What Happened to Salt Works II After Restaurant: Impossible (FN)?

Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) filmed at Salt Works II, a seafood restaurant at 4001 Wrightsville Avenue in Wilmington, North Carolina that had been open since 1989, when the Secondo family founded it. WECT News reported on October 1, 2010, ahead of filming, that co-owner Michael Thyberg described the business as "barely treading water," citing kitchen equipment that frequently broke down and profits that had fallen about 25 percent over the prior year despite years of a loyal local following. Thyberg, who had bought the restaurant with a partner about a year and a half earlier, told WECT the kitchen conditions were overwhelming to manage on their own, and said staff were nervous about outside cameras but welcomed any help that might come from the show's crew.

Robert Irvine's crew filmed on site October 13 to 15, 2010, closing the restaurant for a menu overhaul, kitchen equipment repairs, and a refreshed dining room; the episode ultimately aired February 9, 2011, several months after filming wrapped. Staff told WECT ahead of the reveal that they hoped the renovation would preserve the restaurant's long-running local following even as the menu and furnishings changed around them. The restaurant continued operating under its original ownership for several more years after the episode aired. On November 6, 2015, the owners, identified only as "Mike & Jon," posted on the Salt Works II Facebook page that the restaurant had closed that day, citing staffing losses that made it impossible to keep the business running through a planned final weekend, as reported by Food Network Gossip on November 13, 2015.

That report noted Salt Works II had been the last restaurant from the show's first season still operating under its original owners at that point. Yelp's current listing for "Saltworks II" at 4001 Wrightsville Avenue, updated in June 2026, shows the business as permanently closed.