Flamangos / The Junction - Kitchen Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

Kitchen Nightmares Flamangos / The Junction

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits Flamangos in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.

Flamangos is owned by Adele and Bill Csepi.

They had run successful diners in the past, made about $1m and then they retired.

Adele got bored very quickly of retirement and after just three days the pair came out of retirement in 2006.

After coming out of retirement they decided to open a fine dining restaurant with their daughter Cheryl Csepi.

They were inspired by Florida and everything tropical, merging Florida and Mangoes to get Flamangos.

The restaurant is anything but high class and the staff think that it is absolutely hideous.

Adele doesn't respect the staff and the restaurant is poorly run.

Adele swears a lot in the restaurant.

Bill helps in the kitchen, serving and maintenance; he is constantly overworked for someone who is supposed to be retired.

Cheryl believes the food is great but she hasn’t been paid a wage since the restaurant opened.

The business is doing poorly and they are still pouring in money that is supposed to be their retirement money.

Gordon comes into the village driving a truck, it's still early so he goes to the family home rather than the restaurant.

He meets Bill and finds out he is 70 years old and he came out of retirement to buy a restaurant and is now broke.

Bill had four restaurants previously but this restaurant is a problem.

Gordon gets to meet Adele and she tells him they bought one more restaurant because they wanted to have a family business with their daughter.

Gordon then meets Cheryl, who is 42 and still living with her parents.

She says it's because she has not received a paycheck from the restaurant she runs.

Gordon offers to drive Cheryl to the restaurant and quizzes her on the name.

On getting to the restaurant, he says the inside looks like a Zoo with the plant and fruit motifs and animals.

Jodie serves Gordon and he orders a tuna appetiser, a tiki platter and a filet mignon.

The tuna appetiser arrives first and Gordon coughs at the spiciness of the food.

The tiki platter comes next and you basically grill your own kebab over a small stove.

Gordon’s kebab gets stuck on the top and he smokes out the restaurant as it burns.

Gordon spits out the first bite and sends it back.

Gordon is excited for his fillet mignon but is shocked to see Bill coming towards him with a trolley.

The steak is still cooked on a roof tile, finished table side and is doused in garlic butter.

Gordon finds the meat too tough and chewy.

He enters the kitchen to give feedback to Bryan, the chef.

Bryan says he isn't excited by the food and he wouldn't eat it.

He tells Gordon he is just a month on the job, and he is not allowed to change anything on the menu.

Gordon stays to observe the dinner service.

The menu is large, and most customers can’t read through it all.

The tickets come in fast and Bryan is lost as to what to start with.

Customers are being left waiting and Adele is asked to talk to customers but she is disruptive and standoffish.

Forty-five minutes in, the meals have started coming out, but they are just as quickly sent back.

Bryan is fed up and takes a break, Gordon follows him to get him to see this through so they can talk to the owners about making some changes.

Bill brings out the trolley to serve filet mignon to a customer and it is not medium rare so it is sent back.

Gordon is shocked Bill has to work in the restaurant with him being of retirement age.

Christie says it is because they are too cheap to hire someone else to do it.

Gordon talks to Adele and Cheryl about Bill having to work at the restaurant and Adele denies it saying he doesn’t do much work.

They noticed the kitchen service was bad that night but they still believe their food is good.

Gordon gets the owners to hold their first ever staff meeting.

Staff air what they think should be done to improve the restaurant.

Bryan suggests they cut down the menu especially because their clientele isn’t as upper class as they think they are and aren’t interested in half the menu.

Isabelle addresses the friction between her and Adele but she is told to shut up by Adele.

Gordon tells them the changes that needs to be made and there will be a change for the next service.

Bryan will cook a specialty of his choice and Bill who loves cooking meatloaf would have his dish as a special.

Gordon loves both dishes and they are ready for the dinner service.

Gordon notices Cheryl’s nails and thinks they are hideous.

Dinner service starts and the customers are ordering the specials, Bryan is in charge and is moving dishes out faster than he did the night before.

On the customer end, they are loving the specials but don’t like the regular menu as much.

They request to speak with an owner and want to speak with Adele but she is abrasive towards to the server.

Getting to the table she is brief, takes the food back and swears at the complainant under her breath.

After the dinner service, the staff meet and Gordon congratulates them on the specials as they went down well with diners.

Then Gordon has them make a major change, taking all the chairs, alligators, menu and other tacky decor throwing them into a truck.

The items are taken to a secure location and a bonfire is started.

Lastly, the Flamangos sign is added and the owners get emotional at the loss.

On the third day, the new restaurant is revealed. The restaurant has been renamed ‘The Junction’ to signify the coming together of people.

The room has been opened up, brightened and made more casual.

The raw bar is now a milkshake station.

Adele doesn’t look pleased and says she hates everything including the blue decor of the restaurant and she gets emotional.

She basically tells Gordon that she hates the colour blue whilst wearing a blue shirt….

Gordon reminds her it is for the business not for her.

They are shown the new menu which is simpler and has something for everyone.

Adele hates the menu and believes it would be a disaster.

Gordon shows them the new dishes, and everyone is complementary but Adele.

On relaunch night, Adele is attempting to take over a cook’s station to make a dessert.

After a while she says she wants to go home.

Customers love the new decor but Adele is still derogatory about it.

The orders start coming in and the dishes fly out fast to the delight and pleasure of the customers.

Adele complains to customers who are complementary of the space, spreading her negativity about the redesign.

Gordon finds her just in time to end the negativity and talks Bill into trying to uplift Adele for the good of the business and success of the relaunch.

It works, she smiles and is courteous to customers from then onwards.

The relaunch night is successful all round and the staff are happy.

Gordon asks Cheryl to have moved out by the time he comes back to check on them.



What Happened Next at The Junction?

After Kitchen Nightmares, Adele described the experience as "it was hell" to the local press.

They went back to their old ways a week after Gordon left and returned to their old menu.

Gordon revisited Flamangos in 2011 and the restaurant was continuing to be successful with business at double what it was before.

Adele was also much nicer to both Gordon and the customers and Chery although still single was on the verge of moving out of her parents.

The staff say that Adele is getting better and Bryan is no longer working at the restaurant.

Gordon loved the food including the Junction burger, meatloaf and crab cake.

Flamangos closed in April 2011 as Bill and Adele decided to re-retire to Florida and sell the restaurant.

Yelp reviews after filming are mostly positive with compliments to both the food and the service.

However, Big Giant Food Basket had a more negative experience with a long wait for food and the food being overpriced and lacking flavour.

The Rail at Readington opened in it's space, a traditional american restaurant and both Yelp and Trip Advisor reviews are mostly good.

Cheryl moved out of her parents house in March 2016, posting the news to Gordons Facebook page.

Flamangos aired on February 02 2010, the episode was filmed in July 2009 and is Kitchen Nightmares season 3 episode 2.

This post was last updated in March 2023.

34 comments:

  1. Did anyone else noticed that she "hated blue" but her shirt was almost the same color as the chairs?

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    1. Yes, that was hilarious! :D

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    2. In the beginning it was pink then she changed it to blue during the re-opening

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    3. I've seen this episode several times in the past few weeks, thanks to BBC America. Adele is in fact wearing a pink shirt when she says "I hate blue" at the new restaurant decor unveiling. However, on re-launch night she is indeed wearing a blue shirt, I noticed this at once on first viewing. Dichotomous much, lady? Adele was a whack job, and I agree with whomever said that her husband Bill should be a candidate for sainthood for putting up with her.

      "It tastes like a fish. Ugh!" Has she never had salmon before??

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    4. I am watching the revisited episode on Netflix. On relaunch night her shirt was the same color blue as the new chairs. The first thought that came to my mind was "if she hates blue, why is she wearing blue?"

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    5. When Gordon Ramsey first visited Adele, Bill & Cheryl in their home.Adele was in fact wearing a blue roll neck sweater, and seemed to wear it pretty much most of the time at the first. That colour matched her eyes. Poor man Bill most people don't like change and as for his daughter she had never had a pay cheque in two years and at 42 lived with parents. Each to their own. Cheryl embraced the change as did Bill.
      It made good viewing however shame I saw the restaurant is now closed down. Maybe the chef went on to better things.
      The staff were very dedicated, Shame about Mrs Grumpy. Maybe they paid extra for her to be grumpy for the ratings !!

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    6. The real kicker is that her eyes are blue.

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  2. I'm curious about what happened after to cause the restaurant to close down (I'm sure I can make a few guesses). Adele was way too stubborn and set in her ways. I noticed her "we'll see" attitude when asked about how things were going really meant that she was ignoring any success and didn't like it because it was different. She was just not someone who should have owned a business. Even at the end when she was "lightening up" she still seemed displeased and rigid.

    The sad part is her husband seemed like a really sweet man. I wonder how many levels of hell he had to go through in life with her lol. I just hope that the closing of the restaurant didn't leave them high and dry in their golden years. At the very least, he didn't deserve that.

    And while the daughter just seemed to be along for the ride I will give her credit, she didn't get angry when Gordon Ramsay made comments about her living at home. :P I wonder how much of that was her mother's doing. lol

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    1. I believe the place was sold to the owners of a bagel shop near The Junction. I hope they got a good deal. It's too bad. I was really rooting for their success.
      I agree with what you said about Adele. But at the same time Bill said he had made about a million dollars from owning a few restaurants then retired. I would think that Adele was involved with those places, no?
      The reason Bill agreed to come out of retirement was because Adele was bored. Bill was a sweet guy.

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  3. Anyone else notice that she said she hated the salmon cause "it tasted like a fish"

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  4. If portrayed from their own words was right, they said, "Always poor, beyond retirement guy, who came out of retirement after running successful restaurants to make up for the daughter's shortcomings", in a winning poor me attitude. Grinned on that one. Seen this one. Will live to not tell a similar story. Thx Chef.

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  5. Just watching this episode on BBCAmerica. In speaking about customers, Adele said that customers lie, and "Screw them." I can't help but wonder why their chef was so new. What happened to the previous one? And why, oh why, did they open this restaurant?? Adele doesn't care what might make the customers happy and come back. She just wants what she wants no matter how bad it is. She is a very mean, rude, unhappy person. Why do people like this even bother calling Chef Ramsay for help if they do not want to listen to anything he says?

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  6. Disheartening that Ramsay made a big deal about their daughter living with them. Sometimes it financially just makes more sense, sometimes parents need to be cared for, and sometimes it's a temporary location between schools. Ramsay should know this.

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    1. She was 42. She had NEVER lived on her own or been financially independent. That is not the same thing as a college student who needs to be near campus or a person who fell on hard times and needed to readjust their living situation. A 42 year old, able-bodied, able-minded, fully-functioning human who has lived with and off of their parents for their entire existence with absolutely no independence or contribution is pathetic.

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    2. She was working for her parents and hadn't been paid for two years. how do you expect anyone to put down a deposit or pay rent with zero income? If anyone was living off anyone, her parents were living off her free labour.

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  7. "Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way."

    Individuals with toxic, negative attitudes like Adele should not be in the hospitality industry, especially when they work the front of the house in direct contact with customers.

    Among the many examples of her poor attitude and leadership skills, I just can't believe how negatively Adele spoke of the restaurant to a customer, right after the customer enthusiastically said she liked the changes. Customers don't come to restaurants to listen to owners, managers, or servers vent or complain. People that are like Adele truly deserve to fail in the restaurant industry so that room is made for other more talented and caring individuals to rise and take their place. Good riddance.

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  8. On the revisit episode, the chairs in the dining room were wood instead of the chrome and blue chairs Chef Ramsey installed. I liked it better, the room felt warmer and less like a diner. That was my first thought on the reveal, that he'd given them back a diner because that's what they'd been successful running. Normally I love the reveal changes, but a classy tropical theme would have been nice to see. The family probably arranged a chair exchange with the neighboring restaurant supply house. I would have, too. Guess I have to agree with Adele on that one. What a bitch otherwise. I also wish Ramsey hadn't picked on the daughter over her moving back in with her folks, a very common thing to during the recession.

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  9. Sorry to say but i watched this Episode yesterday and i got a feeling that Adele and her daughter just worked on to get her Husband six feet under. If she had done and not changed back all problem would have been gone. In Germany we have something like Nightmare kitchens too and the owner follow the instructions and get new idea to get forward and it works. The cooks comming to help restaurants stay in contact with the owners over years to help them after the show and i think Gordon does this too. So the golden rule is: If u ask for help then let you help and not put a knife in the helpers back. She just had to adjust herself into the concept. However she can't and thats why i do not wonder that they have closed. Her fault !

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    1. Really interesting comparison of cultures. Too independent minded over hear maybe, and everyone thinking themselves experts is a big problem. "Your opinion is as valid as mine" was a huge argument over here in the U.S. during the last election. "This should be easy" is the downfall of many a small business owner and banks throw money at any restaurant idea because it bolsters the other businesses in the area, no matter how bad the food, at least for awhile.

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  10. Hilarious. i'm watching the episode now. I'm not surprised how many restaurants close after Gordon visits them and does everything he can to help them. Old habits die hard. People are so blind to their own problems.

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  11. Change could be hard sometimes. It´s easy to understand that somebody else has to change, but to accept the necessity to change myself ... could be the hard process which needs some time. And somebody can need more time, in comparison with agile Gordon. Adele did not have the entrepreneur´s experience as Gordon, that all. Yes, she was basically the opposite of her husband - she could be excellent financial auditor, but customers & customer service - these areas was not her strenghts. If Adele had stayed at home with her Florida decorations long time ago ...

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  12. Absolutely unbelievable . No wonder they closed . Adele was awful never should she have been in a restaurant trying to run it because she was horrible . She needs to retire for sure .

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  13. They could've given the woman a block of gold and she would've made a face and had a complaint about it.

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    1. "It looks like gold, urgh."

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  14. I wonder if she's still living with her parents?

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  15. Some people just shouldn't be in business. This was such a case.

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  16. This was one of those rare case, where the owners were 100% at fault. Normally Ramsay would find dirty kitchens and under qualified staff, but none of that was present in this episode.

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  17. The owner was in denial an unable to embrace or accept change. Unfortunately their closure was inevitable.

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  18. The owner was a fool who didn't want to run a business, they just wanted a hobby to pass the time. Her resistance to all the changes had absolutely no business or even practical basis other than some personal obsession with making the place run like her imagined type of restaurant regardless of how much of an utter failure it was.

    Bloody fool, plain and simple. Not somebody who should be running a business nor somebody who is capable of doing so.

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  19. Just watched this episode. Wow. I don't want to hate anybody but Adele was just NASTY. There's a bit where she says something like "Oh poor Bill, it's always poor Bill, poor Bill", after they've just showed him being overworked with the ridiculous trolley etc in the restaurant that she seems to have forced him to buy after she "got bored after 3 days" of retirement... Wow. No empathy, only self-pity.

    Hateful and mean. I hope she's changed. How the HELL did they both run four previous restaurants together successfully...??

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  20. I had hoped The daughter would hopefully step up and run the restuarant. The head chef was great. Really hope his career is successful

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  21. According to a post on Facebook, the daughter moved out in 2016 lol

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  22. Poor Bill, no seriously, i felt bad for the fella. There were a million and one things she could've done if she was bored with retirement, but noooo "let's open a restaurant"

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  23. As unreasonable as I found Adele most of the time, I have to agree with her about the redesign. It was fine styling on its own, but it didn't fit the building at all! It was great to get rid of the corny clutter, but the shiny vinyl diner decor didn't match the stone walls, it looked so off-putting.

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