Why The Mixing Bowl Was a “Kitchen Nightmare”

Bellmore, New York’s The Mixing Bowl had ten years under its belt, but that experience couldn’t get customers into the door. Neither could free zucchini pancakes or tons of other failed marketing tricks. Why couldn’t The Mixing Bowl find customers? Why was it a Kitchen Nightmare? Recalling the rules for What Makes a Kitchen Nightmare, let’s see what Ramsay needed to improve with this place.

Let’s start with the menu. I’m not really sure what “New American” is, as manager Mike called the menu, but it definitely fell into the problem category of “too large.” One thing I learned with the superior British version of this show is that if you pack the items on the menu tightly and still need four pages to pull it off, it’s time to trim the offerings. Thankfully, Ramsay showed the Mixing Bowl team the heavy market of neighborhood restaurants and lack of a healthier alternative.

As with any large menu, the food’s quality seemed to be spread out unevenly among the plethora of dishes. While Ramsay’s crab cakes were quite good, the zucchini pancakes were stodgy and the sauce on the salmon was like most sauces in Kitchen Nightmares – thick, disgusting, and pointless. The ingredients didn’t seem to be spoiled, however, so the food problem could be attributed to chef Billy’s dwindling desire.

With the producers opting to show Mike’s meltdown fifty times, we never got a chance to see if the kitchen was faulty. Let’s move on.

The next common problem is the head chef, who in this case was also the co-owner. Billy wasn’t the worst chef I’ve seen on either version of the show, but his passion for the business seemed to have dwindled. Plus, he spent too much time in the kitchen, which means little communication with Mike and Lisa and no face time with the valued customers. And he could have done something about Mike’s senseless use of coupons and signs. More on Mike later.

Once again, the other members of the staff were not much of a problem, save for one Diet Coke-drinking exception – Mike the manager.

If this version of the show continues like this, I may have to move the manager problem to the top of the list. The Mixing Bowl’s version of the worthless manager was Mike. Mike would spend more time eating with friends and drinking Diet Coke than actually managing the restaurant. He stumbled over explaining the items on the menu. He stared at Ramsay while he was eating. His relations with the staff and owners were strained, due to his belligerent tone of speech and “sharing” of their tips. He handed out half-off coupons to customers already in the restaurant. He messed up the New York Dragons’ reservations, then blew up about it in front of the diners. I’m honestly surprised that Billy and Lisa didn’t fire his sorry butt. Still, Ramsay could have been less rude about his weight, which seems odd compared to what I’ve seen on the UK version.

As bad as Mike was, however, he wasn’t 100% to blame for the managerial problems. Lisa, Billy’s wife and co-owner, complained more than she helped. For a co-owner, she could have spent less time complaining about Mike and whining about shutting the place down, and more time improving the restaurant and firing Mike.

Maybe it was just me, but I didn’t think the interior was that terrible beforehand. True, there were problems with chipped paint and cheap-looking decor, but at least there were no bed sheets plastered onto walls. At least the restaurant got a free makeover.

Finally, we have the exterior. When Ramsay first arrived, he said it looked dreadful before even entering. That’s not a good sign, and I’m not talking about the abundance of tacky signs Mike implemented to attract customers. Another reason to fire Mike.

While The Mixing Bowl wasn’t nearly as bad as Peter’s or Dillon’s, it still needed help. The head chef and owner had lost passion in the eatery, mostly due to a confused identity and a lousy manager. This is why The Mixing Bowl was a Kitchen Nightmare.

Tyler can be reached at tejayes@yahoo.com

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! For more news about this show, be sure to check out SirLinksALot's Kitchen Nightmares page!