Restaurant Impossible - Spicy Bar and Grill Update

Photo - Food Network

Tonight on Restaurant: Impossible, Robert Irvine and his crew are in Falls Church, Virginia to makeover Spicy Bar and Grill.  The restaurant is a Vietnamese restaurant and the owners are supposedly $300,000 in debt.  One owner has no culinary experience, while the other lets the staff, who are supposedly 'scantily-clad,' do whatever they want.  During the makeover, Robert needs to find a new chef and figure out a way to change the unprofessional staff.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about the Spicy Bar and Grill 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:

• "Customer service = excellent.  Servers were very polite...Food= eggzellent. pho was so tasty, i mean how good can pho be?  THIS definitely tops it.  everything else we tried was amazing....Clearly, you get my point. good service and food all around.  If i was in town, I'd definitely come back and even recommend it to anyone whos in the area. Hopefully this restaurant is possible after being impossible!"
• "Now with the new look. Customer service slightly improved...Food improved. So did the plating!...Overall: 3 for improvement and average bar. There are other good quality restuarants around the area. But if you want a sports bar in Eden Center, then go here."
• "Overall, great atmosphere if I want to grab drinks with friends. Not so spectacular when I want a satisfying sit down meal. In other words, I would revisit for other reason than to share a large meal with friends."

Negative Reviews:

• "Been coming here a few times now and have always had a great time. Until today. I don't know if our server was young and dumb or both, but she missed my husband's and MIL's orders...They also just changed their menu and are changing it again, for a more fusion type. Too bad, I really liked it, plus tv's are everywhere. It's really too bad."
• "You would think a restaurant who just finished shooting Restaurant: Impossible. You would receive great service and experience. I guess I was wrong. If you're looking for overpriced vietnamese food, and a bad wait staff. This is the place to go."

Reviews from Yelp

Other News and Links:

• Here is the Spicy Bar & Grill Facebook Page.
• According to their Facebook page, the restaurant has been offering all-you-can-eat snow crabs for $30 and all-you-can-eat crawfish for $35.
• The restaurant was only open for about a year before Restaurant Impossible came to do the makeover.
• Many reviews consider this restaurant as a Sports Bar and it is listed as a Sports Bar on Foursquare.  They are also open until 2am every day of the week.
• The restaurant is in Eden Center, which is "Northern Virginia's premier Asian center containing approximately 120 stores." (Link)
• A description of the restaurant on the Eden Center website states, "Spicy is a Vietnamese sports bar with a wide variety of Vietnamese specialties, an awesome full bar, and a friendly and attentive staff. It sleek and modern design attracts the hippest crowds in need of a night out with delicious libation, a hearty meal, and a game on the TV."
• A group of tenants in the Eden Center are suing the landlord saying the mall is crumbling around them, there are roof leaking problems, potholes in the parking lot, and sewage backed up in kitchens (Link).  The article doesn't state who all of the tenants are in the lawsuit, so I don't know if Spicy Bar & Grill is one, but a recent review said something about a leak from the ceiling.

Conclusion:

The reviews for Spicy Bar & Grill are mixed since the Restaurant Impossible visit with people saying the food has improved, but there are still some issues with service.   Being in an Asian center with 120 stores, many of which are restaurants, it will be hard to attract customers if Spicy's food is not as good as their competitors.  However, it seems as Spicy Bar & Grill is trying to appeal to people as a sports bar and offers late night food/drinks.  So maybe this is another case of location better suited for Bar Rescue vs. Restaurant Impossible.

*Side note - After over 100+ episodes of Restaurant: Impossible, I am pretty sure this is the first Asian restaurant the show has visited.

UPDATE - The Food Network update stated that the owners have sold the restaurant and it is operating under new ownership. 

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