Maniaci's Italian Bistro - Restaurant Impossible Update

Photo - Food Network

Tonight on Restaurant: Impossible, Robert Irvine is going to the Maniaci's in Mohnton, Pennsylvania to provide help to a struggling restaurant.  Three sons took over the restaurant after their mother passed away, and they are running the business into the ground.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Maniaci'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):



The Positive Reviews:

• "I drive from Buffalo NY to Mohnton PA regularly and never miss Maniaci's! It was always a comfortable pleasant place with good food at a great value. Staff and owners were always friendly and acommodating. Since Robert Irvine came in, it actually got better. Smaller menu but good variety and quality is excellent."
• "It was good before, but better since Robert Irvine redid the place for an episode of Restaurant Impossible. Now the decor is brighter and less cluttered. Reminds me of an old Italian farmhouse. The menu is smaller than before, but the dishes we tried are much better.... Forget about the old Maniaci's and go back to try the new." 
• "This place has just been done over by Food network's Robert Irvine. It's small but cute. Servers were very friendly. Caprese salad was the best I've had. Osso Buco was magnificent! And the lemony cake delectable. Others were not so pleased with the chicken parm over pasta, but pizza was very good. Would go back again! Good work!"
• "Food was excellent; menu much smaller - and more interesting - than previously. new decor makes it feel like a whole different place. hope that diners who haven't been there in awhile will go back and try the "new" Maniaci's."
• "Great food and wonderful renovation! Thanks for the opportunity to experience it for cheaper."

The Negative Reviews:

• "Service was slow."
• "Did not get waited on for quite some time and the food was not good"
• "The service was absolutely horrible."
• "Food not to our liking - Chicken Parm was heavily breaded & was deep fried almost to a crisp. Not many healthy choices at this restaurant."
• "Chairs were uncomfortable with very low backs and just felt like we were in the middle of things. Their service was poor, we didn't even get a refill on water, nor were we asked about another beverage. The food was odd and not in a good way."

Conclusion:

The reviews of the restaurant were not too bad before Restaurant Impossible came, although there were a good amount of complaints about bad food.  It sounds like most people like the changes that were made by Restaurant Impossible such as the smaller menu and decor.  It also seems like people like the food better, with the exception of the chicken parmesan, which had multiple complaints.  One thing they will need to continue to work on is the service, as there were a lot of complaints about slow service.

Maniaci's has had deals on Double Take Deals ($15 for $30 worth of food) and currently has deals on Restaurant.com. They also keep their Facebook Page up to date, so they are putting in the effort to turn things around, unlike some of the previous owners on the show.

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Reviews from Yelp, Restaurant.com, and Tripadvisor

UPDATE - The restaurant has said they had “almost $15,000 in dining room sales for the month of December.” and that "bar sales are up, as well, nearly $6,000 for the same month."  They have also stuck to the menu Robert suggested with the exception of not offering the branzino.

UPDATE 6/6/2013 - A local article stated that the restaurant is still seeing a surge of customers three months after the show aired, and that Robert Irvine still checks in on the restaurant.

UPDATE 4/2013 - Maniaci's has closed. More information on the closing.