Restaurant Impossible - Pier West Update

Photo - Food Network

Tonight on Restaurant Impossible, Robert Irvine and crew are going to Twin Lakes, Wisconsin to help out the Pier West restaurant.  The restaurant has lake views, and owner Chip Wamsley has been making his family angrier and angrier with the restaurant going deeper into debt.  Robert seems to be the only one who has his back as he tries to turn the restaurant around and reunite the family.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Pier West to get an idea of how the restaurant is doing since Robert Irvine visited, and here is what I found (note - all reviews are post Restaurant Impossible):


Positive Reviews:

• "Restaurant Impossible Robert Irvine came and did a make over here. What a difference. A new menu, better trained staff and management, new decor, same gorgeous view of Lake Mary. The food is very good.... All around we hope they keep up the "new and improved" Pier West. They are an asset to this community."
• "My food was quickly served, cooked exactly as I had ordered. Simple, delicious and reasonable. I'll be back to try some other menu items soon."
• "They redid the joint AND. the menu! The food is even better now, it was horrible before!....Great food AND a great view! It should be a good summer for pier west this year!"
• "I finally got to check out the new Pier West since it's Restaurant Impossible makeover.  The decor looked great and the food was fresh and delicious.  The only issue I had is that the service was back to being slow like it was in the past.  I look forward to bringing my family back for the food and atmosphere."

Negative Reviews:

• "I must have had a bout of amnesia because I decided it would be a good idea to go back to Pier West for dinner. Having faith in the results of the show Restaurant Impossible, I thought "hey why not give Pier West a try". Well guess what, the food was terrible and the service was even worse. This was especially astounding because the restaurant was approximately 1/8 full and there was a server for every table."
• "We ate here today for the first time after hearing about all of the improvements. It was a Sunday at 1pm and the restaurant was empty, although the outside patio was mostly full. We ordered 4 burgers and 1 macaroni and cheese and it took almost an HOUR for our food to come....... Hoping they improve their service since it is a lovely place with a great view of the water."
• "I thought it was ok..... Overall it was too expensive for just an ok meal."

*Reviews from Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Google+

Other Stories: 

• In a local article, the owner stated he charges higher prices during the summer months and lower prices during the winter for the local customers and expects to be called out by Robert for that.
• Someone wrote a complaint about Pier West on Ripoff Report, which was titled: "Pier West Chip Wamsley is psychotic, vindictive and a very unprofessional employer; father of 6 kids by 6 mothers which he does not even pay child support on them all. Twin Lakes Wisconsin"
• A review that was listed on multiple websites stated: "They wrote me two bad checks & have since refused to pay for services rendered. The work was done on 4/9/12 & involved several hundred dollars in parts. We are still owed over $1000. Shame on the people that run this place. Hopefully this review will serve as a warning for other contractors & service providers. DO NOT DO ANY WORK FOR THIS PLACE! (My ratings of food, decor & service were required in order to add my two cents. Based on the other reviews thank God I never ate there. Count my poor marks as my review of the owners integrity)"    The reviewer has also said that they plan on suing the restaurant.

Conclusion:

The reviews for Pier West are pretty average for the restaurant since Restaurant Impossible visited, however they have improved from the reviews before the visit.  It seems as the food has improved, however the service is still slow and seems to still be an issue.  The main draw of the restaurant is the view over the lake, so if they can figure out the service, they shouldn't have problems succeeding.  Being in Wisconsin, the outdoor dining and lake view is more beneficial in the summer, so they will have to figure out how to keep customers coming in the winter months.

With the Food Network episode description stating owner Chip Wamsley is making his family "angrier and angrier," coupled with the ripoff report complaint and the review about writing bad checks, it will be interesting to see how Chip comes across on this episode. 

UPDATE 1/2014 - Pier West has closed.  More information on the closing.

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