Who wants to be on Restaurant Impossible?

[Kibbee Nayee]

I'm not really a fan of the show, nor have I eaten at FoxFire Grill, but step right up for a volunteer opportunity to rebuild a restaurant.

https://thezebra.org/2019/09/09/restaurant-impossible-is-coming-to-alexandria-va/

[DonRocks]

Bizarre, and very charitable of The Zebra.

[Kibbee Nayee]

I'm curious about the backstory. Driving past it numerous times -- my dentist has an office right behind it -- it looks presentable if a bit tired on the outside. I'm sure the owner(s) decided it needed a re-do and refresh. As some of the episodes I have seen foretell, the owners will get a chewing out, and will cry or break down on camera, and someone will come clean about mismanagement, and the chef might be fired, and so on. Of course, what will be fun for us locals will be to visit it immediately after its relaunch.

[weezy]

I've been a few times and it's mostly pedestrian, American fare.  I would say the desserts are a bit better than average.  Weird layout, seating is not very comfortable.  Most recent visit, you could tell they were trying to improve the menu, but it came across as trying to copy some GAR favorites.  Service was pretty good.

[John William G]

I am not familiar with the restaurant:Impossible  people, so I went to the Foxfire yesterday to see how they had changed it.  I was not very impressed.

On the inside they had added some panels to the ceiling, and to some of the walls.  I assume that in addition to the  looks they wanted to reduce the noise level.  I don’t know how successful they were with the noise level, but I was not impressed by the looks.  The also changed some of the seats to look like swings—i.e., they had cords running from their sides to the ceiling.  I thought they were silly looking, but some people may like them. My wife thought the overall appearance was improved.

Then came the menu:  Other than drinks there were only 10 or 12 items on it!  Now that was a change. Our waitress said that there would be additional items latter, but that was all for now.

I tried the coconut shrimp appetizer ($10.00), then a “loaded wedge salad”($8.00), and ended with a “French Onion Burger” ($18.00) In other words I tried about 25% of their menu.

The shrimp were strange, to me.  They were fried, sitting on a very thin slice of pineapple, with small pieces of pineapple all around. I didn’t find the combination of fried shrimp and pineapple to be very tasty. The salad was good.  The burger was served with barbecued flavored potato chips, which I liked.  The burger itself was served on a very large bun, maybe two inches think.  I had to cut off half the bun before I could enjoy the burger.  It was not bad, but nothing special.

[John William G]

I was not surprised to see this on “Nextdoor Digest”:

“Hi All!! I want to thank all of our customers for your patience in working through our transition. I appreciate all the helpful feedback! We have determined that our original menu is the best fit for our customers and neighborhood! There will be some changes since we usually change our menu in the fall. We will still be offering our lunch specials and our Happy Hour will remain the same with reduced drink specials and $7 appetizers. Thank you all for your loyalty! Terri Fox Owner Foxfire Grill”

 

 

 

[John William G]

For those who might be interested, Restaurant: Impossible will broadcast the show featuring the Foxfire Grill on Thursday, Jan 23.

[DonRocks]

6 hours ago, John William G said:

For those who might be interested, Restaurant: Impossible will broadcast the show featuring the Foxfire Grill on Thursday, Jan 23.

This is a viable location.

Then again, so was Piratz Tavern.

[Pat]

Just watched the episode. Pretty uneventful for this show. They usually play up the emotional angle a lot, bonus points for an owner cursing and walking out in anger. This wasn't bad at all. (The overly emotional stuff is just too much and I turn some of them off.)

Funniest thing was I recognized the sign and outside of the restaurant and realized I've eaten here. It was more than a decade ago. I met an acquaintance who was in town, staying nearby, and liked the restaurant. It was at brunch on Easter. All I recall was sitting on the outside patio and having an okay salad.

When I looked at the menu, I saw the three dishes that Irvine demoed for them listed: the coconut shrimp mentioned above, pork saltimbocca, and Parmesan chicken. I'm not sure how different the chicken was from the one they already had, though. Some of the components are different from what he was showing, so maybe it didn't change much at all.