Plainspoken and profane celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is getting a taste of his own medicine as diners complain that he’s ripping them off for a very pedestrian breakfast.
Or, perhaps motorized is a better description. One customer of the chef’s Bread Street Kitchen said the full English breakfast he paid £19 for was no better than what you get at a highway service station. He called it “daylight robbery.” The meal consists of one piece of sausage, one mushroom, one egg, one tomato, a hash brown, and two pieces of bacon.
Bread Street Kitchen is not the only property of Ramsay’s that’s getting bad reviews from some diners. The offerings at his UK Street Pizza restaurants are not stacking up well for price and quality compared to the competition, according to some. The chain offers an all-you-can-eat deal for £20 that includes pepperoni pizza. Competitor chain JD Wetherspoon was used as a comparator on both ends of the spectrum. Some customers said the Wetherspoon pizza was better than Ramsay’s, while someone else derisively commented that Ramsay’s pie “looks like a Wetherspoon’s pizza.”
One saucy Italian customer suggested that Ramsay “stick to fish and chips.” Another one said the cheese portion was “stingy.” Still others said the salami and the pizza sauce were poor quality.
On the higher end, Ramsay’s eponymously named crown jewel eatery in Chelsea has been having trouble with diners who show up looking too bedraggled. The restaurant, which has three Michelin stars, has a dress code the bars short pants, tracksuits, and hoodies. Though considerably less formal than fine dining dress codes of just a generation ago, enough customers are having trouble complying that Ramsay was forced to put an announcement on the booking website.
Very politely worded, the dress code instructions tell diners that the staff would like them to feel at home, but to please avoid wearing the listed informal-wear.
The restaurant was Ramsay’s first solo business and opened in 1998.
