- Your smirk is gonna bury you. You think it's funny that
she's in debt $900,000? - No, it's not funny at all. - That's good to hear. - And here is a grown
man yelling at the top of his lungs at people
who aren't children. (dramatic music) - Well, you're dressed
like a six-year old child, I wouldn't talk about that. There it is, Piratz Tavern. - [Nicole] The place
looks completely dead. - [Narrator] Before Jon can
start his work on Piratz, he and his wife, Nicole prepare the recon. - They live this pirate
lifestyle in there. - Wow. - I'm told it borders on bizarre. The Yelp reviews are terrible. "Horrible service, horrible
food, horrible tacky decor. Honestly, I would rather walk the plank than go back to this dump. No stars." - Wow. I'm dyin' to go into this place. - Recon is critical to my process. It's easy for me to understand
the financial issues of the business. I also have to learn what
the customer perspective is. That perspective is extremely
helpful to my final decisions. - [Narrator] Nicole
heads into Piratz Tavern, a 2,800 square foot linear space with an underutilized
stretch of table seating in the front and a bar area in the back. Outside is an unoccupied patio. - Hello.
- Hi. - [Bartender] What can I get for you? - I'd like to see a menu. - Absolutely. - [Narrator] In addition to the cameras that have been following the Piratz staff, hidden cameras have been
placed around the bar to capture Nicole's recon. - My first impression heading
into Piratz is they're really in their own little world here. There are some phallic
symbols in the back. The waitresses are pouring
out of their shirts. - All of our drinks are listed
in the first couple of pages, including our wine list. - So, I ordered a glass
of wine off the menu. - This is my personal choice. It's our merlot, it's a very good one. - The staff was very friendly, almost overly-friendly
like as if they were trying to cover up for something else. - Hello, love.
- Hello. - How are you? - [Male Server] Do you need anything else? - Can I get you anything
else or you good with that? - [Nicole] At some point
throughout the night, almost every employee came up to me to find out what I was doing. - Well, if there's anything else I can do to help facilitate your
need, milady, let me know. - I think these people know who I am. I've been made. (dramatic music) Not good. So, I just got up and walked out. - Have yourself a nice night, all right. - Thank you.
- Come again. - [Narrator] With Nicole being
made by the Piratz staff, she was unable to get a true sense of the customer experience inside. - There it is, Character's Quarters. - What does Character's Quarters mean? - I understand that the
employees dress as characters. - Oh, there we go. - Okay, so a kids place. - So think about this, guys. This is a bar, but it doesn't say bar. Saloon, tavern, none of those things. - [Brian] Pub, nothing. - Bar people are not gonna walk in here. Family people are. But then they're walking into a bar. They don't wanna be in a bar. The whole damn thing falls
apart when the front is wrong. This is a family owned business. - Okay. - There's Guy, he's the
son that's running it. He's the manager. There's Helen, Guy's mom and Charlie. Charlie is a stepdad. There's Alex, the sister. Her and her brother love to go at it in front of customers,
in front of anybody. I've had this place under
surveillance now for a few days. Watch. - You're not sittin' in here (beep) smokin' a cigarette. (beep) - Okay.
(beep) - So now, she's outside smoking
in the middle of an order. He's not totally wrong. - Right. Oh no, not at all. - You (beep) on the floor and then the caveat is
just smokin' cigarettes. Just a slap in the face, dude. It's a slap in the face. - But I wasn't even trying- (crying). - I don't care. - She's crying. - He's attacking her. - You're out there in the
front just hangin' out, smokin' a cigarette. Everybody else is workin'. Stop (beep) up. Get on your game! If you smoke another cigarette,
you're (beep) out of here. I don't give a (beep) what mom says. - I can't do nothing right around here. - Ay, yi, yi. - That's a dysfunctional family. So you know, guys, we're in the South. So I got two locals, they grew up here. They're gonna give us a good
Southern local perspective of what's going on here. - What's up with the baseball outfit? - [Alex] It's my character costume. - All right. - [Alex] Y'all like it? - You know, they're calling
this place "Characters." - Right. - But they're not characters. - No. - They walk and talk
and act like themselves. That's just- - Half-assed.
- An outfit. They don't get into it
and the customers aren't. - Sure. - Can I get a Tom Collins, please? - [Alex] A Tom Collins?
- Yes. - Yeah, and I gonna have a whiskey sour. - Tom Collins and a whiskey sour. - Two pretty simple drinks. - [Alex] On that drink,
you said Tom Palmer, right? - Tom Collins. - [Alex] Tom Collins? Okay. - She's thinking of an Arnold Palmer, which is an iced tea and lemonade. She's nowhere near the right drink. (intriguing music) - Are you makin' it or? - There's our bartender, Whitney. Look at how slow she is. - At the same time, most of these people that are in here drinking, it seems like they're drinking beer. - It's a beer bar. That's the crowd they're drawing now. - And see, they're not making
really great profit margins on that.
- Right. My name is Jon Taffer. I've been doing this for almost 35 years. I know how to make money in this business. Okay, so first tell me your name. - Madison. - Hi, Madison. What's the biggest problem in this bar? - The costumes. People just don't get it. - Right. What are you today? - A warrior princess.
(group laughing) I (beep) hate the costumes. It's the stupidest
thing they've ever done. People look at us like we're crazy. - What are you as today? - I'm punk rock girl. - You're a punk rock girl, okay. Well, I mean the hair and sorta... You could have been a
pirate maybe with the... Which is a sore subject for me anyway, but I don't want to go there. - This isn't just any bar. It's a bar. - What do people think of this place? - They've thought it's a
comedy club, a kid's place. - When we look at your menu, it's a similar kind of look. Bright yellow. Infantile, is that adult? Is that sophisticated? Guys, this is very un-Southern. It's all Northern style food, isn't it? What are you selling the most of? - Burgers. - Burgers? Everybody has a burger. So, I want to work on
creating some signature things for you guys. Things that the locals- - Yes!
- Relate to. - The signature dogs,
I take pride in them. Quarter-pound hot dog loaded to the gills, what's better than that? It'd be sad to see this menu go. - Summer, what's the
biggest problem to you? - It gets tiring telling
tables, "Come back tomorrow" or being out of liquor, being out of beer. - Are you running out of
things that are not food items, any kind of supplies? - [Staff] Yes. Yeah, we have. - Like what? Name that. - [Staff] Straws. We run out of coasters. - What about bev naps? - [Servers] We don't have those. - We only have beverage. - So what I'm try... - We could go back there
and look at napkins that have been sittin' there
for six months right now that no one even realizes they're there. They walk by them every day. - Whose fault is that? - Well, why don't they know?
- I guess mine. They know it's there! They do know it's there. They're gonna play dumb
like it's not there. You're gonna tell me we're
out of the stupid (beep). Are you kiddin' me? It's a little excessive. I could take certain things
but the little things like that we're not out of. - Whitney, your facial expression changed. - I guess I've just been
a little more aggravated with this place than I ever have before. I mean, when it's busy,
I feel like we work hard. - Do you feel that way? - It can and does get
complacent around here. And sometimes they need a
kick in the butt for it. - But we need a kick in the butt, but you're looking down on
all of us and yell at us and flip out out of nowhere when you can't even communicate with us. - And the customers
see it when it happens? - [Staff] Yes. - They have. That's where it really gets uncool. - Sure.
- Are you with me? - Fair enough. (dramatic music) - We knew music and bars and clubs. This seemed like the natural progression. - We went with horror because
the world loves a scary movie. - [Narrator] Kris and Jazz tried to establish a spooky
theme, but chose decorations that frightened for all the wrong reasons. - Feels like it's
Halloween walking in here. I came here to drink a beer
and not bob for apples. - Underworld. I'm guessing that awning might
be as old as you are Russ. So let me show you the employees. - Everything's out of kilter and not where it's supposed to be. - There's Kris Kaos.
He's one of the owners. This bar has only been
open for three hours. This guy's already counting the money. - [Jazz] Who's is this? - I have no idea. - This one of you guy's? - His partner is Jazz Bender. They're in their mid-forties. These guys are rock stars
that never became rock stars. (heavy metal rock music) Played in bars, they
figured they could own one. - Who's a pretty girl? - Jesse, the bartender. - We're shooting a porno
in about two hours. We're just waitin' for stars to walk in. - Well, it seems to me that
he's not here to bartend. He's using this as a
place to pick up chicks. - [Jesse] It was a good drink? - Mm-hmm. - They're called the panty dropper. - I'm not even in there,
I'm pissed already. - Yeah. - So guys, put together a great recon. Vegas is all about women. So I got three beautiful girls. They know the bar and club scene so they can give us a good
evaluation of the business. Look at that dance floor. - [Russell] Nothing
that attracts you here. - Unbelievable. So, look at this interior, guys. This is a horror concept. That's a $20 Halloween costume, guys. - But it could be a cool
concept if it was done right. They're not cool. - No. - [Jesse] Hi. - Hi. - You guys ordered yet? - I will get the brewsky. Do you have draft? - [Jesse] No. - No draft beer. Do you know how much money
that means they lose? - Captain and Coke. - [Jesse] I don't have Captain. - All right, guys. Captain Morgan, one of
the most popular products in America today. - Don Julio margarita
with salt on the rim. - Yeah, that won't happen either. - The third time. (laughing) - That's a great example,
Russell, of why people blow it when they don't buy premium spirits. - Absolutely. - I see that look in your eyes
like, that sex-crazed look. - Sex-crazed? - So he steers the conversation to sex. - You've known me for 10 minutes and you know what kind of girl I am. - You're all the same. - We're all the same? - Bitchy, but whatever. (upbeat music) - Well, welcome to Portland. There it is. The Tonic Lounge. You guys know this, this is a hip town. - Really hip. - Look at the sign, it says "Tonic." That's a live music venue. It doesn't say "Live Music" anywhere. It doesn't say "Bar." It doesn't say "Food." That's a live music venue. Rather than a name of a band, "Tonight at 11 o'clock
so-and-so," it says, "Obey your liver, turn left." - No draw. - So for recon, I got
two locals and the two of them really understand
the Portland scene. So we should get a good
local perspective from them. - My name is Cassie. I
live in Portland, Oregon. - My name is Russ. I live
in Portland, as well. - In Portland, I expect to be good food that is locally sourced and
expect unique food service - This carpet's disgusting. - This bar is a failure from the street. I can only imagine what
the inside is like. (intriguing music) Look at this guy. (beep) is that? - What (beep) is that? - Wow. - Wow.
- Wow. - What the hell we lookin' at? - I felt like (beep) earlier,
I still kind of feel weird. - There's Rod, he's the owner. He's 250,000 in debt. He doesn't even know
how much longer he has. - It's crazy. The money that these guys are gettin'. - That's Tony. Tony's the entertainment manager. So, Tony is responsible
for the live music program at this bar. - Hey, who's the (beep) singer? Okay, you get this (beep) mike then. - There's Joe. He's
our production manager. Joe runs the actual live show. - Okay. - Have you ever known me to be quiet? - Here's Heather.
Heather is the bartender. - Okay. - Now what? Come join the party. - How's it going? - How you doin? - [Russ] Good. - [Heather] Squeeze in, we're all friends. - I'm gonna do the bay
breeze, first mate bay breeze. - Okay. - Tell me about your drinks, the ones that you specialize in. - For you, I was thinking what if we do- - Let me see what I can throw in this tin for you right here. - Blueberry vodka, soda, lime juice. - There's no recipe at all. - No, she's just throwing things in a cup. - Is that one of your signature drinks? - I just made it up. - She just made it up. - [Heather] I make them up
everybody (talking indistinctly). And I've never made this drink before. So, we're gonna find
out if it's good or not. - Do you want to try
something she just thought of, that she's never tasted herself? - No. Is she making crushed ice? - She's muddling the ice. - So, she's making water. - Okay, look at this. Soda on the bottom. Now she's short poured, so
she'll just top it with soda. - Measure it. Have a recipe. - So if I ordered that
could you do it again? - [Heather] Yeah. Is gonna be the exact
completely accuracy. No. - Yeah, what if you like it. So what? - Oh, my God, you're killing me. - I'll get close. - [Russ] I can't drink
that. That's like Kool-Aid. - You train on your off time. You don't make up stuff
when you're on your shift, that's when you have your (beep) together. - She almost got it right in
intent but not in execution. - [Lisa Marie] Right. - This girl just comes to
work and just make (beep). - Can we order the cheesy, the- - Cheesy basket? - Yeah, is that any good? - Yeah, that one's really good. It's done on a hoagie roll. - A pizza hoagie makes it
seem like a cheap hoagie bun that you just throw some
tomato sauce and cheese on. - I'm thinking extra
ingredients laying around, let's come up with something. - Making up (beep) seems to
be the spirit of this bar. - Um, there is something
that I had to make. He's your cook, Vic. - I don't remember off the
top of my head though now. - Did you see that? Look closely. - What is that? - [Vic] Those are bugs. - [Ian] All righty, by the time I get back that mac and cheese should be done. - It's like a college party. They're serving the hoagies
and then she's just takin' what she has on the shelf
and throwin' it in the glass. - It's like a big frat party. - [Ian] Do you guys need anything else? - No, we're good. Thanks. - Enjoy. - That's a pizza hoagie. - Look at her face. - What do you think? - They don't like it. - I'm not hungry anymore. I've had better food from the roach coach. - Is this what happens when an
owner just focuses on music? - He's not watching anything. Does this guy not care? - Can you get me some bands to open up? - Look at that. - I know the bass player,
I can find them for you. - So they're having a business meeting in the middle of the bar when
one guy's laying on a couch? - Hey guys, how are you? - Good, how are you? - I'm all right. - They can't rely just on live music. They gotta have more. - Yep. - [Heather] I'm hoping
some people will show up. - [Jon] Oh, here comes the band. - [Lisa Marie] This is
the band that he booked. - He's got a horn on his
head and his ass is showing in a room that is completely empty. Now what man wants to be in that room? Look at him looking at them. - It's like an accident. You don't want to look,
but sometimes you have to. - Hi welcome, we're God Bless America and this song is called
"Under the Black Line." (heavy metal music) - [Jon] She's the only person there. (metal music continues) - They're leaving. - Do you blame them? - Guys, this is a freakin' mess. Rod focuses all of his
energies on the music. Find out what's going on in the kitchen. Find out what's bad behind the bar. And let's get this ass out of here! Head Hunters. - Disgusting. And I think it's very
telling that all the places around it have people going, there's no one going in that one. - The building is completely abandoned. Half the letters are
missing from the sign. When I'm looking at Head Hunters, I just get this creepy vibe that something inside isn't
right about this place. - When we say something, it's an opinion. When a customer says it, it's a fact. Watch this. - People that just walk in will be like, "Oh, (beep) sketch city.
Something here's the heck wrong." - I was really sketched out
and I didn't want to go inside but I'm never going back. - That's scary. - Not really my idea of fun. - After seeing those videos, I am not comfortable sending
you in there by yourself. So, I'm gonna go with you. Let's do it. See ya later. (heavy metal music) - The second I walk in, there's just this disgusting
heavy wafting smell of either mold and must or cat piss. (music continues) - Those dancers and those
outfits, they are awful. That was sleazy attire. Women don't like it and it
pulls the customer base down. - [Eric] Oh, my God, are you kidding me? - [Tiffany] What is this? - What's your name? I'm Chloe. - What is the smell? It smells like cat piss in here. - It's cat piss. The owner locks the cat in here at night sometimes to kill the rats. - A bar that stinks from cat piss! That's my start on this bar. - Why don't you make her a drink? - Sweet tea sour. - [Bartender] Yeah, I can do that. - Is there something in that bottle? There's something... Wait, wait, wait, come
back here with that! - [Bartender] I told
him about this already. - She turned it upside down and
there's some things floating around in there. - There's a cockroach in there. That's unacceptable. - [Nicole] She was gonna serve that to me. - Look at it, floating in there. Now how many other liquor
bottles are like this? - At least two.
- I've never seen one like that. - Can we have a mixing glass? (glass clanking) Look at it. There's one of them. Look, at that, guys. That's a roach! - That's disgusting, I'm out of here. I don't want to touch anything else or see anything else, I'm repulsed. You can't have that much filth and that many bugs in a place, unless you just don't care. - How often do you see a roach? - Every day.
- I've seen a lot. - A few everyday? - Probably. - Where do you see them? Do
they walk across the bar? - Yep. - Yeah, we had them in our
cash register with our money. - When people ask about
Head Hunters, they're like, "Oh, that bar that smells real bad?" That's us. - And what does our owner
say about this stuff? - Nothing. - I'd like to meet this guy. Where the hell is he? - How are ya? - I'm Jon Taffer. - Pleasure to meet you. Thanks for coming. - Pleasure. Let's walk over
here and talk for a minute. - Sure, let's go. - My wife orders a drink, the bottle's filled with
a cockroach and bugs. - Wow. - The other liquor bottles
are filled with bugs. The staff told me that they see cockroaches
every day here, everyday. - There's no cockroaches in the bottles. - Let's go ask them. Chloe? - Yes.
- How often do you see cockroaches here? - About every day. - About every day. So your staff is pulling
your liquor bottles. They're telling me there's
roaches here everyday. You don't see it? You don't know it? - Chloe, why don't you tell me about this? Why are you telling him that but not me? - I've told you that
we have a problem with- - You own this place! You're supposed to know these things. - There are no bugs in the bottles. - Do you know what this
is happening or not? Yes or no. Do you know it? - Do I know what? - That there's bugs all over your bar. - There's bugs all over Austin. There's bugs all over America. This is a college town.
They don't want clean. It's not the culture. Austin doesn't like that. Is it a sterile, clean room environment? No, it's not. We're not in that business. You came down here to tell
me I have roaches in my bar. - I came here to fix your bar- - Well, I appreciate that.
- But I can't fix the bar when I'm pouring cockroaches
out of glasses, man. Come on! - I'm impressed. With all the experience and
knowledge you have in the world, you got all the way here to tell me I have roaches in my bar? I'm astonished. - Really? Steve can't admit to anything. I tell him there's bugs in his drink. He says, "There's no bugs in the drink." This guy is filled with excuses and holds himself
unaccountable for everything. That's gonna change. I know (beep) when I see it. They are there! Either you knew it and
you didn't give a (beep). Or you fixed it!
- Are you gonna lower your voice and talk like a man? - No, 'cause you're
frustrating the hell out of me. When I talk to idiots, I get loud. You live among a mess of cockroaches! - I'm shocked at your professionalism. - You wanna know what a professional is? - Yeah. - A professional is you don't
serve bugs to your customers. - Maybe you're the biggest bug. - I'm responsible, even if Steve isn't. I've only got five days to fix this bar and I think it's the
worst bar I've ever seen. So I'm bringing my experts in right now and we're going to work. Jessie's gonna walk the
bar and see what other bugs and filth I haven't seen yet. And Joe's gonna come
behind the bar with me and we're gonna see what's
going on back there. - There's mold everywhere
in these ceilings. This place has never been cleaned. You see all that? That's all mold growing. - [Steve] I never noticed that. - It's not connected to the ceiling, it's falling in your drinks. Which means you're drinking mold. - Let's show what happens
when a moron defends failure. This is what happens. - Oh, my God. - There's about 30 cockroaches in there. Look at that! - Seeing that many
cockroaches was disgusting. - Look at this, guys. Those are bugs. Those are cockroaches. - He had people standing in the crowd, looking at him with utter disgust. And he was still sitting
there smiling and laughing, thinking it was a joke
and that it was funny. It's not a joke. This is the livelihood of
a good 10 to 15 people. - You need to get angry at this. You need to be embarrassed about this. Take accountability. - Jon Taffer flew off
the handle about bugs. So we created a drink after
him called the bug bomb. (laughing) - I am going to get on
the phone and I am going to fumigate this building tonight. You didn't have the balls to do it. I'm gonna. You didn't write the check. I'm gonna. I, your employees, Joe, and you Jessie, you're not walking back in this building until we can do so safely. And you, my friend, are a (beep) (upbeat music) Hi, this is Jon Taffer. Click here to subscribe
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