I thought this show was boring...I flipped the channel. I don't really like that sort of stuff.

alot of the show seemed staged to me.

like the sopranos guy and those guests from hell. they seem like actors who were paid to go in stir up some TV drama.

and why do they keep those two loser waiters around? pete and gideon. they're both incompetent, blame others for their incompetency. and comes out on TV as people you want to punch in the face.

i think they're only keeping them on the show to spice up an otherwise boring show.

IMO, this is one of the best summer shows on TV. I didn't think I'd like watching a show about a restaurant but it turned out to entertaining.

How many of these "waiters" do you think wanted this job just so they could be on TV? I agree that some of this show did seem a bit staged. Especially the customers. I wonder if they have to sign a contract before or after they order their food that allows them to be used in the show. They might just be playing up to the cameras.

Only real nitpick I have is that I wish they'd show more of that hot blonde bar girl.

I liked the show, but so much seemed staged.

Does anyone know if Rocco is gay or straight?

well, he was married before and now he's divorced (obviously) - I'm assuming he's straight.

Rocco's restaurant looks like it sucks. If I went to a "hip" new restaurant and forked over that kind of cash for food - I better be getting hot food and it better come on a f'n real plate. I really would hope this restaurant bombs. Looks like I could get better Italian over on the Hill in South St. Louis or up in Chi-town.

Boy tonight had SOOOOO many staged bits and product placements.

Rocco: Oh no! I am losing money! what shall I do? Oh, I know! American Express Line of Credit! it's so quick and easy! thank you American Express!

Another good one was having camera crews in the homes of the people. That one girl who was called to the "meeting" happened to have a camera crew filimg her, even though she had nothing to do with the restaurant at that point in time.

What a bunch of cluster****s... How this guy has 2 other restaurants is beyond me. The opening of Morimoto's restaurant in Philly was a lot better and only took an hour on Food Network.

Gideon should file for work comp. He'd make more money suing their ass instead of bitching about not being able to work. He has a legitimate claim, too. And for that girl that got sent home, I would have fired her for those remarks.

Does Rocco even cook? He just walks around and schmoozes.

As everyone has said, a lot of the complaining looks fake or feign.
I mean if I was a customer, I would complain to get on tv. If I was the waitstaff, I would complain. The food critic is from the NY POST so I wouldn't expect less. A REAL food critic would wait until a resturant has been opened for a month or so before going to going and giving a review. Also, shouldn't she refuse to have her face shown on tv so she wouldn't be recognized in all the other restaurant as a food critic. I guess she like the publicity.
If the food was really terrible i.e. cold, different, etc, I hope the Restaurant fails for having the BALLS to charge $25 per entree and screwing that up.

I wouldn't eat there after seeing this show, that's for sure.

Do they have camera crews following all of these waiters around? That's got to be either really expensive or staged (when Gideon gets the call at his pad, or when Topher calls Carrie at her apartment after the restaurant has closed for the evening).

Anyone think Topher just doesn't know how to enter orders on their computuer order system?

Yeah, he needs to concentrate on the cameras a little less and concentrate on how to do his job a whole lot more.

This restaurant might run a little more efficiently if the freakin' kitchen was on the same floor. What idiot designed this place, I do not know...Ya wonder why you might have a problem w/ cold food and a long wait for it at the tables.

The worse thing about this show is that there is no one to root for. I don't like Rocco, I don't like his staff, and I don't like his customers. I would be happier if at the end of the series the restaurant closed rather than went on (which it obviously did)...

I was watching with my husband and I told him that I wonder if anyone is eating in the restaurant anymore. I don't know how far in advance they taped this, but from seeing the first 3 shows I wouldn't be rushing to make a reservation.

If I had one I might cancel it.

My husband went to culinary school and we discuss the show as we watch it. Rocco hasn't been in the kitchen cooking once since they opened. He is a chef/owner but he's just chatting up the customers. He should be more aware of what's going on.

Now I know editing can make the show seem anyway it wants, but he seems like a real jerk from what I've seen so far. I wonder how he feels now that he's seen the way he's portrayed? He's all hanging on the girls but not managing his restaurant. He walked away from his staff when they were talking to him. And he repeatedly mispronounced the name of the critic from the Post -- to her face.

And, even if you are going to serve every other table in your place icky, cold food you make completely sure that food that goes to the critic is great! After he said hello to her he should have gone to the kitchen himself to supervise her order.

Oy Rocco, what were you thinking?

Rocco seemed like an amalgam of Liev Schreiber and Edward Burns. I'd cast the latter in "Restaurant - The Movie" though.

I saw Regis and Kelly last week I think, and Regis mentioned that he went there and it was still really crowded and very popular, and that the food was good...

You can tell a lot of you people haven't worked in a restaurant in a while. And I'm not talking a part time job in college. I'm talking full time. That being said, here are a few things, how I see it:

I can tell you that Topher is an excellent server and I would guarantee that he put those orders in correctly.

The staff complaining is an every day occurance at a restaurant let alone right at the opening. Imagine a desk job with no desks. Its like your at the water cooler most of the time. You know all that complaining you do when you take time to bulls*&t during your day? Servers are constantly around each other all day long. They need to vent some of their frustrations. It is not easy to serve some people. Apparently it is OK in our society to be as disrespectful as you want to someone serving you food and/or drink.

Just because Rocco is a chef, doesn't mean he should be in the kitchen cooking. He needs to be everywhere as it's his name that is on the front of the building. He came up with the menu and thats about the extent of his cooking. Did people expect him to be in the kitchen all the time? That's is like a normal owner of a restaurant doing the menial work. He delegate's that type of work. Although I do agree that he needs to get control of everything around him.

I think editing is what is affecting people's opinion on Rocco, the managers, the wait staff, the food preparers, and the runner and dish washers. Even so, it'd be bland if everything ran smoothly and there was no conflict.

I agree with you, a food critic shouldn't announce that she is a critic. It looks staged to me.

I poked around the NYPost's website to find the review (it's titled ), and wound up not reading it because they wanted money. It looks like Linda Stasi isn't actually a food critic--she's the Post's TV critic, and was only reviewing the restaurant because of the TV show aspect. That might explain why she didn't act like a normal food critic.

I am pretty sure the scene in Gideon's apartment was a reenactment of the phone call. I remember thinking what a horrible actor he was while watching it.

a show where you hate everyone in it. wow, what a concept!

I keep on waiting for them to show somebody try to pay for something with a Visa, and then have the waiter "sorry we don't accept Visa"

at least this new epsiode didn't have the "I'm trying to get back in to touch with my Italian heritage" that the first couple ones had..... that was so obviously thrown in there to make the show more interesting

I keep on expecting for Rocco to get into a major hissy fit and start screaming "it's my restuarant, it's my show, and all of you can go to hell" - he's got such a prima donna complex. The whole idenity problem of the restaurant that the waiters/waitresses address was really aparent on the last show, can't wait to hear the review of the restaurant from the New York Post restaurant critic in next week's episode.

Here's the NY Post Review from Linda Stasi (a TV critic not a food critic. Linki

NOTE: This not the review - just an article she wrote about the show - sorry

Here's the actual review by Stasi of the restaurant.