Restaurant: Impossible's Best Before-and-After Diner Transformations
Relive Robert Irvine's most-drastic diner overhauls ever showcased on Restaurant: Impossible.
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Before: Angelo's Family Restaurant
Thanks to the mirrored walls and bamboo chairs at Angelo's, Robert deemed the 40-year-old restaurant an "old, outdated diner."
After: Angelo's
Robert had lofty plans for the renovation at Angelo's. As he explained, "We're ripping the restaurant apart, from the floors to the ceiling to the walls. Everything's going to make it [an] open plan." And sure enough, he and his team delivered a transformed space.
Before: The Fork Diner
Robert deemed The Fork Diner in Georgia "a kind of very disjointed restaurant," and he questioned whether or not it was indeed a diner, given its disparate looks.
After: The Fork Diner
"I want it to be Southern comfort with a lot of style," designer Cheryl Torrenueva said of her plans for The Fork Diner. She and the team indeed delivered on the mission, as they added fresh paint to The Fork's original tables and featured metal siding on both the light fixtures and the side of the bar.
Before: Uncle Andy's Diner
"One thing that I don't like about diners is that I can see everything that's going on — and that's not a good thing," Robert admitted when he walked into Uncle Andy's, where "the ceiling is disgusting" and "the floor has been destroyed over the years," according to Robert.
After: Uncle Andy's Diner
After a hearty gasp when he saw the finished renovation, owner Andy said simply, "This is amazing." Robert and his team closed off the kitchen and refinished the existing bar stools to offer a cleaner design.
Before: Hillbillies Restaurant
With hanging sheriff-badge lights and a wagon perched in the corner, Hillbillies couldn't hide its fondness for the Wild, Wild West, much to Robert's dismay.
After: Hillbillies Restaurant
After just two days of work, Hillbillies Restaurant had lost most of its wooden interior in favor of cool colors and more-contemporary finishes.
Before: The Windsor 75
"It just says blah," Robert said plainly after taking in The Windsor 75's "pretty pathetic" bar, dilapidated furniture and dirty carpeted floor.
After: The Windsor 75
It's no secret that Robert has a distaste for carpet, and sure enough, it was ripped up and replaced with hard flooring in the dining room, while the bar was transformed with lighter, more inviting colors.
Before: Soup to Nuts Diner
Cleanliness — or the lack thereof — was of critical importance at Soup to Nuts, which included "a dining room drowning in dust," according to Robert.
After: Soup to Nuts Diner
After a deep clean in both the front and the back of the house, Soup to Nuts reopened with brightly colored walls and geometric designs. The Restaurant: Impossible crew maintained the original 1950s theme of the restaurant by incorporating records into the finished design.
Before: Caseyville Cafe
"It just reeks old, dirty, dysfunctional," Robert said not long after arriving at Caseyville Cafe. He was adamant about wanting to remove the carpeted floors and banquet chairs.
After: Caseyville Cafe
Designer Lynn suffered a dent in his renovation budget after Robert needed $1,500 to replace the stove, but he still managed to transform the bar and dining room with new wood-look floors and bold pops of color.
Before: Dinner Bell Restaurant
Robert's request of his designer, Krista Watterworth, for Dinner Bell was simple: Enclose the service area so it's out of view of customers. Beyond that, he told her, "The rest is really, like, up in the air, with anything you want to do."
After: Dinner Bell Restaurant
Thanks to darker, warmer colors, plus booths and wall-side bench seating, Robert and his team were able to make the space inside Dinner Bell "fresh and modern," according to Robert.
Before: Valley View
"I am not a buffet lover," Robert admitted when he saw the setup at Valley View, but he was willing to work with it, so long as changes were made. "If we could resurface and reuse this, and maybe add a hot station ... " he pondered.
After: Valley View
For Robert, a new hot buffet was "one design element I'm counting on to save this restaurant's dire financial situation." He added, "They'll serve a lot of people — fast. They'll get a good, hot meal, and it's inexpensive. Ultimately, it brings people to the door."
Before: Country Fare
"What do we turn this into? I've got the idea: It's a great American diner," Robert told his designer Kristin, whose job it was to overhaul the "brown and yellow" she initially found.
After: Country Fare
Clean lines and bright blue paint added a welcome contemporary flair to Country Flair, which the team outfitted with a refreshed pie case and bar.
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