Yesterday afternoon, Gordon Ramsay landed in New York, cleared customs, and proceeded directly to West 54th Street. Off the lobby of the recently opened London NYC hotel, workmen were putting the finishing touches on his restaurant, Gordon Ramsay at the London, where 300 people were expected at 6:30 for the opening-night cocktail party. Today, Mr. Ramsay is off to an afternoon signing at a Midtown Barnes & Noble for his new book, “Roasting in Hell’s Kitchen.” And tomorrow the restaurant, his first in America, will officially open to the public. In kitchen speak, that’s called “firing on all burners.”

The British chef’s very busy schedule is but one factor that has contributed to negative buzz about his latest restaurant. The initial budget of $2 million eventually ballooned to $6 million. There has been talk of a problem with the tip structure between union and non-union staff. As soon as the reservation line opened last month, discussion at Web sites such as eGullet, Diner’s Journal, and Eater erupted over, most recently, the restaurant’s reported policy of a two-hour time limit for diners in the restaurant’s formal dining room. (The Ramsay camp said this has never been a policy.) But still, the restaurant says there isn’t a single dinner reservation available until the end of December.

The big question is: Is the restaurant the real thing, or is it merely a franchise that’s part of a television host’s expanding empire? Gordon Ramsay Holdings operates 12 restaurants, from London to Tokyo and Dubai, with plans to open restaurants in Boca Raton and Los Angeles next year. Press reports have portrayed Mr. Ramsay both as the pugilist chef known to viewers of the Fox reality show “Hell’s Kitchen,” and as a skilled and hard-working cook.

“Hell’s Kitchen” was the first view most New Yorkers had of Mr. Ramsay until last week, when his autobiography, subtitled “Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection,” was published. In it, he turns his notoriously critical (and often profane) eye on his own life. It begins with a poor childhood in the U.K. and proceeds through to his career as a chef with eight Michelin stars worldwide. He acknowledges that, true to public perception, he is often extremely aggressive in the kitchen — but also argues that almost any of the world’s top chefs would come off as such if a camera had been placed in their kitchens. He expresses admiration for Thomas Keller and Alain Ducasse, chefs who have multiple restaurants with three-star Michelin ratings. “That’s my goal,” Mr. Ramsay writes.

His eponymous London restaurant earned three stars in the latest Michelin guide, so achievement of that goal rests on his New York venture. Despite the negative pre-opening talk, Gordon Ramsay at the London shows promising signs of becoming a serious destination restaurant.

The first room diners enter is the 70-seat London Bar, which serves breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner. The menu there reflects that of Mr. Ramsay’s London restaurant Maze, featuring small plates of French food with Asian accents. British designer David Collins redesigned the entire hotel, and this is his first restaurant in America. The entrance to the 45-seat formal dining room is at the back of the bar, and while it shares a similar color scheme of white, silver and blues, it is a separate cocoon of elegance. Its details include leather armchairs and vertical wall panels that display hand-carved wood during the day, then pale green lacquer for evening. The French menu and service are intended to be equal in quality to his flagship London restaurant — through at $80 and $110, the tasting menus have been strategically priced about 20% less than his competition.

Mr. Ramsay, like most chefs who attain household-name status, will not be cooking each night at his restaurant. But this opening is important to him. As the party last night, he said,”I plan on being in New York about four or five night a week until the end of the year.”

The man regularly at the stoves will be chef de cuisine Neil Ferguson, who did not fly into New York yesterday: He relocated from London in July with his wife. Mr. Ferguson has worked under Mr. Ramsay for more than 10 years, first as a cook at Aubergine (Mr. Ramsay’s first restaurant), and most recently as head chef at Angela Hartnett at the Connaught, one of Mr. Ramsay’s London outlets. “Of course I’m nervous,” Mr. Ferguson said yesterday afternoon in the kitchen while preparing tuna for the evening’s hors d’ouevres.”But I’m really more excited; I just want to get going.” Once he does, New York’s food fans will be able to judge for themselves.

Gordon Ramsay at the London,151 W. 54th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues,212-468-8888; the London Bar,212-468-8889.