Restaurant Revisited: Longbranch Steak and Seafood by Sara Levine in Shows, July 11th, 2012
Robert Irvine arrived in Fayetteville, Ga., to help owner Lisa Howard revive Longbranch Steak and Seafood, the restaurant her husband Lindsay gave her two years ago as a wedding gift. Robert and his team raced against the clock to clean up the kitchen, get the staff into shape and give Lisa the confidence and tools to run a successful business. We checked in with the Howards to see how things are going a few months after their Restaurant: Impossible makeover.
“We must admit, it was somewhat of a culture shock to our regulars,” says Lindsay Howard. To help longtime customers adjust, the Howards added back a few of their old favorites alongside Robert’s new menu items, a combination they believe will help them succeed. “We feel confident that we can make our restaurant a place where people want to continue to come and bring others as new patrons,” says Lindsay.
After Robert’s intervention, Lisa is stepping up as a manager and is taking ownership of her shortcomings. “Management duties have changed in many areas since the show,” says Lindsay. With proper staffing, they are working hard to keep the kitchen clean and running smoothly.
“The whole experience was an eye-opening one. We thank everyone involved for the lessons put before us. It is now up to us to follow through. We both still have a tremendous amount of growing to do.”
More from Restaurant Revisited:
Horton’s Kids (June 13)
Pollard’s (May 30)
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.
The skinny cook may not be on any drugs, but his fingernails are filthy — as is his hat. Beards are supposed to be contained to keep hair out of the food. Some of them just looked dirty — as in "germs".
What are the details on why the long branch rest. Is closed now. Just wanted a more detailed update on why they actually still couldn't stay open.
Even after the show helped them.
What is the current status on the Longbranch Restaurant? If closed and out of business, when did that happen? I hate to say it, but as someone that watched the show in question, I did get the feeling that Linda was WAY out of her league in running this place, and her husband should have known her personality better than to expect her to be able to step up and manage and sometimes "be mean" (her words) to employees when needed. Though Linda claimed to have grown a backbone in1 day, it takes a lot longer to grow one than that.
I was able to find a link via google that the place closed several months later
Longbranch has a for rent sign in the window now and the Logo is removed. You can't feed people garbage for long, have a "new" instant makeover and then expect folks to not be cautious. The problem is: too many people had such a bad experience before, that even "post Robert" a lot of us still wouldn't change where we go to take a chance there. Longbranch's competition had already secured our patronage.
If the closure is true, then that's just unfortunate. They went through all that effort and the restaurant still ended up closing shop.
I live in the area and this restaurant is definitely closed. Been that way since at least Oct 2012….
I can not find the create account button
Why is it that most other power conference commissioners seem to say things of substance and Bowlsby says nothing? We would like a championship game but we wouldn’t. We are discussion expansion but don’t want to. We are stable but we are discussing scheduling alliances to fend off further expansion. Obviously speaking in absolutes isn’t possible with these topics, but c’mon…..say something or say nothing, not both.
I can remember watching clips of the 1974 Lions tour and wondering why the Lions had so much support. It was from the non-white part of the ground.
Longbranch steak & seafood is closed and has been closed for a while.
Just did a Google search and read the place went out if business in June.