The restaurant was opened by A-Z restaurants in 1993. The company was owned by Claudio Pulze, Franco Zanelleto and Giuliano Lotto. The company also opened a second, unrelated restaurant, called Memories of China, during 1993.
Marco Pierre White knew the owners of the restaurant, and introduced his protégé,
Gordon Ramsay, to them. The 26-year-old Ramsay was subsequently hired as head chef and given a 25% stake in the restaurant.
Marcus Wareing was hired in 1993 as a sous chef, and
Angela Hartnett joined the restaurant in 1994, both later leaving to join sister restaurant L'Oranger.
Mark Sargeant joined the team at the restaurant in 1997, and would later become head chef under Ramsay at
Claridge's in 2001. In 1998, a helmet-wearing motorcyclist entered the restaurant, grabbed the reservations book and drove off. This was the only place where the restaurant's reservations were recorded. Despite blaming his former mentor White as the person behind the theft at the time, Ramsay had believed at the time that his bosses at A-Z Restaurants were planning to replace him with White, who had always denied the theft, saying after Ramsay's admission that "it bothered me that I'd been accused of theft. But it was totally inconceivable – implausible. What would my gain have been to behave like that?" A-Z restaurants subsequently sued Ramsay for £1 million citing lost revenue and breach of contract, but eventually settled out of court. The closure of the two restaurants was thought to be costing A-Z Restaurants around £15,000 a day in lost income. Ramsay's departure from Aubergine was documented in the first episode of the
Channel 4 television series
Boiling Point, and he subsequently opened
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on the former site of
La Tante Claire. Ramsay was succeeded at Aubergine by executive chef William Drabble, who had previously worked at the Michelin-starred Nook. Following Ramsay's departure, the restaurant reopened on 11 September 1998. Drabble left the restaurant later that year. After a year, it was announced that the restaurant's owners were considering closing the restaurant to refurbish it and relaunch it as an informal Italian restaurant. It is now owned by Gordon Ramsay and operates as Gordon Ramsay Maze Grill Park Walk. ==Reception==