In this Restaurant Impossible episode, Robert Irvine visits Polaris Street Cafe in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Polaris Street Cafe is owned by Julissa Legasppy.
Julissa met her husband Jesse in 2003.
Jesse worked at a pizza chain restaurant for 25 years.
When Julissa met Jesse, she was a skin care executive.
Her husband came up with the idea to open the restaurant.
They bought an existing restaurant that had been open for 27 years.
They didn’t make any changes to the restaurant at all.
Julissa had no clue about the restaurant industry, having never worked in it.
Six months after they opened the restaurant, Jesse started getting sick.
Julissa took him to the hospital.
Jesse was at the hospital for seven weeks, and never made it out.
Sadly, his organs failed and he passed away.
There was a total of $210,000 invested in the restaurant.
They are $8,000-$10,000 behind on rent and $4,000 behind on utilities.
Julissa had to sell her house to keep the restaurant afloat.
She says this was hard.
The restaurant has no identity and an uninspired menu.
Julissa wants to keep the restaurant open because this was Jesse’s dream.
Robert arrives and says it looks like the restaurant used to be a garage.
He isn’t sure what type of restaurant it is.
There are banquet tables and chairs and lots of clutter.
The restaurant isn’t clean and the flooring needs a lot of love.
Robert doesn’t know what the theme was supposed to be.
Robert calls Julissa to the front of the house.
He asks her what this restaurant is and she isn’t really sure either.
She tells him that they paid $135,000 for the restaurant.
Jesse knew more about the business than Julissa did.
Julissa isn’t sure what their first gross revenue was.
She is still in this business because of Jesse.
Julissa says she is afraid of the change.
She says that she has no support or guidance.
Robert tells her he wants to see the service.
The restaurant is being seated at 25% capacity due to state restrictions.
Julissa’s system is old and outdated.
There is packaged frozen food everywhere.
Julissa isn’t paying attention and the staff are left to figure it out themselves.
Robert asks what she does around here.
He confronts her about the frozen food.
Robert tells her that right now, she shouldn’t be running a restaurant.
Robert tells the cooks to make him something.
Robert thinks that they should be making Mexican food since the cooks are good at it.
Robert meets with his design team Luke and Tom to discuss the design concept.
The staff begins taking everything out of the restaurant.
Robert sits down with Jessica and Gio.
They have worked as servers since they opened.
Jessica liked working with Jesse.
Jesse kept track of the staff and the cleaning processes.
Jessica says Julissa was thrown into the fire and is a little lost but has potential.
Julissa’s poor leadership skills are killing the restaurant.
Robert tells Julissa that at some point, she will have to pick up where Jesse left off.
She must become the leader that Jesse was.
Robert pulls out a list and tells Julissa what menu items they will be getting rid of.
Robert gives her homework for that evening.
She must figure out what her vision is and what goals she has.
She must also come up with dishes she wants to add to the menu.
The next morning, Robert meets with Julissa to see if she completed her homework.
Julissa realizes that she has to move forward with the business.
She wants to learn the numbers of the business.
Julissa needs to know what she is doing with ordering ingredients and with the front of the house.
She doesn’t want to cook frozen food anymore.
Julissa wants to incorporate seafood into their dishes.
She has a lot more confidence today.
Robert creates an exercise to teach Julissa how to hold her staff accountable for their mistakes.
Julissa begins telling her staff that they need to follow procedures.
Julissa realizes that putting her foot down is very important for a successful restaurant.
Robert get her to break the super old computers.
Robert has given Julissa a new state of the art POS system.
Julissa says that the POS system is going to change the business in a good way.
Julissa gets emotional because this was part of her five-year plan with Jesse.
Robert shows Julissa and the cooks recipes he thinks should be added to the new menu.
They begin making finishing touches on the restaurant.
The tables are being set and the staff are preparing for relaunch.
Julissa says that the past two days have been an emotional roller coaster.
She can’t wait to see the changes.
Robert shows Julissa her new restaurant.
There are new tables and chairs and Robert hangs up a picture of Jesse.
Julissa invites the customers inside for the first time since the remodel.
Robert is watching via video feed due to the capacity restrictions.
On relaunch, the customers are loving the food and the new decor.
The service is great and the customers promise to return.
What Happened Next at Polaris Street Cafe?
A few months later, breakfast and lunch sales have increased dramatically.
People are waiting up to 30 minutes to get into the restaurant.
The new POS sales reports confirm that the customers are loving the new menu.
Polaris Street Cafe is open.
Reviews are mostly very positive with praise for the fast service, prices and quality of the food.
Polaris Street Cafe was Restaurant Impossible season 18 episode 10 and aired on 6th May 2021.
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