Restaurant Impossible

Did anyone watch the new show on the food network called RESTAURANT IMPOSSIBLE?

I caught the first episode last week. Pretty good show!

Each week Chef Robert Irvine will try and turn a failing restaurant into a successful one. He has a $10,000 budget to work with and just two days to try and put the featured restaurant of that week back on it's feet.

"Day one of the extreme mission begins with a thorough business assessment as Robert launches the restaurant into full service, closely observes the staff and kitchen, and determines their weakest spots. Then, he springs into action by updating the menu, retraining the staff and implementing aesthetic changes with the help of his design team. To ensure a packed house for the grand re-opening at the end of day two, Robert hits the streets to tell the community about the improved restaurant. Will the ruthless schedule, tight budget and ambitious task overcome Robert’s lofty goals, or will this tall order result in restaurant triumph?"

Last week he was in a restaurant in in Palmyra, NJ called Villari's. This week he will be in Providence, R.I. trying to save a failing restaurant named Mainelli's.

The show airs every Wednesday Night at 10:00 PM.

Why couldn't they have been on the air a couple years ago and saved "Cite".

Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares tried to help restaurants in trouble. They featured a Mexican restaurant from my area. He found rancid food, unsanitary conditions and roaches. In an absolute fit, Ramsay went out to the dining room and told the customers to leave (thank God). He brought in experts and they reopened the place. The restaurant did go out of business shortly after it was on the show, though.

Man, this'll be the 3rd series (that I know of) doing the same thing. Besides Kitchen Nightmares I've also been watching reruns of Restaurant Makeover (from Canada, 2005-2008) on Wealth TV. I'll have to check this one out, too -- my DVR's gonna kill me! lol

I began watching it when they went to Pittsburgh to save Del Pizzo's. It's the restaurant where my mother used to waitress. Of course, that was quite a long time ago. It's pretty much a Pittsburgh landmark. I hadn't been there in a decade, but glad to know it has been refreshed and is apparently doing well again.

I've been watching this ever since DC mentioned it -- I love this show! Tho, of course, they add some drama during final editing, but I don't care...

I just wanna know how Robert Irvine has time to work out, with 3 TV shows and how many restaurants...?

Yes, I USED to love this show.....that is until they decided that viewers should log onto the food network website in order to find out what happens to the restaurants after they are given new life by Irvine.

At one time at the end of the show they would tell you if the restaurant went on to continued success, went back to being a failure, etc.

Now after watching the whole show if you want to know what happened you have to log onto food network to find out. That's just bullshit!

I hear ya... but I've never checked "what happened" as the show is entertaining enough...

I do prefer Kitchen Nightmares, though, and at least they air "what happened" to some in future episodes; but I watch all these types of shows.

Did you ever see Restaurant Makeover? The series from Food Network Canada is over, but repeats air on Wealth TV here. I like that one, too. Gotta love Igor with his sledge hammer on "demo[lition] day"!

A few months ago the Irvine show featured a restaurant that is owned by a family in my home town, with whom I grew up. They had a lot of problems. the older dad was dying of cancer; my friend (his middle son) left the business, and the youngest boy was kind of forced into running it with his aging mother.

The kitchen was so bad that the chef and the owner had to use a commercial kitchen of a vendor to instruct the restaurant's chef. It turned out okay, but the dad died soon after the grand reopening.

This is a restaurant that my family uses occasionally for funeral receptions.

A couple of months ago the show visited Del Pizzo's in Pittsburgh, a restaurant I frequented on special occassions when I live there. I've read some of the reviews of it lately and they are bad. Customers say that Del's has returned to the same bad food and bad service as prior to the RI "reformation".

I wonder if that's characteristic of the other restaurants RI tries to shape up.

I'm sure that's up to the restaurant owners themselves, whether they shaped-up or gonna get shipped-out of business....

I got turnd on to this show a few months ago and it is absolutely addicting, even though it is more orless the same show each time. You can go to the Food Channel's website and it will tell you how the various restaurants are doing.

its a really great show and i wouldnt wanna piss robert off he's a big guy. if anybody wants to watch the show online here you go...

http://www.1channel.ch/watch-2723397-Restaurant-Impossible

most of the links work great!

I checked it out and can't locate where one can find out a restaurant's current status.

Yes it's a great show, but Don Cardi is correct- they ought to have a follow up show, not make you go on line to view their progress. There are now several good restaurant rescue shows resturant stakeout is one and is quite good