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

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As shown in the episode, the family-run soul food restaurant, operated by Ken and his relatives, was struggling with an outdated look and inconsistent food quality that had driven customers away.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.