Bar Rescue - Taza (Oasis Hookah Bar) Update

On tonight's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Omaha, Nebraska to try to rescue Oasis Hookah Bar.  When Jon gets there, he notices a bad odor and also bad behavior from the bar employees.  The odor is supposedly a dead rat and the bar is also serving "toxic" drinks to customers.  One of the "toxic" drinks makes a customer puke after just one sip.

During the Bar Rescue makeover, Oasis Hookah Bar was renamed to Taza Nightclub.  The bar seems to be using both names and goes by Taza Nightclub/Oasis Hookah Bar.  Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates for Taza/Oasis since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar:

Bar Rescue - Pat's Cocktails - A Mixology Bar Update

On tonight's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Valley Village, California to try to rescue Pat's Cocktails, which is a sports bar.  The bar manager is too busy "canoodling" in his bar to notice the things that are going on around him.  Jon Taffer gets one of the bartenders to help out with the recon, and gets her to give out tons of free drinks to customers in the bar to see if the manager notices, which he does not.  Jon will need to change how the manager operates to turn this bar around.

During the Bar Rescue makeover, Pat's Cocktails was slightly renamed to Pat's Cocktails - A Mixology Bar.  Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates for Pat's Cocktails since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar:

Bar Rescue - Wildcatter Saloon (Bryant's Ice House) Update

On tonight's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Katy, Texas to try to rescue Bryant's Ice House. The bar is a struggling biker bar owned by Jeff, a former tax accountant.  It is struggling due to a bad reputation and a dysfunctional staff.  One of the bartenders is so drunk and obnoxious, Jon Taffer threatens to "knock his ass out"

During the Bar Rescue makeover, Bryant's Ice House was renamed The Wildcatter Saloon.  Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates for The Wildcatter Saloon since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar:

Is Bar Rescue Fake? - Lawsuit Says So

While Jon Taffer always claims that Bar Rescue is real and nothing is ever scripted, most people who watch the show feel otherwise.  Yesterday, a lawsuit was filed by Dr. Paul T Wilkes against Bongo LLC (a Bar Rescue production company), Jon Taffer, and his wife Nicole Taffer.  Paul was an owner of the Sand Dollar in Las Vegas, which was on season 3 of the show and renamed to Bar 702.  You may remember the episode titled as "Don't Mess With Taffer's Wife" where Jon gets mad that Paul was hitting on his wife.  The full lawsuit is here from Deadline, but here are some of the highlights that give a lot of insight into the Bar Rescue process:

Bar Rescue - The Shot Exchange (The Tailgate) Update

On tonight's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Santa Clarita, California to try to rescue The Tailgate bar. The bar is owned by a dysfunctional family, which is causing most of the problems at the bar.  The dad aka Pops is an in your face type of guy who co-owns the bar with his son Matt and daughter Diane.  Some of the problems Jon encounters at the bar besides the family are the exterior, tacky dollar bills on the walls, money being counted on a cutting board, a kitchen fire, and raw chicken contamination in the kitchen.

During the Bar Rescue makeover, The Tailgate was renamed The Shot Exchange, and has a menu featuring 50 shots.  Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates for The Shot Exchange since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar:

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

On a recent episode of Bar Rescue at O'Face Bar in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Jon Taffer decided to walk out on the bar and not do the rescue.  The breaking point was a video that Jon obtained of the owner Matt slapping one of his bartenders named Dave in the face, which was saved until the end of the episode.  This had many people wondering where Jon got the video and did he have the video all along?

First, lets look at what Jon Taffer had to say about the video:

• A fan recently asked Jon Taffer on Twitter: "how did you get the o’face bar footage of the fights at the end? Seemed really staged and fake"
• To which Jon responded: "Nothing is staged of faked on the show. That video came from someone who will remain unnamed."

So, Jon is going with an unnamed source for how they obtained the video.


Hit That Dive from Omaha was at the bar when the episode aired and followed up with a few interviews of the bar's employees. 

• I asked him to find out where Jon Taffer got the video of the slap.
• He later tweeted: "The "fight" between #ofacebar owner and his employee Dave was from their audition tape when #BarRescue wanted "MORE DRAMA". #Fake"
• Steve from Hit That Dive also commented on the original O'Face post regarding Matt slapping Dave, stating:  "I just got this from Amanda..."Steve that was a clip from our audition tape when they wanted "more drama". AKA...staged."

Hit That Dive is saying that through talking with employees, the video was from their audition tape for Bar Rescue.


Finally, Dave, who is the bartender on the episode that got slapped by Matt has responded to multiple people about it on his Facebook page, and here are some of his comments:

• Comment 1 - "We were all drunk for the show & that was our viewing for john taff to decide if he wanted to come or not the producers pushed us to have drama to influnce john to come . So really im gonna let someone slap me n not do nothing ha ha u know better. Thx mike ur good people also"
• Comment 2 about him not fighting back "Omg 4 real if you dont think 4 once i would not come back with a right hook if ever slapped? Come on 4 real"
• Comment 3 saying the fight was for show  - "Wow mike u have no reason to say that bout my boss didnt u read my post it was for show & he would never do that & mike if it did i can handle my own so no reason to have attitude towards him." 
• The owner Karen even weighed in saying, "What part don't people get that the fight wasn't real"

Dave said the producers pushed them to have drama so Jon would choose their bar to be rescued, and that the fight was not real. 

 
So that leaves everyone to form their own opinion on where the video came from and if it was real/fake.  

Here is mine.  When Bar Rescue comes to a city, they tell multiple bars they are under consideration and that Jon will be coming to 1 of the 3 bars (see question 3 in this link).  This probably encourages the bars to do things that they think will make for good TV in hopes of getting picked over the other bars.  Producers probably told this to O'Face, so they decided to stage not 1, but 2 fights in hopes of getting a free makeover.  This also lets Jon Taffer claim that nothing is scripted as they do not tell people what to do, but let them know they need to be interesting to be picked. 

The camera quality and sound quality on the video of Matt slapping Dave is pretty good and not too shaky as you normally see on regular Youtube videos.  Also, there is no reaction from the camera operator filming this fight (no narration or "Ohhhhh") and the other people besides Bryan in the video don't react either.  So, I will buy that it was staged and assume that Bar Rescue producers are the ones that filmed the fight.  I don't think there was an "unnamed source" that provided Jon with the video of this.  Whether Jon knew about this fight the first day or found out later could be debated I guess, but you would assume he would have known.  

If you look at the additional videos of O'Face on the Spike website like this one, you will see that Jon was genuinely giving them advice, so I don't think the bar was being used to be walked out on.  I think maybe Jon got fed up with everyone after dealing with them for 4 days, and used the fight video that they had as the excuse to stop helping them.



*If you are interesting in watching the video of the slap again, fast forward to 37:15 on the episode at the Spike website (warning - it will make you watch 5 commercials first).