Restaurant Impossible - Shade Tree Customs & Cafe Update

Photo - Food Network

Tonight on Restaurant: Impossible, Robert Irvine and his crew are in Albuquerque, New Mexico to makeover Shade Tree Customs & Cafe.  The owners of a motorcycle repair shop decided to open a full service restaurant right above their repair shop.  Robert needs to figure out why the restaurant is failing and he also needs to make changes to their menu.  The design team also needs to update the interior without losing the motorcycle vibe.  As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about Shade Tree Customs & Cafe 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 bar had the most unique selection of draft beers that my fiancé and I have ever experienced! The GM, Josh, was very welcoming and really knew his beers....I tried the New Mexico Burger and my Fiancé tried the Green chile turkey sandwich... Both were amazing!!...If I ever go back to Albuquerque I would definitely stop in!!"
• "Cool little cafe. Lisa at the bar was wonderful. The crowds were loud and happy. Only beer but many selections on tap. Very clean and neat. Hard wood floors. No TVs. Ordered the 3 leches cake. Delicious. I'd come again"

Negative Reviews:

• "so very disappointing!  we ordered a hamburger medium-well, & it came out raw.  sent it back to the kitchen & it came back raw the 2nd time, too...totally disappointing, & we definitely won't return."
• "New vibe, new decor, fancy printed menus, no more live music. I get the music thing, it was always too loud and cramped BUT they could have been acoustic only or something....No more grit, no more edge. Bikes that used to hang from the ceiling are gone....Waitress asked how we liked it, ehhhh mmmmm ya, we like the old place better. She told us it would be on Restaurant Impossible next week. Ahhhhhhh now it makes sense!"
• "The decor changed also and it seems like they made their place more generic looking. I liked the look they had before and not too sure why they felt the need to change everything. The atmosphere is nice still and the beer selection has not changed ( good thing )..."

*Reviews from Yelp, Tripadvisor


Other News and Links:

• The Restaurant Impossible makeover happened in October 2014.
• Here is the Shade Tree Customs & Cafe website and here is their menu.
• The About Us section of their website details how they went from a motorcycle shop, to a cafe, to a full restaurant in 2013.
• Here is the Shade Tree Customs & Cafe Facebook page, which is kept up to date.
• After opening in Fall of 2013, they were already expanding their restaurant in March of 2014 (Link).
• General Manager and part owner Josh said that the restaurant fell behind "pretty substantially" on tax payments, which was one of the reasons Restaurant Impossible was needed. (Link)
• In September before the makeover, they posted this on their Facebook page, "DAMN THE MAN SAVE THE SHADE TREE!!!...Shade Tree needs your help! We are in danger of closing our doors for good so grab your friends, family, coworkers or that nice fellow in the street and come save us." (Link).  I couldn't find the post on their Facebook page, so maybe it was taken down.
• A review on Yelp stated, "Ok yall shade tree has been through some amazing changes new staff new menu items and weve brought back some of the favorits. And yes the old signs are coming back weve had a hard year and thank you for your continued support. ..much love. Ryan..s.tc."  So I guess they are bringing back their old signs.
• On December 5th, 2014, the restaurant said on their Facebook page, "If you love us, come show up. We need you now more than ever." (Link)
• On January 5th, 2014, Shade Tree said they were bringing back live music to the restaurant (Link).
• Here is a blog post review about the restaurant, which has positive things to say about the food.
• Here is a minute and a half video which is a commercial/advertisement for Shade Tree Customs & Cafe.

Conclusion:

The reviews before the makeover complemented the beer selection and food, but there were a lot of complaints about wait times.  The reviews since the Restaurant Impossible makeover have been mixed, with people still complementing the beer selection and some people liking the food.  There were some comments about the new decor taking away the vibe of the restaurant and making it seem more generic.

It seems like the restaurant may have expanded too quickly, which caused money issues and Restaurant Impossible thought their story of a garage/restaurant would make for good television.


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