SandTown Pub (JJ's Chicken Bar) - Bar Rescue Update

In this week's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Atlanta, Georgia to rescue SandTown Pub.  The owner Fredericka Jones decided to open the bar in 2017 after working in the fast food industry for 40 years. Fredericka is not there too often and the staff is untrained and undisciplined, so she has turned to her daughter Amber to help manage the bar.  Fredericka is supposedly $200,000 in debt and has cashed in her 401k to help open the bar.  SandTown Pub is in danger of closing which would cause her to lose everything. 

During the Bar Rescue makeover, Jon Taffer decided to change the name of SandTown Pub to JJ's Chicken Bar, but the bar quickly changed it back. Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates for SandTown Pub since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar (All reviews are post-Bar Rescue):





Positive Reviews:

• "Had a good time here. Friendly neighborhood bar with great food and ample amount of TVs to catch a game or big event!"
• "The food is always good and prepared well. The Impossible Burger is awesome. Thank you for being near my home."
• "Very great food everything was made fresh. My waiter was the bomb and the manager even came by our table to check on us."
• "The staff tonight was great! They worked hard and fast to tend to their customers. Food and drinks came fast and great! Kudos to you all and I hope things continue to get better."

Negative Reviews:

• "We have visited here twice in the last two weeks and was served by Coco. She has made almost $50 dollars in tips, for two people , by manually adding an additional tip to my friend's credit card after she was given a tip once on the card and cash. We were told we have to "catch" to get a refund because they can't go in to credit card accounts but they sure can go in and add to your card! Trying to support black owned businesses. Im pissed"
• "I WISH I COULD GIVE A ZERO. There's a bartender named Amber who is the owner's daughter. Extremely rude. Unknowledgeable on drinks. Horrible service. I called to let them know about the status of my food (WRONG). At first I only wanted to speak with a manager and express my feelings. Once they put Amber's rude self on the phone, she began arguing with me. And proceeded to hang up on me midsentence. Not recommended if amber is working. Get it to go."
• "TERRIBLE STAFF......I went to this place last night and the service was horrible. One of the waitresses was so rude. She was upset because two young ladies that went with me, to celebrate my birthday, complained about their food. I asked her to come to the table and she proceeded to tell me I was being EXTRA...Yes she said that. One of the managers came out and had to drag her to the back. She was actually approaching me like she was going to hit me! She was actually charging me. We continued to have our drinks and the manager let her come back on the floor to work. Where does that happen....Sandtown Pub!!! We live 5 minutes down the street and I would love to have a weekly spot...This is not the one."
• "This place is awful…I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND!!!!!. The food is blahhh. The staff and owner are EXTREMELY RUDE. just not a good sports bar at all. Save your money people and run. The owner should just call it quits and SHUT DOWN!!!!"

*Reviews from Yelp, Google

Other News and Links:

• The Bar Rescue for SandTown Pub happened in December 2021.
• Here is a preview video of the episode from the Bar Rescue Facebook page
• Here is the SandTown Pub website and Facebook page. 
• Here is the Facebook page of the owner Fredericka
• SandTown Pub created a new logo a few months after the makeover in February 2022. It has a quote that says, "Where good food and great people meet."  (Link)
• Here are the reviews for SandTown Pub from Yelp and Google.
• The reviews both before and after the makeover are pretty negative with a 2.5 star average on Yelp.
• SandTown Pub said they couldn't keep the name of JJ's because there is already a well known chicken place in Atlanta called JJ's. (Link)

Conclusion:

Jon Taffer decided to decided to change the name of SandTown Pub to JJ's Chicken Bar, but the bar quickly changed it back.  The reviews for the bar since the makeover are somewhat negative.  There are a lot of complaints about the service and staff and some complaints about the food.  Most of the positive reviews complement the food.  The reviews before the makeover were also negative, so it seems not much has changed since the makeover and the same problems remain.

*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.