Last month I wrote about a new series coming to the Food Network that wasn’t really that new.  Restaurant Stakeout was a retooling (or so it would seem) of a pilot the Network ran last fall called Mystery Diners.  Tonight there was a sneak peek of the finished product.

Food Network’s description:

Follow tough-love restaurateur Willie Degel as he busts the bad habits of struggling restaurants on Food Network’s new show, Restaurant Stakeout. See what really happens when waiters, bartenders and kitchen and service staff think no one is watching. Armed with hidden-camera footage and covert surveillance from restaurants across the country, Willie doesn’t hold anything back. He tackles kitchen hazards and impossible customers alike, but is it enough to make a difference?

My thoughts:

I could live without the Jersey Shore seediness but I guess “asshole” is de rigueur on reality TV these days.  On the whole I prefer Mystery Diners because it combined the key elements of feel-good shows like Restaurant: Impossible with gotcha shows like To Catch a Predator while Restaurant Stakeout is more about Degel’s Tony Soprano-esque personality than anything.  Mystery Diners had more substance; Restaurant Stakeout is more gimmick.

Enough contrasting, the production value of Restaurant Stakeout was top notch.  The music was pretty good, the cinematography was spot on as well.  The cut-aways to Degel sitting behind a desk like Donald Trump while pontificating about service were pretty cheeky.  That being said, he was absolutely on target in his evaluation of the service team at Las Vegas’ Firefly Tapas Bar.  Sadly enough, it is a common site at most American restaurants.

There were certain scenes that just seemed acted rather than the result of hidden cameras.  In particular one argument between an experienced server and a newbie about snaking a table.  Those kind of arguments go on everyday and they get quite heated.  I’ve seen hundreds of them.  That’s why I think this one seemed staged.  The emotions seemed right but there was just something about the body language that felt off.  In fact, one of the servers in the dispute, Diane, was constantly showing up on camera doing outrageous things.  She just came off as as fake.  But most things seemed on the up and up, just not the scenes with Diane.

However both variations on this concept (Mystery Diners and Restaurant Stakeout) help demonstrate why 50% of new restaurants fail within two years – the pure, unbridled selfishness of the employees.  And that’s a very good thing.  Just knowing that you might be exposed as a thief on national television would surely put a dent in the rampant pilferage of today’s restaurant employees and their “Occupy Wall Street” sense of entitlement.  Wanting something is not the same thing as earning something.

Tune in for the series premiere Wednesday, March 14 at 10 pm EST to catch the drama.