Bar Rescue - Tidal Bay Beach Bar (Liquid Lounge) Update

On tonight's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Long Beach, California to rescue Liquid Lounge.  Liquid Lounge is a bar owned by Rob McCarthy who bought the bar back in 2010.  Thing were going well at first, but then after a few years things started to go downhill.  Liquid Lounge lost one of their cooks and an article about fruit flies in the bar was published in the local paper.  The bar is filthy and the owner Rob is in over his head with him supposedly being $270,000 in debt.

During the Bar Rescue makeover, Jon Taffer changed the name of Liquid Lounge to Tidal Bay Beach Bar and the bar has kept the name. Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates for Tidal Bay Beach Bar since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar (All reviews are post-Bar Rescue):

Positive Reviews:

• "Great new vibe and new drinks...Lola has great personality and makes a great drink. Same cook and looking forward to going back for some food very soon.."
• "Love the staff, the service was great and the food was amazing! We'll definitely be back! We also loved it as liquid lounge. :)"
• "Fun place with a nice vibe. Tidal Bay is a cool bar with good food and great pours. The patio is great on a sunny day. Nice crowd watching sports and eating. Will definitely go back."
• "Me and my sissy went there to taste Sharrific Tacos.. Lovely lady her food is so delicious! Tidal Bay also has great drinks and service.. Great place to visit"
• "I really like Tidal Bay Beach Bar. There is a warm atmospher there, every nationality, The Best Bartender Lola always good service. Now my only complaint is those hard chars please change them back."
• "Tidal bay beach bar is the best, love the karaoke on wednesday so fun.the drinks are amazing and the bartenders are the best, friendly people all the time..such an amazing place... it's my favorite.. plus the food is amazing and not expensive.. perfect place to go play pool and just relax and enjoy the ambiance ..."
• "Well I like the food,drinks....I mean the whole set up the atmophere not to mention the diversity....nice place to just unwine take a load off..."
• "Must come in and see Lola the greatest bar tender ever!!!"

Negative Reviews:

• "Can I leave negative stars? When I saw that bar rescue was at the bar I was hopeful that they would make some positive changes. They killed the bar. The Liquid Lounge was a great place to go, grab some food and great drink. While the staff is still wonderful the place is dead. Bar rescue made this place go belly up! $3 hike in drink prices, $2 hike in food but the portion size is less than half what it was and less than a dozen people on a Saturday night, new cover charge and 2 drink minimum. This was my weekly hang out, I will not be back...On top of that the owners son is a douche bag. While bar rescue was there he was a real dick to the people waiting in line. He shoved into me, I shoved him back. He saw my walker and told me my business was not wanted at his bar. Well he gets his wish, the place is terrible!"
• "I loved The Liquid Lounge, bar rescue destroyed this business. I have been once since the remodel and will not be back again, it was that horrible."

*Reviews from Yelp, Facebook


Other News and Links:

• The Bar Rescue makeover happened in February 2017.
• Here are two preview videos of the episode from the Spike TV website - Video 1, Video 2.
• Here is the Tidal Bay Beach Bar Facebook Page and they are having a viewing party for the episode.
• Here are the Facebook pages of Rob (owner), Staci (bartender),  Lola (Bartender/manager who lost a lot of weight since the show filmed), and Dudley (Lola's husband/bar employee).
• Here is a Facebook live video someone shot during the stress test if you want to see what it looks like from a customer's perspective.
• Here is a Facebook post with people talking about the bar and saying local crips hang out there. 
• Although "Beach Bar" is in the title of Tidal Bay, the beach is about 1.5 miles from the bar.
• Here is the 2014 article where Liquid Lounge was cited for having alcohol contaminated with insects. The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control visited 26 bars and Liquid Lounge was the only one cited. (Link)
• The Yelp reviews before Bar Rescue were not too bad with a 3.5 average and over 100 reviews. (Link)

Conclusion:

Tidal Bay Beach Bar has kept the name given to them by Bar Rescue and the reviews since the makeover are mostly positive.  People seem to like the vibe, diversity, drinks, and service (especially Lola).  The reviews for the bar before the Bar Rescue makeover were not too bad, but it looks like the bar has still improved.

UPDATE - Tidal Bay Beach Bar closed in January 2019 - More information on the closure.

*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.