TV Restaurants

What Happened to McLanks Family Restaurant? (Columbia, MO)

Closed verified

As of September 2026, McLanks Family Restaurant has closed — confirmed via the business's own closure notice, June 16, 2025.

Primary source
popthruster.com ·
Secondary source
goldencorral.com ·

Last verified

What the source shows: A 2025-06-16 recap on PopThruster reported McLanks Family Restaurant closed permanently in June 2021, and a 2026-09-08 site/Places check found the Clark Lane address now operated by Golden Corral, an unrelated chain, with no trace of McLanks.

  • Season / episode Season 15, Episode 3
  • Original air date
  • Address 3421 Clark Ln, Columbia, MO 65202

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What happened after Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network)?

McLanks Family Restaurant, in Columbia, Missouri, was run by Sheila Lankford together with her five adult children when Robert Irvine and his crew arrived for Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network), in the episode 'A Family Restaurant at War' (S15E3), which aired 2019-07-27. According to the Columbia Missourian, which covered the taping for the local paper, near-constant arguing among the family members had spilled into the dining room and hurt service, while the restaurant's menu and decor showed years of neglect. Irvine's team carried out the show's standard two-day, $10,000 makeover, reworking the menu, refreshing the dining room, and pushing the family toward clearer roles in the kitchen and front of house.

The rescue initially paid off: according to coverage tied to the original broadcast, sales rose by more than 200% in the weeks after the episode aired, and relations among the Lankford children improved. Robert Irvine later returned to McLanks for a follow-up episode, 'Reuniting Family in Missouri,' after the COVID-19 pandemic put new strain on the family business, according to an Apple TV episode listing for that segment.

According to a 2025-06-16 recap published on PopThruster, McLanks Family Restaurant closed permanently in June 2021, with Sheila Lankford choosing to step back from the restaurant to focus on her family. A check of Google Places and the restaurant's former address on 2026-09-08 turned up no trace of McLanks: the Clark Lane location is now occupied by a Golden Corral Buffet & Grill, an unrelated national buffet chain operating under its own name, hours, and online ordering system, according to the chain's own location page for the site. No signage, listing, or website reference to the Lankford family's restaurant remains at the address. The Columbia Missourian's photo gallery from the original production, published alongside its 2019 coverage, remains the primary surviving visual record of the restaurant under the Lankford family's ownership.

Featured on Restaurant: Impossible

Season / episode
Season 15, Episode 3
Original air date
Episode title
A Family Restaurant at War
What was featured
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
McLanks Family Restaurant

Frequently asked questions

Is McLanks Family Restaurant still open in 2026?

As of September 2026, McLanks Family Restaurant has closed — confirmed via the business's own closure notice, June 16, 2025.

What happened to McLanks Family Restaurant after Restaurant: Impossible?

McLanks Family Restaurant, in Columbia, Missouri, was run by Sheila Lankford together with her five adult children when Robert Irvine and his crew arrived for Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network), in the episode 'A Family Restaurant at War' (S15E3), which aired 2019-07-27. As of September 2026, McLanks Family Restaurant has closed — confirmed via the business's own closure notice, June 16, 2025.

Is McLanks Family Restaurant permanently closed?

As of September 2026, McLanks Family Restaurant has closed — confirmed via the business's own closure notice, June 16, 2025. We publish a closure only with a dated source behind it, and we say plainly when it has not been independently confirmed.

Where is McLanks Family Restaurant located?

3421 Clark Ln, Columbia, MO 65202. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Restaurant: Impossible featured McLanks Family Restaurant?

Season 15, Episode 3 of Restaurant: Impossible, first aired July 27, 2019. The episode is titled “A Family Restaurant at War”.

Did the makeover last at McLanks Family Restaurant?

The episode first aired July 27, 2019. Our most recent check was September 7, 2026 — 7 years later —: As of September 2026, McLanks Family Restaurant has closed — confirmed via the business's own closure notice, June 16, 2025.

Is McLanks Family Restaurant still using the Restaurant: Impossible menu or branding?

According to the Columbia Missourian, which covered the taping for the local paper, near-constant arguing among the family members had spilled into the dining room and hurt service, while the restaurant's menu and decor showed years of neglect. 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
3421 Clark Ln, Columbia, MO 65202
Venue type
restaurant
Official website
goldencorral.com

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

  • popthruster.com — https://popthruster.com/2025/06/16/restaurant-impossible-mclanks-family-restaurant-open-or-closed/
  • goldencorral.com — https://www.goldencorral.com/locations/664/golden-corral-clark-lane?utm_source=google&utm_medium=local&utm_campaign=localmaps&utm_content=664
  • foodnetwork.com — https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/restaurant-impossible/episodes/a-family-restaurant-at-war
  • columbiamissourian.com — https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/mclanks-restaurant-impossible-episode-to-air-saturday/article_6e8fb2a8-ae30-11e9-b7b9-a3cc7597047f.html

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Record ri-157 · last verified .