Restaurant Impossible - Sweet Tea's Update

Tonight is actually the season five finale (this episode was listed with season 1 on the Food Network website) of Restaurant Impossible, with the sixth season beginning shortly on Wednesday, April 17th.  This episode has Robert Irvine is going to Sweet Tea's Restaurant in Pineville, North Carolina to help a restaurant struggling due to a hard to find location.  Besides not being able to attract customers, the restaurant also has an identity crisis.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about the Sweet Tea'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:

• "Love, love, love this place! My friend and I just happened to be passing by and thought we would try it...all we could say was "WOW"! The decor is so cozy and inviting, the food is amazing and the staff is so friendly - which is so uncommon these days! This will be a regular place to go from now on!"
• "Sweet tea is just what pineville needed . It's in the bi-lo shopping center off 51 near the mall. Great place to meet for dinner or breakfast :)"
• "This place deserves some Yelp love.  I found out about it due to the TV Show they shot here (Restaurant Impossible) and as a little skeptical but decided to try it -- boy, am I glad I did it.  The place looks nice and the food was very good."
• "Dined here for a second time this past Wednesday night and again enjoyed...Our server was busy, but attentive and friendly.  Glad to have this gem of a restaurant in our area."
• "Great food, friendly service, lovely atmosphere...who could ask for anything more right?  This place isn't in a noticeable spot but once you find it you'll be glad you did.  I've eaten there 3 times do far and every time has been good.....One thing I need to mention also...the prices are very reasonable. Check this place out.  You won't be disappointed!"
• "Everything was great here...Overall, great place.  Definitely worth coming back to."

Negative Reviews

• "We were so disapointed by this place, and should have just gone to McDonalds. We read the good reviews this place got on our way home and I can only hope that they work here. Otherwise they have NO taste buds!! I wish I could give no stars, I created an account just for you Sweet Teas."
• "The food, service , and overall restaurant were bad. You could say maybe we went in too late, but if that's the case, this place won't make it long without having consistent food and service."
• "With the news Sweet Tea's will be on an upcoming episode of Restaurant Impossible, I had to check it out. Unfortunately I was highly disappointed."

Conclusion:

It seems like most of the reviews of Sweet Tea's are good and that people love the food, service and prices.  There was a lot of local hype and a lot of people showed up to the reveal, so hopefully Sweet Tea's can capitalize on this and get these customers to return.  The reviews before Restaurant Impossible did the makeover were also good, so maybe it actually was the location rather than the food that was plaguing this restaurant.

One complaint that I saw frequently was people complaining about having to go to the register to pay rather than having the waiter/waitress handle the check.  They might want to look at changing that, as even the positive reviews had that complaint.


As this was the ACTUAL season five finale of Restaurant Impossible, I will be posting an update of ALL restaurants that have appeared on the show later this week.  It will have which restaurants are open, closed, sold, etc., so look for that sometime during the week.  UPDATE - Here is the Link

UPDATE - Sweet Tea's Closed in 7/2014 - More Information On The Closing.

Reviews from Yelp