TV Restaurants

What Happened to Padre Rita Grill? (South Padre Island, TX)

Closed verified

As of September 2026, Padre Rita Grill has closed — confirmed via portisabelsouthpadre.com, January 23, 2025.

Primary source
portisabelsouthpadre.com ·
Secondary source
Yelp ·

Last verified

What the source shows: The Port Isabel-South Padre Press reported that entrepreneur Raul Aguilar opened Hedera Tropical Grill in the same 4001 Padre Blvd space in November 2024, following an intermediate run as Rita's Restaurant after the original Padre Rita Grill; Yelp's current listing for Hedera Tropical Grill itself now shows that business as closed too, indicating the address has changed occupants multiple times since the 2014 taping.

  • Season / episode Season 9, Episode 11
  • Original air date
  • Address 4001 Padre Blvd, South Padre Island, TX 78597
  • Current name Hedera Tropical Grill

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What happened after Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network)?

The Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) themed special "Paradise: Impossible" brought Chef Robert Irvine to South Padre Island, Texas, to rework Padre Rita Grill, a Tex-Mex restaurant and bar owned by Cathy and Michael Laferty, with Cathy running day-to-day operations for about four years by the time of taping. Irvine found a business trying to combine live music and full food service without doing either consistently well, with a kitchen struggling to keep pace with a bar and entertainment program competing for the same staff and attention. The Gulf-facing tourist location gave the restaurant strong potential foot traffic, but Irvine's team found inconsistent food quality and a cluttered concept were undercutting the advantage of the setting. The program's standard 48-hour, roughly $10,000 renovation refreshed the dining and bar space and helped the Lafertys rework a menu built around approachable Tex-Mex and seafood dishes suited to a beach-town crowd, while also addressing how the live-music side of the business should be scheduled and staffed so it complemented rather than competed with kitchen service. On-camera coaching focused on helping Cathy Laferty set clearer priorities between the restaurant's food and entertainment identities rather than trying to be equally focused on both at every service. The reveal presented an updated space and a tightened menu meant to let the kitchen keep pace with the restaurant's built-in tourist traffic and live-music draw. Because South Padre Island's tourist season runs heavily from spring through early fall, Irvine's team also pushed the Lafertys to think about staffing and menu planning that could hold up through slower winter months rather than relying solely on peak-season volume, a common thread across the show's visits to seasonal beach and resort-town restaurants. The episode aired October 6, 2014, and Chef Irvine later returned to the restaurant for a follow-up visit under the program's revisit format, indicating the business remained active for at least some time after the original taping.

Featured on Restaurant: Impossible

Season / episode
Season 9, Episode 11
Original air date
Episode title
Paradise: Impossible
What was featured
Bar and dining room renovation, menu focus on Tex-Mex and seafood
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Padre Rita Grill

Frequently asked questions

Is Padre Rita Grill still open in 2026?

As of September 2026, Padre Rita Grill has closed — confirmed via portisabelsouthpadre.com, January 23, 2025.

What happened to Padre Rita Grill after Restaurant: Impossible?

The Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) themed special "Paradise: Impossible" brought Chef Robert Irvine to South Padre Island, Texas, to rework Padre Rita Grill, a Tex-Mex restaurant and bar owned by Cathy and Michael Laferty, with Cathy running day-to-day operations for about four years by the time of taping. As of September 2026, Padre Rita Grill has closed — confirmed via portisabelsouthpadre.com, January 23, 2025.

Is Padre Rita Grill permanently closed?

As of September 2026, Padre Rita Grill has closed — confirmed via portisabelsouthpadre.com, January 23, 2025. We publish a closure only with a dated source behind it, and we say plainly when it has not been independently confirmed.

What is Padre Rita Grill called now?

Now: Hedera Tropical Grill (formerly Padre Rita Grill). As of September 2026, Padre Rita Grill has closed — confirmed via portisabelsouthpadre.com, January 23, 2025.

Where is Padre Rita Grill located?

4001 Padre Blvd, South Padre Island, TX 78597. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Restaurant: Impossible featured Padre Rita Grill?

Season 9, Episode 11 of Restaurant: Impossible, first aired October 6, 2014. The episode is titled “Paradise: Impossible”.

Did the makeover last at Padre Rita Grill?

The episode first aired October 6, 2014. Our most recent check was September 7, 2026 — 12 years later —: As of September 2026, Padre Rita Grill has closed — confirmed via portisabelsouthpadre.com, January 23, 2025.

Is Padre Rita Grill still using the Restaurant: Impossible menu or branding?

The program's standard 48-hour, roughly $10,000 renovation refreshed the dining and bar space and helped the Lafertys rework a menu built around approachable Tex-Mex and seafood dishes suited to a beach-town crowd, while also addressing how the live-music side of the business should be scheduled and staffed so it complemented rather than competed with kitchen service. 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
4001 Padre Blvd, South Padre Island, TX 78597
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

  • valleycentral.com — https://www.valleycentral.com/news/local-news/island-restaurant-to-be-featured-on-restaurant-impossible/
  • foodnetworkgossip.com — https://www.foodnetworkgossip.com/2014/10/restaurant-impossible-padre-rita-grill.html
  • realitytvrevisited.com — https://www.realitytvrevisited.com/2022/03/restaurant-impossible-padre-rita-grill.html

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Record ri-115 · last verified .