Moss' Prime Rib & Spaghetti House - Restaurant Impossible Update - Open or Closed?

In this Restaurant Impossible episode, Robert Irvine visits Moss Prime Rib and Spaghetti House in Elyria, Ohio.

Moss restaurant has been open since 1958 and the restaurant was once a landmark in the town.

Moss' Prime Rib and Spaghetti House is currently owned by Sam and Sandi.

Sandi Laubenthal bought the business 10 years ago for their son, including the name and recipes.

They were there day and night and 11 months after opening he quit the business.

They moved the restaurants location and bought a derelict building that they then renovated.

The restuaurant is losing $5000 a month and they have $457,000 of debt.

Their oldest son Sam joined the restaurant to help out his parents.

Sandi has a bad reputation and believes that the customer is not always right.

She is short with customers and blames the stress of the restaurant for her outbursts.

His parents have since divorced and Sandi now lives above the restaurant.

The local economy has declined and there are a number of empty buildings in the downtown area.

If she loses the restaurant she will also lose her home and says she will have to live in her car with her dog.

Robert arrives at the restaurant and thinks that it is dark and reminds him on a funeral parlour.

The only cheerful thing in the place is the christmas decorations.

Robert talks to Sandi and Sam about the restaurant.

Sam says that he got pulled into the resaurant 6 years ago, initially as a batender.

He says that things were going good until around two years ago.

Things have declined dramatically and one day last week they only had two tables in.

Sam says that Sandi is short tempered and speaks before she thinks and blames customers for issues caused by the kitchen.

Robert wants to try the food and decides to order the dishes that the restaurant include in their name.

He orders prime rib and spaghetti as well a as a burger.

The prime rib is cooked nicely but it is smothered in butter and sour cream and has no flavour as it is unseasoned.

The spaghetti is overcooked and also has no flavour and the burger bun and fries are frozen.

Robert gives feedback on the food to Sandi and tells her the poor food is why she is losing money.

During the dinner service a customer calls the prime rib bland but Sandi is defensive of the food.

Robert meets with designer Cheryl and tells her that they had renovated the property from a derelict building.

She is impressed with the size of the building and she wants to change the wall colours.

Robert says the carpet and haunted house drapes must go.

To make sure they are to be removed Robert pulls one of the drapes clean off of the wall.

They ask the staff to come and help empty out the restaurant, ready for the design team to get to work.

The design team start to pull off the rest of the drapes that they find are just stapled to the wall.

Robert goes into the kitchen and finds that the Chef has been there for 13 years.

In all the time he has been at the restaurant he has never cleaned the kitchen.

There is old grease caked on every surface and clean pans are put on top of layers of filth and grease.

There is grime under the fryer but they claim that there are no staff paid to clean the kitchen.

Robert checks in with the design team before the end of the day.

Cheryl says that she doesn't know what to do about the flooring as the dining room is huge and the budget is limited.

The next day, Robert arrives and meets with Sandi.

Sandi admits to Robert that she is emotional and is ashamed of her behaviour.

Robert asks the staff for feedback and Sam is negative.

The staff have many positives and negatives and the main complaints are that Sandi is defensive of criticism.

One member of staff says that she takes everything personally, like it is a personal attack and has to micromanage everything.

During the meeting they show that they are loyal to Sandi and the restaurant and believe she can turn it around.

Robert catches up with the renovation team who reveal that they are behind schedule and need more people to help.

Robert has a heart to heart with Sandi and tells her that he will be teaching her how to do food costings.

Her current system of guessing prices is not working and she is barely making a profit on both food and drink.

One cocktail they serve would make a profit of $30 but the liquor they use costs $29.80 so they only make 20 cents profit.

They should be making $96 for 15 drinks, enough to cover costs and make a profit.

Robert wants to increase the drink costs from $3 to $5 and this would lead to a $3000 increase in revenue.

Robert enters the kitchen and is surprised to see a new chef in there.

Sandi reveals that the chef is actually her brother Gary, who is the chef instructor at a local college with over 30 years of experience.

Robert is confused by all this but Gary says he has offered to help but she has refused due to her pride.

Gary admits he did not push his offer to help hard enough and will be bringing some culinary students to help with the relaunch.

Shortly before the relaunch and Sam remains negative and is negative about the new drinks prices.

Robert tells Sam that he doesn't want negativity and he can't be positive then he will have to leave.

Sam returns and promises to Robert that he will be positive about the changes to the restaurant.

The makeover is revealed and Sandi loves the new decor.

The floor is no longer dark, new lighting has been added and there are fresh colours on the walls.

For relaunch night, Gary is in the kitchen with his culinary students.

The customers love the new food and decor. The prime rib is a big hit with the customers.

The relaunch is a success and the customers promise to return.

What Happened Next at Moss' Prime Rib and Spaghetti House?

After Robert visited, Yelp reviews seem to indicate that the majority of customers loved the changes that they made.

The restaurant was put up for sale in November 2012 for $134,500 with all of the furniture and equipment.

It failed to sell at auction on 19th December 2012.

Moss' Prime Rib and Spaghetti House closed on April 13th 2013.

Moss' Prime Rib and Spaghetti House was Restaurant Impossible season 3 episode 1 and aired on February 08 2012.

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