Ty Watches Bar Rescue: Champagne's Cafe' Edition

This past Sunday, Jon Taffer and crew headed to Taffer's hometown of Las Vegas to rescue a bar. What was weird about this episode, right off the bat, they had some old guy being interviewed that was not an owner, nor was he an employee at said bar. He came on, said some stuff about how people don't like change in Vegas, basically, it was just rambling. My wife and I were both very confused.

Once the weird intro ended the meat of the episode started, and we eventually met the owner of Champagne's Café. He seemed to be a mild mannered guy that just wanted to own a bar. He got the seed money from is mother, but after only a year or two, the bar started to lose money. They then cut back to that weird old guy from the beginning. He said some more stuff, but I was even more confused by this point. Then, they went back to the owner, and he was saying how this bar was another historical landmark. He said that the Rat Pack used to come in and hang out at the bar because it was far enough away from their rabid fans. He also said that the bar used to be a mobster hangout. Goodfellows would come in and, much like the Rat Pack, it was a place for them to get away. It was kind of a mobster hideout. Once the mob connection was presented we find out who this old man was that had been talking at us the whole episode. He claimed to have been a crony for the mob, and he vouched that the people he worked for did, in fact, hang out at Champagne's. So, the mystery of the old man was finally solved.

When we got back to the "rescuing" of the bar, we found out that the bar wasn't dingy or dirty. They still had a decent customer base. The drinks were good enough. No, the problem with this bar was the owner. He was a total pushover, and he did not have the skills to train the bartenders. On the first night, Taffer and his "expert" sat outside and watched as the owner allowed two of his employees to no call-no show and watched him poorly train the only bartender in the building. The recon spies asked for very simple drinks. One wanted a Manhattan and the other, a famous drink called the Bee's Knees. These drinks are supposed to be very simple, according to Taffer and the "expert", but the new bartender had no idea how to make them, and the owner, well, he was just as clueless. It got so bad that the "expert" went into the bar, ordered a drink, it was made incorrectly, so she went behind the bar and showed them how to make it properly. At this moment was when Taffer showed up inside the bar. He didn't yell or berate this guy, he just seemed disappointed in him. He gave him a hard time about poorly running a hospitality business in the hospitality capitol. The owner was a mess. He never raised his voice or got angry at the workers that skipped out on him and almost everything Taffer suggested, he obliged. The one thing he wasn't so happy about was the fact that Taffer may change the wallpaper in the bar. This dude had some weird obsession with wallpaper. He spoke of it as if it were his child. I think he may have been in love with the wallpaper.

Aside from the owner being a mess, the bartenders, when they did show up, they were actually pretty good. They knew how to make drinks and how to make them fast and correct. This was one of the first times that the employees, save for their disregard to schedules, seemed to be on top of things. They knew what they were doing. Instead of a stress test, Taffer had people come in and taste test the drinks made by the three bartenders. The winner would get the best shift. It was an interesting change from the beloved stress test.

After the taste testing and the crew working on the bar, we got the big reveal. When Taffer got to the number 3, the crew turned around, and very little had been changed. They kept the name, once again because of the history. And, aside from a new neon sign, the outside was only touched up with paint and made to look brighter. Then, they went inside. This was when the owner was at his most anxious because he thought that the wallpaper would be gone. But, much to his relief, the wallpaper was still there, and it was actually made to look a bit nicer. They didn't change too much inside either. The allure of this place was the old school-ness of it, so Taffer kept it that way. I thought the changes inside were nice. It looked like a hip, old school type bar.

This season of "Bar Rescue" has been very pleasing to watch so far. We've gotten a little bit of everything from each episode, and this was a particularly unique episode because the bar wasn't in disrepair, it was the owner that needed to shape up. By all accounts, Champagne's is doing pretty decent business, and the owner looks to be close to out of debt. He also has a tighter leash when it comes to schedule and he said he is not the pushover that he once was. Good for him, and his bar.

Come back next week for the review of the next episode.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Due to the fact that Ty does not drink, he appreciates the look of a bar. He especially likes well thought out wallpaper. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.