Spin A Yarn Steakhouse - Kitchen Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

Spin A Yarn Steakhouse Kitchen Nightmares

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits Spin a Yarn restaurant in Freemont, California.

Spin a Yarn Steakhouse is owned by Greek immigrant Saki who bought the restaurant in 1995.

Jennifer applied to be a waitress, they got into a relationship and 2 years later she became his wife.

When business dropped, Jennifer suggested a remodelling that cost Saki $950,000, over 300% of the initial budget of $300,000.

She spent more than $600,000 extra as she didn't check the price of anything she was buying and chose things she liked.

After the remodel, the restaurant continued going downhill again and the couple now constantly fight.

Gordon meets Jennifer in her home and sees a picture of the couple on their wedding day.

Jennifer tells him how they met and how strained their relationship is now.

She admits she made a mistake during the remodelling, picking items without checking prices.

Jen also reveals that the million dollar changes she made are on a leased property and they don’t have the security of owning the building.

Gordon arrives at the restaurant and is confused by the sign advertising the restaurant.

Inside, he is greeted by hosted Erica and the formally dressed waiters wearing bowties and tuxedos.

Gordon makes the waiters simulate carrying a coffin as he thinks they look like funeral directors.

Gordon then meets Saki who takes him round the restaurant to see the renovations.

The bathroom has $50 tiles on the walls, there’s a new fireplace and the bar top is marble. He reveals the bathroom cost $80,000 to renovate.

Saki tells Gordon he initially had a budget of $300,000 to remodel the entire restaurant and they went way over it.

When asked about the theme of the restaurant Saki says they serve seafood, pasta, continental cuisine and are a steakhouse.

Gordon goes back to his table to order and is served by Mary, who tells him that she believes the food is outdated.

The restaurant has always had Greek owners so they have influenced the menu with a Greek theme.

He orders a Greek sampler, a crab louie and a fillet mignon.

The Greek sampler arrives first and he finds it ghastly. He thinks it tastes like most of the ingredients are canned.

The crab louie comes next and it doesn’t smell fresh. It is revealed that the crab meat is also canned.

The last dish is the fillet mignon and it is chewy, rubbery and tastes like cough medicine.

After the meal he meets Mikayla, the owners daughter and goes to the kitchen to give feedback to the staff.

Victor is the head chef and he has 8 years’ experience.

He questions why the food was so poor and he says he is following the recipes that were given to him.

Saki says he isn’t holding the chef back but Victor thinks differently.

Gordon returns to observe the dinner service and meets with Mikayla just before the doors open.

She is 14 but is clued up about the workings of the restaurant but also her parents’ problems.

Gordon goes into the kitchen and finds out they are seriously understaffed.

There is no expediter or sous chef and Victor is washing dishes.

The entrees go out but come back just as quick with complaints and plenty of food is thrown away.

Saki just stands in a corner doing nothing whilst the cooks struggle and the head chef is washing dishes.

Gordon can smell something odd and he traces it to the walk-in, where he finds raw meat next to cooked meat.

There are mouldy strawberries and produce, unlabelled and rotten chicken and raw meat in congealed blood.

He shows the owners and the chef what he found.

It is too much for Jennifer who goes to the bathroom to throw up at the stench of the food.

He calls the owners outside and they are both embarrassed at what he has found in there.

Gordon says he would not have allowed them open for dinner service if he had seen the freezer.

He tells Jennifer to get involved as it is half her fault. Both owners go in and join forces to clean the freezer along with the staff.

The next day, Gordon sits with the owners to tackle their lack of communication and try and rescue their marriage.

Jennifer says she has no authority and Saki promises to give her his support to run more of the business.

Gordon that night, has carved out roles for the owners for the dinner service.

Saki is expediting and Jennifer is going to be helping to serve the prime rib at the table by carving it in front of the customers.

She is uncomfortable with it and when she practices, she is queasy and complains throughout.

Once dinner service starts, the prime rib is popular with everyone wanting to try it and she fumbles not knowing what to do.

She is struggling at every table and is constantly reminded to smile by Gordon.

After Gordon gives her a pep talk and tells her she can do it, she vastly improves.

The next day, Gordon reveals that he is to give them a single cuisine to focus on and transforms the restaurant into Spin A Yarn Steakhouse.

The menu is slimmed down and Gordon believes it will be an improvement on their bit of everything menu.

They sample the new menu, love every dish and enjoy the flavours.

On relaunch night Gordon announces that the San Jose Sharks will be eating in the restaurant that evening.

The restaurant is quickly packed at relaunch and the prime rib is popular.

Saki is motivating Victor to do better and the dishes are a hit with the diners.

Jennifer slices huge slices of the prime rib for anyone who orders and it runs low just before the VIP guests arrive.

Jennifer greets them and makes a joke about not ordering the prime rib and they all end up ordering prime rib.

In the kitchen, they panic as they don’t think they have enough but Victor reveals that he ordered extra to make sure they didn’t run out.

Victor and Jennifer together serve the rib to all of the hockey players.

After their meal, the Sharks come to pay complements to Saki, gift him a jersey and they all take a picture together.

Once the night ends, Gordon is complementary of the whole family and how the couple pulled together and made it work.



What Happened Next at Spin A Yarn Steakhouse?

The prime rib remains popular, is drawing in customers and they are working together a lot better.

Some of the regulars didn't like Gordon's menu changes so they returned some customer favourites.

Spin A Yarn Steakhouse is open and in May 2012, a new head chef was appointed.

Yelp reviews are mixed but mostly positive especially in 2019.

Trip Advisor reviews are mostly positive.

Planning on visiting the restaurant? See the website for opening hours and more info.

Spin A Yarn Steakhouse was aired on February 10 2012, the episode was filmed in October 2011 and is Kitchen Nightmares season 5 episode 11.


Read About More Kitchen Nightmares

Previous episode - Park's Edge

Next episode - Charlie's


This post was last updated in March 2023.

33 comments:

  1. This ep made me cringe. That poor fool probably wasn't smart enough to get a pre-nup!

    This blog is such a GREAT idea! Love the links that follow each post as well!

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    1. Totally agree with this...100%
      In some ways I felt bad for the guy because he was oblivious to it. Sad case in a state were women divorcees receives an uneven share. Worse thing is, is that her daughter acts like her already and she's only 14. Reminds me of the movie "Casino".

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    2. Actually, the maturity level of the daughter was incredible! Far more than her mother and considering the amount of responsibility she is stuck with, not to mention that she winds up playing referee, I have to say that I am impressed with the young lady. I can only hope that when my 15 year old son finds himself his better half, she will have the same qualities. Even my son said that she is not the norm for teen girls today. Maybe we could take a holiday to Cali, visit the restaurant and.......:-)

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    3. Totally agree. Watching this woman with her drama angered me. She acted like it was HER restaurant. The daughter stating the restaurant was just as much hers as his, was awful!

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  2. The daughter was more mature than either one of the parents. : ?

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  3. Sorry but when a man is only interested in younger women for their looks and naivete he kinda gets what he deserves, just sayin'.

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    1. Exactly. They both got what they wanted, then decided they deserved more.

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    2. Uhm, I agree he got the kind of woman he deserved. All these "gold digger" comments don't consider that she is definitely a trophy for him. That's what happens when you put appearances before strength and character, which a lot of men do and then whine about how some "attractive woman" they feel entitled to ended up exacting payment from them.

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    3. Right because women never, ever put looks before personality when picking a guy to date/marry. LOL

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  4. This is one episode I could not watch all the way through. It made me cringe too much when the wife opened her mouth and said "I'm not a gold digger or a trophy wife". I'm sorry but when someone starts talking like that it is hard for me to believe them.

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  5. I can't believe the things people are saying about the daughter. Spoiled? No. A spoiled child wouldn't be so enthusiastically contributing to the family business. I thought she was incredibly mature and professional for her age. If they continue to do well I could easily see her taking over one day.

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  6. the woman was an embarassment, i couldnt tell if she was a complete idiot or conniving.

    i wish i could find a man who loved me as much as he loved her.

    edit: just watched the my restaurant/your restaurant quoted part. the girl is a brat. she has a point, but she is bratty and shows no respect for her stepfather and is incredibly rude and immature. its disgusting the way she talks to him. not out of love, but distain.

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    1. the daughter is very mature for her age. She is the only adult at the place. She sees the others (not incorrectly) as fools so she doesn't have much respect for them. Respect has to be earned and they didn't earn it.

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    2. Headrot is totally right

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    3. She was more mature than any of the adults there.

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  7. The mother and daughter are both totally happening. That being said, as soon as Saki gets solvent again, they'll take him to the cleaners. That's what happens when one tries to live out an old man's fantasy.

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  8. The couple did divorce, but don't know exactly when. According to Saki's facebook page, he's currently single. she is now Jennifer Miller and that is Mikayla's name as well

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  9. No doubt he lied to her about how rich and successful he was. Then allowed her to order all that expensive bourgeois crap for his restaurant. I guess he underestimated her "taste." Now she gets all the blame for his financial failures. She's a pitiful woman, really. I wouldn't classify her a "gold digger" but she definitely a princess-type who expects a man to provide for everything. Lots of men are dying to do that for somebody younger and prettier than them and this guy is an example for sure. He was a fool. Lazy and gluttonous and kind of shady too. Notice he had to think for awhile about where to say what part of Greece he's from? WTF is he hiding from, lol!

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  10. At no point did I see the daughter or mother working at all during this entire episode.... The daughter definitely was not respectful, the mother would dodge out of the kitchen. I don't buy the act.

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  11. Im pretty sure they got divorced because was always making excuses and was not acting like a man. Just watch the episode. How he ran the restaurant was how he lived his life.

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  12. She did say something about a baby at the very beginning (like 2 minutes into the episode).

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    1. Yes, and there was a pictures of the baby girl, one with Jen, hanging in the office Gordan talked to Makayla in. I just watched the episode on Hulu.

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  13. As a mother to a 17yr old boy, a 16yr old girl and 2 15yr old step-daughters (who live with us) the comment Makayla made wasn't shocking coming from a teenage girl. Furthermore, I wish my children were so willing to work instead of being focused on socializing.

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  14. what Makayla said was wrong, she got kicked out of the kitchen and made that remark to a man who feeds, pays her check for her and her mom. She knew her stepfather wasn't going to respond to that or else the mother would've got involved. She is not referi she is adding more to the pot. She is a teenager and hasn't been taught not to talk to her stepfather that way not really her fault but her moms. I don't feel bad for Saki, he married her she is allow to spend his money so is his fault he let her take advantage of him, I'm sure he got what he wanted from her too.

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  15. I cannot believe what I just saw. His wife just hid behind a curtain!!??! A ruddy curtain, just as Saki came through the door from the kitchen! OMG, you have got to be kidding!

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  16. I think it is neat that they are still in business.

    I have been binge watching Kitchen Nightmare on Hulu. I check to see if they are open or closed.

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  17. "I can't believe white Oprah is sitting in my living room."

    What? She has to be a gold-digger because she is too dumb to do anything else. She became attracted to him only after expensive trips and gifts were handed to her. She didn't see a person she wasn't attracted to. She saw dollar signs.

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    1. So what? He married her for her looks and to show her off. Who's worse?

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    2. Love is about finding someone you're most attracted to for whatever reason and then committing to them, she comes across worse.

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  18. labor laws wouldn't let me work in a kitchen under the age of 16 how a 14 year old work there,it's not safe for a child,what awful parents

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    1. is different when is a family business then children are allowed to work, look it up

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  19. I loved when she said, "I'm not a gold digger or a trophy wife", then right after it talked about how she wasn't interested in him because of his looks and age, then talked about going to Hawaii and all the money he spent on her, and now she loves him.

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