Restaurant Wars

“	Years ago, my dad and Kofi signed an agreement to not steal each other's business. But when I fried up those mozzarella sticks, I reignited the hot oil of war.	”
—Peedee Fryman

Restaurant Wars
Season	3
Episode	12
Overall	90
Broadcast Information
Airdate	July 25, 2016
Production Code	1031-091
Viewers	1.514
Credits
Written and Storyboarded by	Lamar Abrams Katie Mitroff
Directed by	Byung Ki Lee (animation) Jasmin Lai (art) Joe Johnston (supervising)
Episode Guide
Previous	"Beach City Drift"
Next	"Kiki's Pizza Delivery Service"

"Restaurant Wars" is the 12^th episode of the third season of Steven Universe and the 90^th episode overall.

Official Synopsis

Steven must help the Frymans and the Pizzas settle a reignited rivalry between their restaurants.

Plot

While at the Fry Shack, Steven is about to order his regular choice of fry bits. He decides, however, he wants a change and orders off-menu. This is much to Peedee's annoyance, but he later comes out with a tray of mozzarella sticks and marinara sauce (for dipping), which Steven happily accepts. As Steven munches on his new snack, he walks by Fish Stew Pizza where Kofi goes into a rage upon seeing the mozzarella sticks. Kofi declares the sticks have the same ingredients as pizza and thinks Fryman is infringing upon his business. This leads to Kofi putting up a sign saying "Now serving fries". Fryman sees the sign, and he and Kofi both agree to a new restaurant war.

The next day, Steven is on the boardwalk and sees massive amounts of discarded food. He learns from Peedee that when he served Steven mozzarella sticks, he broke a food treaty that his father and Kofi signed years ago. Steven then tries to make Peedee feel less guilty by saying it was his fault for asking for something off-menu, to which Peedee bitterly agrees. Steven then goes to the Fry Shack asking for fries, only to learn they are out and are serving only 'pizza bits'. He then goes to Fish Stew Pizza attempting to order a pizza, only to run away from Kofi, who will only let him order if he signs a contract and allows himself to be branded with a VIP branding iron.

At Steven's house, Steven and the children of the two restaurant owners discuss what to do. Steven then comes up with the idea for Ronaldo and Kiki to pretend to date. Ronaldo is uncomfortable with the idea, stating he has a girlfriend, much to the others' disbelief. The next day, Kiki and Ronaldo pretend to be in love, presenting each other with a bouquet of flowers.  Kofi and Fryman believe the act, and take it as a logical reason to stop the war. However, Ronaldo's girlfriend Jane appears to return Ronaldo's DVD and witnesses the scene. She believes it to be real despite Ronaldo immediately revealing the plan. Jane runs away, causing Ronaldo to try to chase after her.  He immediately falls, bursting into tears. Fryman and Kofi continue the war.

Later that night, Kiki tells Steven the only way the original Restaurant War ended was when Kofi and Mr. Fryman teamed up to take on a more successful restaurant. This prompts Steven to make his own restaurant in his house featuring gourmet french fries and pizza. The Fryman and Pizza families go to "Steven's". Kofi and Mr. Fryman seem skeptical at first, but upon eating Steven's dishes, they find them so delicious that they both decide to plead to Steven to close down his restaurant. Steven accepts only on the condition that they stop the restaurant war, which they agree to, ending the war.

Features

Characters

• Steven
• Kofi Pizza
• Mr. Fryman
• Peedee Fryman
• Ronaldo Fryman
• Jenny Pizza
• Kiki Pizza
• Jane
• Pearl
• Amethyst
• Garnet (non-speaking)
• Onion (non-speaking)

Objects

• Mozzarella sticks
• Fries
• Pizza
• Pizza Bagel
• "Fantastic Fries"
• Koala Princess DVDs

Locations

• Beach City
  • Beach Citywalk Fries
  • Fish Stew Pizza
  • Beach House
  • Suitcase Sam's (mentioned)
  • Everything Buffet (mentioned)

Music

Instrumental Songs

• "Steven's Restaurant"

Trivia

• This episode's name was first revealed in the episode listing on the Cartoon Network website.
• This episode reveals that Ronaldo had a girlfriend named Jane whom was first seen in "Lion 2: The Movie" as the woman behind the ticket booth at the film theater.
• Ian Jones-Quartey makes a cameo in this episode.

Cultural References

• Steven's idea of Ronaldo and Kiki pretending to be in love to end a family feud references William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
• Ronaldo's shoes with wheels on them are a clear reference to the Heelys brand of shoes.
• The stage of Hearts and Minds was also a strategy used by the US government during the Vietnam war to try and convince Vietnam forces to withdraw from combat.
• Ronaldo's quote, "I've got a bad feeling about this." is a line from the popular Star Wars movies, said when a character has misgivings about a plan.
• Kofi's quote "When pizza's on a bagel, you can eat pizza any time!" is a reference to the jingle of the frozen pizza snack bagels, Bagel Bites, featured in the 1990s commercial.
• The Hynes brand ketchup is a reference to the popular ketchup brand, Heinz.
• The Koala Princess DVD collection Jane returns to Ronaldo is a reference to Japanese series Kilala Princess, which features a manga-original character interacting with several Disney Princesses.
• When Jane breaks up with Ronaldo, he calls her "ohime-sama." "Hime" is Japanese for "princess" and "sama" is a respectful honorific.
• The scene in which Mr. Fryman is eating fries is similar to the fried lobster battle in Chūka Ichiban! episode 25, including a fried lobster with sauce in it and the "bite and shock" effect.
• The whole episode references Shokugeki no Soma, including over the top reactions from the eaters and detailed descriptions of food.

Continuity

• VIP(IZZA) from "Secret Team" is possibly referenced when Kofi wants to give Steven VIP access by putting "VIP" on his skin with a branding iron.

Errors

^{Note: Time is displayed in [mm:ss]; [00:00] refers to the point after the title card is displayed and before the episode's start.}

Plot

• [02:59] [05:40] The "Now serving fries!" sign that Kofi hung up in his shop disappears when Steven enters Fish Stew Pizza. It disappears again when Ronaldo and Kiki pretend to be in love.
• [09:49] The stool Amethyst stands on when she and Steven were cooking disappears when Kofi and Mr. Fryman approach Steven to ask him to close down his restaurant.

Transcript

View the episode's transcript here.

Gallery

Click to view the gallery for Restaurant Wars.

Videos

Steven Universe - Spoilers (Clip) HD

Summer of Steven Week 2 Promos

Off Menu Steven Universe Cartoon Network

Restaurant Wars Steven Universe Cartoon Network