In this Restaurant Impossible episode, Robert Irvine visits Carmine’s Chianti Cow in upstate New York.
Carmine’s Chianti Cow is an American-Italian restaurant.
They opened for business on December 21st 1999.
Keith says he couldn’t do this without his wife Lisa.
Lisa comes in and helps out when she can and she also does the books.
She has a full-time job at the local school district.
Lisa and Keith have two children together.
In the beginning, they were making $10,000 a month.
Since the housing market crashed, they have been struggling to make a profit.
They can no longer pay their bills and can’t keep up anymore.
The stress of the restaurant is wearing the both of them thin, especially Keith.
Lisa thinks that Keith feels like a failure to his family.
Lisa says there is no way they can keep going like this.
If they don’t figure things out, they are going to lose the restaurant.
Robert arrives and notices a mess in the corner that you see as soon as you walk in the door.
There are Christmas tree lights hanging up, which Robert hates.
The flooring is old and the corners are starting to crack away.
The tables and chairs don’t match.
Robert calls Keith and Lisa to the front of the house.
They sit down for a brief about the restaurant.
Carmine owned the restaurant before Keith did.
For the first three or four years they were making a lot of money.
Last year, their revenue was only $190,000.
Lisa says she does the financials when she can, since she has kids and another job.
They are around $500,000 in debt and don’t know their food costs.
They also don’t know their payroll costs.
Robert tells them that they should know their finances for every day.
Lisa says she doesn’t even know if the debt is really $500,000.
Robert asks if Keith is always this sad and Lisa says sometimes.
Keith says he can’t afford the time or the money to make this place into what he wants.
Keith’s biggest fear is losing the restaurant.
Robert tells him it’s either make changes or close the doors.
He wants to see the service and then try the food after.
Robert says the place is draining him of energy.
He has invited 60 people for dinner.
The customers say that the service isn’t the best.
The servers are all clueless.
There are no systems in place to get the food to the right tables.
Some customers have been waiting just to be greeted by a server.
The staff don’t work as a team and Keith and Lisa aren’t taking leadership.
The food is greasy and cold.
Robert asks to try a few menu items.
The scallops are over cooked.
The menu is part the original menu and part a new menu.
Robert meets with his design team, Taniya and Tom.
They begin taking things out of this restaurant.
Lisa says she is putting all of her trust into Robert’s hands.
Robert meets with Matt and Daniella, who have been working at the restaurant for a long time.
Matt says that over the years Keiths focus began to decline.
Matt doesn’t think Keith has confidence in the restaurant anymore.
Taniya is going for a rustic farmhouse vibe with the redesign.
Lisa says Keith is afraid to lose customers if he changes the menu.
Robert tells Keith that he doesn’t have any ownership over the restaurant.
Robert has Keith rip the sign for the restaurant off the building.
Robert tells him that Carmine’s and the 20 year old menu is gone.
Keith says he wanted to have a reason to take it down and now he has.
He says that this is a fresh start.
Robert tells Keith and Lisa to go home and spend the night with their kids.
The next day, Robert arrives and checks in with the design team.
They redid the ceiling last night and are making good progress.
Robert wants to help Keith regain his cooking passion.
Robert takes Keith to a market and tells him to pick whatever he wants to create a steak dish.
Keith has been so caught up with the old menu that he was blind to the local produce.
Keith says it’ll be fun when they go to the kitchen and put it all together.
Robert says that he is confident Keith will be create food that he’s proud of.
Robert wants to design a menu based on love and passion.
Keith shows Robert the dishes he came up with and he loves them.
Robert shows Keith a warm salad and a burger recipe.
The design team begins making the finishing touches to the restaurant.
The tables are so big that they have to assemble them in the building.
Robert has added clearly marked table numbers to help the staff learn the table numbers.
Robert says it’ll take about another hour before they can open.
Robert shows Lisa and Keith their new sign.
The new name is the Chianti Cow.
Robert tells them to begin the prep for the relaunch.
Keith says he feels reinvigorated.
They are ready for a new beginning.
Robert takes them into the new restaurant.
Keith says their restaurant looks amazing and Lisa says this doesn’t look like the same restaurant.
Lisa and Keith invite the customers into their new restaurant.
On relaunch, the customers say they love the changes, they think it’s beautiful.
The food is coming out of the kitchen quick.
Everyone is working as a team.
Keith is happier and actually smiling.
The customers love the way the food tastes.
They especially love that it is now made with fresh ingredients.
The customers promise to return to the restaurant.
What Happened Next at Carmine's Chianti Cow?
Carmine's Chianti Cow is open.
Reviews after the episode was filmed are mostly positive.
Carmine's Chianti Cow was Restaurant Impossible season 16 episode 6 and aired on 30th January 2020.
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