Restaurant Impossible - WhaBah Steakhouse Update

Photo - Facebook

Tonight on Restaurant: Impossible, Robert Irvine and his crew are in Bowling Green, Kentucky to makeover the WhaBah Steakhouse.  The restaurant is over 4,000 square feet and it is one of the largest restaurants that Restaurant Impossible has done.  The eight-year-old restaurant is also a music venue, and despite it having early success, the owner has now hit a wall and faces bankruptcy.  Robert and team will have to inspire the owner and handle the challenges of working with such a large space.

As I normally do with Restaurant: Impossible episodes, I searched around the Internet to read stories, comments and reviews about WhaBah Steakhouse 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:

• "My husband, kids and I visited whabah for lunch and it was wonderful! Food and service was great. I recommend it to everyone. Great selection of food for everyone."

Negative Reviews:

• "The worst experience I've ever had with any business! 2 hours to get a steak! Then the owner said he is to busy to come out! On top of that the food was awful! Thanks a lot Robert Irvine you turned what was a great place into a dump!!!!"
• "Was there 2 1/2 hours tonight 1 hour and 45 min. Was waiting to even get our food. We have been there several times in the the past. The restaurant was nice but food not so much. Food cold not cooked to temp let's just say the 6 of us won't be going back or recommending to our friends again. Very dissapointed"
• "Was a horrible experience. Came in for lunch and no one seated us or greeted us...This place is understaffed, and the management seems to not have adjusted anything compared to their new look. A new look doesn't help if you have the same crappy service. I doubt they'll last much longer."
• "Terrible service; waitress did not know the menu at all! Freezing cold while the beautiful fireplace sat with wood but no fire! New menu is very limited."
• "Thot this might b good since Wah Bah just had a makeover but the service is terrible. We arrived at a quarter to 6 and its 7:15 now n no entree. Will not b back."
• "I can't imagine it being any worse prior to the Restaurant Impossible make over. Thumbs down on taste, presentation, atmosphere, service and price."
• "As other reviews have said, the grill area is in the midst of the dining room and puts off quite a bit of smoke despite the enormous hood ventilation system."

*Reviews from Yelp, Facebook

Other News and Links:

• The Restaurant Impossible makeover happened in January 2015
• Here is the Whabah Steakhouse website, and their Facebook page, which has a picture of the menu.
• It appears the restaurant stopped serving breakfast after the Restaurant Impossible visit. (Link)
• The name Whabah comes from the noise a motorcycle makes when you rev it up. (Link)
• If you sort the Facebook Reviews by Most Recent, you will see WhaBah has responded to some of the negative ones and they try to justify their long wait times to get food.
• Donnie's aka Perky's daughter applied for Restaurant Impossible.  Perky said about the restaurant - "In the beginning when I got into, this it was about food. It was about the service of people and about watching them eat and enjoy the food.  I let all these things pull me away from it – music, different parties and partying myself and being a part of it. I’ve changed over the years. I look at more of the family thing. I want to get back to my roots, and it’s about food.” (Link)
• Donnie currently has his house listed for sale for $450,000 and posted the link on the Whabah Facebook page.   Someone made fun of the pictures in the listing, which Whabah took offense to (Link).
• The restaurant is also for sale, but there is no online listing for the restaurant.  A local article says it is for sale, and a message board said there was an advertisement in the local paper listing it for sale.

Conclusion:

The reviews of WhaBah Steakhouse are pretty much all negative since the Restaurant Impossible makeover with the biggest complaints being about service and the wait times to get food.  The negative reviews, the owner's house listed for sale, and the restaurant supposedly listed for sale makes it seem like WhaBah's will not be a Restaurant Impossible success story.


UPDATE - WhaBah Steakhouse closed around June 2015.  More information on the closure.


*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