Gordon Ramsay's Makeover 'Didn't Work,' Monrovia Restaurant to Close

The "Kitchen Nightmare" is over.

Despite a televised makeover from celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, Sam's Kabob Room, the family-run Mediterranean restaurant in Old Town Monrovia, is closing after 17 years in business.

Ramsay taped his Fox show "Kitchen Nightmares" at Sam's in July and the episode finished on a triumphant note. But after the show ended, owner Sam Najjar said business never picked up.

"It didn't work," Najjar said. "We didn't do any better than before."

Sam's, which opened in town in 1996, had a whole crew of chefs, interior designers and film production staff scrambling for two days last summer to remake the Mediterranean eatery.

In the episode, Ramsay lambasted the restaurant's food—he said the lamb tasted like it was "boiled in water"—and Sam's staff, composed entirely of Najjar's wife and children, complained of miserable working conditions.

Ramsay revamped both the food and the building itself. The menu, which previously featured huge hunks of meat and greasy sides, was simplified and portion sizes were decreased. The two dining rooms that previously had a dated, Old World feel were transformed into something decidedly more modern with white tables and bright blue walls.

Najjar tearfully declared in the episode that he'd learned his lesson and was excited by the makeover.

"Chef Ramsay opened my eyes to cook the right way," Najjar said. "Everything has changed right now and I hope it stays like that for the future."

But apparently it didn't stay like that. Najjar said the restaurant enjoyed a brief renaissance after the show aired, but it lasted only a few weeks. Then business died down again.

Najjar placed some of the blame for his restaurant's failure on the location. He said there are too many restaurants in the area, and a new Meditteranean spot coming to Myrtle Avenue would offer more competition. He isn't sure if he'll get back into the restaurant business again, but said he's thinking about eventually opening another eatery further east—perhaps in Rancho Cucamonga or Upland.

As for Ramsay's take on the restaurant's demise, the chef is staying uncharacteristically silent. Joanna Wolff, a publicist for the show, declined to comment for this story.