Kitchen Nightmares- edited 1/02/22
This is inspired by Kitchen Nightmares- where Gordon Ramsay (played by Josh) tries to fix disgusting failing restaurants with bad food and health code violations. The owner/chef (played by Tony) are insane and rude and don't like him but the servers are nice (played by Quinton). He gives them new menus and stuff but then the restaurant closes down 7/10 times later inevitably. (and pretend that Josh is 26, same with Tony)
(far warning this is 3k words, so it's a little long)
Josh walked into Bistro Med and was immediately confused and disgusted. The inside of the restaurant was confusing, the inside was giant, but it felt so cramped inside. The walls were cranberry but the booths were dark red green, the tablecloths were black and nothing matched at all. The bar was cheap looking, the countertops were brown quartz. The ceiling was popcorn and everything was hideous, and the paint is peeling.
Someone exited the kitchen, and they escorted Josh to a seat. "Hello Chef Richards" he says as he shakes Josh's hand "Hello and you are?" Josh prompts. "I'm Antonio, but people call me Tony. I'm the owner and the head chef".
"Oh, the owner and the head chef. So what would you rate your food?" Josh asks him. "9 out of 10" Tony says confidently, "Oh that's great. I hope I really enjoy it" Josh responds. Tony walks out of the dining room and into the kitchen. Then there's shouting immediately once he's back in there, and Josh did not have a good feeling about how his experience at this restaurant was going to go.
Out comes a boy, scurrying quickly. "Hello Chef Richards, here is the lunch and dinner menu. The desert menu if you need it is sitting in the wooden table holders." the boy says as he places down two separate menus. "Thank you, and your name is?" Josh questions. "Quinton, my name's Quinton" the boy, now identified as Quinton, says.
"Okay Quinton and what do you suggest I get from the menu?" Josh asks. He always asked his servers what they thought he should eat, if they gave him something and he thought it was disgusting then he knew what to expect for the rest of the meal.
Quinton was taken off-guard, no one ever asked his opinion. He wasn't supposed to talk to the customers, but he couldn't not answer JOSH RICHARDS. The only issue is that he really didn't know how to answer. He never ate the food here, he wasn't allowed to have any.
"um...I don't really eat the food here but I would recommend the fish and chips" he says, as it's basically the only thing he'd ever eaten here. "Okay. Well I'll get the fish and chips and he steakhouse burger with onion rings" Josh orders. "Yes chef. Is that all?" Quinton asks as he writes down the order, "Yes Quinton that'll be all". "Yes chef" Quinton mumbles as he walks away with the menus.
He trails into the kitchen, being met with a barrage of yelling once again. "Quinton! What did I tell you about talking to the customers!" Tony yells at him as he snatches the ticket from the servers hand. "Not to" he mumbles softly, "Okay so why were you talking to Chef Richards!" he yells back. "B-because he asked me questions" Quinton says softly. Tony rolls his eyes as he reads out the ticket, "I need one fish 'n' chips and one steakhouse burger" he calls out as his chefs run around.
Nick pulled out one of the frozen beef patties that they had pre-made. He hated making frozen food but its what chef Tony wanted as the owner, and Nick wasn't gonna disagree. He needed his pay after all, and at the end of the day it didn't matter to him whether or not the place stayed open. The burger was cooked once and then frozen, and then microwaved to be heated back up. The bacon was store-bought microwave bacon, and the barbecue sauce was made by Tony. He thought the food was okay but it definitely wasn't spectacular, Tony thought too highly of it. The only real reason he was sticking around is because a. it's easy to cook frozen food b. he's getting paid c. Quinton needed him.
He wasn't sure entirely what was going on but he knew the young boy wasn't doing okay. He was 16 and absurdly skinny, he didn't go to school, and he could tell that Tony abused him mentally and physically. He'd seen Tony smack and punch the boy before, but it didn't seem to be a common thing and Quinton had told him it wasn't an issue. Quin didn't eat, he didn't have the money to and Tony wouldn't let him eat any of the restaurant food. So Nick made sure to give him some of the food that he got everyday, just to make sure that the boy didn't pass out or flat-out die.
But anyways, he fixed together the burger and fried the onion rings then put them on the plate. "QUINTON take him his food!" Tony yells at the poor 16-year-old. He comes out, grabbing the plate. "Yes sir, right away" he whispers as he walks off with the plate.
He walks out with the plate and place is in front of Josh, "Steakhouse Burger, enjoy" he smiles. "Thank you Quinton". He takes a bite, furrowing his brows in disgust at the taste. Bland, soggy and cold. The onion rings aren't any better. "Quinton taste this" he says.
"Oh no I really shouldn't" the younger boy answers. His only thought is of what Antonio would say when he saw Quinton taking a bite of someone elses food. "No, no. It's okay, I'm not gonna eat it anyway." Josh reassures, so Quinton bites it. "Do you think that that tastes good?" the chef asks. " um no. It's not very good" Quinton responds softly. "Are the burger and rings frozen?"
"Yes chef, they are both frozen" Quinton answers, he was gonna have to be honest to Chef Richards whether or not Tony wanted him to be. "Okay, well I'm finished with this. Can you tell Tony that the burger is tough and tasteless, the bun is soggy and smashed and the onion rings taste store bought" Josh spits. Quinton nods as he trails back into the kitchen holding the still full plate. "Chef Richards says that everything tastes frozen and the burger is tough, tasteless, smashed and soggy" he tells Antonio as he empties the plate into the trash can. He listened as he muttered curses and stomped off.
Antonio walks into the freezer, grabs one of the pieces of fish he had and placing it in the microwave, the frozen fries that he'd bought (from the supermarket) were currently being air-fried beside him. He was confident in his dishes, he thought they were awesome, and was positive that Richards would like them too. Once both were finished cooking he placed them on the plate and poured a side of tarter sauce (also store bought). "QUINTON! COME GET THIS SHIT" he yells as Quinton comes scurrying up to him. "I will" he says softly as he walks out with the plate. "Here you go. The fish and chips, hope you like it" he bubbles as he places it down at Josh's table. "Thank you" he hears.
Josh breaks into the fish on his plate and takes a bite of it. It was awful. He ate a french fry, bad as well. He called Quinton back over to talk to him. " You don't like it?" Quin asks him. "No, it's dreadful. It's cold, the french-fries are bland, the fish is soggy and bland, the breading is falling off, and it's greasy. You like this?" Josh questions holding up a bite to Quinton. It still was awful but he couldn't help but hum as he ate it, any taste of food at this point was decent to him. "So you actually do like this?" Josh asks, bewildered. "I just haven't had any food in around 2 days so I'm hungry. But it definitely is soggy". Josh nearly does a double take.
"You haven't eaten in 2 days? I mean this tastes like shit but I mean at least sit down and eat something!" he says, motioning to the seat beside him. "No, no, no, no I can't. Chef Tony will be very mad at me if I sit down but I can get rid of your plate for you" he rushes out. "Yes please, and ask Tony when you'll be getting off for the night because I want to take you somewhere later" Josh says, "Okay"
He brings the plate back into the kitchen, "He said that it tastes like shit" he says only to be interrupted, "LANGUAGE QUINTON", he continues "He said it's soggy, cold, bland and greasy. He also asked when I was getting off for the night."
"THE FOOD TASTES PERFECTLY FINE! HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE'S FUCKING TALKING ABOUT" Tony yells. "You're supposed to be staying until 10 tonight" he says to Quinton. "um do you maybe think that I could get off at 8 tonight sir?" he asks, "You want off?You have to show up at 4 tomorrow morning" Tony spits. "Yes, sir" Quinton smiles.
The chefs, owner, and server head out to the front where Josh is waiting. "My food was AWFUL. Nothing was cooked well and you gave the food a 9? YOU THINK YOUR FOOD IS 9 WORTHY? Chefs, do you think this food is a 9?" Josh asks. The rest of the chefs said it was a 7. "Quinton, do YOU THINK the food is a 9?" he yells. "No, maybe a 3" Quinton answers.
"THERE WE GO SOMEONE WHO HAS SOME FUCKING SENSE AROUND HERE. NOW GO GET YOUR ASSES READY FOR THE DINNER SERVICE" he screams, the staff run off back into the kitchen.
at the dinner service
Dinner service was in full swing, the word that Josh was in town had gotten around and people decided to show up. All 50 tables were seated and everyone was starting to feel the heat. Josh was in the back managing the kitchen staff. Tony, Nick, Jaden and Ryland were moving quickly to keep up with all the orders that were being brought to them and Quinton was trying not to fuck everything up.
He was the ONLY server for the entirety of the 50 tables and that meant he had to take orders and bring out the food for 50 filled tables, and then ultimately bring back dishes from 40 out of the 50. He was so overwhelmed with stuff to do and his whole body was aching. Not to mention Antonio was screaming at him for everything.
"QUINTON WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU" Tony yells as he slams the sliver bell sitting on the serving tray. While Quinton was in the dining room holding 4 different plates that he needed to take back into the kitchen. He walks back to the kitchen, "They said the foods soggy and bland" he yells out as he dumps the plates in the trash. "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT IT, TAKE THESE TO TABLE 32 SLOWASS" the head chef screams. He picks up the plates and walks out to the dining room floor, currently trying not to have an emotional break-down in the middle of the dining room floor or drop all his plates on the floor.
And as if god hated him, right as he mentioned falling... he did.
All the pain he felt with each step he took finally got to be too much as his weak legs buckled and gave out on him, and he crashed to the floor. He landed on his knees and of course the food fell all over the floor. He got concerned looks (and laughter) from the patrons, as he bolted up and back into the kitchen ignoring the pain. He was thinking about what would happen when Tony found out, even though it was technically his fault. Tears were pouring down his face.
"I-i'm sorry b-but I dropped the pl-plates on the floor and now there's a mess a-and they didn't get their fo-food and I can't clean it because I have other p-p-people to serve and I know that you're both pr-proba—ly really mad at me for fucking up but I didn't mean to j-just please don't hurt me" he sobbed between his hands. Everyone thought he was a failure already and he'd dropped plates on such an important night, and the cameras had caught it all and he'd probably be made fun of on national television.
"MY FUCKING GOD YOU CANT DO ANYTHING RIGHT QUINTON" Antonio screams at him, as he sobs intensely into his hands. "I-I didn't mean to but m-my legs hurt all the time a-and I j-just fell and I-i'm so so sorry f-for wasting the food but I just I can't control it" he cries harder. "WELL GO FUCKING CLEAN IT INSTEAD OF SITTING THERE CRYING LIKE A FUCKING IDIOT! WE HAVE ORDERS TO SERVE SO FUCKING HURRY UP" the older of the two screams. Chef Richards on the other hand was a bit (a lot) more understanding, "It's okay, it happens. Dry off your tears, and go clean it up. I'll help you serve the orders." Quinton nodded as he rubbed his face into his shirt, trying to calm down a little bit.
Part of Josh did want to yell at the server for dropping plates ,because his job is carrying them, but the other part of him understands that the boy was managing 50 tables at a time and that's insanely difficult. Not to mention he said that his legs hurt all the time, and he knew that that probably put some stress on him. So Josh went out to help with the dinner rush until it was over at 8:15. Then him and Quinton went off to go to a nice restaurant to eat at. (With no cameras involved)
at the restaurant
They'd both finally ordered after a solid 10 minutes of them arguing back in forth about how expensive this place was. As if Josh couldn't afford it with his millions of dollars. So now it was time to talk. And Josh wanted to know more about Quins personal life and the workplace environment. But the latter came first.
"So how long have you been working here, and how old are you?"
"I'm 16, I've been working at the bistro for about a year"
He started working there when he was 15? That's a long time to be working somewhere so shitty with a boss who was clearly very rude to him.
"So what's the biggest issue with the restaurant?" he asks, watching as the boy in front of him fiddles with the sugar and salt shakers sitting on the table.
"I think that everything's pretty bad, but probably the health standards. I don't know why we haven't been shut down yet" Quinton murmurs, he wasn't very good with talking.
"What's so bad about the health ratings?" Josh asks, though he had a feeling what was wrong. "Well chef Tony gets mad when I stay in the kitchen but I have seen some bad stuff. There's mold in the freezer, raw, frozen and cooked food sitting beside or ontop each other, a lot of the food is bad and some of it still gets served, and a bunch of stuff is freezerburnt because it's been in there too long" he answers. He felt bad dishing dirt on the restaurant but chef had asked. Josh was disgusted, the boy had found that in his short time in the kitchen, imagine what would happen once he'd deep cleaned.
"Well how's the workplace and the other staff?"
"Antonio's mean" he pouts, and realizing he sounds like a 4-year-old having a fit. Shuts up promptly. "Would you care to elaborate?" Josh questions. Quinton shakes his head, he didn't want to get in trouble.
"uh-uh chef Antonio would kill me". Josh was getting irritated, "What's all this talk about how he'd kill you. And you crying and begging not to be hurt? He doesn't hit you...does he?". Quinton goes silent, "I- um..." he trails off. Josh nearly goes into shock, "So he does hit you, why are you staying? Why haven't you done something?" he asks.
Because Tony had done worse to him then just hit him....most of the time it was worse
"Because I need my job, I need the money. Plus he just has anger management issues, he says sorry every time he touches me. It's okay." Quinton lies on the spot, well the second part was a lie at least, he was never sorry.
"You just said you were only 16. You don't need a job, I'm sure you could find a different one."
"No. My parents got injured in a car crash and can't work anymore. So I'm the only person making money, and I'm supporting all 3 of us. I haven't even been to school since I was 15 and if I leave I might not find a new job and then I'll be homeless." he answered. Josh pursed his lips, if Quinton really didn't want to leave he couldn't force him too. And maybe just maybe he could make Tony stop. "Does he make you call him sir while you're talking to him? Because I thought that's what you called him."
Quinton nods slowly, "He makes me call him worse then that" he whispers. But Josh didn't hear him, if he did he would've demanded to know what that name was. Then probably shut the Bistro down. But he didn't, and he was about to say something more but then their food showed up.
He watched as Quinton practically inhaled his food as soon as it got to the table, and it made him realize just how messed up his situation was. His food was gone in around 5 minutes, he'd eaten it so quickly.
"Why don't you eat?" he questions, though he probably knew the answer to that too.
"Well I'm working from 6:30 to around 9-10pm but I only make 5.50 an hour.(7.50 is minimum wage) And all of that's going to pay for food for my parents, pay the rent on our small apartment and pay for the bus fare home. I only buy one, maybe two meals a week for myself. When I work most of the time Antonio will make food for the staff for lunch, but he'll give me like the scraps of stuff y'know. So I don't really eat much." Quinton mumbled.
Josh damn near gapes at the boy, one or two meals a week?
"What's your dream job?"
"I would love to be a chef one day, but right now I guess I'll just stay a waiter"
Josh sighed as he signed the check for the meal, this was the most toxic workplace he'd ever been involved in. And as they walked out the restaurant and parted ways, he knew that there was something that Quinton wasn't telling him...........
3.2k words. Part 1 of 2, I love you puffins❤️❤️