Once the birthplace of Paul Revere, Boston’s North End is now the city’s Little Italy, home to over 100 restaurants in about a third of a square mile. Practically right in the center of the neighborhood sits 125 Salem Street, a brick five-story building with a storefront on the ground floor. Like most buildings in the neighborhood, it’s historic but fastidiously maintained, and in 2006, sisters Lisa Cerundolo and Rita Moran opened their restaurant there: La Galleria 33.
Bustling Salem Street seems like the perfect place to open an Italian restaurant, and it is: Dozens of other great Italian restaurants line Salem Street and the other neighborhood streets within a short walk of La Galleria 33. That list includes L’Osteria Ristorante, a longtime eatery at 104 Salem Street — barely a block away, and owned by Cerundolo and Moran’s parents. A vibrant location, a family in the restaurant business, what could go wrong?
Apparently, almost everything, going by what happened during their appearance on “Kitchen Nightmares.” Gordon Ramsay arrived at the restaurant to find the owners drinking while working, smoking inside the kitchen, and arguing with customers, all while serving food Ramsay described as “gnarly.” Much to his dismay, the owners told Ramsay that they’re out of the only dessert they had. “This is too much. This is too much!” he said, shaking his head. “I want to go die in a corner somewhere,” Moran told her sister.
What happened to La Galleria 33 on Kitchen Nightmares?
The problems of La Galleria 33 were significant enough that they filled two episodes at the beginning of the fifth season of “Kitchen Nightmares.” La Galleria 33’s food ranged from uninspiring to downright bad, and most of it was frozen. (Even the house-made meatballs were frozen before serving!) But Ramsay quickly learned the team running the restaurant just wasn’t on the ball. The wait staff wasn’t paying attention to their tables, the chef said he didn’t even like Italian food, and a server gave himself the title of general manager without the owners’ okay…