Restaurant Impossible - Grace's Place Bagels & Deli Update

Photo - Facebook

Tonight on Restaurant Impossible, Robert Irvine and his crew are in Palm Coast, Florida to makeover Grace's Place Bagels & Deli.  The owners Grace and Eddie bought the place about two years ago by using their life savings as well as borrowing money from family and friends.  They are supposedly $320,000 in debt and they seem to be the main problem with the restaurant.  Robert needs to teach them how to communicate and has a lot of work to do to turn around their problems in and out of the restaurant.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Grace's Place 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:

• "Went there although there were negetive reviews. Nice atmosphere, good service and great food. I felt very welcome and will advise my friends to eat there. I really think that some people have nothing better to do then bash."
• "This deli had been renovated by the TV show, restaurant impossible with celebrity, Robert Irvine. It now has a modern, chic beach theme to it and it is fantastic. The place has been busy after the renovations so there is a bit of a wait time. The food is delicious without a doubt. The staff is very friendly."
• "How nice it was to find a real bagel place, not the rolls that pass a bagels at Publix or other stores. Great fresh cream cheese and lox spreads and sandwiches."

Negative Reviews:

• "Grace's place is going down faster than a submarine. Thought Restaurant Impossible would help but other than new digs it's the same old stuff that has been dragging the place down... floors dirty and not swept...The meal was terrible. ... Tried talking to Grace in the past and hoped that the RI visit might help but some owners just don't want to face the facts."
• "As for food, bagels were hard, breakfast potatoes undercook. Previously you could see the deli and pastry counter: now there is a wall. Here is a suggestion for owners take that wall down. You will get more business if folks paid at counter, gives us a chance to buy pastries too.
  Please change your floor plan."
• "We used to enjoy this place even with the slow service.  After the renovations we are truly disapointed.  The once varied menu is gone and now only half the selection. The service is awful."
• "Went last week 2 days after the renovation which did not "WOW" us at all....The servers were snipping at each other, Coffee was wrong, My husband waited forever to get the bagel he ordered with breakfast, he ordered butter NO cream cheese and it came just the opposite."
• "Well, being the renovations are done and tv crew is gone I had high expectations. I guess I shouldn't have. Remodel looks great but service was horrible at the counter."
• "Since this god awful renovation, the service is non-existing, the menu has been decimated, and the place looks comically bad. You now have to sit in some weird rope-cage room... there's only about 10 tables now, and they cut off the bakery section... absolutely dreadful and embarrassing. I bet they will be out of business before their renovation show even airs on TV."
• "Absolute shame. Aside from the decor (a major shift in the WRONG direction!), absolutely nothing has changed here...oh, except that you now get LESS for your money"
• "When Grace took over the deli, we were glad someone stepped in to fill a need in this community. There were no other Jewish style delis in Palm Coast....Slowly, the old Strathmore/Grace's lost the Jewish style until Robert totally killed it. In our minds, the one thing Palm Coast had going for it dining wise, what set it apart, was an excellent deli. The menu now is boring, limited and decidedly, not in a deli style."

*Reviews from Yelp, Urbanspoon, Facebook, Tripadvisor


Other News and Links:

Here is the Grace's Place Facebook page, website, and menu (not sure if it is up to date). 

Conclusion: 

Grace's Place Bagels and Deli has some of the worst reviews for a post-Restaurant Impossible makeover that I have seen, and there are a decent amount of reviews.  People seem to complain about the food, service, prices, and even the makeover.  It was tough to even find good reviews for the restaurant.  Here are the Yelp, Yelp filtered, Facebook Reviews, and Tripadvisor reviews if you want to check more out.  Usually Facebook reviews are good, but even people on Grace's Facebook page have left bad reviews.

It seems like people do not like the makeover of the interior, so who knows how much Restaurant Impossible is to blame.  There are still issues with the food and staff at the restaurant, and those probably have a bigger impact on the success of a restaurant.  This will be one to watch as the restaurant could end up on the closed list if they can't turn things around.

UPDATE 10/2014 - Grace's Place was shut down for a day due to a restaurant inspection on 9/22/2014.  During that inspection, the major violations dealt with rodent activity.  Here were two violations in the report:

• "Rodent activity present as evidenced by rodent droppings found. At least 3 semi soft behind cook line in kitchen bakery , At least 7 hard on can rack in bakery area, at least 16 semi soft on on floor under can rack in bakery area, at least 5 semi soft on bagel machine table in bakery area, at least 12 semi soft/dry in rear hand wash sink in bakery area, At least 10 semi soft on floor by drinks concentrate in bakery area, 1 dry dropping on oven in bakery area, at least 3 semi soft on prep table in bakery area, at least 30 semi soft on floor under prep table next to oven in bakery area, at least 1 semi soft on food container lid at frontline shelf, at least 4 semi soft behind frontline small cooler , at least 3 semi soft behind frontline chest freezer."
• "Stop Sale issued due to adulteration of food product. Two bags of dry pasta with gnaw marks on packets . (Packets compromises ) on rack in bakery area. Corrective Action : Voluntarily discarded"

There were also other high priority violations such as food temperatures as well as other basic violations, and the full inspection report can be found here.

UPDATE 12/2014 - Grace's closed for good due to a rat problem.  More information on the closing.


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