"The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 1

[KatieLoeb]

I do want to say for all of the people who have worked in "successful" restaurants........Do you think a reality show would be interesting if the owners and staff were professional???!!!  The reason why it is so entertaining is because most food professionals would never open a restaurant the way Roccos did.......I was stressed out just watching them!!  SO scary.  But extremely entertaining!

I wasn't merely stressed out watching them, I was cringing! And yes - it think it might be interesting for those folks that don't do it every day to see what a professionally run restaurant is like. That's not to say I'd want to watch an accountant crunch numbers all day, though

I don't consider watching so-called high level professionals make snarkey remarks about the clientele entertaining. I think it's disgraceful. I don't think watching the management stick together to "punish" an undeserving staff memeber ("this was a unanimous decision amongst management...") gives anyone a good impression about what goes on in a restaurant. If this were someone's only exposure to the "inner workings" (or shall I say, "inner dysfunctions") of a restaurant I can totally understand why the general public considers most waitstaff barely one step above janitorial staff. This gives the impression that running a restaurant is a lark, run by nasty clique-ish people that have no clue what they're doing, no less what the "underlings" are doing. I've had the privilege of working with both managers and staff that take what they do quite seriously. I've also met owners that take their jobs seriously as well. I can't imagine anyone I've ever worked for (even the most INCOMPETENT boobs) schmoozing their way through the dining room while there was a palpable (both to employees and guests) meltdown taking place. Maybe not working in New York has made my expectations different. Perhaps Philadelphians don't suffer fools quite as gladly, but DAMN! That place is a joke and would not survive but for being the whores for sponsor promotion that they are. Must be nice to "play restaurant" at someone else's expense. I can't imagine...

[TuWanda]

I watched this tonight just to see what the fuss was about.  All I can say is, thank God for Deep Pocket Amex Corporate Sponsorship.  Rocco's is a nightmare, both from the employee and the guest perspective.  Most of the staff there wouldn't last ten minutes anywhere I've ever worked. Miss Cutesy Ditz waitress says to the owner about mise-ing the silverware "I'm just not good at that stuff"   In my Universe - "Oh really - then get the fuck out of my restaurant because you obviously don't GET IT".  Of course, in this parallel Universe, she gets away with it because said owner thinks she has a "great personality".  Whiny, self-serving primadonnas that get even less support from the self-martyred primadonnas that run the place.  The Maitre'd dissappears to go sing with the customers while there's a line of people forming out the front door???  See 'ya!  Ohmigod.  I've never seen more incompetence more highly rewarded in my entire life.  The food service is a mess because no standards have been set, and no guidance has been given to the staff.  The only time management sticks together is when they're doing something punitive to a staff member who was covering their royal worthless asses.  I'm utterly disgusted.  It's a shame that the "huddled masses yearning to eat in the latest cool place" will keep this pathetic excuse for a professional establishment open far longer than it deserves.

What she said.

Giving birth wasn't as painful as watching this show.

[TuWanda]

I can't imagine anyone I've ever worked for (even the most INCOMPETENT boobs) schmoozing their way through the dining room while there was a palpable (both to employees and guests) meltdown taking place.

Nor any that I've worked with playing tag-and-tickle under the table with the customer (is there an emoticon on this site for retching?)

[Mark Sommelier]

A bad show about a bad restaurant.

My worry is that people will watch this and think all restaurants are run like this.

[zenial]

Hey guys before you down the staff too much. You have no idea what they took out, we put up with more s@#t then any restaurant server would.

[TuWanda]

For what it's worth, the server's had my complete sympathy (except for that Pete-person, who I would have shown the door quickly).

I was appalled at the management staff's behavior more than anything else, including whoever was NOT expediting the plates in the BOH. Having done that job myself, I can tell you that based on what was shown on television this evening, they weren't doing their job. Or maybe they were and Mr. Burnett chose to show the kitchen staff in a bad light - who knows.

This show does not inspire me to want to eat at this restaurant.

[misslolabelle]

These websites are cracking me up. Zenial is right. Opening and working at Rocco's that first week was like alternately getting tickled to death and flayed alive. But apparantly, I got through it by smoking in every scene?! haha. You're missing a lot of info with the maniacal editing. If you're interested and/or a service industry lifer, A few of us have websites with background and filler info concerning each episode that might provide more fodder and amusement-- www.uzaytumer.com, www.gideonhowowitz.com, www.tophergoodman.com, www.misslolabelle.com

cheers.

lola

(p.s. zenial...the pseudonym is mysterious. find me)

[zenial]

These websites are cracking me up. Zenial is right. Opening and working at Rocco's that first week was like alternately getting tickled to death and flayed alive. But apparantly, I got through it by smoking in every scene?! haha. You're missing a lot of info with the maniacal editing. If you're interested and/or a service industry lifer, A few of us have websites with background and filler info concerning each episode that might provide more fodder and amusement-- www.uzaytumer.com, www.gideonhowowitz.com, www.tophergoodman.com, www.misslolabelle.com

cheers.

lola

(p.s. zenial...the pseudonym is mysterious. find me)

Does 151 a corner store and a cup of ice ring a bell.

[Pezchef]

Why would someone like Rocco want to ruin his reputation as a great chef (he has worked so hard to get where he is) by being in this show? Last night's episode made him look like a complete a-hole. I have lost all respect for him. In this episode...He makes "Mr. Food" look like a serious Chef! I don't think he's at all charming....Why does everyone keep saying he's so charming. I find his behavior to be sophomoric....and I'm not crazy about "MaMa" either.

[theminx]

And I want to know what all that drama over Linda Stasi was about? She's a TV critic, for the Post, no less! Certainly nothing to fear from her several weeks before the TV version of Rocco's Eye-Talian paradise would even see its first airing.

Any restaurant critic worth his or her salt would wait a few months before reviewing a new restaurant and then would eat several meals on several occasions before giving the world his/her views (not that this happens in my podunk town of Baltimore, Maryland, where Sunpapers "critics" still think foie gras is a new concept).

[Varmint]

Just remember folks, that Mark Burnett is showing us what Mark Burnett wants us to see. He loves to create tension and hostility. He also creates on screen personas through creative editing, even though that persona may represent 1% of what the individual is truly like.

Also remember, if the cameras showed great food and great service, it would be very, very boring TV.

[MatthewB]

Just remember folks, that Mark Burnett is showing us what Mark Burnett wants us to see.  He loves to create tension and hostility.  He also creates on screen personas through creative editing, even though that persona may represent 1% of what the individual is truly like.

Also remember, if the cameras showed great food and great service, it would be very, very boring TV.

You mean some individuals actually believe that "reality" TV has tight kinship with "Reality"?

Ahhhhh, the unhandsomeness of narrative.

[Mark Sommelier]

Also remember, if the cameras showed great food and great service, it would be very, very boring TV.

You mean like an extended Olive Garden commercial?

[tommy]

A bad show about a bad restaurant.

My worry is that people will watch this and think all restaurants are run like this.

do you really think that's a possibility?

that's like watching The Real World and thinking that all 20 somethings are complete douches. give people a little more credit than that. and those who don't deserve that credit don't really matter anyway.

[MatthewB]

that's like watching The Real World and thinking that all 20 somethings are complete douches.  give people a little more credit than that.  and those who don't deserve that credit don't really matter anyway.

Another bubble burst.

I was thinking that Paradise Hotel accurately summed up all 20-somethings.

[Bux]

Maybe not working in New York has made my expectations different.  Perhaps Philadelphians don't suffer fools quite as gladly,

No wonder Philly gets such a bad press.

NY and LA control the media, or vice versa. We suffer fools quite well. It's one of our, um .... , charms.

[Varmint]

Also remember, if the cameras showed great food and great service, it would be very, very boring TV.

You mean like an extended Olive Garden commercial?

Ah, but to quote one of the patrons, "You can get better food at the Olive Garden."

[TheMan,TheMyth]

I wonder if some of the customers are just complaining to get on tv or to just meet Rocco when he comes over to apologize??

The Man, The Myth

TapItorScrapIt.com

[tommy]

I wonder if some of the customers are just complaining to get on tv or to just meet Rocco when he comes over to apologize??

The Man, The Myth

TapItorScrapIt.com

if you put a camera in front of someone's face, most people will do just about anything for their 15 seconds.

[theminx]

Ah, but to quote one of the patrons, "You can get better food at the Olive Garden."

Wasn't that said in both episode two and three? Or am I just remembering seeing the teaser after ep. 2? If it was said both times, is Olive Garden a sponsor too?

[tommy]

Ah, but to quote one of the patrons, "You can get better food at the Olive Garden."

Wasn't that said in both episode two and three? Or am I just remembering seeing the teaser after ep. 2? If it was said both times, is Olive Garden a sponsor too?

that's all the average person could come up with.

[NeroW]

I watched this show last night. After the first five minutes I wanted to turn it off, go hide in the kitchen, and eat the cold fried chicken left over from dinner, but we left it on.

Just to . . . see what the fuss was all about?

My favorite thing was the stripey shirt that Rocco had on under his Chef's coat. And his big old watch. And his B-Boys airbrushed ROCCO'S baseball cap.

Where can I get me one of those stripey shirts?

Between that, and the one girl who said making sure her customers had forks was "too much work", this show was cracking me up.

Long may it run.

[Jinmyo]

I don't know why Rocco was wearing a cook's jacket. He wasn't cooking.

[Mark Sommelier]

Between that, and the one girl who said making sure her customers had forks was "too much work", this show was cracking me up.

That was the high point of the show. or the low point.

[Bux]

Ah, but to quote one of the patrons, "You can get better food at the Olive Garden."

Wasn't that said in both episode two and three? Or am I just remembering seeing the teaser after ep. 2? If it was said both times, is Olive Garden a sponsor too?

No, Olive Garden is not a sponsor of this show, but they are a source of revenue to the major networks. I can't imagine there's any financial harm going to come to NBC for this.