Spanish Pavillion - Kitchen Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits Spanish Pavillion in Harrison, New Jersey.

Spanish Pavillion was the first Spanish restaurant in the state of New Jersey.

The restaurant was opened by Antonio Fernandez in 1976.

He retired, leaving the restaurant to his daughter Balbina and his two grandsons Michael and Jerry.

Michael is the head chef at Spanish Pavillion but he is barely in the kitchen anymore.

Jerry hardly works in the restaurant anymore as he is a town councilman.

The brothers fight a lot and Balbina gets stuck in the middle of the feuding sons, trying to keep the peace.

Before Antonio retired, there was a queue out the door most days.

Just five years later, the restaurant has only a few diners.

There are just 20 customers on a Saturday night and they are in over $600,000 of debt.

Gordon arrives at the restaurant and on seeing the waiters, he questions if he is at a funeral.

The staff look far too formal in their tuxedos, which they wear every day.

They wear this even though the restaurant is supposedly a casual family restaurant.

Gordon is welcomed by Balbina and Jerry and Jerry takes him over to a table.

The restaurant manager Joe says Jerry doesn’t care about the business.

He believes that when you own a restaurant then you don’t have time to be in politics too.

Joe doesn’t agree with calling Michael a chef.

He says that he is mostly on his phone instead of cooking in the kitchen.

Gordon looks through the menu.

He orders the lobster bisque, paella and a chicken and garlic main from server Joe.

Michael believes he has nothing to worry about.

He believes the chefs, who had been working with him for the past 15 years would do a great job.

He hangs back in the kitchen and continues playing on his phone.

The food arrives and the lobster looked like it was already dead before it was cooked.

Jerry tells him that the lobster came from the tank in the dining room.

When he looks in the tank he discovers a dead and decaying lobster.

Gordon orders the tank to be emptied.

The live lobsters would have fed on the dead one and be full of harmful bacteria.

This is dangerous and can make the customers extremely sick.

Michael believes even though the lobster has died, it’s still fresh and good to be used in dishes.

Michael meets with Gordon on his table.

He tells him they check the tank out every day.

He freezes any dead lobsters right away so they can be used later.

Michael then goes back to the kitchen to continue cooking.

The chicken and garlic dish arrives swimming in oil but the chicken is dry.

The paella is both over seasoned and over cooked.

There is a layer of burnt food at the bottom of the dish.

Gordon meets with the staff in the kitchen and complains about the food.

When Gordon speaks about the dry chicken, Michael counters.

He tells him that the chicken was good and the problem may be with the piece Gordon ate.

Gordon asks if Michael was the one who cooked the dish.

Michael said he hasn’t cooked any of the dishes but he is proud of the food that was cooked.

Gordon arrives to observe the dinner service and Michael is sat behind the bar drinking.

Dishes were being sent out in the kitchen only for them to be returned for being raw and undercooked.

Gordon asks Joe if that was a normal occurrence.

Joe tells him that it happens a lot during their service.

Michael tries to take control of the kitchen but so does Jerry.

The fight for control leads to a clash with the brothers screaming at each other.

Michael and Al, the cook, start shouting at each other in the kitchen.

The food service grinds to a halt, leaving customers waiting.

As the screaming between Michael and Al continues, Michael gets angry and assaults Al.

Balbina, Jerry and Gordon intervene and Michael is removed from the kitchen.

Jerry tells Gordon it happens like that sometimes.

Gordon arrives the next morning to check the place out.

The walk-in is packed with lots of meat and the fridge has dead lobsters inside.

The foods inside both the fridge and freezer are not labelled.

Gordon goes up to the second fridge upstairs.

He sees a pigeon flying around the kitchen and everything in the kitchen is bad.

He calls the pigeon the freshest thing in the kitchen.

Gordon calls the owners and shows them what he has found.

He tells Michael, who was in charge of buying produce, that he is wasting money.

Michael says that he bought it in advance so that he can be ready when it’s needed.

Gordon tells him that he must be wasting a lot of it.

Gordon has a one on one talk with Balbina and he tells her that the business is fragmented.

Jerry and Michael need to set their differences aside and work together and Balbina agrees with him.

The next day, Gordon teaches Michael a garlic chicken dish, which looks and tastes delicious.

Gordon then asks Michael to cook any dish that he loves.

Michael makes an octopus special and upon tasting it, Gordon likes the dish.

Both of the dishes will be the specials for that evening’s service.

For the evening dinner service, Michael is cooking behind the line and Jerry is expediting at the pass.

The dishes are leaving the kitchen and the customers love the new dishes.

The service slows down and Michael begins to become overwhelmed on the line.

A chicken dish is sent back to the kitchen.

Upon investigating, Gordon finds out that they have used spoiled chicken.

He tells them not to serve the bad chicken and to find fresh chicken.

Jerry steps up and the food begins to leave the kitchen and customers are happy.

It was a better evening service than the previous evening.

Overnight, the restaurant is given a makeover.

This includes new furniture and china to give the place a modern feel.

The owners and staff are happy with the new look.

Gordon shows them the competition, 40 Spanish restaurants within a 2 mile radius.

In order to stand out they have to give the locals something different.

Gordon introduces a new menu to the owners, a range of homemade tapas dishes.

He also introduces a more casual uniform for the waiters and the tuxes are gone.

For relaunch night, the kitchen gets off to a great start as customers love the food.

But as more diners arrive, the kitchen begins to fall apart.

Michael starts to get overwhelmed and everything starts slowing down as he is not listening to Jerry.

Michael starts to get angry and Gordon pulls him aside to tell him to get it together and respect his brother.

He turns it around and the brothers start working together.

Everything starts going great leaving the customers satisfied and the relaunch a success.

With a final pep talk from Gordon, he tells them they can turn this around.

He praises them for the good job they did at the relaunch.

Gordon calls Michael and Jerry aside.

He tells them they have to work together and look out for each other.

What Happened Next at Spanish Pavillion?

Spanish Pavillion is open.

Jerry told local press that there was a surge in business after Gordon filmed at the restaurant.

He was hoping for another after the show aired.

Gordon revisits and sneaks around the back to have a look in the fridge.

He finds it to be organised and clean.

Jerry reports business is good and that Michael is no longer involved in the restaurant.

Gordon checks the lobster tank and finds it is spotless and no dead lobsters.

Gordon orders a paella and Jerry sits down to eat with him, he says the paella is delicious.

Sadly Jerry reveals that his Grandfather passed away between filming and the revisit.

Spanish Pavillion is highly rated online with mostly positive Yelp reviews and Trip Advisor reviews.

Planning a visit? Check our their website for opening hours and further information.

Spanish Pavillion aired on January 21 2011, the episode was filmed in November 2010 and is Kitchen Nightmares season 4 episode 1.

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