Norm de Plume

Anyone else tuning in to this? I find it a compelling variant on the Kitchen Nightmares blueprint, but mostly sans the bombastic Fox production (although the show does also bankroll a full reno job).
What's more, Gordon Ramsey could learn a few things from this program's host/star. Jon Taffer, a "bar expert", is tough and no-nonsense, but without Ramsey's flagrant rudeness and obscenities. I like Taffer...and the show.

Bluelitespecial

i really like the show too, my only complaint is that it feels like they have only been shot in three locations. Bars from California, Chicago, and Philadelphia. But last weeks Boston episode was a change of pace. The Swanky Bubbles bar in Philly was just sad, its probably out of business by now.

Red Dog

So it's basically Restaurant Impossible, but with a bar?

Deftones

i happened to run across this, too. was interesting. saw one about an irish pub in chicago. the family owned it and they wanted to fire the son as GM.

GuessWho

To the point the show was making, I've been to the Abbey Pub many, many times for concert... but I never went into the bar/restaurant area.

After watching the makeover, I'll have to get back there and check it out.

Bluelitespecial

So has anyone here been to the bars featured on the show? Its been sad to see these owners not take the Advice of Jon from this show. The owner last night changing the name back to Canyon Inn was stupid, and didn't help his business. Season Finale is next week and I saw commercials looking for bars to be on season 2.

Norm de Plume

This hasn't been on for a few weeks, so I was afraid it had been cancelled. Thankfully, it hasn't. Spike has renewed it for a second season, but air dates are unknown.

TGM

http://www.spike.com/shows/bar-rescue

going through Motel Hell withdrawals? check out Bar Rescue on SpikeTV. Caught it last night for the first time. It's kind of the same thing and isn't too bad.

covenant

I was refinishing the bathroom off my master bedroom this weekend and I was able to watch/listen to most of Spikes Bar Rescue marathon while I worked.
All the shows are the same. The kitchens are always filthy, the owner's are always defensive, there will always be an opportunity for the Jon Taffer to raise his voice and get rough to make a point. And the bars are always doing great in the epilogue.

dfmaverick2

I don't like Spike bloating the commercial breaks.

After seeing some of the kitchens on the show, I would never eat at these bars after the show for fear that they would revert to prior practices. I would think/hope that if any of the show is true, the bars would be checked often for health violations.

fuzzbox

Guess you didn't see the Pirate bar one.

-jason

SethDLH

They had to try really hard to put a positive spin on J.A Murphy's in Fell's Point Baltimore (they turned it into Murphy's Law) and 2 months after they filmed it was closed.

scorpion

Swanky Bubbles (Sheer) is also closed down now.

devilshalo

I'd want to know the spending limit (if any) Taffer has to convert the bar. At least with Restaurant Impossible, Irvine has $10K in which to turn the place around.

Applejack

I have caught most of these in the last week or two. I like it pretty well. I like the fact that some of them (Piratez) end up not making it and shutting down, so they aren't all success stories. It is pretty much the same episode every time, but some of the innovations they put in the bar are pretty cool.

I like the machine that mixes drinks for you and the personal taps from the Pirate episode. I am surprised that more bars don't have the drink mixing machine to combat overpouring and be able to hire less experienced bartenders

pelenor

It was hard to watch the Piratz episode, simply for the fact that they were there to help and for the owner to change it back to a pirate theme when it was that reason she called Bar Rescue to begin with, just boggled my mind. What he did with that bar was nothing short of amazing and personally i would be at that bar every day for lunch if I was working near there but I would've slugged her husband Juicio.

GuessWho

Plus, you can count on him complain about over-pouring.


I've been to one of the bars featured, but not since the makeover. Still need to get there and check it out.

TheKing

They've done two bars that are pretty close to me, the Canyon Inn and the Olive Pit.

I used to pass by the Olive Pit (Now called the O.P.) all the time, but never went in since I could never figure out just where the hell the entrance was. Just a terrible location. Of course once I saw the show and saw what it looked like inside, I'm kinda glad I never wasted my time or money in there. Now I've been thinking about going there and seeing how they're doing now. My guess is that no matter how nice they make it look, it's never going to do well with the awful location.

The Canyon Inn (Changed to Canyon Saloon, but changed back to Inn after 30 days) is the same way. It's just a bad location. It's in a strip mall on a side street as opposed to having any kind of presence on a major road. At the end of the episode, the owner basically said that they weren't doing as well as he had hoped.

You can fix up a place all you want, but if your location sucks, you're never going to do well.

PhantomStranger

Watching this show taught me to never eat at a bar, ever. The kitchens are all filthy and half the food looks like it is about to spoil.

fuzzbox

Well, it does still come down to what he said early in the episode, Bars are easy to fix, people are hard. The owner was just more interested in being a pirate than she was in running a business that made money.

-jason

superdeluxe

That lady from the Pirate bar irritated me

fuzzbox

Any sympathy I had gained from her over the course of the episode disappeared when the customer complimented the new place and she said "That's really not what I want to hear."

superdeluxe

Still horrible reviews:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/piratz-tavern-silver-spring

superdeluxe

8/28/2012

Lame,
Might be the worst place I have ever been too. Mistakenly walked into this place after a meeting. The staff and service was just awful. I was told the drink to order was "The Grog". This was sugar and random booze. I'm not even sure what flavor to describe it as. It tasted like diabetes. Between the bar tender yelling over my head to staff members and the disgusting drink....... I will not return.

Norm de Plume

Just FYI, I started a thread about this last year and no one gave a damn.

I'm still watching and enjoying the show, but something tells me Spike told Taffer to ramp up the abusiveness. He was not this loud and obnoxious in the first season.