In this Restaurant Impossible episode, Robert Irvine visits Papa C’s Eastside Cafe in Fairport, New York.
Papa C’s Eastside Cafe is owned by Sal Cimino Sr.
He purchased Papa C’s because it was something his kids wanted to do and he figured they could do it as a family.
Sal Jr says that the original plan was for him and his two brothers to run the restaurant.
Their dad didn’t want to make himself a permanent fixture there.
About a year ago, Sal Sr got divorced and lost his full time job.
Sal Jr started dating one of the servers, Riley.
Sal Sr says this wasn’t good because she’s a very angry person.
She’s also not friendly to people at the restaurant including the customers.
Sal Jr says that he feels some scars left from arguments they’ve had there.
He feels like their relationship is unrepairable.
Sal Jr says that his dad put the blame of the restaurant failing on him.
The stress of this failing restaurant is pushing this family to its limits.
Robert arrives at the restaurant and isn’t impressed with the banquet chairs and plastic tables.
The vents haven’t been cleaned in years.
There is mold in the bottom of the container that holds the cleaning product.
Robert calls Sal Sr and Sal Jr for a brief on the restaurant.
They both tell him that they didn’t have restaurant experience before buying this restaurant.
The workers don’t take Sal Jr seriously when he tells them what to do.
Their disagreements got physical once and they all have anger management issues.
A year ago, they lost around 25% of their business.
Since Sal and Riley started dating, he has let her get away with more.
Robert says he wants to see the service.
Robert has to tell Riley to go and tend to the tables.
Some customers have been there for around ten minutes and haven’t received a menu.
The restaurant’s logo says, “Practice safe eating, use condiments.”
Some customers don’t feel comfortable bringing their kids here.
The service is bad and the servers aren’t friendly.
Sal Sr’s girlfriend Tammy says that customer service sucks.
Customers say that the only friendly person here is Tammy.
Robert calls over Riley.
The customers say they wouldn’t come back based on their experience with Riley.
Riley is crying and says she can understand Robert is here to help her but this is her first serving job.
She says that when you’re constantly blamed for everything going wrong, you become unmotivated.
She says she doesn’t respect Sal Sr.
She says it’s because she is never told thank you.
The customers says that the coleslaw had to have been made at least a week ago.
The food isn’t very great and there’s a hair in the food.
After a closer look, it looks more like dust that fell from the kitchen.
Robert looks at the kitchen vents, which are disgusting.
He meets with Cheryl, his designer and they discuss plans for the makeover.
Robert makes the staff clean the restaurant.
The staff and the construction crew began taking everything out of the restaurant.
Robert meets with the staff.
He brings up footage from the past few months of the family arguing.
Robert says that there is no respect in this room at all.
Riley says that it wouldn’t hurt to tell his own children thank you for giving this restaurant so much time.
Robert takes Ricky and Justin aside to get their input on this.
Robert has to figure out how to bring this family back together.
The construction crew wants to have a modern Americana theme.
Sal Sr says that his family is broken and that these issues are going to be very hard to resolve.
Sal Jr says he’s very exhausted.
The next day, Robert arrives and they’ve all been cleaning for 15 hours.
Robert gathers Sal and his sons.
He puts a mint in coke, which represents Riley.
Sal Sr apologizes to Riley for how he’s treated her before and says he hopes they can move past this.
Sal Jr says that he likes his dad’s worth ethic and how loyal he is.
The other two brothers continue with what they like about their dad.
Sal Sr cries a little as he’s happy about what they said.
Sal Sr. tells his sons what he likes about them, he has it written down in his notebook.
Sal Jr says that the future looks a lot better than it did yesterday.
They all hug it out.
Robert has to teach the owners the new menu.
He teaches them a stuffed pepper and lets them try it and they love the way it tastes.
Robert meets with the staff and tells them how he hates the shirts.
He tells them to take off their shirts and to throw them in a metal trashcan.
Robert pours lighter fluid on it and lights a t-shirt.
The old t-shirts are on fire.
He hands out the new menu and new shirts.
Sal Sr feels like Robert has started a new era for this restaurant that is a bit classier.
The construction crew begins to make final touches on this restaurant.
Robert places the menus on the tables.
Sal Sr tells his sons that if they succeed, then they all own part of this.
Sal Jr says that this restaurant has caused his family a lot of turmoil.
Robert shows them the new Papa C’s.
They are amazed by how great this restaurant looks.
Sal Jr says he feels like he’s in a completely different restaurant and that this is exactly where he wants to be.
Sal Sr says he is glad that his family is back together and that they get a second chance.
He hasn’t had his family together in a long time and hopes that now they can stay together.
They all have a group hug.
Robert says it’s amazing what you can do when you share a vision.
Papa C’s opens up for the first time since remodel.
On relaunch, the customers love all of the changes.
They say it’s clean and more open now.
They also love the food.
Sal Sr says that he loves his kids and he’s so proud of where they all are now.
He’s looking forward to the future in this restaurant.
Robert says the future looks bright.
What Happened Next at Papa C's Eastside Cafe?
A few months later, revenue was up 20%.
They decided to close on Mondays.
The relationship was beginning to be repaired between the two and Justin had returned to work part time.
The menu was a mix of Roberts and their previous items that were returned at the customers request.
They later fully reverted to their old menu.
Papa C's Eastside Cafe closed in December 2016.
They closed after the owners began suffering from ill health.
Papa C's Eastside Cafe was Restaurant Impossible season 9 episode 13 and aired on 3rd November 2014.
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