Original subtitles

This week, I'm outside Austin, Texas,

where I've been asked to come and visit The Grumpy George,

a British-themed pub which opened last year,

run by Brit Karen and her husband

and co-owner, Christian.

- Hello. How are you? - Good.

My name is Karen.

I am the owner, along with my husband, Christian,

of The Grumpy George.

Absolutely.

I am from England, as you can hear.

My husband's from Germany.

Christian and I, we've been married now for 20 years,

and we've been living in Georgetown

for about 15 years now.

Your server will be right with you.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

I work for Amazon's Web Service,

but opening a restaurant was always a dream of ours.

And do you have any idea what you'd like to eat?

I'm gonna do the shepherd's pie.

A restaurant is something we never did before.

And he turned out pretty well, so we thought, give it a shot.

Shepherd's pie for D6 just came in.

When they told me that they were gonna open

The Grumpy George, I thought it was a good idea.

Opening a restaurant for sure is a dream of my parents'.

Next ticket, fish and chips, large side of Brussels sprouts.

Nothing like it around here and thought

it could be real successful.

We came into this with high hopes and high dreams.

Having said that, my husband and I have no clue

how to run a restaurant.

We're a posh British pub.

Chef Michael offered to help to produce the menu

that I was thinking of.

He is the trained chef.

And after trying his food, I gave him complete

and total control of the kitchen.

You do get one other side with the fish and chips.

Perfect.

My area of expertise will be Puerto Rican food.

Puerto Rican food is not close to British food.

So I've been looking at videos online just to get

ideas of what is British food.

British food is very bland.

Scotch egg.

We serve the fish and chips.

- Dry. - That's for me.

Shepherd's pie.

They found this paper in their shepherd's pie.

We also have a pasty.

Oh, no. I'm sorry to hear that.

I'm able to be creative, you know, do my specials,

make it more flavorful.

The egg was well undercooked.

- Yeah. - It was almost, like, slimy.

Do we know how long on this Reuben egg roll?

Chef makes everything from scratch, even the mushy peas.

Scratch takes space and time.

I got the fries coming right now.

I do everything from scratch here.

The downside, it's very time-consuming.

OK, that's how long?

I would say that ticket times are definitely

one of the biggest issues here.

Let me check on that. Sorry.

I know our kitchen got backed up.

People go away because they're tired of waiting

so long for their food.

Mike, forget about that sirloin.

They already left.

Oh, man, what a nightmare.

Two items shouldn't take 45 minutes.

And it's hard to justify that to the customer.

- Hey, Dayne. - Hey.

- I'm heading out. - OK.

Just letting you know. You got this, right?

I'll talk to you in a little bit.

Thank you. - See you later.

Karen and Christian treat The Grumpy George

like it can stand on its own.

But I don't believe it can.

It needs direction.

My parents work really hard, like, really hard.

She does all of this

along with her full-time corporate job.

I don't know how they're still going,

because I couldn't do it.

We've worked so hard all of our lives.

The goal is to retire and just to enjoy The Grumpy George.

But financially we've taken on way too much.

So we have about four weeks left of cash

for the business to stay open.

Hi, folks. How are you? Welcome.

I'm tired, and I'm exhausted.

I'm just overwhelmed with money,

getting tired of it by the day.

If everything stays exactly the same as it is,

we're gonna have to find more money

and it's just going to get worse for us.

So--

This restaurant is festering.

You cannot be that deluded.

Stop, stop, stop.

I promise you, you can't do this.

Smell it!

Shut it down!

I'm in the historic town square of Georgetown, Texas,

at the struggling Grumpy George,

the only British pub in the area.

Now, the good news is that the actual owner is British,

so I'm looking forward to a little taste of home.

The Grumpy George.

OK.

Good morning.

.

- How are you? - Oh, good.

- We're doing great. - What is that?

It's a Reuben egg roll.

- A Reuben egg roll? - Yes.

That's a million miles away from anything

to do with quintessential British.

- Did you see the door? - What?

- Did you see the door? - What?

- Big man is here. - Gotcha.

Yo, yo, Gordon's in the house.

Thank you.

Gordon Ramsay has come in.

It's scary, for sure.

Like, the Gordon Ramsay is here.

- Hey, bud. - Gordon, nice to meet you.

- Likewise. - I'm Dayne.

- Dayne, good to see you. - Nice to meet you.

Thanks for being here. - Are the owners here?

They're not, not currently.

Karen and Christian are not in the restaurant a ton.

We just try to represent The Grumpy George

in the most positive way that we can.

Does she have another job anywhere else or--

She does, yeah, she has a full-time corporate job.

Man, that's crazy.

Well, shall we order?

- Yeah, what are you thinking? - What have we got here?

Looks like a good selection of pub classics.

I've got to go for the Scotch egg.

Scotch egg.

Loaded curry chips.

Let's do the sausage rolls.

And the sausage rolls.

You've got a wild mushroom pasty.

Yes. OK. Sounds good.

And then finally, let's go for some bangers and mash.

- OK, perfect. - Yeah?

All right, this is Gordon's ticket.

Two minutes.

It makes me very anxious knowing that Gordon Ramsay

is gonna eat our food.

Let's see what Gordon Ramsay thinks.

Time on these apps?

Michael, do you have a time on H3's appetizers?

Give me two minutes, bro.

I'm gonna start sending right now.

OK.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of food coming out.

They're waiting.

That table's waiting. That table's waiting.

Wow.

H3.

- H3 is Chef Ramsay's table. - They're out.

- All right, sausage rolls. - Oh! OK.

Everything else should be out shortly for you, boss.

Thank you.

Oh, boy.

It looks so dry.

I can barely see the sausage.

Not the kind of thing you say in Texas, is it?

Yeah, well--

Dry sausage rolls.

They're disgusting.

Hello, mate.

Yes, sir.

So the roll was there but no sausage.

I could barely find the sausage.

The sausage is so overcooked.

Sure.

Ah, [bleep]. Here we go.

- So dry. - Gotcha.

Thank you.

This is for H3.

It's hot.

OK.

Got that pasty here. - OK.

- Here you go, love. - All right.

Bloody hell.

Wild mushroom pasty.

Looks terrible.

That's awful.

Why is it so watery?

Must be the mushrooms, maybe.

Is it supposed to be for vegetarians?

Yeah. Yeah, it should be.

Are they're serving bacon with the sprouts?

I'll be right back.

.

"Dear Mum, at moments like this,

I really do miss your cooking."

All right, so the pasty is, like, really watery.

Ay-yi-yi.

Food coming back is kind of a disappointment, you know.

Kind of destroyed me a little bit.

OK, I need curry chips now.

I don't have that much knowledge in British food,

so I kind of was expecting that to happen.

Smells good.

All right, this is hot,

loaded curry chips for Chef Ramsay.

- OK. What is that? - The loaded curry chips here.

Oh, my God.

What a mess.

Loaded curry chips.

And I have the Scotch egg for you.

Thank you.

Curry sauce and shredded cheddar cheese.

That is terrible.

What a mess.

Now, when I think of British gastropubs,

a Scotch egg absolutely seals the deal.

Well--

in fact, I'm gonna take a picture of my Scotch egg

and send it to my mum.

My mum's gonna have

a [bleep] heart attack when she sees that.

Get these out of the way for you?

Yeah, I've just sent that to my mum.

That was a Scotch [bleep] mess.

It's undercooked.

A Scotch egg shouldn't be this runny.

So Gordon sent his mom a picture of the Scotch egg,

asking what [bleep] it was.

Knowing that I'm disappointing Gordon's mom, even though it's

not me the one making the food, per se,

yeah, that's kind of a kicker.

It doesn't feel great.

Thank you.

Gordon Ramsay's actually sitting in my restaurant

looking not very happy at all.

This is it. I've got to sit down and talk to him.

Oh, you must be Karen.

Chef Ramsay, thank you for coming in.

Please call me Gordon. Sit down.

Thank you, Gordon.

How are you?

I am a little bit overwhelmed.

Yeah. It is miles away from--

I mean, you guys have got a lot on.

I can tell that.

But yeah, well, let's catch up later.

- OK. - Yeah. Thank you.

- Thank you. - Appreciate it. Thanks, Karen.

The bangers and mash.

Let's do it.

Good, good. Here we go.

Bangers and mash.

All right, sir. Bangers and mash for you.

I'll give you some utensils here.

- Thank you. - Enjoy.

Mash is lumpy.

I mean, really lumpy.

Absolute garbage.

It's not mash at all.

That's terrible.

How we doing, sir?

This has massive lumps.

That didn't get mashed, did it?

It's--that potato's raw.

- Understood. - Thank you.

All over wasn't a fan.

There was a big chunk of raw potato in his mashed potato,

big chunk of raw.

Raw potato in the mashed potatoes.

I feel frustrated.

So in my head, I guess I nailed it.

Everything's there.

Chef Ramsay is the toughest customer I ever had.

I finished tasting a selection

of what The Grumpy George has to offer.

Thank you for coming in, guys.

Appreciate it.

Now I need to chat to the owners

about the disappointing meal I just had.

Karen, let's have a chat together

now those customers have gone.

OK.

Oh, boy.

I need to know what in the hell's going on.

Help me.

I kind of wanted to have a modern twist

on a British pub.

What's the twist?

Salty, lumpy, raw mashed potatoes,

overcooked sausage rolls.

I could go on.

My team have given me the numbers.

I cannot understand why you would purchase

this burden at this state in your life

with no fricking experience.

- It's a good question. - It's a good question.

Help me.

So we know that Georgetown is one

of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S.

If we could offer a concept that was unique,

that was kind of the idea behind it.

I have to be blunt with you.

If you're gonna run a modern British gastropub,

it needs commitment,

because the food is just not up to scratch.

OK.

The reason the food is not quintessential British

is because of me.

Chef Michael, he's a trained chef,

and he's very, very good at what he does.

I gave him the recipes and said,

this is kind of what I would like to have on the menu.

So that's all on me.

But you can't get a recipe off the internet

and hand it to a talented chef

and expect it to become quintessential.

No, I agree.

Are you not nervous?

We thought it would be a good idea.

But again, we don't have any experience with a restaurant,

and so we didn't know all the pitfalls,

and we made a mistake.

I am absolutely exhausted.

It just drains you, constantly worrying about everything.

Sometimes I just don't know what to worry about first.

I think we're about--

we're about four weeks away from having to close our doors.

In terms of cash flow?

Yes, sir.

Where is this money coming from?

So we put a second mortgage on the house.

.

Yes.

This is a house of fricking cards.

If I project the next 6 months or 12 months trading,

you're gonna be up to a million dollars in debt.

.

I'm in Georgetown, outside Austin, Texas,

where the owners of The Grumpy George

haven't realized how dire their situation has become.

If I project the next 6 months or 12 months trading,

you're gonna be up to a million dollars in debt.

Felt like I just got an enema, a really cold one.

We need help because we don't know what we're doing.

It's crazy.

It's not even close to working.

I know.

We are looking at trying to slow down

and reduce what we're doing.

And the plan was to retire as soon as possible.

But yeah, we just underestimated the costs.

You've got your own future on the line.

At your age, it's not a chance to de-risk

and get rid of all your assets to keep this thing open.

That's why we needed a guardian angel

to come in and kind of look at everything

and see what's going on.

It's really difficult listening to the truth.

It is absolutely terrifying.

You know, we don't have a lot of working years left

to dig our way out of this debt.

Karen, could you get the team out of the kitchen?

Sure.

Let's have a chat together now.

Yeah, we don't know what to do.

We don't know how to do it.

Hey, Michael, Carl.

We're having a meeting with Chef.

I've been here about six months,

and this is the first time that we've really had,

like, an all-staff meeting.

Hello, sir.

- And first name. - Michael.

It feels like we're in the principal's office

and we're all in trouble.

Listen, first of all, I'm here to help.

Let's get that absolutely clear.

But I'm in shock just to how far gone the food is.

There's no flavor anywhere.

And I'm trying to hold on to the positives.

I started off with the sausage rolls.

That's the kind of sort of stuff we grew up with, right?

Yes.

But the sausages were cooked to hell.

There was no sausage in there.

Chef, give me an insight to your knowledge

of British cuisine.

Have you ever worked in a gastropub, a British pub?

No, Chef. This is my first time.

How'd you come up with those dishes?

The recipes that were handed to me in the beginning,

I try to-- - From where?

OK, right.

These are my recipes. They come from me.

I get that, but you've never worked in a restaurant

in your life? - No, Chef.

I'd love to take you all to an amazing,

quintessential British pub.

You'd be shocked how exciting, delicious and rich,

savory the food is.

Simple but done brilliantly.

Are you tasting any of this food?

Yes, Chef.

Are you critiquing any of this food?

- Yes. - And your self-critique?

I mean, you've been to culinary school, right?

- A long time ago, yes. - Good.

I was there a long time ago.

But surely you must know that's wrong.

Yes.

So I feel frustrated because I don't know much

about the British cuisine.

I've never actually been to England.

It's not my forte.

But I know I can take it to the next level.

I just need the right pointers and the right guidance.

Now, we are--we're down, clearly not out.

But what worries me is the fact that we haven't

even been open 12 months

and a unique opportunity to be the only British gastropub

within a 20-mile radius.

This is a beautiful area.

I know. I love this place.

This place should be packed.

Financially, our backs are up against it.

And we're in for a lot of money.

You spent a fortune getting here.

And I've never come across two owners

that have bought something and never been in it from day one.

Tonight I want to see how this functions,

from the meet and greet, the bar to the kitchen.

And I'm worried.

I'm gonna fill this place.

The British are coming.

Oh, boy.

Oh, my God.

Outrageous.

The fact that they're hemorrhaging cash

and they've barely got a month left, I'm worried.

This restaurant needs leadership,

because they are a million miles away

from anything quintessential British gastropub.

While the staff at The Grumpy George

prepare for dinner service--

Here you go.

I've put the word out to some local

British residents to see how the pub

deals with an evening rush.

How are you doing? Welcome to The Grumpy George.

Is it your first time here?

- His first time. - It's my first.

- My second. - Oh. I like your accent.

It's kind of like mine.

Yeah.

Going to the next service,

hopefully, it's better than the one we just had.

And we're just gonna keep trying like we always do.

Sure. Want to go for that?

The curry chips.

I will get that started for you.

There's a lot of British people in the restaurant tonight.

We've got a lot to live up to.

I need that sirloin with carrots, medium rare.

Two minutes.

How many shepherd's pies? - Six.

Yes, I am freaking out.

Well, I have to prove to Chef Ramsay

that I know what I'm doing.

I'm a good cook.

I have good food.

All right, gentlemen, they're working hard back there.

It should be out in just a moment.

What can I get for you?

Sirloin? Yeah.

Medium rare?

- Good evening, Chef Ramsay. - All good? You good?

Good, thank you.

You OK?

So give me an insight to how this works.

Who does what?

I'm on sauté.

And, Carl, you're expediting, right?

Do you ever cook anything, though?

Yes, Chef, sometimes. But I like to stay on expo.

I feel like I'm better at it.

Right.

Did I show you the pork belly, side Caesar,

pork belly sliders? - Yeah, yeah. H4.

Michael, how many sliders per portion?

- Three. - Three.

It's a lot of work in there now.

Oh, my God.

It's so labor-intensive.

Whose recipe is that for the sliders?

- That was me. - Wowza.

These things should be cooked up before service.

- Yes. - They're not the kind of thing

you need to cook to order.

Good evening.

May I just say welcome?

How are we? - Fine, thank you.

Excellent.

What would you like from a quintessential

British gastropub?

What is it you come back for?

Some good sausages.

- Good sausages. - Good shepherd's pie.

Good shepherd's pie.

How long have you been waiting, by the way?

- A while. - A while.

I'm gonna go check on your appetizers.

I'll check back in when-- when you get some food.

Well, good evening.

How long have you been waiting?

Maybe 10 minutes.

Have you ordered?

- Not yet. - Not yet.

My goodness. Let me get a server over.

Thank you.

- Is that your table? - It is.

They've been waiting. Take their order. Do you mind?

- Not at all. - Thank you so much.

Yup. Hi, ladies.

D1. That's coming right now.

That's the next ticket. - Yeah, that's the next one.

Their bangers are there. We're waiting on the shepherd.

It's gonna be, like, three minutes.

Oh, my God.

This is not going that great,

trying to get all this food out.

There's a lot of components in the menu items.

And trying to execute is really hard.

How long are those curry fries?

Few minutes? - Give me one minute.

Do you want her to start taking

D4 out with the pork chop or--

Yeah, it's coming in two minutes.

Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy.

Where's the wait time on here?

- Right here. - 42 minutes.

Guinness with sticky toffee pudding.

34 minutes. Holy [bleep].

Are they seriously waiting 50 minutes for those sliders?

- Yeah. - There's no standards.

It's just embarrassing.

Chef's so fragmented and all over the place.

But more importantly, the money this woman is losing

is off the charts because the kitchen is upside down.

My God, Grumpy [bleep] George.

At The Grumpy George outside Austin,

the kitchen is struggling to keep up

with the orders coming in.

Give me one minute.

Oh, my God.

There are just two tickets in front

of y'all, so it should be starting

to push out in just a moment.

The biggest obstacle tonight has definitely been

the food coming out on time,

people just not getting their food.

It's hard to control the kitchen when it's that busy.

Hey, Carol,

H6 is complaining about their desserts.

They're at 45 minutes on dessert.

- Yeah. - 40-what?

- 45 minutes. - Oh, my God.

- C5. - Thank you.

C5 all the way.

Thank you.

And the pork belly sliders.

Those sliders didn't make it?

- Not quite. - No? They're burnt.

They're terrible.

And the meat is so overcooked.

It was, like, burning my mouth.

Yeah, I'm done. - You're done.

May I clear this away?

- Yes. - Holy [bleep].

Man.

Table six there. Chef.

Chef.

Poor, super dry,

way too much jus in the veg,

overcooked pâté, and, like, burnt.

But that's not just caramelized.

You smell that? That's acrid.

Crazy.

Crazy, crazy, crazy.

Hi there. How we doing over here?

Maybe more medium well.

- Too pink for you? - Yeah.

Carl, this is supposed to be a medium.

It's too pink for them.

May I have a quick look, Carl?

I mean, it's not too pink. It's raw.

Yeah. It's raw, definitely.

- Yeah. - Thank you.

How you cooking that, Michael?

But that's raw in the middle, do you know what I mean?

You can run this, D1.

All right, I got the ticket off.

Hold up. Let me wipe that.

Right now, I'm stressed because I was

super convinced that lunch service was just bad service.

We could turn it around.

And we're doing the same thing, if not worse.

That's gonna be the best it gets.

Thank you.

Makes us look like idiots in Gordon Ramsay's eyes.

All right. And some curry chips.

Which side do you want to go on?

- Right there. - Let's go right in there.

Enjoy. - Thank you.

Oh, all right, all right, all right.

How's the pork chop?

Damn. Damn. My apologies.

My apologies.

Hey, is there any way you can actually get me

the container of the lamb meat from the cooler?

The whole container?

Yeah, yeah. I don't have any over here.

Ay-yi-yi.

What's in there, Carl?

- Lamb mince. - What is that?

What's that? - Lamb mince.

- Lamb mince? - Yeah.

What's that for?

That's for the shepherd's pie.

Oh, [bleep].

When was that made?

Two days ago.

Where did you get that container from?

Is there a walk-in you can show me, please?

He's going to the walk-in.

There's a walk-in here?

Why, thank you.

What the [bleep] is in here?

Is this a beer room or a food room?

I mean, that's expensive right there.

Just big bits of cod just sat there,

not dried out, on a bag of ice.

I mean, I'll be fascinated to see how much they throw out.

There is [bleep] everywhere.

Oh, God.

Get me Karen, please.

Next ticket, D3.

Karen, Gordon needs you.

I am in absolute panic.

You know, I have a world-renowned chef

in the house, and I'm so embarrassed that we've

just messed everything up.

This is the beer fridge in here?

Yeah.

How long have you been sticking food in here?

You know we can't mix it, right, beer and food?

These bags are all defrosting.

But what worries me more than anything

is, you've got--what's that?

That's probably ham or something.

- Yeah, pastrami? - Yeah.

Yeah, on top of raw fricking pork.

They've never, ever done that before.

I don't understand what's going on.

Well, I suppose if you're never here,

then you're never gonna see it.

We should not be functioning like this.

We should not be functioning like this.

Yeah, I agree.

So at this stage, I'm just embarrassed that I even

had the idea of opening a restaurant.

What was I thinking?

.

.

Man, good evening.

Good evening.

Yeah, it's so disorganized in there.

They're making such fundamental mistakes.

Honestly, raw meat, cooked meat in the beer fridge,

I mean, what is going on?

Did you know that Karen had no experience?

- Yes. - Right.

And you still did it? - Yeah.

You built a house of cards.

Yeah. It's about to fall apart.

If we can't turn it around, then we have to close it down.

Tonight has felt like a total failure.

I'm just done.

I'm mentally and physically exhausted.

So you're admitting defeat?

Yes.

Wow.

After a disastrous service,

co-owner Christian has given up.

Bye. Take care. Thanks for coming in.

It's obvious Karen's heart is in the right place,

but she doesn't know where to start

when it comes to running a restaurant.

I need to get her and her team on the right track.

Guys, why don't we take a seat?

Let's have a debrief, please.

I--I-- I'm lost for words.

Gordon was not happy with service tonight.

The food quality was not good.

The wait times were long.

This was far worse than any service

we've ever had since we've opened.

What happened? Let's start with you.

I mean, we started good, but then

we just went down the drain.

The menu's dysfunctional.

It's all over the place.

And we're pretending it's fine dining.

There is no system in there.

And food is taking way too long.

Some of those tables tonight were 55 minutes behind.

Customers should be waiting between 6 and 7 minutes

for their appetizers

and then maximum 8 to 10 minutes for their entrée.

When you think about going into a gastropub, it's buzzing.

It's exciting.

But more importantly, my God, the food is quick.

It's not a scratch kitchen.

Grumpy George?

Yeah, grumpy customers.

I feel like I let Chef Ramsay down.

To me, it's a big deal, you know.

He's, like, that person that you want to get to, you know,

like, at some point in life.

You want to be a Chef Ramsay.

You know it's not fine dining, right?

Yeah.

Why are you treating it like that?

How embarrassing were those times tonight?

It was rough. It was really rough.

I can see where we're losing money big-time.

And I know we're down,

but we're behaving like we're out.

Karen, this was your dream. - Yeah.

Turned into a nightmare.

You gave them the menu, gave them the responsibility.

And then we expect it to push a button and work.

Have you given up?

Absolutely not.

We wouldn't have asked for you to help us

if we'd have given up.

Giving up's easy.

This, what we're doing now, is not.

But you're not even committed.

There needs to be a presence.

Man, can I just have two minutes with Karen, please?

Please?

I'm not sure if my mom realized how bad things were,

and it kind of might have caught her off guard.

I think it kind of caught all of us off guard.

And it kind of opened all of our eyes.

I am lost for words. I'm gonna be honest with you.

If you function this place for six more months the way it is,

you won't be retiring until you're in your mid-80s.

Yeah.

You've sandbagged yourself, your family.

And it's dysfunctional.

Yeah, absolutely.

This is bad. This is really bad.

It's so bad that I don't even know,

really, if Gordon can fix it.

I think it's just too late.

I don't know what's gonna happen.

I can fix a restaurant.

I can't fix you unless you're prepared to change.

Can you change?

I'm not gonna give up on this place.

Is it solvable?

hell. We've got a lot of work to do.

I need you to be on your game,

need you to listen, and, more importantly,

embrace the changes.

- Yes, sir. - But it starts with you.

And the staff, they need to be educated.

And you're British, for God's sake.

You need to be giving them guidance

on traditional British food.

They need to understand that. - Yeah.

That's not me showing you the fundamentals

and then, two weeks later, you disappear

and you start just dipping in here again, you know,

once a week.

You need to understand.

You cannot for one second think that your staff are gonna do it

when you're not here.

OK.

I know what Gordon's saying.

A restaurant takes energy, and it takes focus,

and it's serious work.

And I need to understand that and own that and run with it.

We're in trouble.

And we've got to get out of trouble--

- OK. - before it's too late.

- OK. - OK?

- Thank you. - Thank you.

I'll see you in the morning. - All right.

Man, Grumpy George is in dire straits.

But at the helm is a woman that has got no experience.

Karen wants to be a leader, but she's so overwhelmed,

she doesn't know where to start.

And that's a big, big problem.

After a disappointing night,

I'm meeting Grumpy George owner Karen

in the heart of Georgetown.

If she wants to keep her dream alive of having

a British gastropub, this is her last chance.

How you feeling?

Oh, so yesterday was rough.

Yeah, it was rough.

You're not a quitter. - No.

- Right? - I'm not.

And I appreciate the honesty about being a little bit naive.

But it's a beast of a business.

You can't be there five, six days a week,

but you need to have a presence.

Your staff need to know what they're doing.

That comes from the top.

Even if you're not here, understand what's going on.

Yeah.

I look at this square, the unique opportunity

being the only gastropub with flair.

The thing should be packed.

But you've got to grab this bull by the horn.

We're in too deep.

And I'd rather you work hard now

than having to work into your 80s and not retire.

Gordon's making me look at Georgetown again

with fresh eyes, because the place is buzzing.

It really is full, and it's active.

He's making me understand that a restaurant

should be full every single day.

The reason it's not is because of me.

While we've been away, my team

have been hard at work at The Grumpy George,

turning a bland pub that lacked identity

into a quintessential British gastropub.

With the renovation complete,

it's time to reveal the redesigned Grumpy George.

Gone are the blank walls and harsh lighting,

replaced with warm tones and stylish furniture.

It's time to show Karen, Christian, and the team

the team the new and improved Grumpy George.

My goodness!

- Whoa! - Oh, wow.

Oh, my goodness.

Bringing a bit of Karen's homeland into the mix,

The Grumpy George has transformed

from a dark and dingy dive bar

into the epitome of cool Britannia.

And we upgraded the equipment in the kitchen

so that Chef Michael has everything he needs

to make the best British grub he can,

making it the perfect place to pull up a pew and have a pint.

Welcome to a British gastropub.

I'm in shock.

It's taking me back to my local pub

that I went to almost every weekend with my parents.

Thank you so much.

It's a British pub. - Isn't it?

Yes.

Now we have a stunning pub in Georgetown.

You OK?

He's not usually lost for words.

You OK? Oh, now, come on.

Hey, come on.

Are you OK?

It's your pub, man.

I don't feel defeated anymore.

I feel like we have a chance now.

This is what a pub needs to be.

It feels more like a pub.

It's just--it's amazing.

Right, let's line up, have a quick look at the food.

You used to make British food, but the recipes and execution

was holding you back.

So I've redeveloped everything.

The old menu was too time-consuming.

And if I was in your shoes back there,

I couldn't execute that menu.

Yes, Chef.

Let's start off with the Welsh rarebit.

This is a beautiful British classic, a great sharing plate.

Next to that, a beautiful Scotch egg

too proficient to get out of that tiny kitchen.

Entrées--shepherd's pie with a rich braised lamb,

and then, of course, sticky toffee pudding.

Again, fast execution and easy to do.

These are staples, great British staples,

proper pub grub.

- Yeah. - Any questions?

- Can you stay forever? - Oh, my God.

I wish.

I wish my life was that easy.

Come on, dig in. Have a taste.

Oh, my gosh.

- Yeah, that's good. - So good.

- Actually tastes like toffee. - Mm-hmm.

This is absolutely perfect.

It's the right amount of items. The taste is spot-on.

Each time I tasted something, I was just taken back.

I was 8, I was 10, I was 5.

- Great. - But they invoke memories.

- Right. - And the quality is perfect.

My confidence has definitely changed.

The reason this was failing was my fault.

I could see it slipping away.

And now I feel like I can't hardly

remember that feeling anymore.

I mean, it's just gone.

It's a whole new day.

It's a whole new business.

It's just a blessing that we get this chance

to start all over again.

The Grumpy George now has an authentic British menu.

But the staff still need to learn

how to properly execute it.

So I've arranged for some of the top talent in Britain--

Hi. Lovely to meet you. I'm Rich.

Very nice to meet you.

to give Chef Michael and the team

hours of expertise before the big night.

This is exactly what you'd see in a British gastropub.

You should be able to churn these out super, super fast.

The original menu at Grumpy George,

it just wasn't right.

It wasn't truly British.

And those ticket times were really,

really long, so we're gonna make sure those are reduced.

This is Gordon's recipe, steeped in tradition,

super simple to assemble.

Then we actually make them, like, 24 hours in advance?

Yeah, it actually benefits from being made in advance.

The new menu, to me, is just--

it's a fresh start.

So much different from what I was making.

As well as being this lovely taste of home,

we want to get those ticket times right down.

Finally, I know what flavors go in each plate.

And real English food tastes amazing.

Now I get everything Chef Ramsay was talking.

Like, I get all that.

It doesn't need to be a daily prep.

And you certainly don't need to be

finishing stuff on the line,

like sausage rolls being cooked to order.

Right.

More present and focused than ever,

Karen has one last check-in

with her staff before the relaunch.

- How we feeling? - Excited.

- Good. - Excited.

- Oh, I'm so excited. - Isn't it cool?

- Yes. - I love the space.

It looks amazing.

We all know the food is really good.

So all we've got to do now is not be grumpy, just be happy

and get some customers served

and get that food on the tables.

And, you know, just have fun with this.

This has never looked this beautiful before.

It feels like starting all over again.

It feels like we've never had a restaurant before.

I'm overwhelmed because I'm hoping

my team are confident enough to get through.

We're set up for success, so let's do this.

- Yeah! - Are we ready?

- Yeah. - Let's go.

Love it. Love it.

This is an amazing opportunity for us.

It's day one of the rest of our lives.

I'm in Austin, Texas, where I've given

The Grumpy George all the tools it needs

to have a successful relaunch.

- Hey, how you doing? - Good. How are you?

Welcome back to The Grumpy George.

Did you notice a slight change?

All right, let me take you to your table.

Hi, ladies. How are you today?

Welcome to The Grumpy George.

There you go, right here in the cozy corner.

Welcome back.

All right, first impressions, what do you think,

walking through the door? - Oh, it's amazing.

- Beautiful. - Amazing. Beautiful.

Nice to see you.

And would we like to start with any appetizers?

All right, two crispy shrimp,

pork and sage Scotch egg.

I need those first, please.

You know, with this new menu launch,

having Chef Ramsay here in the building,

yeah, that's a lot of pressure.

I got to make sure that everything's just

going the same way they trained us to do.

Yes, of course.

Another fried shrimp and a salmon.

Yeah, we got it here.

I need a Scotch egg and a fried shrimp.

- Right, we good? - We got two steaks all day

if you want to get those out. - Heard.

Let's go.

We're gonna stay in front of it, all right?

So when you've got one on, always put two on.

Oh, so I got one here.

Always one up your sleeve.

They're at medium rare all night.

Great.

Unless you say, they're all gonna be done

medium rare, yeah? - Yes, Chef.

Got it. Here you go.

This is for C1. - C1.

All right, friends.

And I got a Scotch egg for you here.

The kitchen is doing 100 times better.

Ticket times are down.

The customers are loving all the new food.

So good.

Yeah, everything was great.

So we are very, very excited about that.

Have you had British food before?

Then I would highly recommend trying the Scotch egg.

Because that is, you know, very, very British.

It's a real joy to be on the floor when the place is buzzing

and everyone's having such a good time.

I'm more committed now to The Grumpy George

than I have--ever have been.

You guys good?

Doing an awesome job.

People are loving it.

I'm able to lead the team.

And I just forgot to lead my team.

And they were missing me a lot.

So they have me back, whether they like it or not.

OK.

Thank you.

Do you need help? Are you all right?

- Doing great. Thank you. - No?

I feel like we are an official gastropub right now.

The Scotch egg was actually really, really good.

I'm half British now.

59 guests are sat out there.

- 59? - 59, yeah?

- Yes, Chef. - Keep it going, Carl.

So proud of you tonight. - Thank you, Chef.

- Stick to it, OK? Yes? - Thank you.

I just want to say-- I want to say thank you.

This was amazing.

- Well done. OK? - Thank you.

- Thank you, Chef. - Well done.

Well done. - Thank you.

We appreciate you, Chef.

What a week.

Great job tonight. - Thank you.

- Seriously. - Thank you.

There's another 65 recipes there.

Oh, that's amazing.

Methods, GPs, percentages.

That's for you. - That's incredible.

Thank you so much.

We've got a beautiful menu.

You have a beautiful team and a beautiful gastropub.

Yes.

I really do feel like I have a new lease on life.

I'm just overjoyed.

- You got the form there now. - Yes.

Own it. You're the boss.

Thank you so much for coming out.

You have no idea how grateful we are.

Come on, girl.

The future of The Grumpy George is 100% positive.

Can I-- - Of course you can.

Thank you, Chef Ramsay.

I'm gonna be here as much as I can be.

Got it. Thank you.

And one day, you're gonna come back,

you're gonna walk in that door,

and I'm going to say, hey, Chef, how are you doing?

And he's gonna say to me, I'm glad to see you're thriving.

- You're British. - Yes.

- Remind them, yes? - Stiff upper lip.

Whew.

What a night.

Honestly, when I first got here,

I found a pub that was anything but British

and, on top of that, two absentee owners who had

four weeks left to survive.

Now, finally with an authentic British menu,

it can proudly call itself a gastropub.

And with Karen's commitment,

I am truly confident that The Grumpy George

can now turn any frown upside down.

Let's just hope she sticks to it.

Come on.

Two months later--

Since Gordon and his team have left,

we have just had a whirlwind of a time in the restaurant.

The place is packed every day.

People absolutely love the food.

It's just like a pub.

Chef is really loving the British food and the menu.

He's an expert at it now.

And the revenue has almost doubled.

Our guardian angel has saved our restaurant.

We just can't thank him enough for that.

It's made all the difference in the world.

And we will be forever grateful.

Next time on "Kitchen Nightmares"--

- Three meatballs. - What a mess.

If that's a meatball, then I'm running for [bleep] president.

Come on, Leo.

I've never seen a grill loaded up like this, man.

I think it's chaotic.

It's a little crazy.

We're all concerned about Leo's love and passion.

Come on, man.

Give me [bleep] something to hang on to.

I know that he's checked out.

He's a little bit lost.

And why is he lost?

I'm sorry.