TV Restaurants

Is Besse's on Clear Lake Still Open? Update (Tomahawk, WI)

Open verified

As of September 2026, Besse's on Clear Lake is open — confirmed via the restaurant's current website/social account, accessed July 2026.

Primary source
Yelp ·
Secondary source
popthruster.com ·

Last verified

What the source shows: Yelp's listing for Besse's on Clear Lake was updated in July 2026 with 43 reviews and 35 photos, and popthruster.com separately reported on 2025-06-17 that the restaurant remains open under the Graff family, though listed for sale.

  • Season / episode Season 15, Episode 13
  • Original air date
  • Address W6041 Northern Lgts Cir, Tomahawk, WI 54487

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What happened after Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network)?

Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) sent Chef Robert Irvine to Besse's on Clear Lake, a lakefront steakhouse in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, for the episode "Lakefront Disaster," which aired August 31, 2019. Owner Brenda Graff and her husband ran the restaurant on Clear Lake, and Graff told the crew she had fallen three months behind on her mortgage payments after a difficult winter left the business with mounting problems and little cash on hand. When Irvine reviewed the books, he found food costs so high that, by his own calculation, the restaurant lost money on nearly every item on the menu, compounding tired décor that did little to draw in lakefront traffic.

Over 48 hours, Irvine's team reworked the dining room and overhauled the menu to correct the food-cost problems he had identified, while pushing Graff to address roughly $40,000 in accumulated debt. Graff said the experience changed how she ran the front of house, pushing her toward firmer boundaries with staff after years of covering shifts and tasks herself rather than delegating.

In the months after the episode aired, Graff paid down the $40,000 in debt Irvine had flagged and began drawing a paycheck from the business, according to a Food Network Gossip recap published in August 2019. A Yelp listing for Besse's on Clear Lake, updated in July 2026, records 43 reviews and 35 photos tied to the restaurant's original name and its Northern Lights Circle address on Clear Lake. Separately, popthruster.com reported on June 17, 2025, that the restaurant remains open and under the Graff family, noting that the property was listed for sale at the time but had not changed hands. Neither source describes any change to the restaurant's name, menu concept, or ownership since the 2019 episode, and both point to the same Tomahawk address the show originally visited.

Featured on Restaurant: Impossible

Season / episode
Season 15, Episode 13
Original air date
Episode title
Lakefront Disaster
What was featured
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Besse's on Clear Lake

Frequently asked questions

Is Besse's on Clear Lake still open in 2026?

As of September 2026, Besse's on Clear Lake is open — confirmed via the restaurant's current website/social account, accessed July 2026.

What happened to Besse's on Clear Lake after Restaurant: Impossible?

Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) sent Chef Robert Irvine to Besse's on Clear Lake, a lakefront steakhouse in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, for the episode "Lakefront Disaster," which aired August 31, 2019. As of September 2026, Besse's on Clear Lake is open — confirmed via the restaurant's current website/social account, accessed July 2026.

Where is Besse's on Clear Lake located?

W6041 Northern Lgts Cir, Tomahawk, WI 54487. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Restaurant: Impossible featured Besse's on Clear Lake?

Season 15, Episode 13 of Restaurant: Impossible, first aired August 31, 2019. The episode is titled “Lakefront Disaster”.

Did the makeover last at Besse's on Clear Lake?

The episode first aired August 31, 2019. Our most recent check was September 7, 2026 — 7 years later —: As of September 2026, Besse's on Clear Lake is open — confirmed via the restaurant's current website/social account, accessed July 2026.

What do reviews say since Restaurant: Impossible?

When Irvine reviewed the books, he found food costs so high that, by his own calculation, the restaurant lost money on nearly every item on the menu, compounding tired décor that did little to draw in lakefront traffic. We summarise what dated sources report; we do not publish our own rating.

Is Besse's on Clear Lake still using the Restaurant: Impossible menu or branding?

When Irvine reviewed the books, he found food costs so high that, by his own calculation, the restaurant lost money on nearly every item on the menu, compounding tired décor that did little to draw in lakefront traffic. Anything newer than our last check on September 7, 2026 may not be reflected here.

Every status on this site carries a confidence label and a date, and names the source it rests on. Read the Editorial & Corrections Policy for what each label means and how quickly we act on corrections. The questions above are generated from this record's own published fields — we never publish a question we cannot answer from the data.

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Visit info

Address
W6041 Northern Lgts Cir, Tomahawk, WI 54487
Venue type
restaurant
Official website
None found

Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources

  • Yelp — https://www.yelp.com/biz/besses-on-clear-lake-tomahawk
  • popthruster.com — https://popthruster.com/2025/06/17/restaurant-impossible-besses-on-clear-lake-open-or-closed/
  • foodnetworkgossip.com — https://www.foodnetworkgossip.com/2019/08/restaurant-impossible-besses-on-clear-lake.html

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