Restaurant Impossible - El Bistro (Renae's Corner) Update

Photo - Food Network

Tonight on Restaurant Impossible, Robert Irvine and his crew are in Titusville, Pennsylvania to makeover El Bistro.  The restaurant is owned by a single mother named Renae, who after three years is behind on taxes, has a depleted savings, and has lost her passion for the restaurant.  The restaurant is filthy when Robert walks in, and Robert can sense she has lost her passion.  Renae threatens to sell the restaurant, and Robert Irvine calls her bluff by telling her he would give her cash for the restaurant.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about El Bistro 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:

• "This restaurant has undergone great changes and is continuing to add to the menu and make great food!...I'm sure this restaurant will continue to increase it's efficiency after the major changes that had to go through."
• "Good Food, timely service. Good pricing. LOVE the pies - homemade. The kids menu is not limited to kids ;) for those who eat less..... Breakfast on the weekend - here we come!
• "Incredible food and good prices before and after. Good people as well."

Negative Reviews: 

• "Nice to see the hb's back but the charge for every little thing is over the top. This place needs to bring back more of the old menu....Waitresses have no smiles or seem not to care to be working"
• "Serving for sandwiches were small,we ordered the stuffed wing's and then the server came back to say they are out of them but we believe that were charged for them anyway, the dessert was great though. Too pricey"
• "The food had no flavor. The service was horrible. Waited 45 minutes for the food. Was hardly anybody there at the time. Will never go back there again! The menu has hardly anything on it. This place is a flop makeover!"

*Reviews from Facebook
  
Other News and Links:

• During the makeover of El Bistro, Robert decided to rename the restaurant to Renae's Corner.  My guess is this was in hopes of getting Renae's passion for the restaurant back.
• Here is the old El Bistro Facebook page, and here is the new Renae's Corner Facebook page.
• Here is a copy of Renae's Corner menu, which was posted in July after the makeover.
• Here is Renae's LinkedIn profile, and it appears she bought the restaurant while getting her MBA at Penn State.
• Renae's is already listed for sale.  The real estate listing does not have a price disclosed, and the description of the listing states, "Looking quite posh, RENEE'S CORNER, got an entire facelift. Recently selected by Food Network's Robert Irvine, the restaurant underwent a full renovation with a fresh interior design , with NEW flooring, NEW tables and seating, NEW Counter Area, NEW lighting and fixtures and Motif"
• Here are some pictures of the new interior from the real estate listing.

Conclusion:

There were no reviews for Renae's Corner on any sites besides Facebook, so take those with a grain of salt.  The episode description states that Renae threatens to sell the restaurant during the filming of the show, and now it appears that she is following through with her threat as the restaurant is listed for sale.  Ten thousand dollars worth of materials as well as free labor should help get the sale price higher, but I am sure people will be mad to see the restaurant up for sale already.

UPDATE 1/2015 - Renae's Corner has closed - More info on the closing.


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