Kitchen Nightmares: Whatever Happened To La Galleria 33?

In season 6, episode 1 of Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares," we met Lisa Cerundolo and Rita Moran, sisters and owners of La Galleria 33 in Boston, Massachusetts. Through a whirlwind episode, Ramsay and the sisters have blow-out discussions about the cleanliness of the Italian-American restaurant, the attitudes of the staff, and the overall poor quality of the food. By the end of the episode, Ramsay helped the sisters streamline operations, as well as revamp the menu and the design of the restaurant itself. The episode was such a success that Ramsay returned to the restaurant two years later in 2014, as part of a feature on "Kitchen Nightmares Revisted" in season 10, episode 7.

Even after two visits from Ramsay and a ranking as one of the absolute best "Kitchen Nightmares" transformations in history, La Galleria 33 only endured for a few years afterward, closing its doors permanently in late 2018. There was never an official explanation from the owners, but some fans speculate that it was the restaurant's poor-quality food and slow (oftentimes even bad) service that contributed to the closing, which became evident in reviews from the restaurant's final years of operation. Other fans speculate that after Cerundolo and Moran's father died in 2016, the focus shifted to maintaining the other family-run restaurant next door, L'Osteria, leaving quality and care at La Galleria 33 to plummet alongside sales.

Around 2012, after the "Kitchen Nightmares" episode featuring La Galleria premiered, reviews from happy customers dining at the restaurant were positive. "The makeover has been a success," said one Yelp reviewer in November 2012, adding, "I don't visit Boston often, but when I do, I will surely come here again." Fast forward two years in May 2014, and another Yelp reviewer said, "This is my favorite restaurant in the North End. Pre-Gordon Ramsay and post-Gordon Ramsay." Over time, however, reviews for La Galleria 33 tanked, with several customers mentioning flavorless food, rude service, and an unclean atmosphere – factors that shed light on how the survival rate of Kitchen Nightmares restaurants is worse than you might think.

Today, former owners Cerundolo and Moran are doing their own things. Not much is known about Cerundolo, as she lives a private life and hasn't shared many updates about her career. Moran, on the other hand, moved to Florida and opened Rocco's Italian Market & Deli in Cocoa Beach in 2024. Despite the previous advice imparted by Ramsay (and any lessons learned from watching "Kitchen Nightmares"), Rocco's also permanently closed soon after. In Boston, the former La Galleria 33 storefront has since been transformed into a different restaurant named Libertine, which serves a mainly gluten-free menu of Italian and Portuguese foods.