Z Fish House - Restaurant Impossible Update

Tonight on Restaurant: Impossible, Robert Irvine and his crew are in Loudon, Tennessee to makeover Z Fish House.  Z Fish House was opened by New York native Ed Ziems in 2015.  The restaurant is struggling, and Robert Irvine needs to get Ed to rediscover his passion and lead his staff and restaurant to success.  

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

• "Had dinner Wednesday at their reopening after Restaurant Impossible updated the restaurant. Amazing. Jambalaya-excellent, blackened scallops with mushroom risotto-excellent, Spicy sweet shrimp-excellent. We Loved the new simplified menu and the updated clean look inside. Good luck!"
• "Really really good food and very nice people . A diamond in the rough Very good choices"
• "Excellent-fresh fish and such yummy desserts! A true gem in Loudon just a few miles off of I-75 exit 72. If you want a tasty and delicious meal make a stop here."
• "Great staff and food. The scallops were fresh and perfectly cooked. Probably one of the better seafood restaurants in the Knoxville/surrounding counties area. We loved the smoked fish dip. Staff are down to earth and hospitality is outstanding. Bring your own alcohol with no fee. 10% cash discount."
• "Went to Z Fish tonight for dinner and it was fantastic! Love the new menu. Will go back often. Good job."
• "Best little seafood restaurant in East Tennessee. Service is great and the food is as fresh as you can get in Tennessee!! Ignore any poor reviews you read or please read them and realize how “fickle and petty” they are. Some people wouldn’t be happy with a winning lotto ticket."
• "Hidden Gem of a restaurant here in Loudon Tennessee. Fish dishes are creative and delicious. We had dinner for 6 and everyone thought they were the winner. I had the swordfish Milanese, which was amazing. The preparation was unlike anything I've ever had before. If you're up for a culinary Adventure, I highly recommend stopping and at this modest establishment."

Negative Reviews:

• "Wow new menu and new decor! Love the changes in decor.......but give me the old Z Fish! Menu was really limited and no Ahi Tuna Wrap or Blacken Grouper or Pig Wings or the awesome cole slaw! I loved what I had but It wasn’t the Z Fish I grew to love. Probably be a long while before I return! Sad!"
• "Use to be a wonderful place to eat! We drove 45 minutes just to eat wonderful fresh seafood. Now we will not return! Small limited menu ran out of what little they did have. Very disappointed with changes!"
• "This was one of my favorite local restaurants. I was very disappointed in the new very limited menu. Unfortunately I won't be returning as none of the menu selections appealed to me. I miss the original fried shrimp with 2 sides. I had the new shrimp dish which I didn't care for and could not even get regular cocktail sauce."

*Reviews from Yelp, Tripadvisor, Google



Other News and Links:

• The Restaurant Impossible makeover for Z Fish House happened in February 2021.
• Here is the Z Fish House website and Facebook page.
• The restaurant is only open for business Wednesday through Saturday 5pm - 8pm. 
• They switched to dinner only shortly after the makeover to try to perfect the menu items. (Link)
• Here is a local news video that Ed and Robert filmed during the makeover. 
• Right after the makeover Z Fish House posted, "Happy Sunday To all of our Facebook followers!!! As most of you already know, we were just  part of Restaurant Impossible and underwent a complete make over!!! We have an all new look, and an all new menu. This has been one of the craziest weeks we have ever had. In just a couple of days, our beloved restaurant was gutted like a fish, and completely transformed. I know that there are a whole lot of things that are missed from the old menu, and I can promise you that we will be bringing lots of items back over the next few weeks. This has been an incredible blessing for us, and the changes have been a massive undertaking which wouldn't have been possible without our amazing Staff!!! We would like to thank everyone for sticking with us thru these very challenging times. For those of you who have decided that there is "nothing on this menu you like." We invite you to step outside of the box a little and try something new...who knows you might just like it!!! For the next few weeks, we will be Dinner service only from 5pm till 8pm. Right now we are open Wednesday thru Saturday 5pm till 8pm. We are also not taking any reservations at this time as we have been blessed with a full restaurant every night since we re-opened!!!! First come first serve for some of the freshest, and best food around!!! Check out our new website at Zfishhouse.net"
• Here are the reviews for Z Fish House from Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Google.
• Reviews on all of the sites both before and after the makeover are very high.
• The restaurant takes time to respond to reviews.

Conclusion:

The reviews for Z Fish House since the Restaurant Impossible makeover have been mostly positive with people liking the food, service, and menu.  The reviews before the makeover were also very positive.  The few negative reviews seem to be from former customers who are not happy with the smaller menu or that their favorite items have been removed.  Z Fish House is currently only open four nights a week from 5pm to 8pm.  It seems that they will probably expand the hours once things get figured out after all the changes, but it will be hard to make it work long-term if they are only open 12 hours a week.


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