Blake's Place - Kitchen Nightmares Update

On this week's episode of Kitchen Nightmares, Gordon Ramsay is in New Orleans, Louisiana to help out the restaurant Blake's Place.  Blake's Place is a small neighborhood restaurant that has gone downhill as they are having trouble serving memorable dishes.  While Gordon Ramsay is trying the food, he thinks it is way too salty.  When the owner finds out about that, she tells her kitchen staff to no longer season the food. 

Kitchen Nightmares visited Blake's Place in September 2024 to film the episode, and I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Blake's Place to get an idea of how the restaurant is doing since Gordon Ramsay visited, and here is what I found (note - all reviews are post Kitchen Nightmares):

Positive Reviews:

• "SO GOOD! Food was phenomenal and the cocktails had so much flavor. Love this place!!!! Bartender was top teir!"
• "I never got a chance to take any pictures. But the owner of this restaurant also happens to be one of my favorite food trucks at work, and I was surprised and delighted to discover that she was the owner. I had the pasta alla vodka, which was delicious and the portion size was very generous. Lovely little hole in the wall, I'll be back!"
• "10/10 on the new menu! Great staff/service. The atmosphere was nice with a great playlist. Definitely recommend if you are in the area"
• "This is my second time at Blake's. First came here this summer and when I came back in town Blake's was on our list of places we had to come back to. Peter was behind the bar and extremely friendly and made our experience enjoyable. The food was great and we will definitely be back again."
• "Super cute! The food, drinks and service were excellent!! Peter was amazing!!"
• "Don’t pass this little GEM up!! Blake make the magic happen in the Kitchen while Peter served up a great front of the house experience! Rillons (Pork Belly) is amazing. Fried chicken puts others to shame. Bread Pudding is to die for!! Friendly service, awesome food, and great folks!!"

Negative Reviews:

• "I hosted a dinner party for 20 guests but was disappointed with the food, drinks, and service."
• "Can I go less than 1 star? Peter wanted to be tagged in the review for his awful way of miscommunication of my order and then deciding yelling made him right! Here is your 5 min! Not knowing I'm natively from there and was visiting!"

*Reviews from Yelp, Google

Other News and Links:

• The makeover for Blake's Place happened in September 2024.
• Here is a preview video of the episode from YouTube.
• Here is the Blake's Place website and Facebook page.  They are also active on Instagram.
• Blake's Place celebrated their one year anniversary in October 2024, so they have only been open a little longer than a year. (Link)
• Here are the reviews for Blake's Place on Yelp and Google. 
• They have a 3.7-star average on Yelp and reviews have definitely improved recently.
• Owner/Chef Blake Cressey has appeared on Food Network's Chopped.
• She also owns and operates Tasty Treat Food Truck. (Link)

Conclusion:

The reviews for Blake's Place since the Kitchen Nightmares visit have been mostly positive and have definitely improved.  The positive reviews talk about the good food, great staff, and the atmosphere. As the restaurant has only been open for a little over a year, it seems that going from a food truck to a restaurant caused some growing pains.  The more recent reviews are all positive despite the average rating of 3.7-stars on Yelp.


*To see updates on all the restaurants from Kitchen Nightmares and to see which ones are open or closed, visit the Kitchen Nightmares Update Page. Plus Follow on Twitter to keep up to date on closings.