What Happened to Juicy Box After Kitchen Nightmares? (Brooklyn, NY)

The Juicy Box Bar and Lounge, a Haitian-owned restaurant and bar on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn's Midwood section, was opened in January 2018 by Jacques Sylvestre, whose parents emigrated from Haiti, according to a recap published by the fan site Reality TV Updates. Sylvestre turned daily operations over to his son, Naqam ("Q"), in 2019, when Naqam was 21; daughter Napalya also worked at the restaurant, focusing more on its bar and event side than its kitchen. The restaurant was featured in Kitchen Nightmares Season 8, Episode 5, filmed in June 2023; the episode's air date was pushed from an original Halloween-season slot to November 6, 2023 because of Major League Baseball playoff scheduling.

Despite the restaurant's name, Ramsay found its juice machine had been broken for eight months, and the kitchen had been serving smoothies in its place; several other menu items were also unavailable during his visit, and a walk-in refrigerator was among the equipment problems found. As part of the relaunch, Ramsay reworked the menu, decor, and kitchen systems, and arranged for Reuel Vincent, a chef from the Fox competition series Next Level Chef, to stay on and train the kitchen staff; he also worked directly with Naqam on organization and motivation, including an early-morning workout session shown on the episode. The restaurant hosted a Kitchen Nightmares watch party for the delayed November premiere, according to Instagram posts referenced by Reality TV Updates, and continued regular event programming, including a Sunday Caribbean brunch and recurring live-music and DJ nights, through the months that followed.

No independent news coverage of the restaurant's later status was found in this research. A Yelp listing for the Nostrand Avenue address is marked permanently closed as of a September 2026 update to the site, though no dated news account or official statement confirming a closure date was located, and the restaurant's social media activity as described in coverage from late 2023 showed it operating normally at that time.