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It's the end for Brighton restaurant Momma Cherri's

1:35pm Thursday 20th August 2009 in


Brighton's famous “soul food” restaurant Momma Cherri's has closed for good.

The restaurant in Little East Street, Brighton, which gained national recognition after it was featured by TV chef Gordon Ramsay, has been shut for several weeks after administrators moved in, told staff to leave and changed the locks.

It was being run under licence by a company called American Soul Food Ltd, set up by Katryna Thomas-Shell, the daughter of Momma Cherri – real name Charita Jones.

It was hoped that a Brighton businessman would buy the business and take it out of administration so it could re-open.

But Mrs Jones said she has now taken the reluctant decision to move on to other projects.

The restaurant shot to national fame after being featured on the Gordon Ramsey show Kitchen Nightmares.

But ultimately, this was not enough to save its skin.

It is the second Brighton restaurant to have been hit by what is becoming known as the curse of Gordon Ramsey.

Love’s fish and seafood restaurant in St James’s Street, Kemp Town, closed in December, blaming the credit crunch for its woes.

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Comments(34)

cheezburger says...
2:04pm Thu 20 Aug 09

And avoid paying her debts, and presumably run up more. Parasite.

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UglyAmerican says...
2:09pm Thu 20 Aug 09

The only reason this even made the news is because Gordon "F-Bomb" Ramsay skulked across it's threshold.

The food was mediocre at it's pinnacle and abysmal the rest of the time.

Calling the grub served there Soul Food is an insult to every roadside greasy spoon in the Southern United States.

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Lil says...
2:14pm Thu 20 Aug 09

Surely being on Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is not a good thing really?

Basically by going on that you're admitting you run a failing establisment with cr@p food.

Not exactly somewhere I'd go to if I knew about it beforehand from seeing the shennanigans you usually see on the programme, even if its supposedly cleaned up its act.

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censored says...
2:18pm Thu 20 Aug 09

I heard nothing more than mediocre to bad reviews of the place.

Let's face it, if a restaurant fails TWICE even after two national TV shows, dozens of press articles and a well-publicised cookery book, there's something fundamentally wrong with it.

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Red Hand says...
3:00pm Thu 20 Aug 09

Good riddance! Let's get a decent restaurant in there.

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stickman says...
3:06pm Thu 20 Aug 09

Contrary to the doom and gloom merchants, most good, inexpensive restaurants are not suffering too badly in Brighton. To fail you have to be crap - and that is what this place was.

But I'm sure Ms Jones was smart enough to isolate herself financially from the failure and its only the staff who have suffered...

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salty_pete says...
3:20pm Thu 20 Aug 09

A "niche" market will only be a passing fad. Great for a one off experience I suppose, but how many punters went more than once ?

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RickH says...
3:51pm Thu 20 Aug 09

Never saw that coming........

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RickH says...
3:52pm Thu 20 Aug 09

Never saw that coming.....over-pric
ed rubbish food. She made the fundamental mistake of failing to listen to good advice and now her staff have paid the price.

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stan bailey says...
4:18pm Thu 20 Aug 09

I wonder if they made any money on route to adminstration

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Pat Mustard says...
4:41pm Thu 20 Aug 09

Wasn't this woman Argus Brighton Business Woman of the Year? (or similar)

I hope the new projects are nothing bigger than an Airfix kit. How can continually bad business people be allowed to continue to risk the livelihoods of suppliers and staff in setting up one failing business after another?


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artyray says...
5:09pm Thu 20 Aug 09

Bring back Choys, nice Chinese food at reasonable prices (unlike nearby Gars)... and they kept Quadrophenia alley tidy too.

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jbhove says...
5:21pm Thu 20 Aug 09

It won't be missed. It was over-priced and the food was very poor. In fact, I've never heard anyone ever saying that they had a good meal there. Plenty other restaurants in Brighton and Hove and many of them are EXCELLENT.

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Mr Binks says...
5:44pm Thu 20 Aug 09

I would actually rate Mama Cherries as one of the WORST eateries I've ever been too.

And why did it get to such a state that Potty Mouth had to come in???? Because the management have no idea how to run a restaurant, so along comes Potty Mouth, gets a few more £££ in his pocket, a bit more publicity, ****s off again, and what's changed? Nothing, still the same rubbish management.

It takes a LOT of experience, skill, commitment and patience to run a good restaurant.

skills clearly lacking in this case.

Glad it's shut, though feel sorry for the staff who have, undoubtedly, been shafted.


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Mary Hinge says...
5:58pm Thu 20 Aug 09

This might be of interest:

http://www.brighton-
eating.com/33874.htm



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Jay-kay says...
6:33pm Thu 20 Aug 09

Do you know i really liked it before it went down hill, it was a relaxed atmosphere and good ideas on food. but that was a few years ago, I think she just didnt listen to mr ramsey ..
shame really

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Bruce Gyngell says...
6:56pm Thu 20 Aug 09

censored wrote:
I heard nothing more than mediocre to bad reviews of the place. Let's face it, if a restaurant fails TWICE even after two national TV shows, dozens of press articles and a well-publicised cookery book, there's something fundamentally wrong with it.
Its closed for one reason and ONE reason alone....... it was utter shi*. Non news story!

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jonathon says...
8:10pm Thu 20 Aug 09

I am surprised it lasted as long as it did. Having ate there only once but I would have voted it The worst eating house in Brighton. The food was crap, the service dreadful and the woman herself up her own ar-e. It is an insult to call it a restaurant, it was just an eating house.

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TheInsider says...
9:21pm Thu 20 Aug 09

A friend and I went in there before Gordon Ramsay intervened and waited more than an hour and a half for the smallest plate of fried chicken and a few fries and another dish of food to arrive. It looked so sad on the plates and the portions were miniscule. My friend's order had several items missing. When we asked where the missing items were, were were told they had run out. No apology.
We tried desperately to get drinks served, but had to wait 25 minutes between ordering drinks and getting them.
We politely complained that we were disappointed with the experience and the response was that the place was very busy and they didn't have enough staff. No apology.
Incredible.
We ate and left and then went to KFC and got a family bucket of the same stuff for a tenner because we were ravenous.


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Red Hand says...
9:41pm Thu 20 Aug 09

"Other projects" = signing on

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Donkey OT says...
11:12pm Thu 20 Aug 09

Never had a bad meal there.Some sad racist sh1t going on here.
Colonel Sanders,Gordon Ramsay?
I doubt Adolf Hitler was big on West Indian food either.

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snerper says...
11:24pm Thu 20 Aug 09

Red Hand wrote:
"Other projects" = signing on
Not signing on, working for Mac D's at the marina, as one of those older employees the argus told us about the other day! At least she'll be in her element, back to serving s**t food, yet again!

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domcom says...
11:49pm Thu 20 Aug 09

And what was Brighton Council doing promoting her as the expert on cooking at local schools - this woman certainly knows how no nurture self-publicity and will not be away for long. This is not a racist issue Donkey the food was awful but could suvive in Brighton beacuse of the number of day trippers. This is the only place I have demanded my money back.

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trixiej says...
5:41am Fri 21 Aug 09

I took some friends there one weekday evening a few months back and it was dreadful - the worst restaurant I've ever visited in Brighton. The food was virtually inedible, the place was nearly empty and there was no atmosphere in there - Caribbean or otherwise. One guy was handling everything on his own and he was excellent, but that was the only plus point about the place.

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oh dear says...
9:27am Fri 21 Aug 09

I went a few times. The first must've been straight after Gordon Ramsey had been but before the programme was aired and the other was after it had moved to the new premises. The first time was great fun-the place had lots of character and the food was good. the second time was appauling. The bigger place seemed to have lost some of the charm and the food was bland and seemed to have been reheated-plus the prices had gone up. We did not return after that.

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jakeymate says...
10:39am Fri 21 Aug 09

what are you talking about donkey?nothing to do with racism as usual,the place was a dive worst place i've ever eaten in.i'm glad its gone.have a look at the other comments to get the general feeling of the dump

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Fozzyboy says...
12:23pm Fri 21 Aug 09

Hey Donkey OT, I fail to see where rascism comes into this. Everyone is stating their experiences on their evening out.
I'm new to this site, so are you just another one of them people who posts threads for a reaction?

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ShorehamBeachcomber says...
1:03pm Fri 21 Aug 09

it was rubbish then Ramsay gave her some tips which she ignored and went back to her old tasteless pre prepared rubbish when he revisited..desrved to go down

security word stupido

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Avangelist says...
2:59pm Fri 21 Aug 09

It is always really sad to see somebody handed a golden key to the city only to think it has chocolate inside it and throw it away.

Two restaurants both suffering from the same failings - management. Both folded. It is incredible that the credit cards kept cherries open this long because for years it has been highly regarded as tosh.

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Donkey OT says...
4:12pm Fri 21 Aug 09

Fozzyboy wrote:
Hey Donkey OT, I fail to see where rascism comes into this. Everyone is stating their experiences on their evening out. I'm new to this site, so are you just another one of them people who posts threads for a reaction?
Sometimes.LOL.

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John Steed says...
7:28pm Fri 21 Aug 09

This place will not be missed, it was a bad idea, poorly carried out and any one who saw the ramsey programme would agree it was an animal that needed putting down.
It will not be missed and will pass into obscurity very quickly, it will not become a legend in the life and times of brighton

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Donkey OT says...
9:10pm Fri 21 Aug 09

John Steed wrote:
This place will not be missed, it was a bad idea, poorly carried out and any one who saw the ramsey programme would agree it was an animal that needed putting down. It will not be missed and will pass into obscurity very quickly, it will not become a legend in the life and times of brighton
A bit like Russell Slade.

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David Panter says...
10:15pm Mon 24 Aug 09

We tried to get a table on a Sunday a few weeks ago. They said they weren't open yet and we should come back in half an hour. When we came back half an hour later, they said they were full.
The only time I have eaten Momma Cherri's food was at Beachdown last year. I thought £5 was rather a lot to pay for what was effectively a bit of KFC and some coleslaw. Security word: rip-off

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yobear says...
10:13am Tue 25 Aug 09

I went there once with friends from London who really wanted to go there "because of the publicity".

Had a veggie bowl that was extraordinarily expensive. You would have thought at least you'd get a decent portion. What came out was a small dipping bowl of jazzed-up beans. Heinz make them better.

No wonder I never went again.

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