On the other hand the Cooking channel's show Restaurant Takeover is annoying to me and I'm not the only one. This review says exactly how my DD and I feel.

SIX days closed, rude, bickering designers, no real concept of what they are going to do, Igor comes in and demolishes everything! and then brings in the owners to show them the damage. The owners have to pay $15,000 which is matched by the show.

Here is a link that might be useful: Restaurant Takeover

I like Restaurant Impossible, but not Restaurant Takeover.

Hi, Dorothy! I've been wondering about you and hope all is well.

I agree about the two restaurant shows. I don't watch 'Takeover' anymore. Be sure to find the follow up reviews of the 'Impossible' show.....some are interesting.

I don't watch 'Takeover' either. I watch the beginning of 'Impossible', skip through most of the construction/design stuff, then watch the end.

I don't know anything about this show. Just wanted to ask how your friend's daughter is doing.

Shirley

I used to enjoy Restaurant Impossible but now it seems like Robert Irvine gets more and more rude each week.
And to see all the stuff that gets destroyed instead of re-purposed or given to the Habitat for Humanity resale stores irritates me.

I love watching Robert Irvine. I've watched his wedding show a while back and I just thought they did a great job filming it. He seems like a very caring person.

I watch occasionally, but find him to be overly dramatic, so I watch the beginning and then fast forward to the end results.

He revamped a restaurant in my area, but unfortunately it ended up closing because of the same issues that brought Robert there.

I don't know who advised him to start doing that "happy dance" thing on every episode when he's teaching them a new dish, it's relatively new, but it drives me insane! Fire that person! LOL

In the past couple of months I have met Robert Irvine, his wife Gail, his builder Tom, and designers Lynn and Cheryl. Robert and his team are the real deal - they genuinely care for not only the owners but the community as well.

On a much more personal note, I asked Robert if I could take his picture with my mother in the midst of a Grand Opening (it happened to be her birthday). Not only did he drop everything and walk over to her but he also immediately recognized that my mother was in emotional pain from being recently widowed (my parents were married almost sixty years). He sat with her, held her hands, looked deeply into her eyes and talked to her for at least fifteen minutes sharing personal stories about his life and asking about my father. Robert Irvine did what her family, friends, chaplain and a grief counselor could not do - he gave her hope. I watched my mother start to blossom in front of my very eyes (I cried the entire time). People were waiting right behind him for pictures but he was helping my mother and it was as if no one else was there. I will be forever grateful to Robert Irvine.

And for whoever said that they are upset about everything getting destroyed - everything taken out of the restaurant goes into a Pod storage container. On the show it appears that everything is getting tossed but it is not.

Renee, that is such a heartwarming story...thank you for sharing that with us.

Carol, I don't know how you came to the conclusion that all of the old furnishings get destroyed. All they do in front of the cameras, is remove it from the building. I've assumed that the owners have already made plans to donate, sell, or store everything well in advance.

Renee - what a beautiful story. I really enjoy watching the way he operates.

Here is a picture of my mother with Robert Irvine on her birthday.

Look at the muscles on that guy! Your mom looks thrilled.

Renee-Your story made me tear up. I have a new respect for Robert Irvine. Your Mom has such a beautiful happy smile in the pic. Is she still beaming like in the photo??

I am glad to know that they re-purpose the furnishings.

I've watched and enjoyed several episodes. There's a sameness about the episodes that makes them not interesting to me on a continuing basis.

The premise is no surprise - there are a lot of dumb people running around who bite off more than they can chew (pun intended). Especially with restaurants (which have the highest new business failure rate in the US), people who really have no business giving it a try, do so anyway and sink.

Some of the situations I've seen were really sad, especially the ones where inept family members were a big cause of the problems.

I liked it at first, but got tired of the same old, same old. The contrived drama! On the other hand, I truly enjoy HOTEL IMPOSSIBLE, on another network.