In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits Renate's German Restaurant in Hanover Park, Illinois.
Renate's German Restaurant is owned by Renate and Mike Smith.
Hanover Park is located 30 miles northwest of Chicago.
The restaurant is located near a large German-American community but is struggling to draw in the locals.
Renate is the Executive Chef at the restaurant and it has been open for 11 years.
She previously worked in administration but wanted something more challenging.
It was then that she decided to open a restaurant.
Renate describes the experience as a full German experience.
Mike is the co-owner and also front of house.
Mike and Renate have been together for over 20 years.
Mike says that when the bell goes off from the kitchen, his first response is anger.
He feels like a dog being summoned and the pair bicker in the kitchen.
Cook Irving has worked at the restaurant for 7 years.
He was trained to cook the food by Renate and describes her as family.
Irving thinks there is a lack of communication and that Renate is short tempered.
Renate says that she is the boss and Mike says she has a temper.
Server Dori describes Renate as scary and says that they just don’t complain.
She says there are many complaints about the frozen and reheated food.
The restaurant is in financial trouble and is close to closing.
Gordon drives to the restaurant and admires the town.
He arrives at the restaurant and is greeted by Dori and Mike.
Gordon also introduces himself to Renate and asks about the flags in the dining room.
He looks at the menu, which is gigantic.
Gordon orders soup of the day, the liver dumplings, which has been the soup of the day for years.
He calls it soup of the decade and amends the menu board to Soup of the Decade.
Gordon also orders the schnitzel, rouladen and haxn.
He finds a small fly on his silverware and comments that the food doesn’t look good.
Dori tells him that there is 2 or 3 tables a day at the restaurant during the week.
Gordons soup arrives and he asks when it was made and is told yesterday.
He thinks it smells off and asks if it was freshly made yesterday or out of the freezer.
Gordon spits the soup out and calls it gross.
He says that it smells weird but tastes even weirder.
Renate finds a dish with cold noodles on it and questions whether Gordon’s food is ready.
Irving tells her no, that it is not ready and Renate has a short temper and lashes out.
Mike brings out the schnitzel and rouladen and explains the dishes to Gordon.
The pork has been battered, so it is more breadcrumbs than pork.
It is sweaty and soggy so Gordon spits it out.
The roulade looks like giant turds and is very salty.
The haxn is a massive chunk of meat and it is dry, rubbery and tough.
Gordon once again spits out the food and brands it an insult to Germany.
Renate is shocked that he didn’t like any of the food as she says the customers usually praise her food.
Gordon asks all of the staff to come into the dining room so he can give feedback.
He says that he is saddened by the experience and saw no excitement in the food.
Gordon questions when the soup was last changed and Renate says it is the most requested soup.
He questions why the schnitzel was frozen and Renate says that customers expect their food too quick.
The haxn should have been tender and they are when they are first cooked.
But then they are frozen before being put in the microwave.
Irving is petrified to speak up against Renate and she encourages him to speak up.
He has no power to change anything in the kitchen and doesn’t think the way the food is cooked is right.
Gordon says that he saw no authenticity in the food but Renate defends it.
He says that the only thing German in the kitchen is Renate.
Gordon says that he isn’t sure if he can help and asks to speak with Mike.
He asks Mike how stubborn she is and he gives a high number and says she is high conflict.
Gordon can see that the chefs are petrified and asks about the finances.
Mike reveals that he is using his pension to top up the restaurant financially.
Gordon returns to observe an evening service to see how the restaurant performs.
Renate continues to defend her food.
Gordon can see how cluttered the kitchen is and finds lots of mess.
Renate puts a frozen solid burger onto the grill and a haxn in the microwave.
Gordon sits with customers, who are German and think the food tastes bitter.
He tells the customer that the haxn has been microwaved and she stops eating.
Gordon sees the food being microwaved and being sent back.
One of the guests says that the food is not authentic and another has cold food.
Renate puts the whole meal into the microwave.
Irving says that it is hard to speak up as he doesn’t want to hurt his friend.
Another of the sampler platter is returned for being cold.
Gordon describes the kitchen as a mess and dysfunctional.
They have nowhere to plate due to the clutter and the food is terrible due to being cooked poorly.
Gordon finds the walk in and finds a lot of moldy, rotten produce.
Nothing is labeled or dated and there is a pot full of mould that causes Gordon to retch.
Gordon asks the staff to leave the kitchen so he can speak to the owners.
He tells Renate the truth and asks Dori to send the customers home.
Gordon empties the walk in of all the rotting produce and questions Renate why it is in that state.
He says that they have both let go and given up on the business.
Gordon doesn’t think they know what they are doing and if they were inspected, they would have been closed down.
He shows her the moldy pot that he found in the walk in and scoops it out for the owners to smell.
Gordon tells Renate that she is denial about how much help she needs.
He tells her to stop and close the place down, calling it a German joke.
Renate is still in denial about Gordon's comments and thought that he would be impressed.
She is starting to realize that Gordon might be right and Irving gets very upset, thinking he has let Renate down.
One of the servers encourages Renate to go and talk with Gordon and she gets in the car with him.
He says that he doesn’t know if he can help someone so stubborn who doesn’t listen to criticism.
Renate says that the customers just want to give her a hard time.
Gordon says that the staff are petrified about being able to speak to her and again she refutes this.
Renate says that she cares about the staff and will do anything for them.
She asks Gordon for his help and he says that she needs a lot of help with a system.
Renate says that she is prepared to change and Gordon goes back into the restaurant.
She apologizes to the staff for the mess that she has made of the restaurant.
Mike can see that Gordon has opened her eyes and is hopeful for change.
Gordon tells the staff to get rid of all of the clutter in the kitchen, starting with the microwaves that he throws in a garbage can.
Overnight, Gordon's team has given the restaurant a makeover.
The dining room has been given a contemporary German theme.
Ironically, he has cluttered up the place but with cuckoo clocks and german style decor.
The kitchen has been decluttered and deep cleaned.
There are new deep fat fryers, a hot plate and new pans.
He has also given them a new POS system.
The menu has been significantly shortened and there are new and updated dishes.
There will be no more frozen and defrosted meat.
The staff tastes the food and Renate says that it tastes like her dad used to make.
Gordon has asked Mona, one of his managers to come to the restaurant.
She is going to be mentoring the staff to make sure they keep on track.
Gordon goes into the kitchen to train them on the food and how to communicate with each other.
He also coaches Mike on welcoming customers and Gordon also greets some customers.
Gordon tries to keep the kitchen together but they are falling apart and not communicating.
Mike is also confused about where the tables are.
Gordon is concerned about Renate at the start of service.
He encourages them to communicate better.
Customers are missing their side orders of green beans and no one answers.
Renate encourages Irving to communicate but he is not speaking at all.
Irving is struggling as they are not used to functioning as a kitchen.
Gordon gives her a pep talk and Irving starts communicating.
The customers are loving the taste of the new food.
Renate encourages the staff to work together.
She can now see that she was too hard on her staff, which was causing problems in the kitchen.
Irving is thankful for Gordon’s help in improving communication and co-ordination.
Gordon wraps up with the owners and they are thankful for his help.
What Happened Next at Renate's German Restaurant?
Three months later, customers love the new decor and new menu.
Some items have been returned to the menu, including the liver dumpling soup.
Renate's German Restaurant is open.
Reviews are mostly positive.
There is praise for both the food and service.
The few complaints on Google are about their takeaway service and about them serving pizza.
Renate's German Restaurant was aired on 11th August 2026.
The episode was filmed in May 2025 and is Kitchen Nightmares season 10 episode 5.
Next episode - Boodles Restaurant
Previous episode - Borelli's Pizzeria
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