Lido di Manhattan - Kitchen Nightmares Update - Open or Closed?

Kitchen Nightmares Lido di Manhattan

In this Kitchen Nightmares episode, Gordon Ramsay visits Lido di Manhattan in Manhattan Beach, California.

Lido di Manhattan is owned by Lisa Hemmat.

Lisa is a 28 year-old USC Business School graduate who bought the restaurant at 23 years old.

Lisa didn’t have any experience and she inherited the staff and customer base from the previous owners.

Damien was a server and was promoted to bar manager and he is also Lisa’s romantic partner.

The staff think she doesn't know what she is doing and it is only their experience that has stopped the restaurant failing.

Initially there was a buzz about the restaurant but the restaurant is mostly empty each night and they may not be open for long.

Gordon arrives and observes the parking lot is full of potential customers, so wonders why the restaurant is struggling.

Gordon meets Lisa and is shocked to she’s is so young; he assumes she was gifted the restaurant but she got a loan cosigned by her father and is her own boss.

Lisa tells him that she has not changed anything since she bought the place five years ago, not even the decor or the menu.

Lisa also admits that she’s vegetarian and doesn’t eat most of the food that is on the menu.

Luis and Arturo Martinez are the Chef and Sous Chef and have been working at the restaurant for 18 years.

Gordon sits down to look at the menu, Priscilla serves him and he orders the baked eggplant roll, ahi tuna tower and chicken tortellini salad.

Damien introduces himself to Gordon as he is sat at the table and reveals he is dating Lisa after calling her ‘lovely’.

The eggplant roll arrives, and Gordon spits out his first taste; the eggplant is microwaved but is crunchy and raw.

The tuna tower arrives next and he finds it gross and can tell its frozen tuna, even though Priscilla claims it is fresh.

Gordon playfully offers the camera crew a taste but they reject it.

The tortellini pasta salad arrives, and he is told it is not homemade.

It tastes rubbery and he asks Lisa to taste the vegetarian portion and she thinks it tastes fine.

Gordon confronts the staff in the kitchen and tells them the food is horrible.

The chef brothers say they don’t have the power to make key decisions or change anything.

Gordon arrives for an evening dinner service and the servers struggle at the front of house.

The computers they use are severely outdated and aren’t up to the job.

They are 30 years old and there are missed tickets due to the old equipment so orders are missed.

Customers still get their food but they aren’t happy with it and send it back with complaints.

Gordon inspects the walk-in and freezer and finds out the tuna served that night was made 4 days ago.

He calls Lisa and shows her the fridge crammed with lots of frozen food she is unaware of.

Gordon finds mounds of dust above the food serving and cooking areas in the kitchen.

He is appalled and tells her that she needs to shut down the kitchen and stop sending food out.

Lisa refuses saying it's unlikely the food got contaminated by the dust.

Gordon angrily calls customers into the kitchen to see the dirt and asked if they would still like to eat from the kitchen and they all say no.

Lisa gets upset at the embarrassment and Gordon reiterates, the restaurant is in a very bad state.

She cries in the toilet for an hour while Gordon organizes the clean up of the kitchen.

Lisa is still not seen once cleaning is done and food service begins again.

A lot of customers are not served and they leave the restaurant in frustration.

Gordon meets with Lisa after the dinner service is over and she comes out of the bathroom. ‘

She says she didn’t expect him to be so hard on her and she didn’t know what to do but she knows something is missing with her business.

Gordon gives her an assignment of five major things to change in the restaurant.

The next day he has a staff meeting and Lisa has her five things to work on in the restaurant.

Gordon is happy with her points but says the hard part is following through with them.

Next, Gordon brings in the outdated POS system and has all the staff take a baseball bat to it.

Gordon then trains Lisa and the Martinez brothers on a tuna dish using all fresh ingredients.

Just before dinner service starts, Lisa is put on the line in the kitchen and is in charge of the specials.

Lisa is confused on what to do and is fussy with everything.

Lisa and Gordon see food going into the microwave and immediately ask why it wasn’t cooked on a stove.

Customers love the specials but hate the regular menu saying it wasn't worth the money they paid and send the food back.

Arturo and Luis try to shift blame for the food sent back rather than try to correct the dish and Lisa puts a stop to the bickering.

With experience in the kitchen Lisa becomes more vocal and more confident directing the kitchen.

Gordon says she did well in the kitchen but he warns her about her chefs being lazy and they may bring her down.

Gordon’s design team worked on the restaurant overnight, the place has been opened up by removing the dividing wall.

New seating has also been added along with new china, curtains and lighting.

He tells them they will be branding themselves as a wine bar and this will lead to a new type of clientele.

There is also a new Halo POS system and the staff taste the new menu designed by Gordon and love it all.

On relaunch night, Lisa is in front of house and the staff are loving the new POS system.

But soon tickets are piled up and customers wait up to 30 minutes for their food.

The kitchen is not communicating properly and Gordon tries to get them to pull it together.

It takes an hour for food to start leaving the kitchen and the food is sent back for various reasons.

Ninety minutes in and some customers start leaving the restaurant because they still haven’t got their food.

Lisa finds kitchen staff standing around and tries to get them to get their act together but Arturo and Luis stage a walkout.

Gordon calls in a friend Scott to come help since there is no one in the kitchen to cook the menu.

Gordon also pleads with Luis and Arturo and they come back.

The cooks with the help of Scott, get on top of the orders and take charge of the kitchen and turn the service around.

Gordon had a sit down with Lisa after the relaunch and tells her she has grown and shown her commitment to the restaurant, but her kitchen staff haven’t.

After everything, the relaunch is a success. She is ready to make essential changes and is excited about the future.

What Happened Next at Lido di Manhattan?

They focus on the wine bar and Chef Scott worked on training the chefs.

Gordon revisits a year later, business has increased by 20% and Lisa has fired her boyfriend Damien, the bar manager.

There are new dishes inspired by Gordon including a Mushroom Flatbread.

They cook a dish together.

Gordon is impressed and tells her to keep up the good work.

Lisa has also expanded into Lido brand wine, catering and private dining.

The restaurant hosts a number of events including wine tastings.

Lido di Manhattan is open and continues to be very successful.

Yelp reviews are good with positive comments on the food and complaints seem to focus on service.

Planning a visit to the restaurant? Check out their website for opening hours and more information.

In 2017, Lisa Hemmat and partner Levi Lupercio opened Playa Hermosa Fish and Oyster restaurant and reviews are excellent.

Lido di Manhattan aired on March 04 2010, the episode was filmed in July 2009 and is Kitchen Nightmares season 3 episode 5.

Read About More Kitchen Nightmares

Previous episode - Mojito

Next episode - Le Bistro

This post was last updated in March 2023.

46 comments:

  1. Nice to hear this place is genuinely making it. Oh, and Lisa's a babe. [blushes]

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  2. Please. Lisa was a whiny princess just like he said. Glad she at least decided to represent her gender with some strength.

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    1. Did you see the localization of her restaurant ? It's like the perfect spot for a restaurant to be, and if it's one of the only wine bar in town, even managed quite poorly, you can't really make this place go bankrupt. It had to be specially bad if it was going down when Gordon Ramsey arrived.

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    2. Actually every restaurant regardless how perfect the location can be crashed very easily....
      Only people never actually worked in the industry think there is some kind of works on its own restaurant.

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  3. I'm impressed how the boyfriend stepped up and started cleaning while she sobbed in the bathroom for an hour. Precious lamb can't get her hands dirty?Get it cleaned instead of arguing with him and crying about it.

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  4. Chef Scott who? I'm looking for him on the interwebs.

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  5. Scott Liebfried, Gordon's sous chef. He's a regular fixture on Hell's Kitchen.

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  6. He won on masterchef in United Kingdom. And I believe now works in El Celler de Can Roca (best restaurant in the world).

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  7. I skipped this episode because Lisa seemed like an annoying little princess.

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    1. You skipped one of the only restaurants Ramsay has worked on that has become a huge success.

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    2. May be he missed thats why its still running.

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  8. So glad you are still open. Just watched a rerun of your episode and I was rooting for you from the beginning. Love your motivation and energy!

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  9. I've got something for Lisa......

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  10. While she was a bit of a "princess" she seems to have her act together now. Good for her

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  11. I dated Lisa during college for 8 months and she's really a sweet girl. She was never an overly emotional person. I'm sure the stress from everything with the show and the state of the restaurant at the time created it. Glad to see it's still open and she's doing well.

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    1. Glad to see that confirmed. Her wait staff said something similar about her not being emotional during that part. I think it was almost certainly the stress of everything that was going on.

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    1. That business must be idiot-proof if even she can run it.

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  13. Glad to see that it is still open!!

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  14. I liked Lisa a lot, but the waitress Bruna was my favorite lady in this episode!

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    1. i agree she was cute funny and love her accent

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  15. Sometimes you need a good cry. It doesn't make someone is a princess. Lisa is obviously smart and ambitious. She is one of the few people on this show that has succeeded. She took Ramsay's suggestions, plus she really learned the inner workings of the restaurant business and all of it paid off. I think she is inspirational. I prefer the British version of the show, but this ranks as one of my favorite episodes of either the US or British versions. Lisa was willing to learn instead of fighting with Ramsay which was refreshing compared to many of the others who ultimately have failing businesses.

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  16. She may have started a princess, but Lisa was one of the only owners up to that point in the show that seemed to show a genuine interest in what was going on and also took an active role in the cooking process. She really changed and it was all for the better. Interesting how when an owner does that, the place thrives and remains open to this day.

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  17. I think she's living prove that when you listen to Ramsay you can turn thing around.

    Good for her, she was smart enough to pay attention and learned from Ramsay

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  18. Wow. - I'd just wanna point out that she may be a "princess", but she still listened 100000% times better than 90% of the blockheaded and ignorant owners that are on this show that "go back to the old way - that didn't work" as soon as Ramsay's gone.

    So maybe you should think twice next time to put down a "princess" - there's massive strength IN weakness, if it's accepted and embraced it makes us VERY receptive to advice once its cracked.

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    1. People are only calling her a princess because she is a young attractive female. Many of the older owners have behaved far worse. He had to do what he did to shock her into action. Other owners were in a far worse place place financially and emotionally when he got there.

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    2. She's a princess because she comes from wealth and she can't handle criticism.

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    3. She can't handle criticism? Wow, she actually listened Gordon and keep his words after he went off. Sure, she had a breakedown like anybody would have under that pressure, but she dry her tear and take "the bull by his horns". She DID take criticism, that's why the restaurant is still open.

      Let's be honest, people are roasting over her because he had wealth, so she didn't have to work for years to save money or take a mortgage to get the restaurant. Usually girls who come form wealthy families are spoiled and big crybabies, but she isn't and people HATE IT because now how can they hate her when she just proved she's mature? Oh, she cried a little? "WHAT A BIG CRYBABY DADDY'S LITTLE PRINCESS!" C'mon!

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  19. I love how, through her success and inspirational speeches to the chefs, she proved femininity is not at odds or opposite to taking charge. Too many people out there think you have to change your personality in order to be a leader, act more like a man, act older, act more white. Prejudice at the examples we've been given. On the other hand, she has a really loyal staff there, been there since before she was there. They know that place is about more than just her and that boss. Bosses come and go sometimes.

    Love how Ramsey tapped into her student persona, since she's really good at that and has pride in that. It's an open-minded, growth-centric mentality that works. The place relying on the wine to make money probably didn't hurt. She knows how to sell and brand a product, just not a restaurant and only has cooks, no chefs. Keep it simple in the back and let her do her thing on the brand.

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    1. Definitely agree. And good for her, taking on this business at her young age and succeeding. More power to her.

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  20. I am very surprised. A young vegetarian whos never looked in her own kitchens fridge or run a restaurant before wow. Kudos to her.

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  21. Looking at the revisited episode is it only my impression as it seems Lisa gazes at Ramsay in a way where it seems she has a big crush on him and trying to send him signals that she is available if he wants to date her?

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  22. Scott was such a superhero there, I only missed the Marvel intro before he came in

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  23. Scott really looked like a superhero there, I only missed the marvel intro and a cape.

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  24. After watching the episode,its obvious
    SHE HAS NO BUSINESS RUNNING A RESTAURANT !
    The fact they are still open,only shows,as previously stated
    The place can be run by a MONKEY.
    IF a person has no training as a chef or restaurant manager,
    They have no business running (or trying to run ) a restaurant! !!!!

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    1. The owner of any restaurant, literally, has a business: running a restaurant.

      Even if a monkey could be trained to set food/drink prices such that the revenue from sales is greater than the restaurant's expenses, nowhere in the world can monkeys legally own property.

      Princesses on the other hand...

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    2. The fact this is still open in 2018 proves you wrong.

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  25. I started out hating her for that bathroom thing, but after that, she seemed to really listen to Ramsay and understand what was killing her place. Glad she's doing alright!

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  26. Happy to know that they are still open.. Congrats Lisa..

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  27. I'm glad to hear that Lisa's restaurant is still open. Sure she was a mess at first, but it was great to see her actually own up and better herself and her staff. Kind of confused as to why her boyfriend was fired as he seemed to be quite supportive of her, but, I don't know the details so. Either way, glad to hear Lido's is still doing well.

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  28. I say good for her, a woman who made something of herself and is succeeding. I don't see what her looks or food choices have anything to do with the previous.

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  29. Man good for Lido and good for Lisa. I was so sure she'd have let the restaurant slip back into its old state of failure, but she took to Gordon's advice like a champ. Seeing her act like a spoiled little girl, I was so certain she was going to slip back into that after Gordon left, like so many others on this show do. If only they could all prove us wrong the way she did.

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