Anyone watched Final Table the new Netflix food competition show yet?

Vanillalite · Dec 6, 2018

It's top chefs from around the globe all cooking against each other. Think less run of the mill chefs on a random food Network show, and more the best of the best. Like people from the top 50 best restaurants list and everyone with Michelin Stars galore.

So far I'm two episodes in and I like Netflix's first try and this level of a cooking show.

Viewt · Dec 6, 2018

Yeah, I watched this over Thanksgiving weekend. It was pretty good! There are some areas I'd like to see them address, but the concept is solid. Thumbs up.

Ajax125 · Dec 6, 2018

I love the short docs they produce that give you taste of the places the chefs are from and some of the food they are creating. If you love the cinematography in chef's table, you'll enjoy this just as much.

Vanillalite · Dec 6, 2018

Ajax125 said:
I love the short docs they produce that give you taste of the places the chefs are from and some of the food they are creating. If you love the cinematography in chef's table, you'll enjoy this just as much.

You can tell it's got Netflix budget behind it vs insert random show on cable.

Vanillalite · Dec 6, 2018

I will say that the pacing threw me in the first episode. Like sometimes they were talking about the dish with everyone, and then the next dish ditto. Then all of a sudden they like hit the fast forward button and we're flying through reviews.

spyder_ur · Dec 6, 2018

Host is super awkward. Watch his little send offs when he walks away at the end of episodes. Cringe city.

We liked it though. I heard someone say it looks like it's shot in a spaceship and that's about right.

infinitebento · Dec 6, 2018

I binged it.

I fucking hate the host.

Woolley · Dec 6, 2018

Its pretty good. Its a little weird removing the contestants and then bring them back for the final judgement is a little clunky. They should just keep them to the side a little. I could also do without having two celebrity judges, I would be OK with just one.

I really liked how international it all was and how they let the judges talk in their own language instead of forcing them to speak English.

ty_hot · Dec 6, 2018

Only 3 episodes to go, first episodes aren't that great because there are too many chefs and they don't have time to show a lot (first half of the episode), then the second half is great because it is just 3 pairs of chefs. Comparing to Masterchef you can see that they have a much higher level of expertise, but 1-hour episode is a bit short.

spoiler from episode 2:

The Miró plate is the most amazing plate I have ever since, a true work of art

Deleted member 19626 · Dec 6, 2018

l love the level of detail in the food, it's simply inspiring. Also amazed a tire company gives out the most desired reviews for restaurants

Ajax125 · Dec 6, 2018

Infinitebento said:
I binged it.

I fucking hate the host.

They need to get Alton brown to host the next season

Deleted member 25600 · Dec 6, 2018

Markofhavoc said:
l love the level of detail in the food, it's simply inspiring. Also amazed a tire company gives out the most desired reviews for restaurants

Makes sense if you read the history of the guide. It was originally intended to get people to travel more and then increase demand for new tyres.

infinitebento · Dec 6, 2018

Ajax125 said:
They need to get Alton brown to host the next season

Duuuuuude, he would be perfect for that setting.

durrrklin · Dec 6, 2018

I liked it but I don't like the crowed aspect of it. Like all the cheering, it just annoys me.

Aside from that all the chefs were fantastic and watching them work was extremely entertaining.

ShapeDePapa · Dec 6, 2018

It was fun to see a cooking show with a lot of really great badass chefs. As a cook myself I thought that it was really inspiring. I hope there's a season two sometime next year!

WaffleTaco · Dec 6, 2018

Yeah, it was a fun show. I love cooking shows, I'm not going to lie. I just wish they didn't make me hungry for food I can't make or eat.

Arttemis · Dec 6, 2018

Damn, the suggestion of Alton Brown hosting this is going to be burned into my mind from now on.

julian · Dec 6, 2018

Our judges tonight are, a celebrity you may or may not have heard of, a food critic you definitely don't know, and a hot lady to make conversations awkward!

Hycran · Dec 6, 2018

julian said:
Our judges tonight are, a celebrity you may or may not have heard of, a food critic you definitely don't know, and a hot lady to make conversations awkward!

This really is the problem with the show isn't it? I'm sure it's more than this but both my wife and I stopped watching the show because the format was insufferable.

Food looks unreal though.

Yams · Dec 6, 2018

I've eaten at that winners places and will be going there again next week for some drinks. Great spot

aznpxdd · Dec 6, 2018

Yep going to check out Otium thanks to the show!

petitmelon · Dec 6, 2018

I liked everything except the host (he was so, so, bad!) and the final winner. Of course the contestant I hated the entire competition wins it.

Fat4all · Dec 6, 2018

julian said:
Our judges tonight are, a celebrity you may or may not have heard of, a food critic you definitely don't know, and a hot lady to make conversations awkward!

yeah, they should tweak that format a bit

i don't mind people who are famous in other countries and unknown to me, but i wouldn't mind a touch more background on them, something like a shorter version of the master chefs intro

the only one i really knew besides the guests from america was Julio César Chávez

TangoTango · Dec 6, 2018

I binged watched it all. I prefer it to all other cooking competition shows. I just watched an episode of Top Chef and I can't watch that crap anymore. I hope there's another season of Final Table and they tweak a few things.

BumbaT BrowN · Dec 6, 2018

petitmelon said:
I liked everything except the host (he was so, so, bad!) and the final winner. Of course the contestant I hated the entire competition wins it.

Uses maggi seasoning twice....

Raguel · Dec 6, 2018

It wasn't a bad show. Lots of potential

btags · Dec 7, 2018

I liked it a lot. The one thing that bugged me was how inconsistent the judging was. For one of the cuisines it may have been prudent to stick close to the style/flavor of the original dish because that is what the judges were looking for, then the next week if you did the same thing the judges would slam you for not being original. I think they need to more clearly define if they want the chefs' dishes to resemble the cuisine's dish or just be inspired by it.

Vanillalite · Dec 7, 2018

btags said:
I liked it a lot. The one thing that bugged me was how inconsistent the judging was. For one of the cuisines it may have been prudent to stick close to the style/flavor of the original dish because that is what the judges were looking for, then the next week if you did the same thing the judges would slam you for not being original. I think they need to more clearly define if they want the chefs' dishes to resemble the cuisine's dish or just be inspired by it.

This I can get behind the more I watch the show. It feels like the show lacks a coherent judging criteria. The chef at the end judging seemed to be better at this, but the 3 main judges for the first round were all over the place.

Show has great potential, but they need to clean stuff up for season 2.

Deleted member 13091 · Dec 7, 2018

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm 3 episodes in now and think it's great. The skill and presentation of these dishes are amazing.

I recognize the host from judging other food competitions, so he knows his stuff....but not a fantastic host.

GK86 · Dec 7, 2018

Just watched the first episode, the host is annoying, it has editing issues (the jump cuts) , and the judges looked like they were picked out of a hat.

btags · Dec 10, 2018

Vanillalite said:
This I can get behind the more I watch the show. It feels like the show lacks a coherent judging criteria. The chef at the end judging seemed to be better at this, but the 3 main judges for the first round were all over the place.

Show has great potential, but they need to clean stuff up for season 2.

Yeah, I guess it is also weird that people who do well and do not have to cook in the second round basically have no interaction with the world renowned chefs. It almost seems like the people who go to the "final table" round actually get more intimate experience with these chefs, even if they end up leaving.

Jean-Luc Ponty · Dec 10, 2018

I found the show to be enjoyable, but I have caught myself falling asleep to it in the later episodes.

The soundtrack is too on-the-nose with it's attempt to increase/relieve tension. The cues are too obvious to where I hear a good/bad remark before it's spoken by the judges.

The host is also stiff. The end credits have a disclaimer that parts of the show were rerecorded for retelling purposes and it's a shame they didn't use that opportunity to reflilm the host's quips and one-liners.

Lastly, the theme of the show reminds me too much of "The Final Countdown," by Europe. I'm constantly humming the melody singing "the final table," everytime I see the opening credits of the show.

j_rocca42 · Dec 10, 2018

I enjoyed it quite a bit. The wife and I binged it in a couple days. Looking forward to another season.

bawjaws · Dec 10, 2018

The host is unbearable.
Those UK judges :D

Rocket Man · Dec 10, 2018

Great show

Thordawgg · Dec 11, 2018

Just onto the second episode now and really like the presentation and the camaraderie between the contestants. The stage is pretty hectic and I'm really liking it so far, I think it'd be cool if they had more than an hour though

offcast · Dec 11, 2018

I think the concept of the show and the talent involved is amazing, however it was a really deflating ending that with all these amazing chefs with creative dishes, the winner was the safest traditional chef.

It would be more interesting if there's another season but with less chefs and they each get to represent their region.

Also how much did that one professional judge hate Hassan Minhaj?

OsakaDon · Dec 11, 2018

Is the show full of all that annoying cut away bull shit where they talk about what is happening, as if it's happening right now? If so, I'm gonna pass.

PuppetMinion · Dec 11, 2018

I have just watched the first episode so far. I like that it is all professional chefs but the celebrity judges take a lot away from that.

Teriyaki Blues · Dec 11, 2018

I'm always amused when one of the contestants is a Japanese otaku in some way, even though it is on the nose enough to make younger me cringe in self reflection. A few of the bakers on GBBO have been, though some more subtly than others.

The criticisms in this thread are on point. I enjoy horrible cooking/cooking competition shows though, so I binged it straight through.

I hated Ash and Alex so much. They're young and inexperienced but they also don't treat their ingredients or their cooking respectfully. I had "Bobby Flay jumping on the cutting board" flashbacks every time they were talking about how they were going to (paraphrasing) "wing it". I also felt like Grant Achatz bullied through the chef that he personally wanted to win, truly they picked a great Chef USA.

siddx · Dec 11, 2018

Its no nailed it, but it seems alright.

Woolley · Dec 11, 2018

siddx said:
Its no nailed it, but it seems alright.

Gross. Can't stand that show.

Contranova · Dec 11, 2018

I really enjoyed this show. Watched it over Thanksgiving.

As some of you mentioned, I do love that it's a bit of a documentary when it features the food and the chef judge. The fact that it's international is also a big plus.

However, yes, the judge is super cringe-y and is it just me or the final contests (and winner) weren't all that exciting?

They should fix the pairing system too. I don't think it's fair that a pair is eliminated and it's only in the last episode where they get to show their individual talents.

siddx · Dec 11, 2018

Woolley said:
Gross. Can't stand that show.

Anyone who cant appreciate the lighthearted hilarity and brilliance of nailed it is probably a lost cause and should embrace the lack of humanity within them. Go forth and be the unfeeling serial killer you clearly are.

Teriyaki Blues · Dec 11, 2018

siddx said:
Anyone who cant appreciate the lighthearted hilarity and brilliance of nailed it is probably a lost cause and should embrace the lack of humanity within them. Go forth and be the unfeeling serial killer you clearly are.

The Trump Cake made me stop watching Nailed It right then and there, speaking about people who demonize otherness and have a lack of human traits, such as empathy.

Thordawgg · Dec 16, 2018

Just finished it and totally enjoyed it start to finish but found the second half more enjoyable as there was more time to enjoy the actual cooking. I think my favourite part was the pre-produced videos about the chefs and/or food. On that note though particularly the last few episodes I felt the sound mixing was off during the voice over for those videos, was quiet when they start and then they get it right.

Teriyaki Blues said:
I also felt like Grant Achatz bullied through the chef that he personally wanted to win, truly they picked a great Chef USA.

Totally got that vibe as well, missus and her mum watched it before me and were dying to talk about it after I finished watching.

shamanick · Dec 17, 2018

I liked it overall but it wasn't quite as compelling as something like Top Chef.

Does anyone else think that Charles Michel looks exactly like a Persona character?

Consensual · Dec 17, 2018

Watched it, loved the idea, hated the execution. It was so totally American.

And it was completely and utterly rigged. There's no way the dude cooking a dish from his own restaurant should have won that, when only the American chef was championing the dish.

There were some awesome chefs on the show, and I feel like a slightly different format with better hosts and it would be an amazing show. The two Australian chefs were great because they actually talked about what they were doing, and why. As opposed to just "Did I mention I love Japan yet? Here's some Japanese terms to show you much I love Japan. I don't know if you know about Japanese culture, but look at my try-hard pose." and "Here's a bunch of pretentious stuff to make my dish sound super fancy, even though it looks like something you'd never want to eat, and I sound like somebody you'd never want to meet. Something something philosophy."

Taco truck dude was brilliant.

CitizenVectron · Dec 17, 2018

I enjoyed the show, thought I was disappointed in the winner since he was so safe. I would have been happy with any of the other three. Yes the chef from Calgary was a Japanese-worshipping dudebro, but he at least was trying some interesting stuff with that last dish, and he was the least-established of the four. And the two Australian guys were of course awesome and explained their stuff the best. Personally I think that Charles and the Argentinian guy deserved to be in the final, they definitely elevated their food to art. Also I agree that taco truck guy was the best since he was so sincere and was the least well-known of all of them.

Fakto · Dec 17, 2018

I liked the chefs and chefs' guests. I didn´t like the set and the host, the overly dramatic lights and the unnecessary drama.

Anyone watched Final Table the new Netflix food competition show yet?

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