Two days and $10,000. It’s the thing of fairy tales for restaurant owners in a slump.

But it comes with a price: a complete restaurant makeover—from décor to dinner menu—like a culinary wave of a magic wand. But this transformation, in turn, requires bowing down with humility to relinquish powers to chef and TV host Robert Irvine.

The Hayek family, owners of Old World Italian Restaurant, agreed to hand over their baby, birthed 17 years ago in Murrells Inlet, to Irvine, the brash Brit who hosts Restaurant Impossible on Food Network.

And since the highly publicized makeover in January, George Sr. couldn’t be happier with the results. Son and chef George Jr., whole-heartedly agrees, reporting a nightly reservation list that’s completely rebounded.
The décor got a sleek facelift—a fresh coat of paint balanced with gold accents, white table linens, white window sheers and more open space.

The dinner menu got a dramatic slim-down and now showcases the Hayeks’ best works. For starters, Italian Wedding Soup and a loaf of sinful fried mozzarella. For entrees, the Pork Osso Bucco, the Pan-Seared Mahi Mahi with an olive tapenade or the homemade Pappardelle tossed in a tomato vodka cream sauce. One dish that didn’t make Irvine’s cut, but was revived after customer demand, is the restaurant’s masterpiece: the Eggplant Parmesan.
Change has been good at Old World Italian. So good, that you may need to get in line to see it for yourself. To see the Restaurant Impossible episode, check the archives at foodnetwork.com.
 

Old World Italian Restaurant
3850 U.S. 17 Bypass, Murrells Inlet
Open Tuesday–Saturday, 4:30–9 p.m.
(843) 357-3494
oldworlditalian.com