The Fish and Anchor - Kitchen Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

Kitchen Nightmares The Fish and Anchor

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits The Fish and Anchor in Lampeter, West Wales.

The Fish and Anchor is owned by Mike Ciminera and his wife Caron/

They used to own a fish and chip shop.

After Mike won £700,000 on the football pools and upgraded their business to a restaurant.

The restaurant is a bright blue sports bar that is full of memorabilia.

Mike has lots of cook books he likes to try recipes from including Gordon Ramsay’s.

One of the main problems of the restaurant is Mike and Caron having arguments.

It is known that the arguments have gotten so bad that they have been arrested.

They also argue with customers and their business has suffered.

Gordon arrives as the restaurant and it is an unmissable blue building at the end of a narrow road.

He meets the couple and Gordon spots one of his recipes on the menu board.

Gordon notices the menu is a mish mash of different cuisines from various places and there is no uniformity.

He orders the minestrone soup, one of his own monkfish recipes and a chicken korma.

Gordon is served a minestrone soup first but Caron is hanging over him.

The soup is chunky and weird looking.

Gordon’s monk fish recipe is next and he likes how the fish was roasted but the shallots are raw.

The chicken koma is messy and the spinach looks like welsh snot.

Gordon is honest with the feedback, telling Mike that he is not a chef and he should not cook what he is not trained to cook.

Gordon asks about his meal and discovers that Mike used a jar of Uncle Bens curry sauce for the korma.

Concerned with the reputation of the restaurant Gordon uses Google to search for the restaurant online and finds many positive reviews.

He confronts Mike about these reviews and eventually he confesses that he wrote the fake reviews of the restaurant including one from someone in Afghanistan.

Gordon arrives to observe a dinner service, Mike is in the kitchen whilst Caron runs the front of house.

Mike struggles to cook the huge menu and the food takes a very long time to leave the kitchen as he cooks one dish at a time.

Two hours into the service and customers are snacking on bread and other bar snacks.

Caron and Mike soon find something to argue about and Gordon has to bear witness to it all.

A frustrated customer comes into the kitchen to ask where his food is and is told to leave and not to come back with many swear words.

A few minutes later another comes in and swears and is also asked to leave by Caron with Mike escorting the customer off the premises.

Gordon cannot believe the service he has just seen and one of the waitresses tells him that this is how the service usually goes.

At the end of service, half of the customers didn't get their food and Caron and Mike disappear out the back of the restaurant.

Gordon gives feedback that the menu is too much for them, Mike only cooks one table at a time and the couple are too argumentative.

Gordon comes in the next morning to tackle Mike’s safety net of all the cook books that he creates the menu from.

The books are all donated to the local charity shop.

Gordon discovers Mike's Italian heritage, his Grandmother was Italian and he loved to cook with her.

Mike is taken to a local farm to pick tomatoes so he can embrace using fresh ingredients.

They take the produce back to the restaurant and Mike cooks his Grandmothers meatball recipe.

Gordon teaches him some tricks to serving a full restaurant all at once.

They remove the Tikka Masala dish from the menu and Gordon reminds Mike to call his wife by name and show affection to her.

Gordon invites a local rugby team come in for the dinner service.

They try the meatball special dish and are impressed with it.

Mike is finding his bearing in the kitchen.

The restaurant fills up with other diners and Caron is found taking a smoke break at the busiest point of the service.

The service takes a turn for the worse when Caron messes up an order and one diner doesn't get their dish.

Caron argues with Gordon and he asks her to quieten down as the customers can hear.

She continues to shout at him, Mike then joins in and argues with Caron outside.

Mike has to shout to get the message across.

Gordon tells her later that she needs to calm down and watch her anger.

Somehow, he is able to give her advice and Mike has to still calm her down after the service.

The next day Gordon goes into town to talk to locals who tell him that the atmosphere is bad.

The reputation is that the owners are volatile and it is well known that there are arguments.

Gordon meets with the couple in their home and cautions them on how they need to keep their private life private.

Gordon tries his best to act as a marriage counsellor.

Gordon plans to make the restaurant into an Italian restaurant.

He has created a new simple Italian menu with 6 starters and 6 mains.

Gordon has teamed up with a local catering college and a student will be assisting Mike in the kitchen.

Gordon demonstrates the new dishes and that the emphasis is on quick meals.

Gordon's next challenge is Caron, who he describes as a welsh dragon.

He invites some fake customers to test the customer service, the waitresses shine but Caron struggles.

She finally smiles and is more friendly at the end.

They revamp the dining room, remove the sports memorabilia and the ghastly blue walls are repainted.

The staff cannot believe the place could be bright and fresh with white walls and white tablecloths.

They ride into town on a tractor to promote the restaurant with Mike handing out samples of his homemade meatballs.

It is the first Italian restaurant in the community and the locals seem excited.

Gordon introduces a punching bag in the backyard for the couple for whenever they feel frustrated in the restaurant.

On relaunch night, Gordon presents Mike with a Chefs jacket for the service.

Mike takes control of the kitchen as soon as the night starts and great food goes out to compliments from the customers.

The servers are doing well and Caron is charming the customers.

The restaurant gets to capacity and Mike goes quiet and he is nervous with all the orders stacking up.

The ticket times go up and there is a backlog of orders.

Waitress Mena slips on the floor and is knocked unconscious.

The staff are shaken and the evening service is stopped whilst she is taken to hospital.


What Happened Next at The Fish and Anchor?


Gordon revisits a month later, Mena was in hospital overnight and has recovered from her accident.

As he approaches he sees the building has been repainted, much to his delight.

The building is now white and not the bright blue it was on his first visit.

The menu is still Italian food, business has doubled and they are starting to break even.

Gordon takes a flick through the reservation book and calls a few customers.

They say that they loved the atmosphere and food and didn't see any fighting.

Gordon observes a dinner service and he sees that Mike has gained control of the kitchen and has mastered his menu.

He tells Caron that there is a big change in the both of them.

He presents Mike with a blank Fish and Anchor cook book to write down his recipes to replace all the cook books he once had.

The Fish and Anchor closed in 2008 and was listed for sale at £295,000, it was sold in 2009.

Previous customers say that things had started slipping again and the reputation didn't fully recover.

It appears that the Fish and Anchor reopened but under new ownership.

In 2012, it appears that Mike was looking into moving back to Italy.

Mike posted on a forum enquiring about available properties and businesses for sale in Italy.

The Fish and Anchor aired on December 04 2007, the episode was filmed in October 2007 and is Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares UK season 5 episode 6.


Read About More Kitchen Nightmares

Previous episode - The Priory

Next episode - Curry Lounge

This post was last updated in February 2022.

21 comments:

  1. I'm really sorry to see this. I thought they would be able to keep going but of course we don't know everything that's going on with the people who have been on this show. I just hope they both are OK physically. I lost my elder brother last year. He was terribly overweight and Mike reminded me of him. It was instant and all because he wouldn't stay away from junk food and sitting at a computer for too many hours a day. Wouldn't listen to all who loved him. Anyone know how these people are? I grew to like them very much and would like to know. :) Songs

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  2. Those two awful people truly deserve each other. I don't believe in reincarnation, but if it were real I'd swear that the harpy wife used to be some sort of hyena, and the man a squawking macaw.

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  3. Mike seemed like a truly decent sort but Caron was so insecure I believe she brought the place down. I don't think either was a bad person, they just had old habits.. long term counseling might have helped them, she especially needed that. I wish the best for both of them.

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  4. Identify yourself you fiend! How dare you curse the great RAMSAY! We prefer the blue building. Overall we rank this an 8.5 on the Official Kitchen Nightmare Index Scale Rating System.

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  5. Sure! Ramsey's Curse. don't bother to mention that these restaurants are all on their final leg by the time Ramsey's attempts to help. sometimes it is too late to save something. don't blame Ramsey for the owners failures at business.

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    1. Yes I think most of these restaurants are to far gone by the time gordon gets there. It's already to late it seems.

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  6. Caron reminds me of my ex mother-in-law. She was clinically insane too.

    Spooky.

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    1. And you chose her daughter to marry?? Spooky.

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  7. I'm still worried about mena.

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  8. This couple was hilarious. It was obvious the couple was under so much stress they only had each other to turn to. I felt for Mike, his heart is so big. He put up with the kitchen and the real nightmare was his wife. All in all he loved her. His enthusiasm to be a "chef" is comendable. I was very happy to see the change the "Emperor" Chef Ramsay had on both the restaurant and the couple's marriage (a twist for The Emperor, marriage counseling?) So sorry they closed the restaurant, they seemed to be in the right track after Chef Ramay left. By the way, just finished watching this episode (had to wait for Nexflix, LOL) and I am wondering, could this couple be related to the owners of "Amy's Baking Company") in the USA? That would explain a lot! If you have not seen this episode you must, The Emperor will surprise you. Thank goodness for this blog, keep it up. PS: for the critics on this particular restaurant blog, take your %s and calculations to another blog, please. We are here to address a particular episode of KN! thank you!

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  9. Loved both Mike and Caron, I thought they were wonderfully entertaining.

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  10. This resturant was awesome

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  11. I liked Mike and Caron. She was so funny.

    When Chef Gordon was coaching her with the customers she reminded me of a waitress that I encountered in Suffolk. I was so uncomfortable I never returned.

    I'm sorry to hear that success eluded them. I hope they are doing well.

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  12. wow...after watching a repeat of the show.....I cannot tell you how happy I am that they closed....what a woman........I can't believe these two were in business. Total joke.

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  13. Me again. Just read that the Fish & Anchor closed as the owners reverted to the same old behaviours. That is the usual problem once the turnaround catalyst departs. As I said, to have so many stay open under the same ownership is remarkable.

    Actually the other thing that would be interesting is what the owners did next. Many will actually start another business (possibly not restaurants I hope) and I wonder if they applied some of the universal business principles Gordon tried to impart. That would also constitute some form of success.

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  14. I have had two failures in business, a small food market and a ten pin bowling alley. Never felt the urge to try a restaurant but if I do I will want the advice of Gordon Ramsay

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    1. We all would cherish the advice of Chef Ramsay.

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  15. that's a shame, after the problems were sorted they seemed like nice happy people

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  16. i watched this episode last night, it was good, i will never go into the restaurant game, i felt sorry for the couple, ide pack it in

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  17. Mike seemed like a good guy, not an amazing cook but a fast learner, a good listener and a hard working owner. After some guidance from Ramsey, it looked like he was becoming a decent chef with a restaurant one the right path. Too bad his wife ruined it all in the end.

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  18. It always so sad to read that a restaurant didn’t make it after getting invested emotionally in their potential success. I hope that where ever they are, they are doing well and have managed to remain civil to one another. Businesses come and go but family is forever. I wish them nothing but the best!

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