Black Pearl - Kitchen Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits Black Pearl in New York City, New York.

Black Pearl is owned by three owners Brian, David and Greg.

The three owners do not get along.

They are never in the restaurant at the same time.

Black Pearl restaurant is a seafood restaurant specializing in lobster.

The Black Pearl restaurant started out as a small downtown lobster shack.

It was originally owned by Brian and David.

David suggested they put an ad in a newspaper for a third investor.

This was how they found Greg and he became part of the business.

They then moved to mid-town adding third partner Greg.

The owners hoped to become the premiere lobster restaurant in Manhattan.

The relationships between the three owners were good until they started to lose money.

The relationships declined dramatically.

They stopped talking to each other.

They only communicated via email or text and everybody got nervous and frustrated.

Brian states that the restaurant is a nightmare.

This is due to lack of management as they don’t have one voice.

The staff think Brian is a silent partner who would bail if he had a choice.

They also think that Greg is the hardest working owner.

However, he doesn’t make decisions and gets frustrated too easily.

Out of the three owners, they like David the least.

He lets his ego get in the way of a healthy atmosphere.

Gordon arrives and is greeted by Nigel and Steven and some other staff.

They tell him that the three owners are never at the restaurant together.

While talking with the staff, David comes into the restaurant unexpectedly.

He claims that he is a hands-on owner.

In reality, he is at the restaurant three to four days a week.

Gordon orders clam chowder and lobster mac and cheese.

He also orders all three of the lobster rolls from server Steven.

While awaiting his order, Gordon notices the weird bar and the bizarre mismatched interior.

He comments that the restaurant looks like it has been decorated by three different people.

The chowder is watery and the mac and cheese is chewy and rich.

He's not impressed with the bland, unseasoned lobster rolls either.

After tasting the best food on the menu, Gordon meets the three owners and head chef, Phil.

He is critical on the food he tried.

He is especially harsh about the lobster rolls, which he brands as bland and unseasoned.

David is defensive of the food.

He says that the maine lobster roll is authentic as they don’t season them.

He discovers that the restaurant is currently $250,000 in debt.

They say that they haven’t sat down together to decide things.

They vote on the way forward whenever any of them proposes an idea.

Gordon tells them he doesn’t feel that any of them are committed to making the business work.

Greg says he has fallen out with the other two few times in the past.

He feels they aren’t doing the things they need to do.

They say that they feel the same about him.

Gordon decides to witness how the restaurant operates its dinner service.

It is a rare night as all three owners are there.

David works the service station and is also expediting in the kitchen.

His lack of experience is resulting in lack of quality control and food is sent back.

Steven feels the disorganization is due to the owners competing amidst themselves.

The owners are all trying to prove to chef Ramsay that they know what they are doing.

Greg was out of his element as he normally was in the kitchen.

He was waiting the dining room instead as David has taken over.

David gets upset when a table sends back a dish for grit in the mussels.

He argues with the customer that made the complaint.

Gordon inspects one of the dishes that was returned.

He says that the food has a weird, old smell that David denies.

Gordon confronts David’s denial, calling him blind and clueless.

Gordon is concerned about the quality control and the truthfulness of the owners.

He investigates the storage unit of the kitchen.

After service, Gordon says that he is concerned with the disorganization of the restaurant.

David says he expedites every night he is around but the chefs disagree.

Gordon tells David they are advertising Maine Lobster but are serving Canadian lobster.

David tries to argue that it is acceptable as they are the same animal.

Gordon makes it clear that they are misleading customers by listing it as Maine lobster.

The next morning, Gordon calls a staff meeting.

It is a rarity at the restaurant as they have not had a meeting in the last 7 months.

He requests the staff to write down questions which the owners will answer.

David defensively avoids the question directed at him.

Gordon compares him to a politician.

The last question was to address the lack of a general manager.

One of the staff suggests that one of the owners should be the general manager.

The owners were contemplating on who would be the general manager.

Gordon decides to add a new special for the night’s dinner service.

For dinner service, Brian is sent home.

David and Greg alternate the managing and expediting job for the night for Gordon to watch.

David is rude to the staff in the back and patronizes customers out the front.

Greg did well in the dining and struggles in the kitchen but ultimately pulls it off.

After the nights service, Gordon calls the staff together.

They are to vote the person they would want to be the manager of the restaurant.

The majority of the members of staff choose Greg.

Overnight the restaurant is given a makeover.

The staff and Greg love the new decor.

David isn’t happy about the changes.

Gordon introduces a new lobster claw game, where whoever picks it up gets to eat it.

Gordon hires a man in a lobster suit to go into Times Square.

They hand out flyers with the staff, which David comments won’t help at all.

Hours before the relaunch, Gordon gets everyone up to speed on the new menu and gets them to taste it.

David dislikes most of the dishes.

He makes a number of negative comments while everyone else loved the new food.

The owners sign a document stating Greg as the general manager.

Gordon asks Brian and David to come for dinner.

On relaunch, Brian and David arrive.

They sit at the table, moaning about all of the new changes.

Things aren't better in the kitchen.

Greg has lost control in the kitchen and it has fallen apart.

There are delays with the food.

When it reaches customers they are pleased with the food despite the wait.

After the service, Gordon tells Brian that he is lazy.

He tells Greg that he has a good heart.

He thinks David doesn't care and that's he's only in it for his ego.

David calls him "Gordy" and is really snarky.

He tells them he isn't sure it can succeed with David a part of it.

He challenges him to come back and see for himself.

What Happened Next at Black Pearl?

Black Pearl closed just 4 days after the episode aired.

Yelp reviews after filming are mostly negative.

There are complaints over the quality of the food.

David had an extremely long rant about Gordon in a letter.

It is allegedly from all three owners, blaming him for the 50% drop in sales.

Gordon revisited the restaurant in the next series but Black Pearl was closed.

The Hog Pit is open in it's place.

He meets Steven there to discuss what happened.

Gordon tries the food and loves it.

Yelp reviews were average.

The Hog Pit closed in October 2020.

Below is the full text of David's rant:

"Hello Everyone... Well, after three years, we have fried our last clam and shucked our last oyster.

On October First, we sold our lease and fixtures to someone who may be better equipped to handle the exceedingly high cost of doing business in New York City.

As you may know, in February, we filmed an episode of Kitchen Nightmares, at our restaurant, hoping for the best.

We were naive, believing that the show was at least somewhat honest; we truly felt we could learn something from that jerk, and we anticipated a solid boost in sales from the publicity.

The sad fact is, from the beginning, it was clear that the show was a joke.

From the very first day they were initiated, the changes Gordy Ramsay made were ridiculed by the press, hated by our regular customers and were the direct cause of a 50% drop in revenues.

And, we were never able to recover financially.

Our hope was that we would benefit from the publicity of participating in that horrid "reality tv" series, but the promised air-date of May 2008 turned out to be a lie, and we were not able to sustain ourselves until the end of September, when it was finally broadcast, especially with the damage inflicted upon us by the producers and star of KN.

While the partners certainly weren't on the best of terms, I do admit that we exaggerated the issues we displayed on the show in order to convince the producers to feature our restaurant, but during the week of filming in February, it became clear that the show was a complete sham.

KN is simply a series of set-ups staged to illustrate situations that fit their script, and, as you would expect, their expert editors tell only half the story--the part that makes their star shine brightest.

All of my brilliant and pointed comebacks were left on the cutting-room floor!

Darn the luck! In fact, Gordo's menu changes were horrible, and mirrored the buffet offerings of a cruise ship in the 1950s--lobster bearnaise?

Shrimp Louis with green goddess dressing?

His ideas were laughable, and proved to be utter failures; his "innovations" had nothing to do with our concept of a New England Lobster Shack--something he clearly knows nothing about.

For God's sake, he thinks the Canadian and Maine lobster are two different species!

Maybe he thinks Canadian lobsters have an accent--"butter, eh?"

Finally, his big design change, the lobster arcade game, was nothing short of asinine.

After the filmed "grand re-opening dinner" (attended by actors, we learned, who responded to the producers' Craigslist ad and were instructed to order the new Gordy Ramsay special!), very few ever ordered the lobster bearnaise again.

And who can blame them? Greasy potatoes, buckets of oil, egg and butter . . . nice one, Gordo; real good idea.

But what really sealed our fate was his b*stardization of our award-winning lobster roll.

To "improve" upon our recipe, he cut the amount of lobster in half, added lemon, lettuce, celery, salt and pepper and way too much mayo.

Of course, it didn't work.

It served us right for allowing a potty-mouthed teabag to mess with our New England cuisine.

We should have taken a page out of history, revolted and sent him packing and bleeding back to King George.

Anyway, enough sour grapes.

While I hope Gordo meets an untimely death so that I can dance on his grave, it is time to move on.

The point is, we would like to thank you all for your support during our brief time operating what we thought was the best seafood shack in New York.

My partners and I really did care about everything we offered at Black Pearl.

From the inception, we did our best to keep the concept pure. We made every effort to be fair to our customers, our staff and ourselves.

We remember fondly those crazy nights with Sherry Vine, Sean Lynch's Rat Pack Revue, the Rasta Christmas parties, and the brilliant musings of pianist Tommy Mandel.

We were lucky to have you all aboard.

And, of course, we thank our loyal staff for all their hard work, especially Heru, Charles, Lana, Lisa and Steve.

Perhaps we'll do it again (sound of my partner's bullets whizzing by my head), I don't know. If we do, we'll be sure to spread the word.

For now, we'll take advantage of the new-found holes in our schedules to relax with our families and friends.Love and best fishes,
David, Greg and Brian"

David returned to his previous career in the music industry.

He released an album in 2010.

Black Pearl aired on September 25 2008, the episode was filmed in February 2008 and is Kitchen Nightmares season 2 episode 4.

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