Joe Nagy started the Mill Street Bistro after buying a livestock ranch, believing the two establishments would complement each other. However, it didn’t go as planned, so Gordon Ramsay came to the rescue and it appeared on two episodes of Kitchen Nightmares. The business later rebranded but still performed poorly. Mill Street Bistro eventually shut down in 2016.
Background Information
The Mill Street Bistro was started not long after Joe Nagy lost his job in the food sales industry. For 35 years, he worked with old-school European chefs and always dreamed of having a place of his own.
Joe didn’t immediately start a restaurant when he became free from the corporate world. He first bought a ranch to get fresh supplies of the ingredients he would need for his chosen menu.
After setting everything up, he opened his supposed fine dining bistro in Norwalk, Ohio. Apart from being the owner, Nagy actively worked on the cooking and serving of his business. It should be noted that he had no prior restaurant experience prior to this.
Kitchen Nightmares Appearance
Joe was very proud of what he started, but perhaps he was too proud. Everybody else believed he was delusional. The food wasn’t as tasty or fresh as advertised, and it was showing in their sales performance in 2012.
When Gordon Ramsay and his Kitchen Nightmares crew visited the struggling restaurant in season six, they discovered that the ingredients were actually frozen and not harvested directly from a farm. But that wasn’t the only problem.
Nagy was rude to his employees and customers. He wasn’t afraid to butt heads with Gordon, which was something fans loved seeing. In the end, Ramsay advised Joe to change his attitude, menu, and food preparation.
After Kitchen Nightmares
Joe was furious when the Kitchen Nightmares team departed without notice and made quite a mess behind. Some of his things also went missing. Because of this, he demanded £900 compensation from the producers and got paid.
As many people expected, the former food sales representative did not listen to the words of Gordon Ramsay. He kept most of his original food items along with his unrealistic mindset.
Joe fired most of the staff members who were prominently featured on the show. He fired the chef and took over as the official head of the kitchen, a move that didn’t improve the restaurant’s situation at all.
Current Status
In 2013, Joe decided to redecorate and rebrand his restaurant. The Mill Street Bistro name was gone and replaced with Maple City Tavern. Joe remained the owner and head chef.
Despite his effort to convert the restaurant into a family-friendly outlet, he did little to escape his company’s fate of dying out. The diner was officially closed in 2016. It had negative reviews online, with 19 Yelp users giving it an average of 1.5 stars.
The building was sold for approximately $140,000, and Joe Nagy flew under the radar afterward. Some people thought he was dead but he is still alive. More than likely he’s doing his best to avoid the limelight. It appears someone has created a parody Facebook page called “The Joe Nagy’s Bistro” to poke fun at Joe.
