Restaurant: Impossible - Stella's Italian Restaurant Update

Tonight's Restaurant: Impossible has Robert Irvine going to Stella's Italian Restaurant in Stratford, CT.  As I did last week, I took a look at the reviews the restaurant has received since Robert's April visit, as well as local articles about the restaurant, and it doesn't look too good for Stella's after my research.  We will see if the Food Network spins it positively with their update.  There were many reviews on Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Google, so we are not dealing with a small sample size with all of the negative reviews.  If you want to wait until the episode airs to read on, just come back after you watch the episode.  Let's check out some of the highlights or should I say low-lights in the reviews:

• "Stellas you suck! I predict your out of bussiness within a year. Im never going back and that includes ten other family members that ate there. I cant imagine how many other people feel the same way. Only pro they added a bar. Too bad no one will drink there.... Ps. 100s of Bugs in ceiling shades of the all glass room/booth section. C'MON Robert!"
• "My soda cup had a huge chip in the cup, the lights had numerous dead bugs inside as well! Call me old fashioned but why did are appetizer come after our entrees?"
• "Now here is the issue...they do not really believe they had a problem or do not understand customer service."
• "We were never disappointed with the food...until yesterday!  I was very surprised that they would have a TV show make-over the restaurant, yet leave the banquet room, in which we were seated, in the same drab style from the early 1990s?"
• "After the renovations , the food went downhill. No sides to the food like salads or soup."
• "Even though they had a makeover from Restaurant Impossible, the food was awful and the service was even WORSE!! We saw a family walk in to get seated and they waited several minutes and no one was even around to seat them, so they walked out!!"
• "As a consumer I have choices as to were I want to spend my money but clearly I made a poor decision. If you had problems before considered  yourself doomed now!"
• "Not at all happy with this place....I will not go back. I also would have liked if they included a salad with the dinner.  There were at least 2 other customers there that I overheard complaining about a lot of things."
• "So sad! The renovations look good, but the food has just taken a huge turn for the worse. The menu has been reduced to nothing. The tried and true dishes are gone."

So it looks like many of the regulars are upset about the makeover and the food and service is not pleasing anybody.  I thought it was interesting that 2 different reviews complained about bugs in the ceiling AFTER Robert came and did the makeover.  I also thought it was interesting that they didn't makeover the banquet room along with the restaurant, but I guess the budget is only $10,000.

A few people complained about not getting salads with dinner, and it looks like Stella's has responded to this issue.  Stella's posted a message on their facebook page stating: "You spoke - we listened!
One of the many suggestions we received from Robert Irvine was to offer our dinner salads a la carte rather than with the meal.  Due to the overwhelming concerns from you, our valued and loyal guests, we are very happy to say that we have reversed that decision!  You can, once again, know that when when you sit down in our restaurant, ready to enjoy an authentic Italian dinner, your salad is included!  We cannot thank you enough for speaking up. Your opinions are everything to us and we want to continue to be a part of this wonderful community!"

There is also an article from the ctpost.com about Stella's and the owner Michael Savoie that has some pretty telling things as it is the owner admitting these things:

• "The restaurant received a burst of publicity when the show's renovations were unveiled in April, and Savoie said that the first three weeks after filming were incredibly busy. But eventually traffic slowed down, and Savoie and his mother, Cammie Savoie, who co-owns the restaurant, were faced with deciding whether to keep the changes Irvine had brought."
• "Not all of the change have gone over well with Stella's regular customers. Most loved the new décor, but many didn't like the newer, smaller menu, or changes to the food they'd been ordering for years."
• "Savoie admitted that the newer menu might have attracted a newer, younger crowd, but pointed out that his restaurant couldn't survive if it alienated its most loyal customers."
• "He decided to redo his menu again, adding back old favorites while also keeping a few of the dishes that Irvine had introduced."
• "His restaurant continues to struggle to turn a profit, but Savoie hopes that the exposure it gets when the episode airs Wednesday night will help" 

It looks like in this case, the Restaurant: Impossible visit did not improve this restaurant and it actually may even be worse off.  Some will blame Robert for changing the menu, while others will blame the restaurant for not executing the changes correctly.  What do you think the issue with Stella's is?


UPDATE - Stella's closed in 5/2014 - Information on the closing.

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