The six-decades-old Spin-a-Yarn in Fremont was one of the targets of the new season of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, in which Ramsay and his team descended last fall to give the place a quick and dirty makeover. The restaurant, to its credit, has a fresh new website, and with Ramsay’s help they pared down the dinner menu from its previous mishmash of Greek, Italian, and steakhouse fare. We’ll get to see the painful process when the episode airs February 10, and they’re likely hoping the exposure will give them a much needed boost in business (they were said to be $750,000 in debt). But according to a new review in the Mercury-News, the kitchen sounds like they’re slacking now that Ramsay’s gone his merry way.
“The lunch on our visit was almost comically bad,” writes critic Jennifer Graue. “My companion ordered the rib-eye ($18) and was told that it would probably come out medium because it was already cooked and just re-grilled before serving.” Nice! That’s the kind of thing that would be followed by a severe (brow-)beating if Ramsay were on the premises.
She also describes a disgusting “chimichurri” made with dried herbs and what tasted like cooking oil; pasty mashed potatoes; and “institutionally unoriginal” plating.
At dinner there was a passable salmon filet and a T-bone that was properly medium rare, if gristly. But all in all, still sounds kinda sad!
The restaurant is inviting its regulars and local fans to a premiere party of the Kitchen Nightmares episode on February 10 at 7 p.m. (reservations required!), during which we suppose the owner and staff will get to have a hearty, awkward laugh at their own expense, kind of like at a roast. That should be fun.
Review: A Gordon Ramsay intervention has improved Fremont’s Spin a Yarn, but is it enough? [Merc-News]
Earlier: Watch Gordon Ramsay Try to Save Fremont’s Spin-a-Yarn Steakhouse
Gordon Ramsay Is Coming! To Fremont!
