WhaBah owner Donnie "Perky" Perruquet shares a laugh with Robert Irvine on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015, at a press conference for the reopening of the restaurant after renovations by the "Restaurant Impossible" crew and volunteers. (Austin Anthony/Daily News)

Dinner wasn’t just dinner for Tom Richards on Tuesday night at WhaBah Steakhouse.

The Daily News assistant circulation director was eating at the restaurant’s opening night since it got a renovation from the Food Network show “Restaurant Impossible.”

“It was really, really nice. Once we got in there, they had a lot of nice changes in the decor. The kitchen was changed to look more modern,” he said. “It was brighter inside. They removed the stage so it was all seating. It looks like they remodeled the bar a little bit. We got to meet (‘Restaurant Impossible’ host) Robert Irvine.”

The food, which he paid for, was “real tasty,” Richards said.

“I had the trout. All the meals looked professional,” he said.

“The party that was with us had pork tenderloin,” he added.

The restaurant was packed, Richards said. Diners volunteered to eat at the revamped restaurant ahead of time.

“I hope that carries over to when everybody leaves town. It was late,” he said of the 8:30 p.m. meal. “I don’t normally eat that late, but it was worth the wait.”

WhaBah owner Donnie “Perky” Perruquet said he has been treading water when it comes to his restaurant for a long time.

“The biggest part was financial. I had a lack of interest in the restaurant,” he said. “I felt trapped. It’s like a cancer. It gets worse and worse and worse. I got lost.”

He doesn’t feel lost anymore, thanks to the makeover. He said Irvine “had him in a headlock for the past day.”

“This guy is for real,” he said. “I’ve been in here for eight years. He showed me how to get down and get back up.”

Irvine was happy to help.

“He told me what the issues were, and we attacked them piece by piece,” he said.

Perruquet’s daughter, Nicole, filled out the paperwork for the restaurant to get on the show.

“She did it three months ago and didn’t tell anyone. She said, ‘Dad, you know that show ‘Restaurant Impossible?’ ” he said. “I was just kind of blowing her off. She said, ‘No, dad. … They want to talk to us.’ Things have been rough around here for a while.”

The show interviewed him, and it wasn’t long before Perruquet received the call that WhaBah would be featured on the show.

“He told me it was time to quit treating people like friends,” he said of Irvine. “Your friends don’t pay your bills. Your customers do.”

The restaurant had lost its direction, but it is now on the upswing, Irvine said.

“It lost its leadership. If the customers were coming, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “This is not the guy I met yesterday.”

The emphasis of the show is not about ratings or about Irvine.

“At the end of the day, it’s about Perky. We enhance the community by fixing his restaurant,” Irvine said in an afternoon news conference Tuesday, while a bevy of volunteers were working inside the restaurant. “I have no hidden agenda except to fix it. Much of the show is taking people you don’t know and making a common goal. When I walk away from here, I want to set them up for success.”

In the past, the restaurant had done a lot of music as well as other events, but Perruquet wants that to change.

“In the beginning when I got into, this it was about food. It was about the service of people and about watching them eat and enjoy the food,” he said. “I let all these things pull me away from it – music, different parties and partying myself and being a part of it. I’ve changed over the years. I look at more of the family thing. I want to get back to my roots, and it’s about food.”

While people often don’t like change, Irvine believes people will like what they see and taste.

“What is being built in there right now is going to knock Bowling Green off its feet,” Irvine said. “There is nothing that will touch this restaurant. The food will be fantastic. The service will be impeccable. Why? Because I say so.”

Opening the new and improved restaurant will be a new chapter in Perruquet’s life, and he’s ready for it.

“We did some food testing, and it will definitely be different,” Perruquet said. “I think people will like and accept it.”

Perruquet is grateful for Irvine and the volunteers who came to help him.

“It’s awesome to pull up to the parking lot. All those people were here to help,” he said. “This was born in Bowling Green and I hope it will be reborn tonight. This will be an experience I’ll never forget.”

“Restaurant Impossible” airs at 10 p.m. CST Wednesdays on the Food Network, Time Warner Channel 59. The WhaBah episode will air in March, with the specific date to be announced later.

— Follow features reporter Alyssa Harvey on Twitter at twitter.com/bgdnfeatures