The Restaurant - Week One

I only tuned into The Restaurant a couple of times last season, and I wasn't too impressed. It just didn't seem that exciting. And something about Rocco rubbed me the wrong way. But last night's episode was totally captivating. I guess Mark Burnett is trying to Trumpify Rocco's on 22nd by adding some tension and the next Omarosa--sneaky "intern" Drew. I'm hooked. And the timing couldn't be better, since I've been going through withdrawl from the Donald since Friday morning.

As I said, I missed most of last season, so correct me if I'm wrong, but Rocco seems kind of immature. The way he pouted over Chodorow's attempts to make the restaurant profitable seemed babyish and unprofessional. And that certainly isn't winning him any points with his staff, who are clearly looking for strong leadership. Without knowing all the details, it seems like Chodorow has a point. Spending $1.80 per business card seems out of control. And even I know that restaurants make a lot of money selling drinks at the bar, especially if there's usually a big wait for tables. Of course, nobody wants their salaries slashed. Chodorow is partly to blame for that: he should have helped Rocco figure out a payroll cap from the beginning. I don't understand why he let Rocco run amock for so long!

I already can't stand Drew! Does Chodorow actually think people are going to buy that intern line? How ridiculous! I hope Rocco sics Mamma on him. Speaking of Mamma, she's great. I feel bad that she's caught in the middle of Chodorow and Rocco. In some ways, Chodorow is just as babyish as Rocco. It was completely unprofessional of him to bad mouth Rocco to the waitress and his mother. As MY mom used to say, discretion is the better part of valor. Or something like that. In short, Chodorow's a big mouth. And not in a funny Trump way. In a bad manager way.

At any rate, this show really conveys what restaurant life is like. I worked at two restaurants in Boston when I was in college, and a lot of the goings on rang true, like the whole gossipy aspect. I loved the fact that the waitress ran back from Chodorow's table and repeated everything he said verbatim. That was hysterical. Oh, the in-fighting, the suspicions, the uncertainty. It makes me miss the restaurant days! I can't wait for next week!

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