Restaurant Revisited: University Grill by Sara Levine in Shows, May 23rd, 2012
At the University Grill in Burlington, N.C., Robert Irvine faced three co-owners who refused to get along. Siblings Eleni, George and Manny opened the restaurant five years ago to help provide for their retired parents, but they were facing failure when Restaurant: Impossible came along to help. We checked in with the siblings after their restaurant’s makeover to see how business is going.
A few months after Robert and his Restaurant: Impossible team arrived on the scene, sales at the University Grill are up 15 percent. “Everyone loves the new decor,” says Eleni.
Salmon is the most popular dish on the new menu. Robert promised that if they switched from frozen to fresh salmon, it would be a big seller. He was right.
The owners are working on establishing formal guidelines and training for the staff. Local university students are helping them launch a new website.
Eleni is still running the restaurant, though George helps out some of the time. She has mostly kept up her promise to stay out of the kitchen, but she pitches in when they are busy or during breakfast. She is able to take one day off a week, as well as a couple of nights.
Eleni has brought on a new hostess and new servers and is now in the process of hiring an additional chef: “We’re still looking for that perfect match,” she says.
More from Restaurant Revisited:
Ristorante Barolo (May 16)
Pappas (May 9)
Mama Lee’s (May 2)
Pelican Grill (April 25)
Valley View (March 14)
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We just ate lunch at the University Grill today (11/8/12) after seeing the show last evening. The fries and chips were way overdone, the hamburger steak was VERY well done and the chicken bacon wrap was okay. The chicken a little dry. The restaurant was kind of drab and dirty. Their sanitation rating is only a 94.5 which is not very impressive to me. We will most likely not be going back.
Actually a rating of 94.5 is excellent in the food industry!! After I watched the show, one of the owners, Eleni, seemed to be a B….. It's a shame she can't let her brother help more. It's a shame that the restaurants he has helped don't seem to help. What a waste of his talent.
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YEAH because what if someone doesn't have internet access. Id say about 999 out of 1,000 people who have cable TV have access to the internet some how. people stop bitching.