Bar Rescue - The Royal Oaks Update

On tonight's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Youngstown, Ohio to try to rescue The Royal Oaks bar.  The bar is the oldest bar in Youngstown and also doubles as a BBQ joint.  The owners are two feuding brothers who are driving away customers with their obnoxious behavior.  This obnoxious behavior also gets Jon Taffer pretty heated when he confronts them.

During the Bar Rescue makeover, they decided to keep the name the same and it still goes by The Royal Oaks.  Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates for The Royal Oaks since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar (All reviews are post-Bar Rescue):


Reviews:

• "Fall off the bone ribs! Amazing BBQ flavor with a hint of raspberry! I couldn't finish the full rack at lunch, and have been snacking on my leftovers for the past two days. I killed the coleslaw at lunch and keep wishing I had some leftover slaw to go with my cold ribs! Yummmmm!!!!!"
• " It has been run by the Kennedy brothers since 2000, and recievef a complete interior makeover by the docureality show team of "Bar Rescue", so it reflects the period style of the post prohibition era of the 1930s.
• "No establishment has such a diverse and eclectic patronage, and best ribs in Youngstown with their signature raspberry barbecue sauce, prepared to perfection on Tuesday and Saturday nights.  Nobody is a stranger at the Oaks."

Other News and Links:

• The Bar Rescue makeover happened in August 2015.
• Here is a preview video of the episode from the Spike TV website.
• Here is The Royal Oaks Facebook page which is kept up-to-date.
• Here are more reviews before the Bar Rescue makeover, which are all pretty positive and many people complementing the ribs and raspberry bbq sauce.
• Here is a 7-minute interview with owners John and Lou talking about how they decided to buy the bar and they also talk about the bar history and the food.
• A local website Vindy.com had a lot of articles regarding the Bar Rescue makeover and there were a lot of comments on those articles.  A lot of people commented about the bar being on the east side of Youngstown in a bad part of town.  Also there being a lot of regulars that go to the bar, the food is good, and the bathrooms are pretty bad.  People also say the makeover wasn't too drastic and it just cleaned up the place a lot.
• The address of Royal Oaks was apparently sold in 1997 for $40,000 and in 2009 for $25,000 (Link).

Conclusion:

The reviews both before and after the Bar Rescue makeover are pretty positive with people liking the atmosphere and the food such as the ribs and the raspberry BBQ sauce.  It seems like the bar is in the east side of Youngstown, which apparently has a high crime rate, but it still seems like there are a lot of blue-collar regulars to keep the place going.  The Bar Rescue makeover should help bring in some new customers and keep the old ones as well as not much has changed besides upgrading the bar.


*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.