Restaurant Impossible - Paul's Bar and Bowling Update

Photo - Twitter

Tonight on Restaurant Impossible, Robert Irvine and his crew are in Paterson, NJ to makeover Paul's Bar and Bowling.  Paul's is a bowling alley/bar/restaurant that has been open since 1929, and has been on a downward spiral for the past eight years.  Robert is there to help renovate the bar and bowling alley, and he needs to get their business up to date.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Paul's Bar and Bowling 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:

• "Apparently, this bar was just renovated by the show, Restaurant Impossible. I have no idea what this place was like before, but it's pretty cool right now....Beer is at dive bar prices, $3 for the domestics with some specials going on depending on the day. I happened to come in on the day they had 40 cent wings, so I grabbed an order with sauce on the side. The wings are good even without the sauce because they're seasoned well...I like this place. I'll be back"

Negative Reviews:

• "Loved the Old Pauls,not sure I like the New Pauls.Not a big fan of gray...Good Luck anyway..many great memories..."

*Reviews from Yelp and Facebook

Other News and Links:

• Here is the Paul's Bar and Bowling website 
• Here is the Paul's Bar and Bowling Facebook page which is not kept up to date.
• Here is another Paul's Bar and Bowling Facebook page, which is kept up to date.
• The picture to the right is a picture of the exterior of Paul's Bar and Bowling from their website.
• They had a viewing party tonight with a free buffet and drink specials (link)
• Someone posted on a message board about an employee at Paul's Bar and Bowling, saying "She dominated the conversation the whole day about her upcoming "starring" role on the Food Network's Restaurant Impossible. She has worked at the same bar/restaurant/bowling alley since high school, and that place was redone about two weeks ago by this show. I think, although I won't know for sure until I see the episode, that she will be a huge feature of this episode because of her dramatics. She complained about 900 things that the show did during the course of filming. Robert Irvine himself told her that she gives off an attitude... If you catch this episode and you see a tall brunette barmaid with an attitude, that would be her"

Conclusion:
There have only been two reviews since the Restaurant Impossible makeover, so it is hard to tell how things are going.  It seems like the location may have something to do with the struggles of the business.

Also, it seems as this is more of a bar/bowling place rather than a restaurant.  All the reviews before the makeover compliment the cheap beer, great wings, and dive bar feel of Paul's Bar and Bowling.  I guess after doing over 100 episodes of Restaurant Impossible, the requirements to be on the show are stretched.

UPDATE - Paul's Bar and Bowling closed in September 2020 after about 90 years in business.  The owners said they were ready to retire and it was too much effort to keep open.

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