Italian Bistro - Restaurant Impossible Update - Open or Closed?

In this Restaurant Impossible episode, Robert Irvine visits Italian Bistro in Summerville, South Carolina.

This is a special episode featuring two restaurants owned by a father and a son separately and are located six miles apart.

They are Valentino’s and Italian Bistro.

Frank bought the restaurant after looking for somewhere to retire.

The family moved to South Carolina from New Jersey.

Robert visits the Italian Bistro on the first day and takes Tom with him to see the space.

The bistro is in bad shape and looks worn out and tired.

The ceiling is falling apart, the booths are ripped and the bar is in bad shape.

Frank and Frankie have pleaded their case and Robert decides to do both places.

Italian Bistro will be getting a smaller makeover than Valentino’s.

It will be getting a facelift and some much needed repairs.

Tanya gets the team, staff and volunteers to empty out the Bistro for a face lift and repairs.

Tom is struggling moving back and forth between the two places and sending resources from one to the other.

Tom pulls down the trellis on the ceiling and finds that it is caked in grease.

He also takes out a fish tank a task that wasn’t as simple as it sounds.

The next day, Tom reveals he left his team to get some work done overnight.

They made great progress and have got most of the painting done.

The team have more work to do on removing the remaining parts of the fish tank.

Tom doesn’t want Robert to see the space until it is finished.

Taniya comes over to the Bistro and is pleased with the progress.

Tom is confident that they can make the deadline that Robert has set for them.

He stays to supervise the finishing as it is revealed first.

It begins to rain, which causes some issues but Tom is confident they can finish the makeover.

He heads over to Valentino’s and Robert comes back from Valentino’s for the reveal.

The team are finished and Robert is pleased with the design.

He feels that it has a homey, old Italian feel to the place now.

Frank and Frankie are brought in and they love the new look.

They feel that with the new colours it is looking modern and clean.

The fish tank is now a wine rack and they cannot believe it all.

They are all hugging each other and Robert too.

What Happened Next at Italian Bistro?

After the show, business is up by 20% in Italian Bistro.

Frankie still works at both restaurants but is at Italian Bistro less often.

Italian Bistro is open.

Reviews are mostly positive with praise for the pizza, portions and prices.

Valentino's and Italian Bistro was Restaurant Impossible season 11 episode 2 and aired on 25th March 2015.