Campania Kitchen Nightmares Update – Still Open in 2022?
>><<(keep reading to learn what happened)1 | View All Season 1 Episodes November 28, 200717-15 Broadway Fair Lawn, New Jersey 07410
Episode Recap
Campania was a Fair Lawn, New Jersey restaurant featured on season 1 of Kitchen Nightmares.
Though the Campania Kitchen Nightmares episode aired in November 2007, the actual visit from Gordon Ramsay happened in early 2007.
It was Season 1 Episode 9 of Kitchen Nightmares.
On this episode of Kitchen Nightmares, Chef Gordon Ramsay visits Campania Restaurant in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.
The restaurant was bought by Joseph (Joe) Cerniglia about 18 months before the Campania Kitchen Nightmares visit happened.
Despite only being open for a year and a half, it is already ready to shut down, which is why Joe needs help from Gordon Ramsay and his crew.
The staff is not interested in taking business seriously and the condition of the kitchen is quite shabby.
The fridge has broken doors while the broken oven is used to store cloths.
When Gordon Ramsay arrives, the staff is goofing around in the kitchen and not taking their work seriously.
Gordon meets Joe and places his order, but what he receives is bland and tasteless soup, ravioli covered with garlic filled sauce, and a badly presented dish of chicken.
He confronts the Head Chef Gene and Joe and contemplates his decision of appearing on the show.
Next, Gordon inspects the fridges and realizes that it is stocked full of food.
He understands where money is being wasted because of all the food that’s going to waste.
He identifies Joe’s poor management skills and realizes that the restaurant is also overstaffed.
As the first step, he asks Joe to send some staff home to reduce costs.
He then notices that the portion sizes being served are so huge that most of the guests have leftovers for the next day.
This is another avenue where money is being wasted, and another reason that explains why Campania is losing money as a business.
When Gordon mentions the same to Joe Cerniglia, he begins to get defensive.
Gordon also sets out to meet Joe’s wife to evaluate the situation in detail.
She informs him that failure of the restaurant would lead them to losing their house.
Gordon Ramsay further gets determined to turn the restaurant around and decides to introduce a signature dish for the restaurant that will make them stand out.
This signature dish is identified to be meatballs.
They start promoting New Jersey’s Best Meatballs’ around the city handing out flyers and samples.
This is when Joe confides in Gordon telling him about his debt worth $200,000.
That’s a lot of debt for the restaurant to have and it’s a huge hole that Joe needs to climb out of if the Kitchen Nightmares Campania episode is going to be a success.
The restaurant is revamped with appropriate equipment and staff instructions.
The night of the re-launch, the restaurant is packed.
Thankfully, the food still leaves the kitchen at a good pace.
There are a few customers complaining of their food not being cooked properly or having an inappropriate taste, which puts the pressure on Joe.
One customer calls the steak “tough”, however, Gordon disagreed and told her to stop “talking out of her rear”.
After handling the situation with ease, Gordon gives Joe a pep talk about being strong.
He also tells him not to stress about customer complaints and to just focus on delivering the best food possible.
Joe with his new attitude returns to the kitchen to successfully finish the service.
He inspires the staff, the chefs, the waiters and servers to complete the dinner service with a more serious attitude.
His inspiration and ability to manage pulls the team back together.
The final parting task shows how the staff smashes the old, large plates that were used earlier for serving huge portion sizes.
So was the Campania Kitchen Nightmares episode a success? Keep reading our update to learn what happened next and if it’s open or closed in 2022 and beyond.