Restaurant Revisited: The Maple Tree Cafe by Maria Russo in Shows, September 26th, 2012
Rookie restaurant owner Ashley Robertson needed Robert Irvine’s help to successfully run her Las Vegas restaurant, The Maple Tree Cafe. In just two days, Robert tackled poor food quality and disorganized management in order to give The Maple Tree Cafe the transformation it deserved. We checked in with Ashley a few months after the Restaurant: Impossible renovation to see how her restaurant is doing today.
Ashley reports that since Robert left, sales at The Maple Tree Cafe have more than doubled.
The restaurant’s food, she says, “is coming out great,” and she credits a recipe book in the kitchen with ensuring that all dishes are made the same way every time. She says that she has “completely delegated the prep duties to everyone in the kitchen,” and makes sure to “spend time watching plates go out.”
Ashley tells us that she’s still serving the majority of Robert’s menu, and that both the apple fritter and Cuban sandwich have been well received by customers. “Everyone raves about” the Cuban sandwich, she tells us. “It wasn’t something we had ever considered putting on our menu before, but it’s definitely a keeper.”
As for the staff at the restaurant, Ashley says that she’s been pleased with Alex’s work. She also has taken the lead on disciplining and firing a few employees when necessary. “I have changed a lot of my ways of thinking since the show, and I realized that lack of pride and responsibility just can’t be tolerated,” she tells us. She’s hired new employees who are not family members to staff both the front of house and the kitchen.
Today Ashley’s family is not offering as many critiques of her business as before. “I think their eyes were opened a little more to all of the work, stress, business, finance and babysitting that is really involved in the day-to-day,” she explains.
Looking ahead, Ashley is excited about The Maple Tree Cafe’s new venture into catering. In addition to providing boxed in-flight meals for an airline, the restaurant has teamed up with a chain of lounges in Las Vegas to provide food at two of their new locations.
More From Restaurant Revisited:
Michele’s (September 19)
Paliani’s Restaurant (September 12)
Frankie’s (September 5)
Gusanoz (August 29)
Stella’s (August 8)
Italian Village (August 1)
Zandi’s (July 25)
The Main Dish (July 18)
Longbranch Steak and Seafood (July 11)
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 Maria Russo.
Tags: Restaurant Impossible
We went there New Years weekend right after landing in Las Vegas – because we are fans of the show! My boyfriend LOVED the cuban sandwich, and the apple fritter was scrumptious. It was so fun to see the restaurant after watching the show!
Isn't this comment site suppose to be about what happened to the restaurant . Why is all this other bull shit on here..?
Including ….. YOU …. ha ha ha
hi we would like to know if u have done anything with an Indian restaurant!!
I enjoyed watching this episode. It would have been sad for such a young girl to lose her livelihood and future. Her family obviously means a lot to her and being on the outs with them was putting considerable stress on her. Now that she has the necessary skill set to manage her restaurant and her family behind her (but in their place) she has what she needs to succeed.
It wasn’t lack of pride. You have to much pride. Self esteem is the word you were lookng for
Congratulations!
I would go just to stare at the owners tits.
Hello,
At my place where I lived there are not much restaurants to serve people with different foods. My budget is limited, I can't establish a new restaurant therefore I am looking for an existence restaurant to buy. Any advice from you are welcome. Please email me; contact@EandMprinting.com. Thank you.
So, 3.000 miles away from you is OK …??
But …. Opppss ….. where do you live ?
…. :-)
learn how to speak english and maybe someone will contact you
It would look better if all the workers at Maple Tree wore pretty bandanas over their hair, some looked unkempt.
My boyfriend and I ate at the Maple Tree Cafe after Ashley bought it. It was awful. So, when we saw that Robert had been there and fixed it, we went and gave it a try. It wasn't too bad. My boyfriend had the french toast and he didn't care for it being coated with cornflakes. I had the huevos rancheros and it was pretty decent. So a few months later (today) my boyfriend's mother and I went there so she could see the changes. Well, they have reverted back to their awful self. My boyfriend's mother had the biscuits and gravy. I have never ever seen biscuits and gravy made with a bacon gravy. And she said it was horrible. She has had an upset stomach since then. I had the 2 egg breakfast. Since I am trying to stay mainly gluten free the waitress advised that I should get the country fries because they are potatoes and that the hashbrowns come already shredded. Scary. So since I knew they had Huevos Rancheros, I asked if I could have a corn torttilla instead of toast. Well when it came out, it was some sort of processed hard crunchy store bought thing. That wouldn't do. So I asked for the fry bread. Never in all my life have I seen fry bread made like a lump of bread dough. It was hard and yet wet in the middle. The country fries weren't seasoned at all. It was absolutely the worst breakfast I have every eaten and Robert would be so disappointed that Ashley has allowed herself and her cooks to revert back to their old ways. I did leave a message on the back of my receipt telling the owner how awful it was. The only good thing about the experience was the Bree, the waitress. She was very accomodating and if I could have paid her the price of the meal and paid for my meal with the tip, it would have been much more fitting. Definitely a thumbs down and I hope Robert reads these. So sad!!