(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 2 | View All Season 2 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: July 6, 2011
Dodge City Address: 1037 Paxton St Harrisburg, PA 17104
Episode Recap
Dodge City was a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania restaurant featured on Season 2 of Restaurant Impossible.
Though the Dodge City Restaurant Impossible episode aired in July 2011, the actual filming and visit from Robert Irvine took place before that.
It was Season 2 Episode 1.
Dodge City, owned by Doug and Debbie Krick, is located in Harrisburg, PA.
If you’re not familiar with Pennsylvania geography, Harrisburg is the capital of the state and located near the center – in between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Debbie and Doug have owned the restaurant for thirty years.
They purchased it because they were ready to leave the business world and the restaurant industry sounded like more fun.
The restaurant was highly successful for the first twenty-five years, but it’s started to decline over the last five years.
The restaurant will close within months if something doesn’t change.
Robert Irvine arrives and isn’t impressed with the Dodge City sign on the road advertising the restaurant.
The theme of Dodge City is Western, with taxidermized animals and ugly statues decorating the place.
Doug and Debbie meet with Robert Irvine, and they tell him they have not made a return in five years.
Their debt is mounting, and they have cashed in retirement funds, maxing out credit cards and depleting their savings.
In an effort to save the restaurant, Doug began constantly adding new menu items.
Dodge City now has nine menus because Doug keeps adding new dishes. That’s insane!
Debbie tells Robert her husband is stubborn, and she is nervous he will not take Robert’s advice.
Doug used to love working in the restaurant, but now he feels as if he disappointed his family.
Robert watches a service, and it goes poorly. The customers do not like the decor, and it takes too long to get their food.
The food tastes frozen and bland. Doug loves to control the kitchen and doesn’t let the cooks do very much.
The owners, staff, and Robert gather for a meeting.
Robert tells them he has big plans for changing the restaurant.
He asks the cooks to create new dishes from items off the old menu.
The restaurant is too extensive, and many menu items will have to be removed.
Taniya, the designer, meets with Robert, who has to inform her she is only getting $8,000 for the remodel.
He needs to use the remaining $2,000 from the budget to invest in new dishware. The exterior sign will also need to be replaced.
Robert has an idea to make dishes with a wild west theme. Robert trains the cooks on western-themed dishes.
Robert hopes Doug isn’t resistant to change. The cooks have to cook a steak dish, and Doug needs to be open to change.
The next day when Robert arrives, he has issues with the flooring the design team has put down.
The design team’s glue isn’t drying, and work cannot get done until it dries. There also isn’t enough glue to put down the rest of the flooring.
Doug isn’t tasking the cooks with something to do in the kitchen but is doing everything himself.
The meals prepared are going to be used to promote the relaunch.
Doug and Robert take the steak dishes to the city capital to promote Dodge City.
When Robert gets back to Dodge City, he tells the design team he is happy with their progress.
Robert tells the cooks that the people in the city were impressed by their dishes.
The new exterior sign is shown to the owners who love it.
The restaurant’s name has been improved to Dodge City Steakhouse to help gain a better reputation.
Doug falls to the floor when he sees the changes that have been made. During the relaunch, the kitchen is slightly behind but soon catches up.
Overall, it seems like things are looking up for Dodge City Steakhouse.
So was the Dodge City Restaurant Impossible episode a success? Keep reading our update to learn what happened next and how the restaurant is doing in 2024 and beyond.
Dodge City Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Dodge City Restaurant Impossible episode, let’s talk about what happened to the restaurant after Robert Irvine and his crew left Harrisburg, PA.
In general, Dodge City kept most of the changes from Robert Irvine, which is a good sign for a restaurant that appears on the show.
They also built on the Restaurant Impossible renovations to finish up the bar and other areas of the restaurant.
Is Dodge City from Restaurant Impossible still open?
As of 2022, Dodge City is still open and serving customers in Harrisburg, PA.
Reviews for the restaurant generally seem quite good as it has a 4 star rating on Yelp and TripAdvisor, as well as a 4.4 star rating on Google Reviews.
Most of the reviews praise the quality of the food, especially the steaks.
Here’s a pretty typical review as an example – it’s a Yelp review from February 2022:
This restaurant is fantastic. Oddly enough, I probably would not have gone here if my friends didn’t want to! I’m not a huge steak consumer, but my steak was cooked to perfection and I can not wait to eat at Dodge City again. The service was spectacular and I truly enjoyed every aspect of our dinner. If you’re looking for a great steak, stop in!
One positive review did mention that some of the decor from the Restaurant Impossible episode is starting to show some age.
While it’s great that Dodge City has kept the Restaurant Impossible changes, it’s been over a decade since the episode aired, so it might be time for some additional updates.
Robert Irvine has also revisited the restaurant two times after the Dodge City Restaurant Impossible episode aired on TV.
The first visit was a year after the episode and the second was five years after the episode. In both visits, Robert Irvine thought that Dodge City was doing well and serving good food.
If you’re in the Harrisburg, PA area and you want to check it out, you can learn more and see the Dodge City menu at the official Dodge City website.
Overall, this one seems like a definite success since the restaurant has survived for over a decade after the Dodge City Restaurant Impossible episode, with no signs of business slowing down any time soon.
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/dodge-city-steakhouse-harrisburghttps://www.facebook.com/Dodgecityrestaurant/
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Last updated: 2022-06-07 06:23