Grasshopper Also - Kitchen Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits The Grasshopper Also in Carlstadt, New Jersey.

The Grasshopper Also is an Irish pub run by Mitch and owned by him, his wife Maureen and her father Chief.

Chief a successful restauranteur with over 40 years in the industry and invested most of the money to open the restaurant.

They were successful at first then the business took a downturn.

Maureen is clueless as to why the business is failing and everyone blames Mitch.

Mitch is responsible for the kitchen but is not productive, doing other busy things and hiding in his office.

He cannot communicate with his staff and they do not respect him.

Mitch is fed up of being blamed for all of the issues at the restaurant.

The food is bad and is frequently sent back by unhappy customers.

Gordon visits the restaurant and meets all three owners together.

It is immediately apparent Maureen is the referee between both of them.

He speaks to them individually and Maureen talks about the suffering relationship between Chief and Mitch.

Chief has invested $3,000,000 and thinks the biggest problem is Mitch, whereas Mitch believes the biggest problem is his Father in law.

Gordon meets manager Annette who doesn't hold back when telling Gordon how poor the food is.

Gordon is confused by the decor and thinks that it is very dated.

He orders the French onion soup, Shepherds pie and Fisherman’s platter.

The French onion soup tastes like onions in dishwater.

The shepherd’s pie is a cottage pie with a cold, glue like gravy.

The fisherman’s platter is bland with rubbery scallops.

Gordon meets the chefs and is shocked to discover that none of them know how to make Irish food.

Gordon asks to see the scallops and finds that they are thawed from frozen.

He inspects the fridges where he finds scallops that have been previously frozen and old and slimy chicken.

Gordon also finds blood in the mozzarella sticks and raw and cooked meat stored together.

He says he would have never eaten had he seen the state of the fridges and how the food was stored.

Gordon declares that they should not open for dinner due to having to throw the produce away.

Gordon leaves and the staff throw away the bad food.

The owners have a meeting where Maureen asks Mitch to focus on the restaurant.

Maureen is the one supervising the clean-up and not Mitch.

The next day Gordon visits the owners at home and sits with Maureen.

She tells him Mitch is not the same man he was over 13 years ago.

Gordon says they have to help to reignite Mitch’s passion.

Gordon joins them at the restaurant and Mitch is not leading.

Gordon talks to him privately and asks him to find his confidence and his voice.

Gordon introduces two specials, a shepherd’s pie and fish and chips.

The staff taste the new dishes and are impressed with the taste of them.

The chefs however are more concerned on getting the food out as soon as possible focusing on speed and cutting corners.

They ask whether they should pre fry the fish and if there is a way to cook burgers faster.

For the dinner service, the customers are let in to the restaurant and Mitch disappears briefly.

Gordon notices that they don’t have a POS system and is worried about the outdated, handwritten order system.

The service begins slowly, the specials are well received by the customers but the old menu is a disaster.

The old menu takes longer to cook and the items are being sent out late, poorly cooked and are tasteless due to no seasoning.

Mitch lets bad quality food go out and Gordon calls him out on it.

The kitchen staff keep making errors and raw burgers are almost sent out twice and the quality of the specials drop as well.

Gordon realises the problems are the cooks.

They don’t know how to cook burgers properly and sent out poorly presented shepherds pies.

The service isn't helped by Chief overseeing and winding up Mitch with his comments.

After the service, Gordon calls in James to help him at the restaurant.

James is a local chef of great talent and he is introduced to the staff.

He will be working with Gordon to help create and train the cooks on the new menu.

The restaurant is given a makeover by Gordon’s team.

The interior has been modernised, it is cheery and bright with modern lamps.

There is also a communal dining table in the middle of the dining room.

The family and the staff all love the changes that have been made.

There is also a new Halo state of the art POS computer ordering system to replace the handwritten system.

The menu has been updated with Irish American dishes including Irish Ale stew and an authentic shepherds pie.

The menu has also been reduced so that the focus is on quality.

The staff sample the dishes and love the taste of the food as it is more authentic.

On relaunch night, James is overseeing the cooks while Mitch expedites and takes the lead.

The food goes out quickly and to high quality and the complements of the customers.

Mitch fumbles in the middle of service because of nerves and it holds up the service.

Chief steps in but ends up arguing with Maureen and Gordon removes Mitch from the kitchen.

Gordon instead changes him to a server where he takes the wrong dishes to the wrong tables.

The dinner service is turned around with James and Gordon leading the kitchen.

They slowly work through the backlog and food continues to go out to customers.

After the service, Gordon sits the owners down to tell them that they need to make some changes to make things work and to listen to James.

What Happened Next at Grasshopper Also?

Within days of filming, Chef Mario is sacked and James stays on to train the kitchen staff.

Yelp reviews and Trip Advisor reviews were mostly positive after the episode aired.

There are compliments to most of the menu items but also a few negative comments including one alleging she was made sick from a tainted sandwich.

Some regulars on Chowhound said that they preferred the previous menu and the new food was lacking flavour.

Grasshopper Also closed and was sold in October 2012 and reopened with new management, new staff and a new makeover.

It became a sports bar called the Eastside Ale House, the new owners posted the below on Facebook.

"For everyone who has supported Mitch, Maureen, and Chief for so many years, we would like to say thank you.

And on behalf of the new ownership and management of the Grasshopper, we wish them the best and thank them for many years of great service.

As for the future, we hope to only grow on the great foundation the Grasshopper has laid out for us.

There will be many new things coming, all for the better. All are always welcome at the Grasshopper and we look forward to continuing to grow with you!"

Eastside Ale House closed in 2016 and Yelp reviews prior to closure were negative.

The restaurant was sold again and reopened as a sports bar called Primetime Sports Lounge & Restaurant.

Primetime Sports Lounge & Restaurant closed in 2017 after being open less than a year.

It is currently a tapas bar called Segovia Meson and reviews are excellent.

Grasshopper Also aired on February 18 2011, the episode was filmed in November 2010 and is Kitchen Nightmares season 4 episode 4.

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This post was last updated in March 2023.