumentative and lazy.
Dr. Morris then breaks down in tears, and that’s when you know the Tough Love that Ramsay prides himself in is breaking through. To be fair, Ramsay rightly points out Dr. Morris’ highly accomplished background and convinces her that he’s come to the Kingston Café to help and that they need to work together to make a positive change.
Next up: Chef Ramsay gives Keone a pep talk-meets-you need to nicer and more encouraging to your mum chat.
Which then means it’s time for a gimmick: an outdoor barbeque to attract the people of Pasadena down for some good jerk chicken. Dr. Morris even gives the chicken a grudging “B+” grade. However, Narrator Guy explains that the kitchen staff is “stuck in their same old habits” as we see weird massive Ziplock bags filled with food on a counter.
And that’s before Ramsay learns that the kitchen staff has been ordered to use day old rice. Even so, dishes take a long time to get out to diners inside the Kingston Café. And when they finally do get to eat, reports come back that entrees are really dry. The solve ends up being serving diners with replacement dishes from the barbeque set-up on the patio.
Time for another gimmick! Ramsay brings out a wheelbarrow with all the plastic bags of food and dumps them on the floor. The point is: no more bags, all!
Post-overnight renovation, Kingston Café’s interior does look quite a bit better, with the place having a “Caribbean feel” but more importantly the space feels more modern and spacious. And then outside, new signage is designed to make the restaurant more visible from the street. Meanwhile, the menu gets overhauled, involving dishes with “vibrant colors” like Kingston “special barbeque,” fish, and skirt steak.
On relaunch night, things start off pretty well, with appetizers firing out of the kitchen and diners enjoying the food. However, as is often the case at this point in the process, there are screwups a go to when entrees are involved, with orders getting mixed up. One server calls this “unexcusable.” And then meanwhile, Chef Daniel starts sending out poorly cooked dishes, which drives Chef Ramsay up the wall.
Eventually, Keone steps into the fray to start facilitating and keeping the customers happy. He even delegates his mom to work in sync with him as well. Dr. Morris is resistant at first, but Ramsay encourages her to allow him to take more of a leadership role. And over the course of service, things eventually go well in the end. And a Caribbean accented-guy even gushes about how good the food is.
That night, Ramsay calls out Keone for doing a good job and thanks for the team for rallying together overall. “We are only gonna get better,” Dr. Morris assesses.
Time for a final gimmick! Ramsay challenges Una to a race… but actually, it turns out he’s only joking. Which, come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Gordon Ramsay do before.
🍽 Want more? Check out Pop Thruster’s Kitchen Nightmares episode reviews (there’s a lot).
Kitchen Nightmares, “Kingston Cafe”: is it still open?
Well, Kingston Café stayed open for a while but eventually closed in 2018. Also: Keone “currently works in branding and marketing.”
Here’s a quote from one of the final Yelp reviews, from 2017:
As much as I hate to not support a restaurant that’s dedicated to the food I’ve eaten and loved all my life.. it’s difficult to pay $20 for oxtail that was poorly cooked and had no flavor at all. Salt and pepper didn’t even help it out. The rice and peas didn’t taste fresh at all… and I tasted no coconut milk which is a very common ingredient that really makes the rice and peas taste nice.
So… not great.
Some stats and info about Kitchen Nightmares, “Kingston Cafe”
TV SHOW – Kitchen Nightmares
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 4, Episode 10
AIRED ON – April 15th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FOX
GENRE – Docuseries, Office Culture, Trashtastic TV, Food Shows
CAST – Gordon Ramsay