In this 24 Hours to Hell and Back episode, Gordon Ramsay visits Seafarer's Family Restaurant is in Manquin, Virginia.
Seafarer's Restaurant is close to a beach that is popular with fishermen and war re-enacters.
It is owned by the Halterman family - Amber, Autumn and their parents.
Logan is the Head Chef and Amber, Autumn and their mother are in the restaurant daily.
Amber worked in insurance and did not intend on working in the restaurant.
Following a car accident she was left unable to walk and she felt she had to give back to the restaurant.
Autumn hasn't contributed to the finances of the restaurant,
She is resentful that her younger sister is manager and tries to talk over her.
They have lost $40,000 over the summer as business has declined and everyone has their life savings invested.
Gordon arrives at the restaurant in disguise with a group of revolutionary war re-enacters.
He is using a decoy team of experts for the show including Rock Harper, winner of Hell's Kitchen season 3.
His first impressions is that the restaurant smells bad and we are shown Amber saying the walkin is warm and revealing a bucket of covered crabs.
Gordon's table orders oysters, crabs, tuna and devilled eggs and the experts ask questions.
On Gordon's table the crab is over seasoned and tastes fishy, the devilled eggs are spoiled and Gordon spits most of it out.
Gordon's decoy Rock asks the staff to join him in the dining room and Gordon stands up removing his disguise.
He asks diners to put down their forks and asks the few customers to go into the kitchen where the smell is overbearing.
Gordon brings the cooking pot that is covered in rotten seafood into the dining room and Logan is speechless.
He asks the staff and customers to go into the car park to his Hell on Wheels truck to show hidden footage.
The footage shows Logan attempting to tell Amber she can't leave seafood out and that it has been in for too long.
There are flies on the food, improper food storage and Amber telling Autumn not to serve the spoiled devilled eggs.
Gordon asks the customers to return in 24 hours and tells the staff they are staying at the restaurant for 24 hours and calls the staff together for a meeting.
Autumn blames their father as he is an alcoholic and bought the restaurant for the family as he believed he was close to death and wanted a family legacy.
Autumn feels that the restaurant was thrown in their laps and none of the staff have any training.
Amber doesn't know costings and has learnt what she knows by herself.
Logan stays as he knows something can be made of the restaurant.
He thinks Autumn is the biggest problem as she doesn't do anything other than showing up.
She throws Logan under the bus for smoking pot.
Logan fires back about comments she made about wanting the restaurant to fail.
He says she wants to burn it down until she received her tips as she is crazy for tips and other staff nod in agreement.
He reveals that she has chased customers down for not leaving enough of a tip and she reluctantly confesses that it is true.
Amber has a habit of pulling Logan out of the kitchen to replace him with Philip, the line cook and her boyfriend.
Philip has quit three times and Gordon tells him if he doesn't want to be here to leave and he leaves.
Gordon tells them that family isn't a good enough reason to stay in business together and Amber's daughter Kali revealed that multiple households rely on the restaurant.
The renovation team arrives and strips out the dining room whilst Gordon works in the most disgusting kitchen he has ever seen.
There is grime inches deep behind the stove, the kitchen has never been deep cleaned and there are flies everywhere.
In the fridge there are revolting tubs of revolting food and the walk in is fulled with old, dead, rotten seafood as the walk in is warm.
The smell from a tub of week old crabs causes all to retch and Gordon asks them to deep clean the kitchen.
Gordon takes Logan out to his Hell on Wheels truck and reveals that he gave up on college to be in the restaurant and started on hard drugs at just 16 years old.
Logan and the kitchen staff are trained on the new menu, where they will be moving away from seafood.
Gordon meets with Amber who struggles to be able to tell Gordon what Autumn brings to the business.
Afterwards, Gordon meets with Autumn and asks if it would run better without them and she thinks she could run the restaurant better than Amber.
Gordon proposes she gets 20% of the profit and steps away but she doesn't want to step away from the restaurant.
Gordon checks in with Mary and the kitchen staff are nervous about the new menu and they need more training.
The new decor is revealed to the staff and they love the new look, new furniture, new POS system and new kitchen equipment.
The restaurant is renamed to Halterman's Eatery in line with the restaurant being a family business.
The owners sit down to discuss the next steps for the restaurant and Autumn is negative.
They tell her they want her to take a step back to get some help to resolve her issues.
Autumn leaves for the service and Amber is revealed as the manager and reveals Autumn has left to the relief of the servers.
Gordon meets the customers and tells Rock he may need a favour from him.
Amber also talks with customers and shines in the dining room.
Logan and the cooks panic and do not communicate and the first burger on the line is overcooked and cannot be served.
Steaks are put on the pass with broken yolks and Gordon tells them to stop.
He speaks with Amber and tells her to encourage him as it is the pressure getting to him.
The communication improves and the food starts leaving the kitchen to happy customers.
Gordon takes Rock into the kitchen and reveals that he will be a mentor for the restaurant and help them.
What Happened Next at Haltermans Eatery / Seafarer's Family Restaurant?
Haltermans Eatery / Seafarer's Family Restaurant is open.
Three months later, customers love the new decor and food. Logan and Kali have a new spring in their step and Logan is sober.
Rock reveals they are making good progress and Logan is much happier.
Halterman's Eatery reviews are mostly positive.
Halterman's Yelp Reviews are mostly positive before Gordon's visit. There are currently only two reviews following Gordon's visit and they are mixed. Both compliment the food but one is critical of the service received.
Halterman's Trip Advisor reviews are mostly very positive with compliments to the new menu and service received. Reviews prior to Gordon's visit are also mostly positive.
Mama Jean sadly passed away in April 2021.
Planning a visit to Seafarer's? Check out their website for more info including opening hours.
Seafarer's Family Restaurant is 24 Hours to Hell and Back season 3 episode 5, was aired on February 4 2020 and the episode was filmed in November 2019.
More 24 Hours to Hell and Back
Next episode - Southern Kitchen
Previous episode - Botto's Italian Line Restaurant
Its sad they threw Autumn out after they took her money
ReplyDeleteAutumn was a part-owner. She had ni business waiting tables to collect (or chase customers down for) tips. So greedy! Let's not forget sleeping with an employee. Unproffesional in every way. I say goodbye!
ReplyDeleteMy wife and i had not been here in a couple of years. It was Seafarers then. Bad experience twice. Last time fish were a actually floatong in oil.the mgr at time refried fish. Worse to point of throwing up from the smell. We left.
ReplyDeleteTime went by and we heard Ramsey had been here so we finally decided to visit again. We had the Seafood platter and shared it with a baked potatoe and fries. This was really good. Even had to get a box. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good variety of seafood. We will go back.
Yo are you seriously saying it's sad that Autumn got kicked out? Like, seriously? Maybe YOU ARE Autumn. Besides she literally did nothing positive for the business, she was toxic as hell, has no work ethic, puts other people down to ry to make herself look good and is just all around not a good person. Also, I love how slick Gordon is every time he spits out the food.
ReplyDelete