Getty Chef Robert Irvine onstage during a culinary demonstration.
The season finale of Robert Irvine and Food Network’s Restaurant: Impossible airs tonight, March 12. It sees the chef and his crew travel to Delray Beach, Florida to rescue Taverna Trela.
According to the episode synopsis, the owner of Taverna Trela has hopes of reviving the flagging clientele but has neglected his restaurant due to the loss of his parents. “Robert must dig deep to find a way to fix this family-run Greek restaurant before it’s too late.”
In a preview for the episode, Irvine says he thinks the restaurant is finished and expresses worry that they may not be able to get co-owner Bobby Orfanos to a place where he can overcome the mountain of debt and lost passion.
The Makeover Happened in Early January
“I think you’re done. I think you’re finished.” 😳 According to @RobertIrvine, owner Bobby may not be able to overcome the mountain of debt and his lost passion at his Greek restaurant. Tune in to #RestaurantImpossible @ 9|8c to see if Robert can help.
“I can see why you’re failing without even tasting the food,” Irvine said to Orfanos in the released clip. “I wouldn’t want to come here. It has no soul, it just looks like another white box with a painted scene and a flag.”
He says that the journey is going to be very difficult, as the restaurant is $400,000 in debt only six years into the restaurant being opened. Filming for the episode took place on January 8 and 8, 2020.
Prior to the episode being filmed, Orfanos talked to the Sun Sentinal. He said he would do “whatever it takes” for the makeover, but he wasn’t allowed to say much more than that at the time.
According to the article, state inspectors had previously shut down Taverna Trela in 2019 citing nine high-priority violations which included live cockroaches in the kitchen, specifically inside an oven and a rice cooker, as well as improper handling of raw chicken.
Reviews Are Generally Positive
Well tonight is the finale of season 16 @Rest_Imposs 9pm eastern from Delray Beach , might as well be called catastrophe Canyon … wait tilll you see this Can’t write scripted tv this well .. tune in Biggest prize giveaway this week for sure …
In reviews on Google Reviews, TripAdvisor, and on Yelp, the reviews are generally positive with a few negative reviews mixed in.
On Google, one user writes that the restaurant “recently got a great facelift from a restaurant show coming to town to fix them up. I’m glad they changed the sign on the front door too. The food is always solid. … The interior is MUCH better than before, now updated, and with a great bar.”
Negative reviews on Google Reviews mention service being slow and the most recent review simply states “This place isn’t doing very well.”
On Yelp, Taverna Trela has 3 out of 5 stars based on a total of 128 reviews. Of those reviews, 20 have been written since the renovations, and six of those are two-star or lower reviews.
One review placed on February 8 states, “I thought that after Robert Irvine showed up things would be a lot better. The food was not good, the service was bad and they messed up the orders so many times. … They kept saying the kitchen was so busy but the place barely had any people. You can tell they didn’t take Robert Irvine’s advice or maybe Robert gave some bad advice.”
On the other hand, one five-star review reads, “Went for dinner with friends a few weeks after the TV makeover. Nice decor. Great service. As a group we ordered Moussaka, and 2 different kabob dinners. Food was very good. Resonable prices too. Service was excellent.”
On TripAdvisor, the restaurant has a 3.5-star rating with recent reviews mentioning the much-improved restaurant and crediting Irvine for the changes. They mention reasonable prices, a scaled-down menu and a beautiful renovation as reasons for leaving a 3-star or better review.
READ NEXT: Lil G’s Kajun Restaurant in Louisiana is Featured on ‘Restaurant: Impossible’