Le Deck - Costa del Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits Le Deck in Capbreton in the South West of France.

Le Deck is owned by Tim and Debbie Wall, who met whilst working as holiday reps after emigrating more than 20 years ago.

They married 6 years later and opened three restaurants in ski resorts in the Alps.

When the couple had children they decided to move closer to the coast and bought the restaurant.

They hoped to replicate their success in the mountains at the coastal town of Capbreton.

The restaurant has been open for three years after Tim invested 1 million Euros in opening the restaurant.

It has not been as successful as their other restaurant and is losing £50,000 a year.

They offer a menu of international dishes to appeal to surfers from around the world.

Tim is present and oversees the food leaving the kitchen.

Debbie says that the restaurant has taken over their lives when the priority was supposed to have been the children.

Gordon surprises them by arriving mid afternoon in a vintage British sports car.

When he arrives the huge restaurant is empty with no staff or customers.

He meets the General Manager who speaks a little French and is English and he shows him around.

Gordon is surprised that head chef Steve and 7 other workers live in rooms above the restaurant!

Steve takes him upstairs for a look around and they all live on mattresses upstairs.

An hour before service the staff are given a staff meal before service.

They are allowed free meals and they eat an expensive lunch of steak and chocolate mousse.

Gordon is surprised that the staff are eating into the profits of the restaurant.

Tim arrives and Gordon talks with him about the menu for the service and tells them what the staff are eating.

Tim had no idea that they were eating steak and tells them that the are taking the p**s.

As Gordon enters the restaurant he sees Steve pass by with a container of frozen red mullet fish.

Steve defends the staff meal of steak by saying that it was a quick meal and eventually walks off when grilled by Gordon.

Gordon sits down to order food from the huge menu and thinks that Tim is on edge.

He orders fruits de mer en croute, the Le Deck Burger and the Le Deck Fish Salad.

The fruits de mer en Croute is greasy with no pastry and the Le Deck Burger is raw in the middle and ice cold.

The Le Deck Fish Salad is bad as the mussels aren't cleaned, the scallops taste frozen and the prawns smell.

Gordon asks Tim where the prawns are from and he says they are frozen on board the ship.

Gordon has invited 60 people to the evening service, to be able to see the restaurant at half capacity.

During the service the orders flood in and diners are left waiting for 45 minutes for food.

Steve says that the menu isn’t his and that it is Tim’s menu.

Tim runs around the kitchen in chaos trying to do everything.

The kitchen runs out of food during the dinner service and Steve tells him to stop taking orders.

Chris is sent out to borrow meat from another nearby restaurant!

Gordon tells Tim that he couldn't believe that he allowed in more customers after they had run out of meat.

Tim says he needs the money so he couldn't say no and won’t refuse any walk-in customers.

Steve stands up for himself and tells Tim that he needs to answer the questions on the menu as it isn’t his.

The next day, Gordon arrives at their house and Debbie is telling him he needs to spend more time with the family.

Gordon has looked at the books and wants to talk about finances and Tim admits he likes a project and doesn’t think about the money.

He has looked at every part of the finances and he doesn’t think the loss is only going to be fifty grand.

Debbie tells him they can walk away if it gets worse and Tim doesn’t think it is going to fail.

Gordon takes Tim to a local oyster restaurant to talk about the restaurant and Gordon talks to him about the issues with staff.

Tim goes off tangent thinking Gordon means he needs to dress professional rather than acting professional.

Gordon says that he thinks that he is going through a midlife crisis!

Back at the restaurant Steve admits he has lost some passion for cooking.

Gordon takes him to the local fish market to source fresh fish for the restaurant whilst the team prep for service.

Steve hasn’t been to the market for a year but he speaks hardly any French.

Gordon is tough on Steve as he thinks he should be talking French after 10 years there.

He wants Steve and Stuey to create their own specials using fish from the market.

As inspiration Gordon cooks a fish dish for them to motivate them for their own dishes.

Steve's special is sole with green beans and lentils and Stuey's is curried monk fish with a mango, rocket and beansprout salad.

Tim loves the specials and Gordon bans Tim from the kitchen to allow the Chefs to do their job.

The new specials are a hit with diners at the evening service and sell out quickly.

Tim is sulking after the service and feels distant from the team. He admits he is a control freak.

The next day, Gordon supplies the team with oysters to devise 4 new oyster dishes and 4 new cocktails to accompany them.

They have no oyster knife and Steve asks for Tim not to be in the restaurant that evening.

Tim is told to take Debbie out for dinner for the evening in another restaurant.

During the dinner Debbie tells him he needs to stop being a control freak and they need to have more time together as a family.

Tim returns and becomes agitated because the staff have such excellent ideas and he is frustrated as he hasn’t got this from them before.

He gets angry and screams at the staff for being brilliant but looking scruffy behind the bar.

The staff are shocked by his reaction with one waitress being close to tears.

Gordon tells him that he needs to give them the freedom to grow and he needs to stop burdening them.

The next day, Tim decides to paint the walls white and the front of house staff have given the restaurant a makeover.

Gordon brings Tim and Debbie to the restaurant, showing them the new sign and the new oyster bar.

The new menu is well received by Tim and he is so happy that he hugs Gordon.

For relaunch night, Tim is placed as Front of House with Gordon overseeing the kitchen.

The oysters are popular but Tim lets customers in without checking the bookings so the kitchen struggles as more guests arrive.

A mistake is made and four starters haven’t gone out but Steve works hard to correct the error.

Tim starts to question that portion size of the crab dish.

Gordon tells Tim that the portion is more than adequate for 6 euros and promises to throw him in the port if he continues to interfere.

The customers love the new restaurant and the new food and promise to return.

The locals are very impressed with the food especially the new fresh fish dishes.

Tim consults with the kitchen before offering out more tables.

They have also sold over 160 oysters within the first hour.

The relaunch is a success, the kitchen have stepped up to the plate and they made over 2000 Euros in just one service.

After the service Gordon tells them that if they can’t continue with his changes and support the staff then they should close the restaurant.

What Happened Next at Le Deck?

Over the next month after filming, Le Deck was averaging 15,000-20,000 Euros per week.

Stuey made was the Head Chef as Steve had returned to their other restaurant in the mountains.

Tim is taking a step back and allowing the staff to do their jobs.

Reviews on Trip Advisor were mostly good since Gordon visited the restaurant with a few complaints focused on poor service, food prices and quality.

Le Deck closed during the winter season of 2016, failing to open for the 2017 summer season and their social media pages disappeared early 2017.

Le Deck was aired on 30 September 2014, the episode was filmed in June 2014 and Costa Del Nightmares episode 2.

Read About More Kitchen Nightmares

Previous episode - Mayfair / Jacks Chicken Shack

Next episode - La Granada Divino

This post was last updated in March 2023.