Bar Rescue - Off Base Bar (The Filling Station) Update

On tonight's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in San Diego, California to try to rescue The Filling Station.  The bar is a struggling military bar, and owner Sissy doesn't trust her employees.  During recon, the bartenders sneak into the bathroom to take shots and one drunk bartender is dancing on the bar and gets hit by a ceiling fan.

During the Bar Rescue makeover, The Filling Station was renamed to Off Base Bar, and they have kept the new bar name.  Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates for Off Base Bar since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar (All reviews are post-Bar Rescue):



Positive Reviews:

• "I have occasionally been coming in after work for some shots and the prices are good, but I recently ordered food during lunch and it is on point!!!! Great sandwiches and the Parmesan Fires are to die for!!!"
• "All I got to say is what a difference some paint makes. I use to frequent this establishment way way back when it was the filling station pub. And a place where... well let's not dig in the past. Good job off base bar. It was a very pleasant  time. A good experience all around. Food was top notch. Love the pop corn on the tables. Yum. I love popcorn. The service was some of the best service I have had in that place. EVER!! And I work in the industry.  Once again I enjoyed every aspect of the off base bar. Bravo."
• "Cool place. Karaoke is fun and music is on par. Good Drink specials and great crowd. Food is pretty good too. Bartenders are pretty awesome. We'll be back for sure."
• "Recently got remodled by bar rescue and its alot nicer inside now. Is a dive bar and i dont expect much from it besides being a place to sing karaoke and drink kots of beer. Since the remodel the food has become top notch. Ted does an awesome in the kitchen. They havethere own signature cocktails now designed by one of the professional bartenders from bar rescue. The karaoke company does a good job, they have tons of songs and a few of them are great singers. Everyone here is basically a regular and were all friends. Me nd my roommate come here almost everynight to sing....The bartenders are awesome. Alot of my favroite ones are gone now but the ones there are still great. Sometimes theyll give you free shots of something they just whipped up as an experiment. Good friends with security also. The owner is detestable though so i avoid her."

Negative Reviews:

• "Ok place. Came to do karaoke with friends and we found that it stopped at 11:30. Lame. There was only about 30-40 people in the bar all night, super dark, and the jukebox kicked the bucket and stopped playing. No dance floor for the music so we sat and twiddled our thumbs until a pool table opened up and we got some enjoyment out of coming down a half hour away from home. Probably won't come back."
• "Went in the bar tue night, got one beer and they charged my card 79.00 and are refusing to refund it."
• "Went to get a drink (3 of us)--the bar tender said "sorry I'm leaving soon" and then proceeded to talk to another employee without any service.  After waiting for 15 minutes without service or a drink, we left. While it has a new look to the place--it's the same staff."

*Reviews from Yelp


Other News and Links:

• The Bar Rescue makeover happened in May 2015.
• Here are two preview videos of the episode from the Spike TV website. 
• Here is the Off Base Bar website, which has their menu and pictures of the interior.
• Here is an old Off Base Bar Facebook page, which doesn't have many posts.
• Here is a Facebook page that people check-in with that is still called Filling Station.
• Here is another Off Base Bar Facebook page, which seems to be the one that has the most posts.
• The bar still has the name The Filling Station on their liquor license, but the current one doesn't expire until 2/2016. (Link)
• The reviews before the Bar Rescue makeover were pretty bad with people complaining about fights, being overcharged and the atmosphere. (Link)
• Bartender Anna no longer works at Off Base Bar according to her Facebook page.
• Sissy Xue also owned another bar in San Diego called Last Day Cocktails (Link).  She owned it at the time of the Bar Rescue filming, but it appears she is no longer an owner as of September 2015.  A Facebook post on Last Day's page in Sept said, "Just sang "Ding Ding, the Witch is Dead". In honor of Sissy. All hail the new owners at Last Day!"
• If you look at the reviews (regular and filtered) of Last Day Cocktails on Yelp, there are complaints about Sissy saying she gives the wrong change on purpose and substitutes lower quality liquor in drinks.  There are also some compliments for her.
• Kind of random, but War Machine (MMA Fighter notorious for brutal assault of his porn star girlfriend) was arrested at Last Day Cocktails.  Here is a news story/video about that incident which has testimony from Fuyu Xue. 

Conclusion:

The bar has kept the name Off Base Bar and the reviews since the Bar Rescue makeover are mixed.  People complemented the atmosphere, the service and even the food, while others had complaints about the service and being overcharged.   The reviews after the Bar Rescue makeover are definitely more positive than before the makeover.

Owner Sissy owned two different bars at the time of the Bar Rescue makeover, but it appears she has gotten rid of the other bar recently.

UPDATE 2/2022 - There was a shooting outside of The Filling Station where a man died. (Link) Police later arrested two men in connection with the shooting. (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.