TV Restaurants

What Happened to Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant? (San Antonio, TX)

Closed verified

As of September 2026, Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant has closed — confirmed via ksat.com, July 3, 2013.

Primary source
ksat.com ·
Secondary source
Yelp ·

Last verified

What the source shows: KSAT reported on July 3, 2013 that Mama Lee's Soul Food at 6060 Montgomery had closed after failing a San Antonio Metro Health inspection with 42 demerits about two weeks earlier.

  • Season / episode Season 3, Episode 8
  • Original air date
  • Address 6060 Montgomery, San Antonio, TX 78239

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What happened after Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network)?

Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant, located at 6060 Montgomery on San Antonio's Northeast Side, appeared on Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) in an episode that aired May 2, 2012. As shown in the episode, the family-run soul food restaurant, operated by Ken and his relatives, was struggling with an outdated look and inconsistent food quality that had driven customers away.

Chef Robert Irvine and his team spent two days and about ten thousand dollars redecorating the dining room, retraining staff, and overhauling the menu in an effort to revitalize the business. According to KSAT, the San Antonio television station, sales at the restaurant increased by more than fifteen percent in the months immediately following the renovation.

That improvement did not last. KSAT reported on July 3, 2013 that Mama Lee's Soul Food at 6060 Montgomery had closed its doors after a San Antonio Metro Health inspection about two weeks earlier found 42 demerits, including a live roach, dead roaches, rodent droppings, and multiple kitchen-cleanliness violations. The station said the closure happened around the same time as the inspection the restaurant did not pass. KSAT also reported that a second, separately owned restaurant using the same name, at 310 Valley Hi Drive on the city's Southwest Side, remained open under a different owner and was not the location featured on the show. When KSAT asked Robert Irvine for comment on the Montgomery location's closing, he said via social media that the show provides the tools and a plan but that keeping a restaurant going afterward is "up to the owner and staff."

No dated evidence was found that the Montgomery location reopened after mid-2013. A Yelp business page for Mama Lee's Soul Food at 6060 Montgomery is marked permanently closed, with an update dated September 2026, consistent with KSAT's 2013 reporting that this location did not continue operating after that 2013 health inspection.

Featured on Restaurant: Impossible

Season / episode
Season 3, Episode 8
Original air date
Episode title
Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant
What was featured
makeover of a struggling family soul-food restaurant amid health-inspection troubles
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant

Frequently asked questions

Is Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant still open in 2026?

As of September 2026, Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant has closed — confirmed via ksat.com, July 3, 2013.

What happened to Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant after Restaurant: Impossible?

Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant, located at 6060 Montgomery on San Antonio's Northeast Side, appeared on Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) in an episode that aired May 2, 2012. As of September 2026, Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant has closed — confirmed via ksat.com, July 3, 2013.

Is Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant permanently closed?

As of September 2026, Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant has closed — confirmed via ksat.com, July 3, 2013. We publish a closure only with a dated source behind it, and we say plainly when it has not been independently confirmed.

Where is Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant located?

6060 Montgomery, San Antonio, TX 78239. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Restaurant: Impossible featured Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant?

Season 3, Episode 8 of Restaurant: Impossible, first aired May 2, 2012. The episode is titled “Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant”.

Did the makeover last at Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant?

The episode first aired May 2, 2012. Our most recent check was September 7, 2026 — 14 years later —: As of September 2026, Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant has closed — confirmed via ksat.com, July 3, 2013.

Is Mama Lee's Soul Food Restaurant still using the Restaurant: Impossible menu or branding?

Chef Robert Irvine and his team spent two days and about ten thousand dollars redecorating the dining room, retraining staff, and overhauling the menu in an effort to revitalize the business. 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
6060 Montgomery, San Antonio, TX 78239
Venue type
restaurant
Official website
None found

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Sources

  • ksat.com — https://www.ksat.com/news/2013/07/03/san-antonio-restaurant-featured-on-food-network-fails-inspection/
  • Yelp — https://www.yelp.com/biz/mama-lees-soul-food-san-antonio-2

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