Mill Street Bistro - Kitchen Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits Mill Street Bistro in Norwalk, Ohio.

Mill Street Bistro was opened by Joe Nagy.

He opened the restaurant after he lost his job in food sales.

Joe initially bought a livestock ranch.

He later opened the bistro as he thought it would complement the ranch.

He imagines that his place is a fine dining restaurant but according to his staff he is delusional.

He claims the food is fresh and made form scratch but he cuts corners.

Chef Tom reveals that it is actually frozen and freezer to table.

Servers Rebecca and Amy aren't happy about the way he treats them or the food they are serving.

He is rude to his staff and customers have made complaints against him.

Joe seems oblivious to his part in the problems they have at the restaurant.

He believes he is a kitchen nightmare as he has no customers in the restaurant.

Gordon meets Joe at his ranch, where he shows him his livestock including his pet goat, Skinny.

He starts spinning his tales to Gordon saying he is a trained chef and was trained by European experts.

Skinny the goat tries to charge at Gordon.

Gordon leaves the ranch and visits the restaurant.

He sees a fake fire on in the reception.

Gordon isn't impressed with the staff name badges.

He asks Amy to take hers off as the restaurant is not a chain.

She tells him Joe is the problem and he victimises customers if they have any complaints.

They refer to their specials as features, which puzzles Gordon.

Gordon orders from the menu and is shocked the steak dishes are so expensive.

Gordon orders the elk feature, the fish trio, scallops en croute and vegetarian ravioli primavera.

He also orders onion soup, oyster rockefeller and the elk quesadilla.

Gordon talks to server Bill and finds out there is no marketing and he would rate the food a five.

He says that Joe is arrogant and thinks the restaurant is too good for the locals.

Gordon gets all the staff to introduce themselves and drop their name tags.

First to arrive is the French Onion soup they say Joe made himself.

It is greasy, watery, has too few onions and the cheese is not melted.

Next is Oysters Rockerfeller and the oysters are bitter, which means they are frozen.

Joe goes out to meet Gordon after hearing feedback.

He offers to make a new Onion soup but Gordon said he wants to move forward.

Gordon also gives him some feedback on the oysters and sends it back with him.

Next the chocolate cake arrives in a big tray with flowers.

Gordon has him and the staff recreate a funeral procession sending it back to the kitchen.

The Scallops en Croute arrives and there are micro carrots on the plate.

Joe explains he gets them from a local farm.

The rest of the meal he finds disgusting as the pastry is raw and the scallops are as tough as rubber.

Th Elk Quesadilla is chewy and tough and Gordon says that Elk should not be in a Quesadilla.

The vegetarian ravioli is ice cold and he sends it back to Joe who is not happy.

The Catch of the Day is three fried fish that are dry, rubbery and greasy and they taste frozen.

The Elk feature arrives with some decorative flowers but it is tough to eat.

Joe tastes it and he has no problem with it.

He sends a message back to Gordon disputing all he has said about the dishes.

Gordon describes the food as farm to garbage can and is shocked to hear the elk feature costs $35.

He leaves to eat at another place as he is hungry and has barely eaten anything.

Gordon returns for dinner service and to give his opinion of the food.

He wasn't impressed and did not take more than 2 bites of anything.

Joe reveals that the fresh catch of the day is actually frozen.

He is defensive of his food and Gordon tells him he is in denial.

Joe then claims he is not a chef after claiming he was.

Gordon calls him out as pretentious, and says that his ideas are sinking the restaurant.

He says that he is shortchanging people charging them high prices for poor quality meals.

Joe is insulting saying he is the same with Gordon and they get abusive towards each other.

Gordon leaves and Joe talks to his staff.

He is complaining loudly and customers that are wating to be seated hear everything.

Gordon comes back to observe the dinner service and he sees a big ‘Quiet’ sign.

Joe tells Gordon there is no talking in the kitchen.

The food leaves the kitchen at a reasonable pace.

It leaves without Joe telling them where it is going and many dishes are returned.

A diner finds a stone in her ravioli and Joe tells Gordon he is over critical.

Gordon has reached out to a former employee, who he meets in the middle of dinner service.

Teresa says she was hired as a prep cook but ended up doing that along with extra tasks.

She was doing dishes, cleaning, making prep lists and being Joe’s scape goat for his frustrations.

She quit a month ago after being constantly criticised.

Teresa also shared pictures of the steaks and vegetables.

There is bloody meat that looks old but had been stored and served by the restaurant.

Gordon goes to the storage room to see meat stored without dates, half frozen and half thawed.

There is frozen blue cheese, frozen vegetables, frozen oysters and frozen shrimp.

Gordon witnesses Joe put raw onions in a French onion soup about to be sent out.

Meanwhile his chef knows not to put raw onions in a soup of caramelised onions and has tried to tell him.

Gordon and Joe descend into a massive yelling match and Joe throws Gordon out the kitchen

Mill Street Bistro Part 2

After some time beating him over the head with the things that are not working.

Joe accepts he has lost sight and asks for help.

The next day, Gordon talks to the staff in a staff meeting.

They say all they have been too afraid to talk to Joe.

Joe is secretly watching the meeting on a monitor in another room.

They say he is the problem of the business and he is demeaning to staff in front of customers.

They say he has a temper and he has low standards for the food.

The staff say that customers run when they see Joe is around.

They think Joe is not complementary of staff and he stresses them out during the service.

Gordon reveals that Joe has been listening in to the meeting from another room.

The staff are scared finding out Joe has been listening in.

They are worried how he will react to their criticism.

When he comes in, he is apologetic and says he has been tough but he will work on softening.

Gordon brings in some fresh ingredients he bought for $89 to highlight his prices are an issue.

With these customers can make 5 days-worth of tasty homemade dinners.

Gordon then talks Joe into adding cheaper dishes including burgers to the menu.

Joe says the staff did not want a $10 burger, which the staff say isn’t true/

Gordon proceeds to make a burger and a fish dish made with a local fresh fish.

The staff love try the dishes and love the taste of them.

For the dinner service the new specials are added.

The ‘Quiet’ sign is removed so the staff communicate with each other.

Joe has problems remembering the order of the ingredients in the burger.

Entrees are ready before appetisers because of Joe’s error and when Gordon talks to him, he is unresponsive.

Fish dishes have been made with no tickets so the severs do not know where they are going.

It is clear that Joe doesn’t communicate well and Gordon has to shout at Joe to get him to give instructions.

The dinner service starts well but then the wait time increases to an hour as Joe struggles to make the burgers.

Gordon encourages Joe to bounce back but instead they break out into another heated argument.

Gordon sends him out of the kitchen so he and Tom can finish the dinner service without him.

Joe talks bad about Gordon to his customers in the dining room.

Sitting down with Gordon afterwards Joe blames his staff.

Gordon tells him he should not be in the kitchen anymore if he wants the restaurant to succeed.

Gordon stays late to prepare a new menu for the Bistro.

In the morning, he unveils it to the staff when they come in.

There isn’t a remodel as in other previous episodes as the restaurant doesn’t need it.

The staff love the new menu and especially the taste of the dishes that they try.

Joe accepts what Gordon has said and that he should not be in the kitchen.

Gordon introduces Chef Brian Goodman who will help set up the kitchen and help them interview a new chef.

Gordon spends some time with the community donating to the cancer society in the restaurant’s name at a charity walk.

He also invites the community to the relaunch.

For the relaunch Joe is front of house supporting staff.

The kitchen staff are amazed at how efficient Brian is in the kitchen.

Great food goes out on time and the customers are delighted with the dishes.

Joe is helping servers with waters and wines.

Joe tries to be helpful in serving food but takes it to the wrong table.

Replacement dishes have to be made and a complementary dish is given for the confusion.

The relaunch night ends well and everyone is happy at how it went.

What Happened Next at Mill Street Bistro?

In the months that followed, the menu at Mill Street Bisto in Ohio had been changed.

Some of Gordon's changes were kept.

Staff were fired including servers Jen, Kayleigh and Rebecca and Chef Tommy.

Joe is back in the kitchen as Head Chef.

In December 2013, Joe Nagy renamed and redecorated the restaurant.

Mill Street Bistro in Ohio was relaunched as Maple City Tavern.

It was branded as a family friendly restaurant and the reviews were mostly negative.

In January 2014, Joe from Mill Street Bistro sued Gordon Ramsay's production company for missing items and damage to the restaurant.

He settled the claim for £900 compensation.

Mill Street Bistro closed in February 2016.

It closed as Joe felt it was the right time to sell up.

The restaurant was sold for $140,000 in March 2016.

Most of the recent Yelp reviewsprior to closure were 1 star reviews and reviews on Trip Advisor were not much better.

The negative reviews are mostly due to poor quality, bland and over priced food.

Mill Street Bistro was aired on March 1st and 8th 2013, the episode was filmed in July 2012 and is Kitchen Nightmares season 6 episode 10 and 11.

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