Bar Rescue - O'Face Bar Update

On tonight's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Council Bluffs, Iowa to try to rescue the O'Face Bar.  This is the second of three Omaha area Bar Rescue's that will air this season.  The episode is called "Punch-Drunk and Trailer-Trashed" and says that Jon tries to help a feuding and dysfunctional family.  If you follow Jon Taffer, Bar Rescue, or Spike TV on social media, you already know they are hyping this up as an episode where Jon Taffer walks out on the bar.  And the hype is real as he does end up walking out on this bar, meaning no name change or anything.

Let's take a look at some information, updates and drama behind the O'Face Bar Rescue makeover and see what made Jon Taffer walk out on them.


News and Links:

• There are 2 videos on the Spike TV site that preview this episode and show the fighting, etc.
• Council Bluffs is referred to by some as "Council Tucky."  The Urban Dictionary definition is here, which says things like: "nickname for the town across the river from Omaha perceived to be like the backwoods country of Kentucky," "a town with its fair share of strip joints, pickup trucks, and mullet hair cuts." and "the “white trash” area of the Omaha metro."
• Side note - MTV's Teen Mom turned porn star Farrah Abraham is from Council Bluffs, IA.
• 
  The Google street view of O'Face is to the right. It looks pretty much like a trailer, and the kids riding bikes and tricycles is a nice addition.
• Here is the O'Face Facebook Page, and they now have an "As Seen On Bar Rescue" picture on their page.  On Nov. 20th they posted, "We open tonight at 7:30 for the stress test. Hope to see everyone there." and on Nov. 22nd they posted "We will be open tonight at 8pm. It will be a normal night. Everything has been delayed. Thanks for bearing with us during this time. We cannot discuss at this time what is going on. See everyone tonight."
• Here is the O'Face website that has their daily specials. 
• Here is the O'Face application for a liquor license, which has info such as Matt has plead guilty to "operating persay", which I think he meant per se and is basically a DUI.  They bought the bar from a place called O'Briens for $75,000. The terms were $7,000 down, $7,000 when liquor license is approved, and then $1,600 monthly payments until it was paid off.  The sale included all stock and fixtures. (Edit - The O'Briens bar is actually ANOTHER bar owned by Matt and Karen in Omaha, NE).
• O'Face got in trouble with the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Commission last year for serving an "alcoholic beverage or beer to someone who was intoxicated at the time." (Link to document)


• Here are the owners Matt and Karen's Facebook pages, which are private.
• Amanda is still at O'Face despite Jon wanting her fired, and her Facebook page lists her as "GM, Bartender, DJ at O'Face."  She had a status update a few weeks ago that said, "Watching bar rescue makes me sick to my stomach."  There was also a picture captioned "My sisters imitation of me when I'm drunk and wanting to fight lmao."  So apparently her fighting is common.
• Here is the Facebook page for another bartender from tonight's episode named Dave.  According to comments on his page, he apparently gets slapped by fellow employees.  He also has a status update around the time of Bar Rescue leaving that says, "This is for all u nieve n shallow no life gossiping fb freaks. U dont know anything really about bar rescue at oface except they were there it was a closed set only people that do know are the employes n casting crew.so u all need to stop assuming and posting ur idiocrecy posts.caus when u assume u make an ass out of me n u. So stop hating on my bar and our staff cause u dont know."
• UPDATE - Here is Cerisa's Facebook page, and she is friends with Amanda.  They were both commenting on the preview of the episode here, saying Cerisa "played the victim well."
• There are photos of Amanda and Dave doing flaming shots, so look for that to be on the episode tonight, which will make Taffer angry.

  

  
  

The blog Hit That Dive was there during a day of the Bar Rescue filming for O'Face, and has some good details.  The person there said it was quiet and he was getting good service and actually enjoying himself at the bar.  The music was off and the lights were up in the bar, which was an indication they were filming.  Then out of nowhere the owner starts ringing a bell and yelling over the loud speaker, followed up by the music coming on and a girl dancing on top of the bar.

After this, a fight broke out between a female bartender and someone else, and they went outside to settle it (this was in the preview).  Jon Taffer then came out of nowhere to break up the fight.  Meanwhile everyone in the bar was blocked from going outside and were told to stay in the bar (that wouldn't look good on camera and Taffer couldn't do his thing).  After the fight, the bickering continued inside the bar and eventually the cops showed up to remove the bartender.


Conclusion:

Look for a lot of drama on tonight's episode with bartenders, bar owners, and employees fighting, being drunk, and not caring.  As stated before, it seems like Bar Rescue is moving more towards trying to find bars where there will be tons of drama (and possibly manufacturing some drama) this season and the show is less about the rescue.  They just got renewed for another 20 episodes, so it appears to be working.

It was only a matter of time before Jon Taffer walked out on a bar, as he is always threatening it.  You saw all of the press and publicity Gordon Ramsay and Kitchen Nightmares got when he walked out on Amy's Baking Company last year, so you would assume other makeover shows would follow.

Jon Taffer loves the attention and drama and has been building this up with a #TafferWalks hashtag on Twitter, and saying he can't wait to see people's reactions to him walking out.  I am also interesting in seeing the comments on this site after the show, as people from the show usually end up commenting.


UPDATE - The Bar Rescue O'Face Fight Video - Where Did It Come From?


UPDATE 5/2014 - O'Face's Liquor License Renewal Was Rejected by Council Bluffs City Council.

UPDATE 6/2014 - O'Face's Liquor License Suspended Seven Days and Fined $1,000. (License renewal appeal scheduled for July 28th)

UPDATE 8/2014 - A Judge Ruled O'Face should be able to renew liquor license.

Despite what Yelp says, O'Face is still open.  Here is a Facebook page of people checking in there.

UPDATE 2/2016 - O Face owner Matthew Overmyer was arrested for suspected sexual abuse of someone that supposedly worked at the bar.  His wife was supposedly out of town at the time of the assault. (Link) 

UPDATE 10/2016 - Matthew Overmyer plead guilty to the sexual assault charges and was ordered to spend 90 days in jail.  He also has two years of probation following his sentence and will undergo a sex offender treatment program. A no contact order with the victim has been issued for five years.  Matthew Overmyer also will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and pay any restitution to the victim, should she seek counseling. (Link)


UPDATE 3/2017 -  Matthew Overmyer was ordered to pay $4,640 in restitution to the victim, which was a lowered figure. (Link)

UPDATE 4/2017 - Matthew Overmyer went back to jail for failing to register as a sex offender. (Link)

UPDATE 5/2017 - Omaha City Council renewed the liquor license at O Face and the bar continues to operate. (Link)

UPDATE 3/2021 - Yes, O'Face is still open.  There was a shooting that occured inside of O'Face in late February.  A gunman walked into the bar and shot a patron.  The suspect fled on foot and was not caught. (Link)


*To see how all of the bars from Bar Rescue are doing, go to the Bar Rescue Update page, and also Like us on Facebook or Follow Us on Twitter to stay up to date with all things involving Bar Rescue.