 |
| Photo - Food Network |
As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Knife & Fork Gastropub 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:
- "The chef brought out an array of items for us to try and enjoy (aside from what i had ordered for appetizers) and everyone LOVED everything, especially the homemade pickled items. Dinner was amazing, no complaints here! We ended up staying all night. I, and EVERYONE else will be back, OFTEN. Thanks for an amazing evening KNF!"
- "The HOLY GRAIL of Chicken and Waffles in my eyes. The food here is simply amazing! From the Brisket Fried Rice to the Chicken and Waffles, you definately can not go wrong..Overall, this is one of those places I try my best to never turn down an invitation to go and visit."
- "Went to eat here with friends who live in the area - we drove around for a few extra minutes trying to locate the restaurant....The outdoor patio is lovely and spacious. The service was good and friendly, and the food was very good as well. A few of us had split the pizzas and the cheese plate - we were full afterward. Overall, a great place to go for a fun night out"
Negative Reviews:
- Only 1 negative review since the makeover, which didn't seem legit as it complained about Texas heat in December.
*Reviews from Yelp, Tripadvisor
Other News and Links:
- Here is the Knife & Fork Gastropub Facebook page, which is kept up-to-date and looks more like a bar's page than a restaurant page.
- Here is the Knife & Fork Gastropub website which also has their food and drink menus.
- The restaurant opened in 2012 and was an expansion of their Bistro Six food truck.
- Onto the juicy stuff.... Tonight, the Knife & Fork will be having a Restaurant Impossible Viewing/(booing) party. The description of the party states:
"Early October 2014, The Food Network's show "Restaurant Impossibe" came to San Antonio, Tx. to attempt to recreate, reorganize and rebuild Knife & Fork Gastropub located at 20626 Stone Oak Parkway. The shows producers spent many weeks and a lot of hours interviewing our owners/partners and staff to see where there might be a disconnect, that is causing us finacial hardship. Well folks they didn't find it. They made up a lot of good camera time though. Lots of tears and lots and lots of coaxing, cohersing, take after take to get the shots "they" wanted. Restaurant Impossible did not bring in any more customers, any less customers nor did they manage to fix anything. It actually cost us thousands of dollars to get our place put back together. So we'd like to invite everyone to come and watch with us, the national airing of the episode they (The Restaurant Impossibe show) have named "Oh Brother!"....We are calling this watch event "A Boo-ing Party!" Come join us as we all watch for The First Time and "boo" some (or most) of the edited scenes. We hope to see you all here and thank you all for your continued support."
- An event before the makeover sounded like they were excited about the makeover and were looking forward to the changes.
- On October 26th, Gabriel posted a picture of Robert Irvine taking a shot and captioned it, "This fu$&ing guy!" He also said in the comments, "It was a lot of bs! I'm an actor now... He was actually real cool.. They stayed and got fu&$ed up w us"
- Restaurant Impossible painted an air duct in the restaurant black, and the restaurant has repainted it to look like a rocket (Link).
- An article in the Express News stated, "But the show ended up costing the Orozco brothers about $8,000 in free food for the filming crew, ingredients for the restaurant relaunch, rewiring televisions and stereos that had been disconnected during the remodeling and other expenses. Some employees quit during the taping, and it was difficult watching their mother, Norma Montalvo, who co-owns the restaurant with her husband, Rudy, go through the taping"
- The above article also states that Robert Irvine persuaded the brothers to divide their responsibilities with Gabriel now the chef and Javier the general manager. Also, they said they were losing money, but it was due to employee theft and a dispute with their current landlord.
- Finally, Gabriel is quoted in that article as saying, "We knew (Irvine) was going to come in here and rag on us, but the amount of publicity should compensate for what we went through"
Conclusion:
The reviews of Knife & Fork Gastropub are mostly positive since the makeover, although there are not too many of them.
It seems like the restaurant is saying that tonight's show will be all manufactured drama and that they were coached with what to say/do to make an interesting episode. They also claim the makeover cost them money and that they agreed to the makeover for the publicity that it brings.
UPDATE 11/2015 - The restaurant closed sometime in late 2015.
*Visit Our Restaurant Impossible Update Page to see all Restaurant: Impossible updates, and which restaurants are open, closed, or have been sold. Also Like Us on Facebook and Follow Us on Twitter
"cohersing"?
ReplyDeleteThis show has jumped the shark, no doubt. With that being said, I think the brothers just realized how poorly they came off - salmonella throughout the bar area, poor hiring and training practices, one of the brothers rolling in late, etc - and they're backpedaling. Keep in mind, the mother and stepfather called RI. Sounds like the sons just didn't appreciate the public scolding.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree. Robert didn't make the bar dirty and leaky just for the camera. The dust, bacteria and crud had to take some time to develop. And as for employee theft - 50+ free drinks a night for the employees and customers. That $250 of theft a night, right there. I hope they turn things around, but I am really disappointed they felt they had to bag on Robert and the crew so much.
ReplyDeleteHaven't watched it yet, but after reading this, I'm looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteOne good episode and they're back to manufactured crap. Glad I didn't watch it.
ReplyDeleteWhat an outstanding bunch of stupid, slovenly people. The dirt, attitudes, and staff snatching $60,000 worth of drinks, then wondering where the profits went, really tells it. Robert and his people worked hard, and we hope the restaurant will do better, but I doubt it. The restaurant looked great when they got done. with it BTW. Do those people deserve it? I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteThose guys sure do talk a lot of smack about editing. Maybe RI can come back and edit some flavor into their food. I've tried their brisket fried rice and their stroganoff, and they both suck. It's in a terrible, hidden location way the heck down Stone Oak Parkway in San Antonio. No one would just drive past it and stop because they saw it, as it's in a mostly residential area with a few scattered businesses. Even the restaurant has another bar underneath it, as well as a child's play center across from it in the same building. The signage is terrible as well. I volunteered during the makeover, and they've changed almost everything back to the way it was. This place will be closed by summer 2015.
ReplyDeleteI think in this case, RI played it pretty straight, the brothers just didn't like being shown up as the cause of the problems in front of their folks. Especially that "Bar Manager" He looked like he has a drink and drugs problem and the employees just joined in.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't watch it and yet you know it's "manufactured"? Epic Fail is an epic fail :p
ReplyDeleteThe $60k was just beer. Robert estimated the total drink tab was over $200k
ReplyDeleteYeah, doing shot after shot at work and then coming in to work late, when you know there's not only going to be an inspection, but it's going to be filmed for television, tells me there's a problem.
ReplyDeleteOwning/running a restaurant, especially with your parents' money is not a party, it's business.
I thought that this episode would have worked better on Bar Rescue.
ReplyDeleteThe family looked underwhelmed to say the least at the reveal. All the mom could say was "oh good you got rid of the Christmas tree".
ReplyDeleteThe stroganoff looked pretty weak, not much meat, and they get 18 bucks for it. I make a mean beef Stroganoff when I need to feed a bunch of people cheap, and I put lots of meat and shrooms in it and it is still less than 4 bucks a portion to make.
ReplyDeleteJust one time I'd love to see or read a sit-down with RI producers and the Chef and hear their defense for some of these accusations of drama creation and scripting. Some of these proprietors make statements, on public forums, and neither the network nor production team ever respond.
ReplyDeletegee bitter with all the notoriety ? if you don't want folks to know you acted like a douche then dont' apply to be on the show
ReplyDeleteI think you can safely assume that the episode is manufactured crap after reading this article about the brothers' post-show temper tantrums.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think they'd investigate when they're bleeding that kind of money.
ReplyDeleteWow, that has to be disheartening after all the work you and the other volunteers put into the place. What a waste.
ReplyDeleteThey were too busy funding their employees' drinking habits.
ReplyDeleteThey showed no appreciation whatsoever for what people did to renovate their place.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like the parents called RI for help but then got an earful from their spoiled sons and backed off.
The parents - the ones who actually fund the restaurant - contacted the show. It sounds like the boys just had a hissy fit on Facebook after the fact.
ReplyDeleteI don't hope they turn things around. They are a couple of jerks who have just wasted their parents' money. Screw them.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, we see business owners (the brothers) who have neither the ability nor, frankly, the interest in actually running a business. Remember, in any industry, RUNNING a business is very different from OWNING a business. RUNNING a business a lot of hard work. Every day. Every single day. The Orozco brothers like the idea of 'owning' their business, but they're not really too interested 'running' their business.
ReplyDeleteGabriel and Javier both went to culinary school (100% on their parents' dime, I'm assuming) and afterwards, they needed someplace where they could 'play restaurant.' And look at what happened: mommy and daddy dropped $400,000 on a restaurant so that their sons could, indeed, 'play restaurant.' And that's exactly what they're doing - they're playing restaurant.
I'll play Devil's advocate to my own statements and mention that if their revenue numbers are true, then, despite their obvious inadequacies, they must be doing something moderately right. Their first year in business, they supposedly brought in $1 million in earnings. That didn't happen all by itself. Maybe it was the initial buzz of being 'the new place in town.' Maybe they had a great advertising campaign. Who knows. But a business doesn't make $1 million/year unless something kinda 'right' is happening. 'Internal losses' notwithstanding, that mediocre gastropub in San Antonio brought in a lot of money. So, I just wanted to put that out there.
Of course, the $ 1 million/year earning figure naturally belies the obvious question, 'How can you make $1 million and still be losing money...???' That's the business part of the equation and that's why the parents called Robert Irvine. Now, we know how a profitable business can lose money.
Ultimately, the parents gave their sons a $1 million enterprise. The sons screwed it up almost instantly. And until Robert Irvine started airing their dirty laundry on national television, neither son seemed too terribly interested in fixing it.
Its easy to get loyal customers if you give them a couple free drinks every time they come in. Of course they were not free to the parents.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the $ 1 million/year earning figure naturally belies the obvious question, 'How can you make $1 million and still be losing money...???
ReplyDelete_________________________
Robert said that did not include things like labor and overhead, so he apparently meant they had 1 million in revenue and not earnings.
I know how to read and comprehend, two skills you obviously never acquired, plus I used to watch the show, something you evidently haven't done until now. Pretender is a pretender.
ReplyDeleteI used to play in bands and we worked in quite a few bars/restaurants that gave us either free or drastically discounted drinks (2 weeks of .25 bottles of Heineken in one place out West). I sometimes wonder if we matched our pay with the cost of those drinks! I certainly tried!
ReplyDeleteIt's usually best not to get into public p***ing matches with disgruntled (fill in the blank).
ReplyDeleteNow, I didn't watch this episode but I was trolling around through the comment section on their FB page, and Robert did find out about the booing party. You'd think they would watch what they post cause it could come back to bite them in the ass, I know RI nor Food Network won't do anything but they should at least call these idiots out, and MAKE them think aka watch what they say. Guess as the old saying goes "Bad PR is better than no PR".
ReplyDeleteThese were NOT nice people. Lets get back to shows with functional people who are simply clueless about the restaurant industry.
ReplyDeleteI was in a college band and once we got only free drinks for pay. We got so drunk we could not even play or sing and got booed off the stage.
ReplyDeleteFor Mom and step Dad's sake, I hope the restaurant succeeds.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious the brothers are attempting to justify their lack of knowledge about running a restaurant, and their lack of respect for their parents generosity, by trying to discredit Robert and staff. Robert's gagging response to the filth that has probably existed since they bought the place, was not an act. This condition perpetuated because no one told the staff cleaning AND maintaining a food safe environment should have been drummed into their thick heads as a priority. And yes the brothers were also responsible for the massive losses in revenue due to all the comps of beer and liquor. The parents probably were aware this was happening and rather than directly confront their sons so they could save the relationship and protect their investment, they chose to use Robert as a mediator, and bare the brunt of the humility for the sake of their children who didn't deserve the break they were given.