At La Stanza, in Philadelphia, PA, Robert finds an old-world Italian restaurant being ruined by the owner's young daughter. 24-year-old Lucia has no restaurant experience and she's running the dark, funeral parlor-looking place right into the ground. Robert has his hands full on this mission teaching her everything there is to know about managing a restaurant, updating the menu, brightening up the décor and getting the word out about the restaurant on live TV. With countless ups and downs and a design that may prove too challenging to get finished, this mission could very well be... impossible.

Chef Robert Irvine pulls a sneak attack on County Fare, a neighborhood diner in Stafford, Va., only to find this place is no picnic. The downtrodden diner has been in existence for five years and is now on the verge of bankruptcy due to mismanagement, a lack of identity and an overall cleanliness issue. The owner, a former Marine, has sunk his lifesavings into the restaurant and is now in jeopardy of losing everything. Robert, a military man himself, will do whatever he can in two days and with $10,000 to make sure this place doesn't go down without a fight. But he quickly discovers that this will be more difficult than he imagined ... the kitchen is repulsive, the food is inedible and the decor needs a serious overhaul. They are in desperate need of a high quality signature dish to draw in customers but the staff lacks the basic cooking skills needed.