Fiesta Sunrise - Kitchen Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visit's Fiesta Sunrise in West Nyack, New York.

Fiesta Sunrise is a Mexican restaurant owned by Vic, Patty and Yolanda.

They previously owned another Mexican restaurant Fiesta Garabaldi that failed and it closed.

They wanted to try again and open another restaurant but didn’t have the money to do so.

They asked Yolanda’s daughter Patty to use her credit and savings to open the restaurant.

Patty is an owner but everything in the restaurant is controlled by her step father Vic.

Yolanda says that Vic never listens to any suggestion of hers or her daughter.

He runs the restaurant the way he sees fit.

Patty thought it was a big opportunity as Vic and Yolanda had experience in running a restaurant.

From day one, it was a disaster and is causing problems from all involved.

Initially the restaurant was busy but the customers started dwindling within months.

Patty offered to make some changes and Yolanda begged for changes to be made to the menu.

Both of them and their ideas were ignored by Vic, who said that people liked things the way they are.

Yolanda and Vic's marriage is under strain as is the relationship between them and Patty.

Patty’s marriage is also in a bad position, which Yolanda feels guilty about.

Patty feels resentment towards her mother as Yolanda puts her husband before her.

She is essentially owner of a restaurant where she has no control.

Gordon arrives and is confused if he is at the right restaurant as there are two different restaurants on the signs.

He is told that the second logo at the front is for the previous restaurant that was in the the building.

Gordon is offered a free Margarita on arrival at the restaurant.

He thinks is a nice feature but it is very strong.

Gordon sits down to order some food from the menu.

He orders the combination one, which is a sampler plate.

Whilst ordering he notices that there is only one other table eating in the restaurant.

Gordon discovers that there is a sticker on the front of the menu.

He peels it off to reveal the name of another restaurant, Fiesta Garibaldi.

Vic explains that it was his previous restaurant that failed and closed.

Vic reveals that he has kept the same menu, same recipes and the same chef from the previous failed restaurant.

Gordon’s food arrive and he isn’t impressed.

The burrito has dry chicken, the beef is impossible to swallow and the rice tastes old.

He ventures into the kitchen to talk about the food and give feedback.

He discovers from the cooks that he has been served old rice.

Gordon realizes that Yolanda and Patty finances the business while Vic runs it or in their words, he ruins it.

The talk about the finances and they need to take, $22,000 per week to breakeven.

The restaurant is currently making a third of that.

They are losing half a million dollars a year.

They are in $850,000 of debt after just 18 months of being in business.

Gordon arrives to observe a dinner service that is busy due to Gordon being at the restaurant.

He comments on how huge the kitchen is and he meets Chef Ambrosio and the other cooks.

A customer sends back their tortilla chips as she doesn’t like the taste.

Gordon watches the server puts them back into the drawer with the fresh chips.

The fridge is full of food that the staff say was cooked yesterday.

But after pressing the staff further Gordon discovers that it was actually cooked last week.

Gordon also finds 5 month old chives, smelly curled up fish and oxidized steak wrapped in foil.

There is also pork sitting in blood and greasy, slimy chicken in a tray in the kitchen.

Gordon finds more poorly prepared and stored food in the kitchen’s refrigerator.

There are tray after tray of ready prepared food that are undated.

There is a huge bucket of refried beans.

There is a skillet in the beans that has been used to scoop them out.

Gordon tells Vic that he wouldn't trust him to run a bath, let alone a restaurant.

Gordon tells Vic to take the beans into the restaurant to show the customers which he refuses to do.

Instead, Gordon storms into the restaurant carrying the huge bucket of beans.

Gordon declares he has stopped the service for the night based on what he has seen.

He tells the customers to look at the bucket on their way out and they are disgusted with it.

While Vic supervises the cleanup of the kitchen, Gordon spends his time with Yolanda.

It doesn’t take long for him to see that she is a woman who is torn between her daughter and her husband.

She says that before Gordon’s visit, she had told Vic that they couldn’t be together anymore.

Yolanda now realizes that her daughter is more important to her.

She wants to prove it by being responsible in the business.

As Patty and Don's marriage is suffering too, Don is invited in for a chat the next morning.

He isn't happy with how Vic treats Patty and promises to be more involved.

Vic isn't happy Don is there and it turns quickly into an argument.

Don reveals he has paid for Vic's mortgage.

After the heated exchange which almost led into a fight, Gordon goes into the kitchen.

He is going to come up with a game plan to fix the restaurant’s biggest problem, the food.

He moves some plates around on the shelf and discovers an infestation of cockroaches.

Patty and Yolanda had no idea but Vic tells Gordon he was aware of the problem.

Gordon calls in an exterminator to deal with the cockroaches and walks out.

Gordon returns to be able to observe a full dinner service.

They begin the dinner service serving fresh food.

However the chefs overcook the rice and try to serve it before Gordon steps in.

The kitchen is backed up and customers are left waiting for food.

Yolanda steps in to cook the rice correctly as the cooks are unable to do it.

On one table half the customers have no food whilst the others have already eaten theirs.

Gordon discovers that the broiler is covering the food in soot.

Customers walk out in frustration after waiting and receiving no food.

Gordon is frustrated with how the service went.

Their takings for the evening didn't even cover the cost of staff.

He goes back to New York City overnight to ponder what action to take

Gordon returns the next day with Chef Julieta Ballesteros, a top Mexican chef.

He has also given the restaurant a makeover with new chairs and tables.

There is also a new menu designed for the restaurant, which Julieta teaches the chefs to prepare and cook.

On relaunch night, they get off to a good start.

Food is sent back and the chefs burn nachos.

The kitchen soon picks up and Vic handles serving the customers well, receiving good feedbacks from most of them.

The Mayor calls to say he is going to be coming for dinner.

The Mayor brands the food excellent and says that he will come again.

The customers are also pleased with their food and overall the relaunch was a success.

Gordon was impressed with Vic and takes him outside to unveil the new sign on the side of the building.

What Happened Next at Fiesta Sunrise?

Fiesta Sunrise closed in September 2008.

The restaurant was seized due to failure to pay taxes that were owed.

It had been closed previously in July 2007 for failing to pay taxes.

They paid in full and was allowed to reopen, they should have learnt their lesson then!

Google Maps showed the building empty and boarded up for years.

The space has since reopened as a machine hire shop.

Fiesta Sunrise aired on November 13 2008, the episode was filmed in February 2008 and is Kitchen Nightmares season 2 episode 9.

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