Restaurant Impossible - Poco's On The Boulevard Update

Tonight is the season 5 premiere of Restaurant: Impossible, and has Robert Irvine going to the Poco's On The Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri to save a restaurant that was taken over by the original owner's daughters.  The 2 daughters, Claudia and Dana, have been struggling with food quality and profits ever since the death of their mother Poco who was chef/owner.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Poco's to get an idea of how the restaurant is doing since Robert Irvine visited, and here is what I found (note - all reviews and comments are post Restaurant: Impossible):


Positive Reviews:

• "Everything I tried was delicious. You can taste the high quality of their ingredients, and the flavors are interesting and well balanced.  The service is courteous and inobtrusive; the decor is bright and fun...This is now my favorite place in town for breakfast, Mexican or not."
• "Will I be going back?  Absolutely!  Poco's is still evolving into their new skin and I can't wait to see what else comes from the new look and vibe."
•  "Poco's now is high on my list of favorite KC restaurants, with attractive dining room, outstanding service, good recorded Spanish music, reasonable prices, good wine, convenient parking lot, and innovative Latin-American food."
• "All in all we had amazing tastes along with a killer margarita...We will be back-and can't wait to watch the show to see the before and after."
• "Just got back from Poco's. Excellent Service, friendly, nice, and our server definitely knew the menu, even had a recommendation that my girlfriend decided to change her mind to, that was excellent."
• "I always judge Mexican restaurants by their tamales and I was not disappointed! Very authentic. I had a Pineapple Chipotle Margarita too and it was FABULOUS!!!!! I haven't stopped thinking about those margaritas since we left! I will be going back really soon with friends in tow for Happy Hour and more margaritas!" 

Negative Reviews:

• "I asked the server if she had any recommendations to which I got a blank stare, a smirk and then no answer. Not a good sign....I really want to like this place but I just don't get it."
• "In an area that's saturated with Latino/Mexican food, the main thing that sets this apart is it will cost you twice as much. While the food was clearly fresh and not nuked like many competing establishments, it simply isn't worth the price of admission if you ask me. Drop the prices by about 30% and I think you could have a winner on your hands. That and seriously, don't charge for chips and salsa."
•  "I have actually been there 3 times since. The first time we were the only customers....The waitress didn't have a clue about what was on the menu. (A definite no no for Robert Irvine!) But we chalked the poor service up to the new menu....I went back a second time - a different waiter - but much worse service. They didn't know the menu either.... Believe it or not - I went back a third time." Co-workers wanted to try it out for lunch. Again very bad service. My co-workers were really disappointed in their food....If this restaurant is going to succeed it really needs to invest in a staff that cares. I don't think they learned a thing from Robert Irvine."

Conclusion:

It seems as if the reviews before Robert came to visit were not that bad at all and Poco's On The Boulevard continues to get a lot of good reviews.  Most people state how they love the food, atmosphere, and prices and will most likely be repeat customers.  The few negative reviews all seem to have a problem with service, while others think the prices are high for Mexican food.

Also, it seems like a lot of the positive reviews about Poco's are for breakfast.  Robert did not make any adjustments to the breakfast menu and focused on the dinner menu for the makeover.  He took a lot of items off the dinner menu, as is normally done with the Restaurant: Impossible makeovers, however within weeks, the owners have added many of those items back to the menu due to customer complaints.  The owner has also stated "We're much busier than we were before Restaurant: Impossible made over the restaurant.  But after all the publicity dies down, it's still up to us."

UPDATE - The restaurant owners have stated the restaurant is once again making a profit, and sales have risen $20,000 from July to August.  The customers like the new decor and new menu, and the cooks are now working with Poco's original recipes.

UPDATE - The restaurant moved to a smaller location in 2015 and eventually closed in 2016.

Reviews taken from Yelp, Urbanspoon, and Google
Information also taken from The Pitch