Restaurant Impossible - Georgia Boy Cafe Update

Photo - Food Network

Tonight on Restaurant Impossible, Robert Irvine and crew are going to Hagerstown, Maryland to makeover the Georgia Boy Cafe.  Chuck and Montez, who are the owners of the restaurant, once had a loving relationship, but the restaurant has ruined that.   They also scream at each other in front of the customers.  Robert has to get the owners back on speaking terms and also deal with the 'health hazards' in the restaurant.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about the Georgia Boy Cafe 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:

• "Best Fried Chicken in town, real southern fried catfish and fall off the bone ribs. Looks great since the remodel "
• "Overall a good time, Owner was very accommodating, staff friendly, but the kitchen was slow. Will come again."
• "I'd say that the guys learned a lot from Robert during his visit and have starting turning their business in the right direction... they still have some renovation going on and I'm sure that the bar area will be just as beautiful once it's completed.  Bathrooms haven't been touched since I don't know when, but I'm sure a little paint and cleaning will have those spiffed up soon enough..Overall, I enjoyed my meal, service and the atmosphere... I'll be back soon!"
• "Our waitress was a delight. Chicken good, with a huge portion, soup fine. We ordered the bread pudding which was huge and just plain decadent. Located near Hagerstown's wonderful Washington Fine Arts Museum this restaurant today should be a most-stop for lunch for those who visit the former. We'll certainly be back."
• "The service, seating area, and menu was a huge improvement from before. If you have tried this place prior to their Restaurant Impossible makeover and weren't impressed...make sure you give it another shot. You will be in for a treat!...The bar isn't as updated as the restaurant area."
• "Service was good and attentive. The food came out in a timely manner. We would probably go back, but I would be wary of certain dishes."

Negative Reviews:

• "We were told Restaurant Impossible just came here and remodeled the place. The food was horrible and the drinks weren't much better. Felt bad for the server since she was great and tried so hard."
• "We went to Georgia Boys Cafe 9/22/13 for dinner and it was not very busy. We ordered and waited a little over an hour for our food. When we asked our waitress about it she said she would check to see what was taking so long... We were very disappointed that it took her an hour to realize that she forgot our order when she had very few tables. We will not be returning."
• "Mac and cheese were very dry..Green were little under cook, corn in 3 oz container looks  like it just came directly opened from can.  It was over price the service were so so..."
• "Not a bad place but I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there.  The location is kind of shady and the exterior is far from inviting.  The interior is very nice and modern.  They have reasonable drink prices and friendly employees....I might go here for drinks but with the prices for food there are better options in town."
• "Avoid the restaurant which had no one managing it, but the attached bar was doing well.  Obvious from the beer banners in the parking lot announcing proudly they welcome bikers."
• "Restaurant impossible may have changed the menu and decor, but this place is still a disgrace to "comfort food." Their limited menu offers a few nice selections, but taste is way off. Have had better food out of a can! Do not chance it!"

Reviews from Foursquare, Yelp, Tripadvisor

Other News and Links:

• Here is the Georgia Boy Cafe website (which was just redesigned), and here is their Facebook page that they keep up to date.  If you can't stand bad spelling/grammar, I suggest you not visit their Facebook page.  It seems like they have a lot of support with their page having almost 3,000 likes and a recent post about their Restaurant Impossible appearance getting around 250 likes and 96 shares.
• The Georgia Boy Cafe is currently offering a $5 for $10 worth Yelp Deal on Yelp. (Link)
• If you are interested in past performances at the Georgia Boy Cafe, here are some Youtube videos.  I am hoping this is the bar area.  Check out 13:55 of the "@GetMoniFugitive" video to see people sitting at a table that looked thrilled with the dancing in front of them.

Conclusion: 

The reviews of Georgia Boy Cafe are definitely mixed with even the positive reviews not being that great.  It does seem that most people think that the service has improved.  It also appears that there is an adjoining bar to the restaurant that Restaurant Impossible didn't include in the makeover, but the restaurant is currently working on that.  As always is the case with the makeovers, the bathrooms were not touched.

The Yelp deal may suggest that they are either trying to get people to come try their restaurant after the makeover or that they are struggling to get people to come in, so offered a deal.  The restaurant does have a lot of local support with the community buzzing both during the makeover and leading up to the airing of the show as evidenced by their Facebook page.  It remains to be seen if they are able to turn the restaurant into a success.

UPDATE - The Georgia Boy Cafe closed in 7/2014 - More information on the closing.

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