Bar Rescue - Casual Tap Update

On tonight's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Chicago, Illinois to try to rescue Casual Tap.  Casual Tap is owned by Steve Magana who is a full-time fire fighter in Chicago.  The time constraints of working all day and also having a bar are hurting his bar business. He is supposedly losing $4,000 a month and if his bar went under, he would supposedly be $700,000 in debt.  The bar has been closed for three months, but he is hoping Bar Rescue can turn things around.  Steve's daughter also has a 50% chance of having Huntington's disease, which causes progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain and always results in death.

During the Bar Rescue makeover, Jon Taffer decided to keep the name of Casual Tap.  Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates for Casual Tap since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar (All reviews are post-Bar Rescue):

Reviews:

*No reviews for Casual Tap since Bar Rescue visited and you will know why by reading below.


Other News and Links:

• The Bar Rescue filming happened in September 2016.
• Here are two preview videos of the episode from the Spike TV website - Video 1, Video 2
• Casual Tap doesn't have a website and their Facebook Page hasn't been updated since November 2015.
• Here are the Facebook pages of Steve (owner), Zee (bartender), and Brittany (Steve's daughter)
• There haven't been any reviews of the bar on Yelp since 2013, but here are the few reviews if you are interested.
• Casual Tap and Bar Rescue donated $1,000 to Huntington's Disease Society of America in October. (Link)
• Just a week after Bar Rescue left, people were asking when Casual Tap was reopening. (Link)
• In October 2016 (a month after the makeover), someone asked Steve if Casual Tap was ever going to reopen. (Link)
• The Chicago Tribune interviewed Steve Magana who confirmed the bar was still closed and he wasn't ready to reopen the bar.  He said the Bar Rescue experience was great and he was hoping to have the bar open for when the episode aired.  There is still no opening date for Casual Tap and Steve was headed off for a vacation.  Steve also said that if Casual Tap reopens, he will use the layout of the bar that was in place before Bar Rescue. (Link)

Conclusion:

Casual Tap was closed before Bar Rescue visited and it remains closed even after the makeover.  The bar quickly closed after the Bar Rescue taping and Steve supposedly wanted to have it ready to reopen by the time the episode aired.  He had plenty of time as this episode was filmed in September 2016 and the other Chicago area Bar Rescue episode aired in March.  Perhaps Steve agreed to do the episode to raise awareness for Huntington's Disease as he received a donation from Bar Rescue for the cause.  If Casual Tap does reopen, Steve said he will use the layout of the bar pre-Bar Rescue.

UPDATE 2/2020 - Casual Tap has never reopened since it appeared on Bar Rescue.

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