Crowne Irish Pub (The Forge Irish Pub) - Bar Rescue Update

In this week's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Brandon, Florida to rescue The Forge Irish Pub.  The bar is owned by Patrick and Mariely Crowne who opened the bar in 2019.  The bar was initially a success and then the pandemic happened which hurt the bar financially.  The financial strain impacted Patrick mentally and physically which caused his marriage to end.  Despite filing for divorce, Patrick and Mariely continue to work together at the bar and the tension between them is seen by employees and customers.  The bar is supposedly a month away from closing if things do not change.

During the Bar Rescue makeover, Jon Taffer decided to change the name of The Forge Irish Pub to Crowne Irish Pub and the bar has kept the name. Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates for Crowne Irish Pub since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar (All reviews are post-Bar Rescue):





Positive Reviews:

• "It's no longer the Forge, it's Crowne. They've gone through changes after Bar Rescue. There were 12 of us from a Foodies group, with prior reservations but Mariely Crowne never told me what was going on (after I confirmed with her 12 of us were coming) apparently she left them high and dry. They had no idea we were coming! So unfair. Regardless, the food was good and the mushroom appetizer was delish! Our waiter worked very hard for us. I would give them a couple months to get things ironed out and more staff on hand. They are short handed. If a larger party goes in, you won't be served all at the same time. It was no big deal for us, we understand the situation they got dumped in their lap. My Rueben was fantastic! The fish was good, what you expect at a bar. Burgers good. "
• "I came in today and drank a Guinness poured perfectly. The staff is very friendly. I am looking forward to coming back, especially for the food, and potentially music on Friday/Saturday and maybe Trivia on Thursdays."
• "Great local bar! Live music and the food was so good. My drink was perfect and the service on point. We will definitely be back."
• "Visited The Crowne Irish Pub on 20 April and can not say enough about how pleased I am with this Pub. There were 5 of us and we wanted to get a good idea about the Pub since their relaunch. We each ordered different menu items and tried a couple of different cocktails. All of the cocktails were well balanced and good. We ordered 2 of their specialty cocktails (Michael's Forge and The Dublin Mule (I think)). Both were good and well balanced.....All in all I was very pleased with the experience and will definitely be going back."
• "WOW! The Fish and Chips are Amazing! This is a wonderful pub to go alone or with a group. Excellent for Evening work functions. IAM for sure bring my friends and family when they visit! And I Absolutely love all the updates !"
• "Friendly staff. Great selection of beer. I’m excited live music is back! I highly recommend their Dublin Breakfast or Irish Stew."

Negative Reviews:

• "I get that St. Patrick's Day is a busy day for any Irish pub, but a little planning goes a long way. We were there at 6:30pm, gladly waited almost an hour for a table, only to find out the kitchen was out of food. "We have French fries" is all our sever said. We had 1 drink and one glass of water while waiting, when I closed our bar tab is was $12 and some change. I woke up this morning to a $50 charge from the place on my card. We didn't eat anything at the table. We ordered a drink that never arrived; AND I left $30 on the table in cash because I felt bad for the server. The bartenders were doing shots with the guests, it was an all out disaster. Rumor is that "Bar Rescue" changed the place around and I bet John Tafer would be livid with what they did to his work. It is what it is, we just won't be back. I suggest you don't either."
• "Owner not friendly. Bartender sneezes on stack of clean glasses and never washed his hands. Hamburger patty is exactly the same size as a regular McDonald's patty but costs way more. Did they learn nothing from Bar Rescue??"
• "I don't get the hype about this place. Went there a couple times when it was The Forge and the only good thing was the music. Tried again after the big revamp and WTH, like 5 things on the menu and horrific service. Unfortunately one and done for us."
• "Just horrific food and service. They can pour a beer from the tap, I'll give them that. But the food is beyond bad. Bland, overcooked, no unique flavoring. Overpriced for what it is. Name change on the door can't change the fact the food is just not good. And sometimes takes forever to come out of the kitchen, even when noone is there."

*Reviews from Yelp, Google

Other News and Links:

• The Bar Rescue for The Forge Irish Pub happened in March 2022.
• The makeover was finished just in time for St. Patrick's Day 2022.
• According to reviews and the bar's response to reviews, the bar ran out of food on St. Patrick's Day.
• Here is a preview video of the episode from the Bar Rescue Facebook page
• Here is the Crowne Irish Pub website and Facebook page. 
• The bar is having a watch party for the episode. (Link)
• Here are the Facebook pages of Patrick (owner), Mariely (owner), Erik (bartender)
• In a radio interview, Patrick Crowne said the show reached out to him and it was a blessing in disguise because he was starting to give up on the bar. He said what the show did was unbelievable and estimates they spent $50,000-$70,000 on the makeover. He also said business was slowly picking up. (Link)
• Here are the reviews for Crowne Irish Pub from Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Google.
• The bar takes the time to respond to reviews on Google.

Conclusion:

Jon Taffer decided to change the name of The Forge Irish Pub to Crowne Irish Pub and the bar has kept the name.  The reviews for Crowne Irish Pub are mixed with the positive reviews liking the makeover, food and staff.  There are some negative reviews about the food and service.  The owner Patrick has said that he is happy with the makeover and that business was slowly picking up.

UPDATE - Crowne Irish Pub closed in July 2022 - 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.