What Happened to Starlight Restaurant and Pizza? (West Orange, NJ)

Restaurant: Impossible (Food Network) opened its thirteenth season with "Ambush: Faded Star," which aired March 9, 2016, and centered on Starlite Restaurant and Pizza (listed in the source batch as "Starlight," though the business's own Facebook page and Yelp listing spell the name "Starlite") in West Orange, New Jersey. Chef Robert Irvine's own social media post at the time confirmed the crew had ambushed the Pleasant Valley Way location, and local outlet TAPinto covered the visit for its West Orange readers. According to coverage of the episode, the business had been run for decades by an owner identified as Patty, whose son contacted the show for help after years without the restaurant turning a meaningful profit; that financial detail was disclosed on the episode itself rather than sourced from an outside outlet's independent reporting.

The renovation reworked the dining room and pizza-focused menu during the show's typical short production window. Starlite had operated at the same Pleasant Valley Way address since 1961, according to background included in coverage of the episode, making it one of the longer-running businesses to appear on the series. Yelp's business page for "Starlite Restaurant & Pizza," last updated in June 2026, marks the location closed, and no source located during this research described a relocation, a sale to new operators, or a reopening under a different name at that address.

A Weebly-hosted site associated with the "Starlite Restaurant, Pizzeria & Bar" name was also located during research, but its content did not carry a clear, current update date, so it was not treated as reliable evidence of an ongoing operation and is not relied on here to contradict the Yelp closure listing. Taken together, the available sourcing supports that Starlite Restaurant and Pizza, after more than five decades in business and its 2016 Restaurant: Impossible appearance, is no longer serving customers at its long-time West Orange address, based on the most recently updated business-directory listing found.