The Grumpy George Pub - Kitchen Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits The Grumpy George Pub in Austin, Texas.

The Grumpy George is an English pub run by Karen and her husband Christian.

It was always their dream to have a restaurant.

Despite both having full time jobs they opened the pub a year prior.

They hired a chef named Micheal who is professionally trained.

He was given full control of the kitchen but his expertise is Puerto Rican food.

Michael has been learning from how to make British food videos.

Customers complain about the food he makes.

He makes everything from scratch and this drives up ticket times.

There is a lack of direction within the restaurant.

The owners are not there to receive feedback and take action.

There is only 4 weeks worth of money left to keep the business open.

Gordon arrives and he sees a drink he says is not even British.

The owners are not at the restaurant and he has to sit with the servers.

Gordon is excited by the British menu and orders some classics.

Micheal is anxious and Gordon notices a lot of tables do not have food.

Gordon’s food comes out and it is all wrong.

There are small sausages in the sausage rolls and a vegetarian dish has a bit of bacon on it.

The scotch egg is undercooked and the mash is lumpy and undercooked.

The owners come in while he is eating and he asks to see them afterwards.

Once the lunch rush is over he sits down with the owners.

He gives feedback on the food and questions why they would get into this business.

Karen says they envisioned a modern twist on a traditional British pub.

Gordon says their food is not up to the standard of what a gastro pub should be.

Gordon points out they cannot print a recipe from the internet and expect a chef to make magic.

They took a second mortgage out to fund the restaurant.

Gordon is baffled on why they would take a risk so close to retirement.

The whole team is called together and Gordon gives feedback on the food to them and the cook.

Micheal said he did not get any direction and he had no prior experience in cooking British food.

For the evening rush, Gordon has invited some British people to fill the restaurant.

They quickly order some British classics from the menu.

The staff are intimidated by the high expectations.

Gordon enters the kitchen sees the labour intensive procedures.

He questions why some things were not prepared beforehand.

Gordon sits with the guests and gets feedback on their expectations.

They talk about their wait time which has exceeded 10 minutes.

Soon the wait times climb to 40 minutes and it is chaos.

A plate of Sliders that eventually go out to some guests are burned.

The burgers are so hot that it burns their mouth.

Food is quickly sent back to the kitchen with problems.

The customers do not like the food and Gordon is apologetic.

Gordon sees lamb meat for a shepherd’s pie stored in a container.

It was made a few days ago.

In the fridges, the food is stored improperly and there are frozen items defrosting.

Karen is called to see the food stored in the beer fridge.

At the end of dinner service, the staff have a debrief with Gordon.

Micheal is clueless about what happened during the service.

Gordon tells them the longest wait time was 1 hour.

He should not treat the restaurant like fine dining and his process makes no sense.

Gordon says that he can fix the restaurant but only if the owner is committed to change.

Karen needs to guide the staff on British food and culture as she is the only British person there.

The next day, Gordon meets with Karen in a busy square in the town.

He gives her advice on how to manage her staff.

Gordon’s team has been busy and renovated the space.

The space is now bright and colourful with more of a British pub feel.

It brings tears to Karen’s eyes because it is familiar.

Gordon has also reworked the menu to make it less complicated.

The staff try the new menu and the food tastes great.

Karen says the food takes her back to when she was a child as it is all authentic.

For Gordon’s last surprise, he brought in some experts.

They will train Micheal and the team on how to cook traditional gastro-pub meals.

For the relaunch the customers are let in.

The orders come through to the kitchen.

Micheal feels the pressure as he has to cook like he was trained.

The ticket times are down and good food is going out to customers.

They have many compliments for the new food and service.

Karen recommends dishes to guests trying British food for the first time.

Micheal is happy his food is being complimented.

Gordon congratulates him on doing much better.

Gordon leaves a book of more British recipes they can rotate their menu.

He also leaves instructions with method and ingredient lists.

What Happened Next at Grumpy George?

Two months later, the restaurant has been packed.

It is buzzing with people loving the food.

Micheal has not dropped the ball and is preparing great food.

The Grumpy George Pub & Grub is open.

Reviews are mostly positive.

There is praise for the food and service.

The owners describe Gordon as their Gordian Angel.

Grumpy George was aired on 25th February 2025.

The episode was filmed in September 2024 and is Kitchen Nightmares season 9 episode 8.

Read About More Kitchen Nightmares

Previous episode - The Verdict

Next episode - Leo's