Seemed to me like they knew that they needed to end on a high note but didn't know how to land it last season, so they just stretched it out into 8 episodes now. The first 4 episodes just felt like stretching everything out

Also...Michelin Star reviewers are well known for not telling people who they are or when they visited a restaurant, and stars are announced at a ceremony. They definitely don't call the restaurant to tell them their name, when they visited, and that they've been awarded a star (or multiple stars, in this case). For a show that got a lot of praise for how showing how high end restaurants often work that just seemed like lazy writing.