Has anyone eaten at Hell's Kitchen?
 

By way of background, Hell's Kitchen is a Fox TV reality show broadcast in the US. It features chef Gordon Ramsay--a famous English chef. The program starts with 10 or so aspiring chefs, one of whom is eliminated each week.

Now, the restaurant, Hell's Kitchen, is featured each week on the show. I think it's a mock up in the Fox studio. Some friends told me that Fox gives out tickets for the restaurant, but I think it might all be entertainment insiders. Has anyone actually eaten in that restaurant? It looks like you won't get much food, but I wonder if the experience is fun.

A few years back, we at at the original Gordon Ramsey in London.

We stood outside the restaurant in Jan after supposid opening time while GR dressed down the waite staff.

The menu set up sucked. could not choose food items, only 3,4, or 5 courses.

food was nothing special when compared to a michelin 2* in france, or one of the better restaurants in NYC, or DC.

Prices for food were half again Paris or NYC prices.

wine prices were double NYC and triple Paris prices.

Has been checked off list.....been there, done that.

*gasp* It IS real. I thought it was a mockup in a studio, too.

The link to chowhound describes a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan, which I do not think has anything to do with Gordon Ramsay. At any rate, the TV show is filmed in LA...I am under the impression it is not a real restaurant and that all of the diners are well aware they may not even receive any food.

With the huge amount of TV work GR does I find it difficult to believe he actually ever cooks a meal for a customer anymore

The UK version was filmed in an old warehouse on Brick Lane that was turned into a restaurant for the programme.

And the main Gordon Ramsey restaurant in Chelsea is still in pretty much every list of the top 3 restaurants in Europe. Last time I looked he ran 3 of Zagat's top 10 in London.

I am fairly certain that the LA hells kitchen is actually a restaurant (maybe an old renovated warehouse) that has a lot of video cameras and other tv equipment. I am also pretty sure that they had it custom designed for FOX with the split kitchens, dorms, etc...

As for the diners, I am not sure if they know how far along into the season the show is when they show up, but logically it would seem that the further along into the season, the higher the probability of getting good food and possibly a whole meal. I follow this show and at the start of the season when the crappy chefs have not been weeded out, it seems that they can barely get appetizers out, let alone anything else. At least halfway through the season is when your chances of being fed increase dramatically. :)

One thing I do not know is you get to go to or get invited to each filming/dining service, I would love to go if anybody knew how!

The chowhound link is for restaurants in Hell's Kitchen, aka approximately the west side of midtown Manhattan. The linker must have been confused.

The one in LA is a mock up. I lived a few blocks from that studio and drove past the place every day. It had the HK decor for a while, when things returned to normal.

Try Matamori's in Philly. Iron Chefs TV fame.
Sit at the Sushi bar and order the approx $100 pre fix.
Worth the cab fare for sure.

It's actually Morimoto's and there's one in NY now too.

Well.....it could just as easily been Matahari ;)

You ContinentalFans sure have a funny sense of humo(u)r, Gordon Ramsey is Scottish, not English. For anyone who thinks they are the same, take a trip to Toronto and call everyone 'American', or NZ and call them 'Ozzies'.

Regards from Scotland -northern part of the UK, but definately not part of England.

But you weren't in NYC or Paris - you were in London. The only prices which are comparable are other London restaurants. If you want to eat at NYC and Paris prices, shouldn't you have gone to NYC or Paris? :confused:

I was actually trying to pay the English the ultimate compliment! ;)

Morimoto NYC is my biggest disappointment of this year, even though Morimoto was there at the sushi bar preparing food. It was not busy that week night, but service is slow. 3 clueless hostesses at the door, could not figure out where to sit people (half empty place). Send all customers down to the bar, where there was also no service. By the time we ordered the drinks 30 minutes later, our table was ready. Later I realized this happened to lots of people who dined there.
The tasting menu was not focused, though tasty, nothing to write home about. The signature dish toro "paint palette" was spread too thin for us to actually taste the toro. The sushi was not even as good as Poke. And the steak dish was a little tough. About $200 pp includin drinks. Compared to other high end restaurants like Gramercy Tavern or Per Se, Morimoto is not up to par.

I heard that Morimoto in Philly is much better. I just think the one in NYC is too hyped up for its own good. Reminds me of Rocco.

Has anyone eaten at Hell's Kitchen?
 

You've been to my house?

What about the winner's restaurant at Red Rock Casino? Has anyone been there? Is it even open?

So it sounds like there are two questions:

a) has anyone ever eaten at "Hell's Kitchen" the Fox reality show restaurant during a meal service
b) has anyone eaten at the new restaurant at the Red Rocks casino.

I would pass on both.

Ah, so he has a nasty attitude in person, too? Lovely. I see no reason to do business with people like this.

Hell's Kitchen in Clinton/Hell's Kitchen
 

I had dinner at Hell's Kitchen this past Wednesday in NYC and would return again. While I am rather biased, living in California, I had my doubts that the food would live up to my expectations on what Mexican food should taste like, I am also hispanic, so it would have been a tough sell. I would not categorize the food as authentic Mexican food, but rather upscale, yuppy Mexican food that caters to the hip West Side Hell's Kitchen crowd. While some dishes were typical, such as the guacamole, the chips were not the typical fried chips, making the dish quite delicious. Other menu items included more traditional fare teamed up with non Mexican menu items. Overall, I would return to this restaurant, but be warned, we walked by without reservations at about 5:30 pm and the place was already packed, we could only be seated in the small bar. We were drawn to the place because it was full of people and not having prior reservations at any restaurant in the area, we figued that the food must be good to draw such a crowd.