Is Filomena's Italian Kitchen and Market Still Open? (Costa Mesa, CA)

Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) traveled to Costa Mesa, California, for "Fight at Filomena's," a season 14 episode that aired April 27, 2019. The episode featured Filomena's Italian Kitchen and Market, owned and run by chef Linda Johnsen, whose combined restaurant, market, and deli concept had a clean kitchen and organized dining room, though the episode depicted the owner unable to draw a paycheck from the business. Chef Robert Irvine's visit became notable within the show for an unusually contentious first day between Irvine and the owner, alongside the standard renovation of the dining space and adjustments to the market and deli operation attached to the restaurant.

Coverage following the episode described a sales rebound in the following months, including growth in market-side sales, and the hiring of a general manager that allowed the owner to shift toward higher-level strategy and branding rather than day-to-day operations. The restaurant has continued operating since under the same name at the same Newport Boulevard address. Yelp's listing for Filomena's, last updated in August 2026, shows continuing reviews and photos, describing an old-world Italian menu served alongside an attached market, deli, and bakery. The business also maintains its own current website under owner Linda Johnsen's name, independently corroborating that the restaurant remains active at 2400 Newport Blvd, Costa Mesa.

No reporting was found describing any closure, rename, or ownership change since the 2019 episode. The recency of the Yelp update and the independent corroboration from the business's own website both support an open status. This episode fell early in Restaurant: Impossible's season 14, the first season to air after a multi-year gap following season 13's original 2016 broadcast. No secondary review platform beyond Yelp was checked for this record, but the combination of a recently updated listing and the business's own actively maintained website together give this record's open status a stronger evidentiary basis than either source would provide alone.