In this Restaurant Impossible episode, Robert Irvine visits the Flood Tide Restaurant in Mystic, Connecticut.
Flood Tide Restaurant is owned by Jody Dyer and was once a flourishing restaurant.
It was built by her father in 1963 and was successful for over 50 years.
The restaurant has declined dramatically over the last two years.
Robert Tripp aka Bob has been the Executive Chef at the restaurant for over 20 years and Jody calls him a world class chef.
Bob confirms that business has declined by around 75% as he is sending out a lot less food that he used to.
Robert arrives and finds that the decor is dated and he doesn’t like the dirty exhibition kitchen.
Robert meets with Jody and she admits that business isn’t as good as it was.
The golden era of the restaurant was the 1980s and it has been a slow decline followed by a fast decline since then.
Jody has left the restaurant and kitchen for Bob to manage and run as she sees him as both an excellent chef and manager.
Robert is in doubt that he is a world class chef as if he was they wouldn’t be struggling to bring people in.
They would come for the food alone if he was truly the excellent chef that she claims him to be.
Robert asks the staff to get ready for a service as he has invited people for dinner.
The customers find the decor dated and are unsure about the outdated menu.
The food takes a long time to reach the customers as there is table side service for salads.
When they receive the food they aren’t impressed, the food is either bland or over salted.
Jody is disappointed when she tastes the calamari and lobster bisque, Bob clearly doesn’t taste the food.
The servers reveal they have never tasted the food as they aren’t allowed to.
Robert goes into the kitchen to speak with Bob about the food and isn’t impressed with the kitchen.
He scrapes grime from the kitchen and it is revealed that they don’t have a cleaning schedule.
Robert gathers the staff to discuss his plans for the restaurant and asks all the staff to clean the kitchen.
Robert meets with designers Michelle and Patty and the rest of the design team to discuss ideas of transforming the restaurant.
In order to tackle the reputation of the restaurant he heads to a local coffee shop that Bob had recommended to meet the locals.
They think that the food was dated and overpriced and the service pompous and Robert realises he may not be able to turn around public opinion.
Robert asks for a tour of the kitchen after it has been cleaned to see what equipment and ingredients they have.
He teaches the kitchen to improve the menu using the existing equipment and ingredients.
It takes him less than 30 minutes to train them to use some of the equipment they rarely use.
The wood burner is to be used to roast chickens and the wood burning grill for meats.
Robert leaves the kitchen to check in with the progress of the design team and is impressed with their progress so far.
Robert shows Jody the opinions of the locals and he feels the only option is to rename the restaurant.
She didn’t realise that the poor reputation that the restaurant has in the local community.
It would be costly to replace everything with their name on which was a concern of hers but he will help with it so she agrees to think about it overnight.
The next day, Robert checks in with the design team and is impressed with their progress and reminds them of the deadline.
Robert meets with Jody to talk about the feedback from locals they watched yesterday.
Jody is reluctant but agrees to rename the restaurant to The Wood Grill at Flood Tide.
As they don’t have a lot of money for a rebrand, Robert buys a boat for just $75 and the team make it into a new sign for the restaurant.
Robert wants to work with the front of house to make them less stuffy.
They work on making the service more casual and he encourages them to find their energy again.
They are asked to take their ties off and together they take the serving trolley into the car park where they smash it up.
Robert and the servers go to meet with locals to advertise the reopening of the restaurant and the locals seem willing to give them another shot.
Robert ask the servers to sample the new food and describe the dishes to Robert.
He hopes this exercise will help them to be able to sell the food to customers on the relaunch.
The design team have finished in the restaurant and it is revealed to Jody.
She is overwhelmed by the new restaurant and loves the changes that have been made.
On relaunch night, the servers are doing a great job selling the menu and the new menu is exciting the customers.
Both the new food and new decor are a great hit with the customers and they promise to return again.
Bob is in great control of the kitchen, impressing Robert with his ability to run the kitchen and cope with the new menu.
Jody is dining in the restaurant with friends and she loves the new food.
What Happened Next at Flood Tide Restaurant?
Owner Jody was not happy with all of the renovations including the panelling in the dining room.
She reported that profits were slightly up but not enough to save the restaurant as she was still struggling financially.
Trip Advisor reviews were mostly good after Robert filmed the episode but Yelp Reviews were mostly poor.
Flood Tide Restaurant closed in November 2013.
It was bought with the adjoining Inn in March 2014 for $5.35 million.
In June 2014, the restaurant was reopened, redecorated and renamed as "Harbour House".
It has since become Rocks 21.
Flood Tide Restaurant was Restaurant Impossible season 1 episode 7 of and aired on March 2 2011.
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The interior design make over was the worst I have ever seen done anywhere. It was hard to believe that they would paint bright Colors in an ugly plaid pattern Over beautiful mahogany wood. I felt so bad for the owner and I'm extremely confused why Robert would allow that to happen.
ReplyDeleteI also didn't like the paneling in the remodel, I think the designer could have done a better job!
ReplyDeleteFelt the same exact way! Was shocked he allowed it to be painted that way....
ReplyDeleteI thought it looked like a child's bedroom. The tables looked nice only because the white tablecloths and flowers.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is its a seafood restaurant not exactly where many want to have a romantic dinner . This episode desperately needed Taniya.
That was the worst design I’ve seen on this show and I’ve watched a lot. This was awful!
ReplyDelete