hotelHotel Impossible · Season 8, Episode 7 · Aired December 5, 2016
Greunke's First Street Inn & Restaurant
Bayfield, Wisconsin
Still open. It kept its doors open after the show.
What happened after
Combined lodging/dining across two historic buildings (LaBonte House 1863, Wachsmuth House 1880); official site active, Facebook shows recent engagement.
What happened on the show
In the Lake Superior town of Bayfield, Wisconsin, gateway to the Apostle Islands, Melchiorri took on Greunke's First Street Inn and Restaurant, a 12-room inn with an unusual split in fortunes: the restaurant was doing well while the lodging side lagged behind. The episode, Lake Superior, Hotel Inferior, captured exactly that imbalance. When one half of a combined inn-and-restaurant thrives and the other struggles, the challenge is lifting the weaker side without disrupting the strong one. Anthony worked the guest rooms and the lodging operation across the property's two historic buildings, then pressed ownership to bring the hotel side up to the standard the successful restaurant had set. It followed the rule the show never stopped repeating for a mixed-use property: a strong restaurant proves the operators can execute, so the task is applying that same discipline to the rooms and giving Apostle Islands visitors a place to stay that matches the kitchen's reputation.
After the cameras left
Greunke's is still a Bayfield institution. As of our 2026 verification the combined lodging and dining operation, spread across two historic buildings with twelve guest rooms total, is open, with an active official site and a Facebook page showing recent engagement, in downtown Bayfield on Lake Superior. The property whose restaurant outshone its rooms has kept both sides in business more than a decade after the show. Confirmed operating as of 2026.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.