Restaurant Revisited: Pollard’s by Sara Levine in Shows, May 30th, 2012
On the latest episode of Restaurant: Impossible, Robert headed to Memphis to help Pollard’s, a barbecue restaurant that was at risk of going up in smoke. The eatery was experiencing growing pains after upgrading from a takeout operation to a giant dine-in establishment. We checked in with owners Tarrance and Torria Pollard to see how business is going after their Restaurant: Impossible intervention.
A few months after Robert’s Restaurant: Impossible makeover, sales at Pollard’s Bar-B-Que have grown an impressive 20 percent.
Torria says their customers love the new decor, “especially the brightness.” Social networking has been a key ingredient in their recipe for success as the pair has been able to use Facebook and Twitter to successfully get the word out about their new location.
Their customers love the smaller, easier-to-read new menu. The Pollards have kept most of Robert’s menu items and added a few new dishes.
Tarrance took Robert’s advice to heart and has tweaked his family barbecue sauce to make it more his own. Torria credits the show for convincing Tarrance to “open his mind” to change: “He admits that Robert was right on a lot of things.”
More from Restaurant Revisited:
University Grill (May 23)
Ristorante Barolo (May 16)
Pappas (May 9)
Mama Lee’s (May 2)
Pelican Grill (April 25)
Valley View (March 14)
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More posts from Sara Levine.
Why is this thing deleting comments
Now, I have to start back over and make my point again. I agree with another poster. I was really not feeling Chef Irvine's rub. I've seen various styles of rubs on D,D, and D, but that was not a great southern BBQ rub. I guess anything is better than what he was doing. I think he shrunk the menu to much also. And why is he advising Terrance to finish off food in the oven? He should have at least advised him to turn down the temperature and cook the ribs a couple more hours. I went to Pollards many times over the years being from Memphis, and their pork sandwiches were pretty good. I've known plenty of people who always go when they visit Memphis or return home from wherever they live now. I never tried their ribs because even in Memphis, I've found that just because a place is good as one BBQ entree doesn't mean they're good at another.
Terrance can't say he has passion, Why has he never been to a competition even to watch someone else? How do you boil your ribs and only season with season salt? Someone with Passion, someone who barely knows much about BBQ knows you use a rub. I've has passions for things. I read magzines on the topic, watched tv shows about it, went to showcases and competitions related to it, had friends in the industry, had friends in the industry I could ask questions of. That's passion
It's a shame a comment has to be deleted 4 or 5 times for a person to make a point. But I don't understand the people on Kitchen Nightmare or Restaurant Impossible. Why go into an industry and not try to learn anything about it? I'm sure you know people in the industry. Ask them if you can see how their kitchen runs. If you know no one bring in someone with experience in training wait staff and kitchen staff. Don't go in blind. Some of Terrance's family members own another BBQ shop in town. Did he see how they do things?
What are you a fool? Have you not noticed the size of Chef Roberts arms (and the fact he is ex-British military?) That little stubborn skinny "cook" (and I use the term loosely) wasn't going to kick anyone's ass. What is disrespectful is being days away from loosing your home and business, that your wife worked her but off for, because you are too stubborn, stupid and prideful to make a change.
HE LET HIS WIFE KNOW!!!! HE KNEW HE WAS COMING THATS WHY SHE DIDNT INVITE HIM IN BELEIVE ME SHE HAD ALREADY TOLD HER HUSBAND!!! THEY DIDNT TURN DOWN THOSE RENOVATIONS!!!!!
some people should not be allowed to own a restaurant and the Terrance character is one of them, what an idiot! Beside the face he was so transparent during the filming the most halarious part was the addition of Obama's wife.
What does the First lady of the United States of America have to do with Terrance?
What's more, if you don't like any other Memphis BBQ (REALLY hard to imagine), this might be just the place for you! What do you know? Even if he switched back, you might be amongst the 300 people who like the original, store bought sauce. haha Take a chance.
Probably went up 20% because of the publicity. I was kind of tempted to try it myself because of the show but I'm picky about my barbecue.
define examinating…