Gordon Ramsay's Worst Restaurant Concept In The US Is Far From Impressive

Gordon Ramsay has dominated the American culinary landscape like the MCU has run roughshod over the box office for years. For better or worse, he's full of flash and pomp; he's loud and brash, and you can't deny he's got skill to back it up. But he's just one man, and he can only do so much. With no less than 80 restaurants around the world, Ramsay may just be spreading himself too thin. Gordon Ramsay Food Market in Cherokee, North Carolina, is evidence of this. It's hands down his worst restaurant concept in America.

We recently ranked all of Ramsay's restaurant concepts in the U.S., and Food Market fell short in several ways. The restaurant brings together four other Ramsay concepts, Street Burger, Grab & Go, Street Pizza, and G/R Bake & Brew, so that diners can experience a wide range of Ramsay's dishes. That's the theory, anyway. Reviews highlight that this lack of focus causes the dishes to fall flat. From some of the floppiest, greasiest-looking pizza to reports of slimy tomatoes and brown avocado on burgers, the restaurant seems riddled with issues.

Ramsay dishes that fans will recognize from the chef's show, "Hell's Kitchen," like the UK classic Beef Wellington and crab cakes, received middling reviews for lacking flavor. Someone has even claimed the pizza made them sick. There have also been claims of stacks of pre-cooked burgers being reheated on the grill with water.

It's not just the quality of the food that's being criticized. Wait times have been unusually long, and the staff has been called out for indifferent service. One review claimed they paid $32 for two burgers and waited over an hour for them to come out cold.

Every restaurant receives some bad reviews. While it's easy to cherry-pick the one-star reviews, the feedback for Gordon Ramsay Food Market shows a consistent pattern. The restaurant has an average 3.3 rating on TripAdvisor. On Yelp, it was rated a 2.9 out of 5 by over 100 reviews, with almost one-third receiving only a single star. After nearly 500 Google reviews, the restaurant has three stars, with many single-star ratings lowering the overall score. Across the board, diners report meals that are average at best and terrible at worst.

One of the clear-cut problems reviews mention is that the restaurant doesn't live up to Ramsay's reputation. A diner who wanted one of Ramsay's vegan options wrote that they were surprised by the beet burger. They had expected something fresh-made from beets, but instead received an Impossible Burger with shredded beet on top.

Many reviews suggest that Ramsay takes a very hands-off approach to this restaurant. His name is on it, but the spirit of his cooking seems absent. If you find yourself at Harrah's Casino in Cherokee, do yourself a favor and try one of the other restaurants when hunger hits.