Restaurant Impossible!

By now you have probably heard that the television show Restaurant Impossible was in our area some time ago, at a small place out in Corry called Michelles. Being the fans of the show and of chef Robert Irvine, the wife and I were excited to visit this quaint little restaurant out on Route 6. The week before the show aired, we made the drive out there to give the place a try. Unfortunately we will not be making the drive again.
Michelle's new decor is pretty nice, but not really among the best makeovers I have seen on the show. It is cozy enough I guess, and seemed clean, but the colors were not really my taste.
Given the recent visit of one of the bigger Food Network starts, I had expected that on a Friday night the place would be packed. I was wrong about that. When we walked in, there were only two tables taken. This should have been a sign. We were seated quickly enough, and the girl that was waiting on us was polite and courteous, and took our drink orders quickly. While waiting for the drinks to arrived we looked over the menu and decided on what we wanted to try. As anyone that watches the show would expect, Michelle's now has a fairly streamlined menu, so for appetizers I decided to order the Shrimp Corn Dogs, and the wife got the stuffed mushrooms. In Fairness and to let you know that the entire night was not a bad experience, the appetizers were delicious. The soup of the day that day was a beef barley soup, and since I had never had beef barley soup, I felt compelled to give it a try. I am very happy that I did, as it was fantastic. Additionally, the basket of bread that was served with the appetizers was very good.
For dinner, we both ordered the prime rib. I ordered an end cut as that is my favorite part, but first the waitress had to check if they could do that (never had that happen before). When she said they could I placed my order for the end cut cooked medium-rare, as did the wife. We both love prime rib and always order it medium-rare, which means a warm, red center. That was not what we got. The prime rib we were served was cooked to a light pink almost brown center, and it was dry. The wife actually sent hers back. The next piece that came out to replace it was the same. Another problem aside from being overcooked was that there was a serious lack of seasoning. Some places like the Outback have a tendency to over season their prime rib, but this literally had little to no flavor. I did not know it was even possible to make a bland prime rib, but this was.
Oddly, the best part of the dinner portion was the baked potato. They actually season those, and they had an unusual, but very nice flavor that I have never experienced in a potato.
After finishing dinner we spoke for a while with the owner, Michelle, and she told us that the prime rib was cooked the way chef Irvine taught them (or maybe she was just referring to the au jus), and I had a hard time believing that. Additionally she did let slip that she was doing the cooking. If you did manage to catch the show, one of the changes that was made was they hired a chef for the restaurant. Well, apparently, that chef is no longer there. Michelle also said on the show that she was not a very good cook. Judging by the prime rib she served us, I would have to say that has not changed.
When considering all of these things, our overall experience at Michelle's in Corry was a disappointment. So many restaurants left to try though.