Been watching shows on TV. One that caught our attention was the show “Restaurant Impossible” by Robert Irvine. The show really is about drowning in debt restaurant owners and asking help from Robert on how to make their restaurant better and more profitable. What Robert will do he will renovate the restaurant and improved the menu for 2 days with the budget of $10,000. He will have help from his few different designers and his builder Tom. Both Bob and I really like the show and the people that help Robert. A lot of time we would be in awe of the outcome of the renovation. I also learned a few menus from him.
It’s really puzzling to me how could any owners let there restaurant be filthy, disgusting and so much gunk. Just watching the show makes my stomach turn upside down. Lots of time my eyeballs just about to pop out just watching those people when picking up the equipment in the kitchen and it’s filth every where. I felt that the workers just didn’t care and I guess the owners too. Too many OMG came out from my mouth in every episode that I watch of that show. It’s just mind blowing that the owners don’t have a clue how disgusting their restaurant has become. Like Bob and I were always commenting while watching the show, why can’t the owner start cleaning when they try to reach out for Robert before he come there to see their restaurant? At least when he comes to visit the resto it is partly clean already. Geez, if I would be the owner I would be embarrassed seeing my restaurant so filthy. Most of the restaurant that Robert would visit he always say its like a pig sty. And I totally agree with him.
Now since watching that show. My gosh, I was telling Bob that I felt like not eating at any restaurant now here in the Philippines, unless it is a newly opened restaurant. If the restaurant in the West goes like that so filthy and so disgusting, to think they had people from the government checking the restaurant regularly. What will be the restaurant here? I am not sure if they have regular people from the government checking the restaurant or do they have strict regulations on maintaining the restaurant here.
When going to the restaurant now all I’m thinking when ordering if the drinks and ice dispenser the inside is it clean? Are the cooking pots and pans cleaned? Are there mice crawling all over the restaurant during the night? Are the meats and veggies cleaned before cooking and serving? Gee, too many questions now in the back of my head. I mean I am not saying that the restaurant be super, super clean. Really it would be nice though if it would. But I would like it to be at least everything’s clean and the plates that were clean be covered that no bugs crawling in. No mice inside the kitchen running all over.
I don’t mind eating and drinking at some other good known restaurants here. Also right now I don’t mind eating at S & R since they just opened and some other restaurant that just opened recently. I know that the drinks & ice dispenser still in good shape.
Have a good eat everyone!
I really liked Restaurant Impossible and its sister show Hotel Impossible. Unfortunately, I can’t find either show on TV anymore. It seems like the really good shows don’t stay on cable for very long.
Hi Cy – Hmmm.. I will have Bob check out if we can find the Hotel Impossible. I have not seen any episode of that show yet. Ha ha ha… We love the download. On our cable here we have the Restaurant Impossible shows but its way too late than what we are watching now, plus I hate too much advertisement. I agree that good shows don’t last long. But those trashy shows stays too long.
Thank you for stopping by. Have a great day!
Feyma;
How about an episode where he goes back in six months to see if the renovated place is doing well, and is it clean?.
Hi Paul – Yes, as a matter of fact Robert has few episode that he went back and checked the restaurant again for follow up. All of them were doing good so far. It’s nice to see that they maintained the cleanliness that he started for them. We even saw Robert’s wedding on one of the episode. Of course it has to be spotless and perfectly done the way he wanted it to be. Ha ha ha…
Good to see you Paul. Have a wonderful day!
these “reality” tv shows are not real of course. insiders admit to arranging things so that it will attract an audience and the ‘OMG’ factor is what they are after, lol. many counties in california use a rating that must be posted on the window, a, b, c etc. grew up in the restaurant industry and know that the health department will not allow many things you see on the program. btw, health department in cebu also inspects restaurants and our resort restaurant has been inspected regularly.
Hi Ron Perry – Oh yeah too many OMG moments in every episode. I’m sure that lots of shows gears towards getting viewers and ratings. I think everyone of us have thoughts in the back of our mind that it could be true what Robert’s been showing us. Always watch out when dining. Keep an eye for cleanliness. He really showed me a lot about restaurants now.
I’m glad that your resort has regular inspections. Good to know.
Good to see you here!
I to have watched the show many times and like you am horrified by the condition of some of those places. Having been to the Philippines several times I’m always shocked about the cockroaches I see in the restaurants, not to mention the grocery stores in the Philippines. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like outside of public view where the food is prepared. I have a difficult time eating in the restaurants due to that fact.
Thankfully, the restaurants portrayed on the show are the exception vs the norm in America and most assuredly the American Dept. of Health and/or City Codes Dept. would shut those places down in a second if known.
That said, I got to thinking about what Government agencies are in place to ensure and monitor safe food consumption in the Philippines. I’m sure there has to be something but likely terribly understaffed.
What I am most shocked about is the unsanitary handling of raw meat/sea food/poultry products in the Philippines. In all American grocery stores meat/sea food, etc… is wrapped with expiration dates clearly identified and are displayed in a cooler for sale. Should the meat not be wrapped, it’s located in a closed cooler where the customer can view but not touch the product.
“My observations” in the Philippines reveal most meat/sea food/poultry products in the grocery stores are located in open vats where the public can dig through it, cough on it, etc… and of course minus any identified expiration dates.
So my thoughts are, the unsanitary restaurants purchase their food for human consumption from the unsanitary grocery stores. Mountains of harmful bacteria come to mind.
I told my future Asawa that when I make the final move from the United States to the Philippines I’m growing my own vegetables and livestock…. She just laughs and says “yes dear.”
Hi Mark Collister – I guess here in the Philippines when you come for a visit dine in to the famous restaurant in your area. I mean fine dining, fancy restaurant. I’m pretty sure they are clean enough.
Good that you are growing everything when you come to settle here. I think you’ve been to our public market here. I’m sure you will not be happy seeing meat/seafood/veggies being sold unwrapped.
So happy that S & R finally open in Davao. We buy most of our groceries from there. Still we go to the public market for some of our veggies. Can’t grow garden here in our house, too small to have one. LOL…
Thank you for dropping by. Have a good one!
Where’s the food inspector’s??? Board of Health seems to be not doing their job if you can make a TV show out of dirty restaurant’s……………Yes… most certainly .. if you do not know the place you are eating at …… I just would not eat there………………….. Too many variables…………. cockroaches …. bugs …. mice …bad help…. etc
Hi Lenny – I think they have here. The problem, are they doing what needs to be done? Have to ask someone on that here. So true don’t eat at the place that you are not familiar with.
We hardly dine out now. We usually eat at the house.
Always nice to see you here. Have a pleasant day!
Hi Feyma – I have been at about three different places in Dumaguete and either had a rat or mouse run across the floor. It does make me cringe a little, but I quickly forget about it and get on with eating. These are reasonable restaurants where you can pay 200 php to 600 php for a meal. I am constantly surprised when I see unclean anything in the Philippines, as it is so cheap to obtain workers here and proportionately to any budget with in a business would cost very little to keep things clean.
Hi Brenton – That’s not a good thing to see, rats crawling while you guys were eating. Correct they could get people to clean the place thoroughly and it didn’t cost the owner too much. Hopefully the owner will take care of that problem though.
Have fun eating. 🙂
Have a nice day!
Some people laugh at me because I like Jollibee so much. Most if not all of the major well known fast food franchises have very strict cleaning and maintenance requirements. They have too much to loose by any bad publicity.
On a Sunday night while I was in Cagayan De Oro, about 11PM I went to Jollibee Divisoria with some friends. I think it is a 24 hour location. They were ” Closed For Maintenance “. There were at the time I think 11 company owned and operated ( not franchised ) Jollibee locations in CDO so we tried a few other ones, to find the same thing. One location manager told me that all company owned and operated Jollibees close at 11 PM on Sunday night for weekly maintenance. Talk abut one of those times I really had to put some effort into keeping my cool. The last one we went to, they did agree to make us some coffee if we waited a short while. That was enough to put the smile back on my face.
Hi Bob – At least they had cleaning maintenance. Hopefully they really clean the place thoroughly though. I think Jollibee now open one location in New York? Have you been there? We just had one open near our house, really near Ateneo. Like it because sometimes we like to get breakfast from them.
Have fun going to Jollibee. Thank you so much for stopping by. Take care!
Yes, Jollibee opened in Woodside, Queens, New York City I think about 3 years ago now. Last year they opened one in Jersey City, New Jersey. With each of them, Filipino’s and Fil-Am were lined up around the blcok during the opening of these locations and both are doing quite well ! These are the first two Jollibee on the East Coast of the USA. There are about 20 of them in California. There was one in Las Vegas, now there are 2. Jollibee USA is looking into opening Jollibees where there is a high concentration of Filipino population. I have not been to either of these myself as where they are located is not such an easy task to get to them as I would like it to be. I have been in the one in Las Vegas a few years ago. Jolli-wise it was great but to me, not quite the same as when I am in PH with Filipino friends with me. Many of the spices and seasonings used in Jollibee USA locations are imported from PH so they are the very same ones you taste there.
Hi Feyma,
He has done two episodes in Delaware one was called Rascals, it had mold in the salad dressing and was real bad. He never was able to survive, nor was the other places that opened after he closed. The second was just aired the wagon wheel, which is close to my house, they serve muskrat on the menu which is a rat that lives in water. She refueled to take off the menu, judging by the lack of business, she will be closed soon.
In America yesterday a chain Golden Corral was exposed for placing meat outside by the dumpster during a health inspection. Which means it was bad, but they out it side long enough to hide it from the inspector and then served after he left,
I have seen no issues in the Philippines with sanitation, the only at bothers me is they don’t ice fish down. I do understand that people dip it in vinegar which kills the bacteria.
Another good one to watch is bar rescue I’m sure bob will get a laugh
Hi Dirk – I felt bad for the business that won’t survive. Sometimes it’s hard for the owner to accept the help that Robert gave them. I’m sad for that wagon wheel. They needed the money so bad for them to survived. I’m not into eating muskrat, it’s just not for us. People there must love that because the owner of that wagon wheel would not give up the menu for that.
I can see what you mean by the fish in the market were not on ice. That’s the norm here I guess.
I will have Bob check out that shows that you just said. That might be a good one for us to see. Thanks for the info.
Good to see you here. Have a pleasant day!
Mrs Feyma,
I also love Restaurant Impossible and his other show Dinner Impossible. One of his designers is Filipina, Cheryl Torrenueva. She is not on as much as the other designers. I’ve seen a couple of restaurants go back to there old ways after Robert straightened them out.
Hi PapaDuck – Hmm, I will have Bob check on that Dinner Impossible. Wow, lots of Impossible shows for me to catch up now. Ha ha ha… Really Cheryl is a Filipina? I thought she’s partly Chinese. Good to know. I like Tanya a lot, of course Tom I like him too. Really Robert got a good crew to work with.
I know that lots of restaurant owners go back to the old ways and of course they will end up going downhill after that.
Always good to see you here PapaDuck. Have a great day!
Reminds me of what my father told me……He worked in a cheese factory, and a sausage factory when he was young….He said if people saw what when on there they would probably never eat cheese and sausage again. I suppose things are better now, but who knows 😀 No telling what we have eaten during our life, but we are still here. Also it makes a good point to have a beer with your restaurant food….it may kill what you eat 😀
I worked in a restaurant way back in high school and I remember the cook dropping the food on the floor and putting it back on the plate. You never know whats going on in the kitchen. No I wasn’t the cook..haha
Hi GregK – Geez, I love cheese too… OMG, I guess I just have to look the other way on that. LOL… Honestly I really like cheese.
***I suppose things are better now, but who knows 😀 No telling what we have eaten during our life, but we are still here.***—- I agree….
The dropping of the food and still served, I already figured they do that kind of thing. Not a surprise. That’s one reason not to dine too much in the restaurant that you are not familiar with. For sure you are right we don’t really know what’s going on with the kitchen inside the restaurant. Sigh:
Thank you so much for your comment. Have a good day!
If you think dropping the food on the floor and putting it back on the plate, here’s a shocker. I saw a Chinese cook at a Chinese carry-out blowing his nose directly on the kitchen floor and using the sleeves of his dirty, white uniform to wipe his nose while he was cooking. He didn’t know there was a customer standing at the counter with a clear view of the kitchen. I didn’t walk out of that carry out. I ran as fast as I could.
Hi John Reyes – That’s so gross. Really disgusting, just thinking about it just make my stomach turn.
I’m pretty sure you’re running towards the bathroom to throw up. Is that restaurant still in business?
Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!
“If you think dropping the food on the floor and putting it back on the plate IS BAD, here’s a shocker.”
John,
When Anne worked in Singapore as a chef a Indian co-worker dropped meat on the floor and still placed it in the pan. She confronted him and told the manager and he got mad at her and said she just did it to get promoted.
I saw worse John, but this is a family site 😀
Hi Feyma,
On the good side of sanitation in the Philippines the food is usually fresher. In the public market we shopped at the fish and shellfish were often still alive when purchased. Also the food is more organic. Food here in the US has all kinds of things added to it and it has been genetically altered. Many people have noticed the small size of the chickens in the Philippines, but that is actually more the size they would be naturally be. The huge turkeys we eat for Thanksgiving can hardly walk the have been genetically altered so much, but the wild turkey can actually fly.
When I saw the undercover video of some of the ” chicken factories ” KFC ( USA ) got their chickens from and for that matter who knows who else gets them, I don’t eat as much chicken as I used to. They are pumped up with some kind of steroids or something to make them grow faster than they should, some are outright tortured etc. I am not sure if this is done in The Philippines or not. It’s not easy to get food without some kind of additives, preservatives, unnecessary chemicals etc. in them anymore.
Hi Bob – Wow that’s a shocker. It’s an eye opener for all of us I guess.
I think to be so healthy, people have to buy the organic product. Only thing it’s so darn expensive. I’ve seen lots of organic products here now. I bought few of them. Can’t afford to buy all organic products.
Good to see you here again Bob. Have a good one!
Hi Jay – Yeah it’s good to go to the market. I guess just buy the live one there at least you really know it’s fresh. With veggies at least by looking you could tell if its old or new. Lots of good veggies in the market that were freshly delivered from the farm.
I guess to really get fresh chickens just buy it from the farmer. They do have chickens in the farm, problem is its a bit tougher meat than the one you get in the grocery store. We’ve tried homegrown turkey before, same problem can’t hardly chew the meat, so tough. With meat we like to go to the grocery store. So happy to have the S & R nearby.
Thank you for your comment and suggestions, highly appreciated. Have a pleasant day!
Hi Feyma,
Sounds very similar to a series Gordon Ramsay did in America some years back.
I always thought to myself, if these places are as bad as they make out just let them go to the wall, they don’t deserve to succeed.
Hi Chas – Yes it’s so similar to Gordon’s Kitchen Nightmares show. We still watched Gordon show from time to time. Only big difference Robert hardly uses the F word.
Agree with your assessment, don’t deserve be in business if they’re so bad.
Always good to see you here. Take care!