Old Neighborhood Restaurant - Kitchen Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits Old Neighborhood Restaurant in Arvada, Colorado.

Old Neighborhood Restaurant is owned by married couple, Randy and Alexa who bought the restaurant 25 years ago.

They previously worked at the restaurant as servers before becoming owners in 1988.

The business was initially good but it has been declining for 13 years and has declined even further over the last few months.

Customers are complain about the food and the weird dishes they have on the menu.

The decor is heavily dated, with clutter from a hoarding problem, the wallpaper is peeling and furniture is falling apart on customers.

They are in debt and need help to avoid the restaurant being forced to close.

Gordon arrives and is greeted by a weird mannequin wearing a baseball cap, leopard print dress and leather gloves in the reception.

He meets Randy and he learns the mannequin is called Fiona and she is looked after by Alexa who changes her clothes often.

Gordon next meets Alexa who says she is attached to Fiona.

When asked if the menu has ever been changed Alexa and Randy have differing answers.

The pair settle on 8 months to a year on how often it is changed but in reality the last change was 2 and a half years ago.

Krysten serves Gordon for dinner and he asks her about a smell and she tells him it’s the upholstery of the chairs, which he confirms.

There are flies in the restaurant and the chairs have wheels on them so they roll around.

Gordon then goes through the different menus, there are two, one for dinner and one for lunch.

He ordered the New Orleans Barbeque Shrimp, Yacutan Sea Scallops and a Salmon Special.

While waiting for his food, he learns the decor is the main problem and the staff are not allowed to take down any of the items that have been there for 30 years.

The shrimp comes in and Gordon is puzzled by the sauce. He finds out the sauce is barbecue not the shrimp.

The salmon dish arrives next and he notes that they love using heavy cream as it is slathered over the salmon.

The salmon was dry and he can tell that it is frozen salmon.

Gordon asks Randy why the wallpaper hasn’t been changed and shows him the peeling wallpaper around the dining room.

The final dish comes in and he has a hard time finding the scallops.

The dish is tasteless, and he finds out it is called Yacutan just because of the chipotle sauce they use.

After his disappointing meal, Gordon meets the kitchen staff afterwards and Alexa insists that the food is great and that she tasted all of the food before serving him.

Gordon returns for the evening service and starts with an inspection of the dining area and finds old candy, dirt and a comb in the entrance couch and worn out chair cushions on the dining room chairs.

Gordon pulls up the cushions on the booths and sees rat droppings and old shoes underneath.

In the kitchen, he sees the faulty equipment and there are meat thermometers in a hole in the wall.

The office is cluttered and there is old equipment hoarded outside that is being kept for spare parts.

Gordon finds a dead rat in the cleaning cupboard and at this point he brings in Alexa to see all the hoarding he uncovered.

She says she has tried with Randy but that is who he is.

Meanwhile, customers are sending food back for various reasons in the dining area.

The walk-in is one of the worst, every item seems to be cross contaminated. The chocolate dessert is on top of raw meat and meat juices are everywhere.

Alexa claims it was cleaned the week before, which is clearly untrue.

Gordon has them shut down the kitchen, he refuses to let the customers eat the food and tells the servers to return all served foods to the kitchen.

Alexa is upset, she has pride in what she does but she is not proud of what was found by Gordon.

Randy claims they cleaned before Gordon came for 5 whole days and Gordon is not convinced they are being truthful or that he is committed to making changes.

To show their commitment, they spend the night cleaning and decluttering the kitchen of old equipment.

The next day, Gordon is pleased with the cleaning but does some more decluttering of his own.

He removes all the clutter and junk from the main areas and has the owners and staff toss the rubbish into a garbage truck.

Randy pushes the button to compress the junk, destroying everything they have thrown out and last to go into the truck is Fiona.

Gordon shows them the overhauled kitchen that has been refitted with $60,000 worth of new equipment.

The new equipment includes a new six-ring gas burner cooker from Firmatech with 2 full size ovens, a pressure fryer, dual basket fryer and a chilled prep area.

The sign for the restaurant has been changed to be more visible to customers driving past.

In the dining room, the booth chairs have been reupholstered with a stain resistant fabric and the wheels on the chairs are gone.

There is a new POS system from Dinerware.

The menu has also been cut down from 92 items to 20 and the staff are delighted with the new dishes that they sample.

On relaunch night, the staff are motivated and working well together.

At first Alexa isn’t delegating but after a pep talk from Gordon she steps up in her role.

The relaunch was a success and the customers are delighted with the dishes coming from the kitchen and Alexa and Randy are happy too.

What Happened Next at Old Neighborhood Restaurant?

After filming, business improved at the restaurant and Randy's hoarding was kept out of the restaurant.

Yelp reviews were mixed after the filming of the episode with negative reviews mostly criticising the service and some poorly cooked dishes.

Trip Advisor reviews were mostly positive but also with complaints on service or some poor dishes.

The building was put up for sale and sold in June 2014.

Old Neighborhood Restaurant closed as of May 1st 2016, posting the below on Facebook -

"It's official, after 36 years of business we have sold the restaurant and will be closing our doors on Sunday, May 1st.

We want to thank everyone for your continued support and love over the years. Although it will be a big change in our lives, we are excited to see what the future holds.

Come visit us one last time and say goodbye! We will be open our normal business hours which are Friday and Saturday 11AM-9PM and Sunday Brunch 10AM-2PM and Sunday Dinner 3.30PM-8PM. We hope to see everyone!"

The Butchery opened in it's space in 2016 and reviews are good.

Old Neighborhood Restaurant was aired on 18 April 2014, the episode was filmed in July 2013 and is Kitchen Nightmares season 7 episode 3.

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This post was last updated in March 2023.