Top 20 Gross Restaurants from Kitchen Nightmares

The conditions of this South Bend, Indiana restaurant are bound to give you the willies. Gordon was immediately turned off by the signage outside. And it got much worse once he stepped inside. Not only was the atmosphere, in Gordon’s words “sad and grim,” but the food was so visually unappealing that he asked a nearby priest to bless it before eating. He even performed his own version of divine intervention. But no amount of praying could make up for the expired produce kept in storage. To their credit, the owners are accepting of these valid criticisms.

Though this Pomona, California restaurant might have billed itself as “fine dining.” But a fancy cover can’t hide low standards. It starts with basic spelling errors in the menu and gets worse from there. This so-called “fine dining restaurant” is less focused on fresh ingredients than on frozen ones. But that’s the least of their problems, since the fridge is, well, not cold. Instead, it’s more of a storage room for bacteria to grow. That’s not exactly the kind of place we’d want to make a reservation at. Thankfully, Gordon insists upon a thorough cleaning.

Located in the village of Cranbury, New Jersey, this French bistro didn’t exactly transport diners to a lovely Parisian eatery. That is, unless your idea of “lovely” is a French onion soup described like this. And if the dining room didn’t have you swooning, well, neither will the kitchen. A Valentine’s Day dinner service is made even less romantic by old desserts being served. Gordon is already disgusted before he explores the fridge And once he does, it’s anything but trés bien. Arguably the biggest blunder is the storing of raw chicken next to cooked chicken, which Gordon points out the danger of, albeit in his own unique way.

“Kitchen Nightmares” originated as a series in Gordon’s homeland of the U.K. And it doesn’t take long for him to see just how gross a restaurant can get. In the very first episode, he visits Bonapartes, a West Yorkshire eatery that tries for fine dining but ends up with something…not so fine. At one point, the chef serves Gordon a rancid scallop. That was no fluke, as the kitchen is full of additional horrors and offenses. He very bluntly tells them about how unacceptable their standards are. It certainly wouldn’t be the last time he did that.

This Irish pub in the Hamptons wasn’t having much luck attracting business. For starters, the food is seriously below par. They can’t even manage to pull off a shepherd’s pie. How bad is it? Gordon runs to the restroom to throw up after just a few bites. If that’s how the dining experience is, you can only imagine how unsightly the kitchen is. And sure enough, it meets expectations in the worst possible way. Raw and cooked food stored right next to each other is just one of many issues. A pub is a great place to unwind and share some laughs. But running any kind of business requires serious dedication.

This California Italian restaurant was run by two twin brothers. And it had more than a couple of problems. The dilapidated decor and dirty dining room didn't make a good impression. And neither did the poorly prepared food. The brothers couldn’t be bothered to clean old chewing gum from under the tables. And that lack of pride was reflected in their kitchen as well. They didn’t even seem to be aware of basic food safety measures, such as not putting hot food items in a cold fridge. There’s no question: there was something rotten going on at Capri.

In this installment of the original series, Gordon makes his way over to Spain to try and salvage this restaurant, run by British owners. But the confused menu wasn’t drawing in business. And with ill-conceived dishes like prawns with chocolate sauce, it’s easy to understand why. But even if the dishes were delectable, it wouldn’t make up for the lack of upkeep. This goes beyond just being dirty and messy. The kitchen and dining area, predictably, aren’t beacons of cleanliness. Worse still, there’s literal dog waste out in the open, which Gordon brands as “unforgivable.” Talk about going to the dogs.

There was something fishy going on at this New Orleans restaurant. And when we say “fishy,” we mean “disgusting.” Aside from serving terrible takes on Cajun classics like gumbo, Oceana also kept their kitchen in unacceptable condition. Food items were stored at improper temperatures, making them visibly rancid. At one point, Gordon is so repulsed, he becomes physically ill. Oh, and need we mention the pest problem - namely the regular rat sightings? Oceana may have been located in “The Big Easy." But dealing with this unkempt restaurant and its repulsive conditions would be incredibly difficult.

This Long Island Italian restaurant had plenty of competitors. And it wasn’t standing out in a positive way. The chef and owner, Anthony, was running an Italian restaurant without any experience working in one. But it doesn’t take a five-star chef to cook a decent piece of salmon. The same goes for keeping a sanitary kitchen. With the floor, dishes and everything in between covered in filth, it’s a wonder that Gordon doesn’t run out screaming. Chef Anthony is distressingly blasé about the filth in his kitchen. Even the sight of animal droppings elicits little more than a shrug.

A name like this might make you think of a charming family eatery. Unfortunately, this Colorado restaurant was less “heartwarming” and more “stomach-turning.” Even before he’s had a chance to sample anything, Gordon is nauseated by the strong aroma. And the fly buzzing around him didn’t help matters much, either. But even that insect had standards, as Gordon noted that it wasn’t trying the horrible shrimp dish. Then, there’s the outdated decor, which was also treated with stunning indifference. Is it any wonder that the kitchen itself is as unhygienic as they come, with numerous instances of cross-contamination?

Owned and operated by a self-proclaimed beef expert, Burger Kitchen was actually partially paid for using the owner’s son’s inheritance... without the son’s knowledge. Nothing like a business built on a foundation of familial deception! Considering it’s a joint that specializes in burgers, the most surprising thing about this restaurant is that their meat was frozen… and, despite being labelled “wagyu”, apparently not very good. But, hey, we’re probably just part of the grand yelp conspiracy to take this place down. Even with all the disappointing dishes, the grossest thing about this kitchen was the tension, fighting, and family drama.

The disgusting things that Gordon manages to find during his kitchen inspections never cease to astound. You’d think that professional chefs and restaurant owners would have some concept of food safety, but alas, that doesn’t always seem to be the case. Yanni’s Greek restaurant feels like a veritable checklist of mistakes. They put fresh food next to raw food, and they have old unlabeled containers in their cooler. Some of their food is so old that it has gotten moldy. But at least they’re not using it, right?

In what proved to be one of the most epic showdowns in the show’s seven seasons, Gordon confronts the owner of this establishment over the state of her kitchen and cooler. And as usual, the owner doesn’t take it very well. Do these people even watch the show? It’s called Kitchen Nightmares. You’d think they’d mentally prepare themselves for some criticism. Not only is the kitchen at DownCity cramped, but it’s an absolute mess. The floor looks like it hasn’t been mopped and there’s trash all over the place. Not exactly the sort of setting you want to be getting your food from.

Okay, silly name aside, this restaurant had one of the grossest kitchens to ever appear on the show. Watching Gordon gag as he opens the fridge door nearly made us gag. We could almost smell the stink through our televisions. This Mexican place looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in ages, if ever. They make the classic mistake of not properly labeling their food, and sure enough, as a result no one knows when anything was cooked. No one wants to be served week old enchiladas - especially not out of an appallingly unsanitary kitchen like this one. It was so bad, Ramsay actually stopped the clients from eating and had them all leave.

With its bad food and nasty kitchen, Dillon’s didn’t really stand a chance to begin with. This Indian-ish place had some bizarre décor, with hanging sheets that made it look more like a construction site than a place to grab a meal. Worse, though, was the state of the kitchen. The place was overloaded with apparent authority figures, and yet they couldn’t seem to manage to keep meat out of a vegetarian plate. For a vegetarian, that’s about the biggest offense a restaurant can make. Well, maybe flies on your food is worse.

Sometimes one dish can convey all there is to say about a restaurant. For Sushi Ko, that one dish is their sushi pizza. Look, we understand people like to be creative, but it takes skill to deliver a quality dish this bold. Some sushi restaurants can pull off this fun concept. Unfortunately… Sushi Ko is simply not one of them. Food comes out of the kitchen with hair in it, and some of their wooden utensils are reused, leaving remnants of food on them. To make matters worse, their fryer doesn’t work properly, which could lead to some dangerously undercooked food. Forget Sushi Ko, this is Sushi NO.

Not only was it a health hazard to eat at this restaurant, it felt like a health hazard just setting foot in its kitchen. It’s rarely a good sign of quality when you can’t even identify what a specific piece of food is. Some of the ingredients in this kitchen looked more like modern art than anything edible. There was so much mold on the food that, in some cases, it had spread to the shelves and containers. And to top it all off, Gordon managed to find some maggots. Yep, that’s nasty enough to turn you off eating not only for the day, but for the entire year.

Oftentimes, one of the biggest problems with these restaurants is that they order too much food. Overestimating how much food you’ll need leads to most of it sitting around and doing nothing but getting old and rotten. Not only did Gordon find bags and bags of freezer burnt seafood with no labels, but a fridge full of perishable food on its way out. Disgustingly, he also finds dead lobsters, one of which is actually IN a container of sauce. Honestly, we’re not sure if the pigeon in the kitchen was the most or least gross thing about this place. At least IT was still alive.

The owner describes his restaurant as the Titanic, a luxury boat that’s sinking. We’re not sure about the luxury part, but it’s definitely a disaster. In this kitchen, Gordon discovers some of the grossest stuff in the history of the show, including the usual bugs, mold, and rotten food. There’s also so much sludge and grime on the walls that it looks like the place really hasn’t been cleaned since the Titanic sank. Furthermore, the kitchen staff spills things and act like nothing happened. And to top it off, they serve moldy pesto. But, hey, pesto is green already, right?

Gordon had to wait a long time for his food to complete the taste test at the start of this episode. But after going behind the scenes he likely wished it had never arrived. The fridge in this place was so bad that it made Gordon throw up. In classic bad restaurant style, food was unlabeled, moldy, and rancid. Some of it was so bad that it stuck to Gordon’s hand. We’ve heard of rib-sticking good, but we’ve never heard of hand-sticking good. The chef in this place just didn’t care, putting stomachs everywhere at risk, so it was almost a relief when he got fired.