restaurantKitchen Nightmares (US) · Season 2, Episode 9 · Aired November 13, 2008
Sabatiello's
Stamford, CT
It closed and is no longer operating.
What happened after
Italian restaurant listed as closed; source claims it 'was closed even before the episode was aired on TV' (Nov 13 2008).
What happened on the show
How can it be soup of the day, Ramsay wondered aloud, when it is the soup of yesterday? At Sabatiello's the Italian wedding soup was actually three days old, its meatballs gone gray, which captured owner Sammy Settembre perfectly: a lifelong restaurant man, a million dollars in debt, and utterly convinced his Stamford spot excelled at everything. It did not. The lasagna was frozen, prompting Ramsay to vow he would dance around the room naked if it were truly homemade, and the New York strip came tough and unseasoned. Sammy met each critique with a theory that Ramsay was simply Scottish, or in a bad mood, or did not understand lasagna. In the walk-in Ramsay found raw and cooked products stored together beneath a surface that looked spotless. When plates came back during service, Sammy defended them with the line that they were not that bad, then had a customer's cold lamb microwaved rather than remade.
After the cameras left
Sabatiello's is closed, though the sourcing around when is shaky. One account claims it shut before the November 2008 episode even aired, but that phrasing is nearly identical to the write-up for a different restaurant from the same broadcast night, which reads more like recycled boilerplate than a verified fact, so no closure date is asserted here. The Stamford address at 269 Bedford Street lost its Italian restaurant. A proud owner who could not hear a single note of criticism was never a promising candidate to turn things around.
Sources
Confidence: medium. Last checked 2026-07-19.
What is there now
Street imagery via Google Maps. Location approximate.