What It's Like To Dine At Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen! - Amber Lia

We walked up a couple of steps past a chic bar area, strolled past TV cameras that zoomed in for close-ups, and were taken straight to our booth to one side of the restaurant.

Hell’s Kitchen did not seem like a set-it was stunning!

The decor was absolutely beautiful. Modern chandeliers hung from the ceiling, the tables were draped in fine linens, and the soft gray suede of our high-backed booth allowed us to dine in comfort. Our waitress was friendly and quick to smile. We spent time chatting with her and trying to understand exactly what the process would be for the evening. She brought us our beverages-wine, soda, sparkling water, and beer as well as a bread basket filled with no less than 5 varieties of breads and butter. We dug in!

The ambience was perfection. Elegant. Shades of white, silver, gold, and turquoise graced the walls, tables, chairs, and overall decor. The restaurant itself was quieter than I anticipated, and MUCH HOTTER. They don’t call it Hell’s Kitchen for nothing, people. We were sweating-but that was the only discomfort. The restaurant was truly beautiful!

Across the dining room, Gordon Ramsay stood sweating with a pencil behind his ear and a serious look on his face. The kitchen was HUMMING and there was DRAMA, although I can’t tell you of what nature since the show has not yet aired. Chef Ramsay clearly takes his role as a mentor and master chef seriously and I was thankful that he was there to inspect the food we would soon (hopefully!) be eating. He wasn’t at all distracted by the cameras or dozens of diners in the room. It was exciting to watch and definitely surreal to see the master at work!

Not everyone in the restaurant had the same experience we did, but you will have to watch the episodes to find out!

THE FOOD

We prayed that our food would actually arrive at our tables. There have been plenty of diners who didn’t get further than a beverage on this show. It’s rare to make it all the way through the service and Guy and I were prepared to hit an In-N-Out Burger afterwards if necessary.

The maitre de passed our table and Guy asked him where he was from in Italy. They compared birth origins and bonded over their Italian heritage. With a final, “Prego” he resumed his duties.

And then course 1 arrived-our appetizers. We both chose a butternut squash soup instead of a red beet salad.

YUM. It was absolutely delicious. The presentation was delectable too-the warm orange shade of the soup was offset by a light green oil swirled throughout the soup and a nest of toasted nuts in the center. We ate every last bite.

Our amazing waitress never let our glasses get half empty. The service was excellent but they also need to keep glasses full for aesthetics for the cameras!

Time passed.

Camera men stealthily moved about from table to table as food came out to the guests so they could capture reactions.

And then our entrees arrived!

I had a filet with mashed potatoes and asparagus and Guy had sea bass with a bacon and navy bean broth with asparagus. Filet Mignon is my absolute favorite meal so this was truly a blessing! Mine was cooked to perfection with savory gravy in an artful display on the plate. Guy’s sea bass was underwhelming-a bit overcooked and lacking in flavor. He comforted himself with bites of my filet. Ha!

We were pretty full at this point, but hoping dessert would come.

It did.

And wouldn’t you know it? Another of my favorites.

Molten chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream, macadamia nuts, and blueberries.

We died.

It. Was. So. Good.

With the first bite, the liquid chocolate spilled out like lava and the rest was history. I simply couldn’t finish the one last morsel lingering on my plate and I watched sadly as the waitress removed it from our table.

Then, a special surprise.

A nicely dressed man came to our table and told us that he heard we were on date night and that they wanted to offer us champagne! He assured us that they would be happy to take care of our car and call a taxi cab on them if we needed it. We wouldn’t need it-everything in moderation-but it was generous of them to offer!

Guy and I wanted coffee but we were stuffed to the gills at this point. Shortly after we finished our dessert and champagne, our wonderful waitress thanked us and let us know it was time to go.

We shimmied out of the elegant booth and made our way past the cameras and down the luxurious red carpet once again. We gave our ticket to the valet and shortly thereafter we drove away from Hell’s Kitchen, deeply satisfied and pampered. If you ever get the chance to be a part of the show, take it! It was a highlight for us and one of the best date nights we have ever had. It may be called Hell’s Kitchen, but for us, it was heavenly.