(tense music) - Their drinks are bad. - No their drinks are not bad. - Oh! - [Max] So everything is bad for you? - Yeah. - [Max] Get the (beep) out, leave. - You know, he is disrespecting
his own customers. I'm going in. (tense music) Can you get Omar and
you just, I don't know, pick up some of the bigger stuff? - That's Josh. - That's Josh, your husband. - I don't know if it's the programming or if it's actually broken. Help me with this ice, you mother (beep). Get the rest of that in there for me. - Oh sure. - Thank you.
- This is gross. - [Jon] Who's that? - That's Omar. A server here. - [Jon] He's actually transferring
ice from a garbage bag into the ice machine. - [Omar] I swear on that application, can you lift 75 pounds of ice? (laughing) - [Nicole] Get the (beep) outta here. - Straight up. (laughs mockingly) - [Omar] If not, you're not welcome here. (laughing) - It won't fix itself, mother (beep). - [Jon] How is he managing this place? - You know, he can stay
focused for a little bit, but then he starts to get stressed out and his way of dealing with it is to self-medicate with alcohol. - [Josh] How you doing, ladies? - Hi, how are you? - [Josh] I'm Josh, I'm actually
the owner of the place. - Elisa, nice to meet you. - Elisa, good to meet you.
- Yeah. - Jackie. - Jackie? - Yup, that's right.
- Good to meet you. Hey, Nicole, can you get me a beer please. - [Nicole] Yeah, just a second. 86 grandma. - 86 grandma! - So that's Nicole, your manager. - Mmhmm. - [Nicole] Wants another beer too. - Who's that? - [Nicole] Josh. - I'm gonna get a shot too. - That's Travis. Travis has actually
bartended for us for awhile. - [Nicole] Just watch him. - [Travis] I know. - [Jon] Does your husband
treat your staff well? - I don't think so. His negativity, you know, it's infectious. - How long have you owned this place? - Almost three years. - Are you doing good? - It's basically (beep). - Did his attitude cause the failure or did the failure cause his attitude? - When we first opened he was positive, used to be happy and fun and enjoy life and now he just seems
miserable all the time. I think he's just set
himself up in his mind that there's no way out. - Can I get you girls started
off with something to drink? (stammers) - Maybe I wouldn't be in this
situation right now, dude. - Okay. - The plot thickens!
- Shh. - Obviously something's going on! - [Jon] Travis, he gives stuff away? - He forgets. - You ladies want a shot? - Yeah, I'm down. (patrons talking loudly) - So was he a drinker when you met? - I mean he would drink
but never like this. - Yeah, let's do it. Woo!
- All right then. - Have an owner, your husband,
who's sitting at the bar getting drunk, he hasn't been
in the kitchen in awhile, he hasn't looked at any tables, he doesn't know if things
are coming out right. This is him, isn't it? - Yeah. - You're, what, Puerto Rican? - She's Puerto Rican, I'm Cuban. - Right. - Let's play the name game real quick. What's her name? - J, J, Janice! - [Elisa] No, Jackie. - Jackie!? That's a (beep) Mexican name! (tense music) I thought she was, you
said you were both Mexican! - Oh my god.
- You said you were both Mexican.
- That is not what the (beep) we said at all.
- How old are you? What are you, like, 25? - Yes, we're going with that, 25! She's 30, actually. - No, I'm 25. - No, I should have guessed
by the lines by your eyes. - Excuse? - It's bad. It's bad. - You don't tell somebody that! - Well I didn't mean to! I'm a little drunk, I'm sorry,
I didn't mean to, I'm sorry. - Some of the things
he said were not okay. Definitely feel disrespected. - Can I make it up by buying
you guys one more shot? - Yeah, let's do it.
(claps) - Okay, okay. - Now if you came out with a friend, would you want him sitting
next to you doing this? - Absolutely not. In fact I've left places because of that. - Of course you have. All women have. - I need a lime. - You need a lime? - [Jackie] Yeah. - Do you need like a diaper as well, or? (stammers) Just, yeah, yeah-- - That is rude.
- What? That was good, dude. - So now he's established
himself as the owner, he established himself as a bigshot, he's demeaned everybody around him. - So get you guys' emails? - [Jon] Is this the man you married? - No. No, not at all. - So what would be
happening if I wasn't here? - We'd go out of business for sure. We would lose our house. Parents would lose huge chunk
of their retirement money. - How old are your kids? - Two and four. He pays us all this lip service
about how hard he's working to help and turn this place around and this is what he's doing! - Nice ink here, dude! - Thank you!
- Yeah! Like that.
- I got it when I was like 18! - Did you really?
- Yes, like 11 years ago. That and those? - Yeah, all of 'em. And this one. - What's it say, happy birthday? - Happy endings. We were like-- - I love happy endings. (tense music) - Now that isn't what they meant when they tattooed that
on her arm, was it? - [Wife] No. - You're acting like a
straight idiot right now. - You're acting like you
normally act which is (beep). - [Omar] Yeah, okay, I'm working. - Nah. He's working! - Shut up. - Don't act like you're
doing me a favorite, bro! - You're done. - I know can you just--
- You're done. Nope. (Josh yelling incoherently) - Nope. - Hey, oy, oy again! (beep) You mother (beep), you
give me a (beep) shot! - [Travis] Stop now. Stop, dude, stop. - Shot! - I gotta show you this. - Okay. - Him and his wife, Sarah, own the place. Here's what's interesting. Tim was a marketing professional
for a Fortune 500 company. He posted this on his social media page. Sorry we had to close
early, (beep) was full. - If you are an owner of a
bar and your manager did that, you'd fire 'em straight away. - I would not only fire 'em,
I'd look 'em in the eyes and say you're an idiot
and then I'd fire 'em. I've got a friend named Clay who's a hospitality professional. He goes to the Brixton,
has a terrible experience, and writes me an email about it. Listen to what he wrote. "Dear Jon, I just wanted to let you know "that I was in Austin with some friends "and went to the Brixton "and had the absolute worst
bar experience of my life. "When we were asked to
have the game turned on, "the bartender said
this isn't a sports bar. "He then went in the back
room with a female manager, "I think they were married,
and argued for about 40 minutes "while no one was behind
the bar to get us a drink. "If ever a bar needed a
rescue, it's the Brixton." - That says it all. - So since Clay lives in Austin now, I got him to come in with two friends and do the recon for us. - Good. - I'm from Las Vegas, Nevada, I've worked in the
service industry in Vegas a very long time. I go to different bars to
see what brings people in and I've been in Austin five years. Hey, what's happening? - [Tim] Not much, man. - You know how to make an old fashioned? - Um, I could look it up on my phone. - [Clay] Oh okay. - Simple, simple cocktail job. - What's your favorite cocktail up there? Can you recommend one? - My favorite is the mule
'cause it's easy to make. - The mule 'cause it's easy to make. - Okay, I'll try that. - This side of town people
are just shot and a beer, shot and a beer. - That's not true. There's a lot of people
doing a lot mixology in this part of town. No wonder why he's losing money. What'd he just put in there? (laughs) - Grabbed some 10-day-old lime
juice and threw it in there. It was the nastiest, sourest
drink I've ever had in my life. - Wow. - Wanna try it? - That's some pretty sour (beep), man. - Whatever, you know. - A guy like that just
sucks the energy from room, he never adds to it. - Can you do like a gin martini? - Yeah I could. - Let's see how he does
with the gin martini. - The proper way to make a martini is to? - Stir it. And he's actually gonna shake it. - Ugh, ugh! When you shake a drink too
much, that changes the character of the way it looks and the way it tastes. That's why martinis are stirred. - [Man] You can see that
it's misty coming out. - [Jon] Yeah. - It's meant to be crystal clear. - That's not a good martini at all.
- No. - [Recon Woman] Yuck. - [Clay] (beep) This. - Hey, this is kinda gnarly, do you-- - You ordered it. - That's no way to talk to your customers. - What does taste right? - [Recon Man] Gin and
soda would be fine, man. - Inside voices please! - Look at this guy! - Chill out or get out. I don't go to your bar
and act like a (beep). - From what I can see, Tim
is not a very nice guy. He insults customers
who order premium drinks and then he screams at customers for talking loud in his bar. Is this guy nuts!? There they go. - [Man] I'm not surprised. Why would you stay there? - Other they an the three
customers I sent in, those were the only four
people in the whole bar! And he chased them away! - Where'd you go? Apparently I make (beep) drinks. - [Sarah] How is it? - [Clay] It tastes like flat PBR. - [Sarah] That's horrible! - Even Sarah thinks the drinks suck. - Let me make you guys some drinks. - Actually I wanna try the French 75. - I'm gonna toss these. French 75's great. Done! - Thank you.
- Zing! - You know what, we
got a superstar in her. - Yeah, I think so, Jon. - Did we make those right? - It's actually really good. - You know why? 'Cause I didn't touch
the bottle, probably. - Tim doesn't like the fact
that his wife stepped in and is doing better than him. You should hope she does better than you if you wanna make money. I've seen enough. - Okay. - A belligerent owner
insulting his customers, it's all wrong and it's
time for me to go in and do my work. - Oh! - Hi.
- Well hello! How are you?
- How are you? Sarah, nice to meet you. - Welcome.
- Tim. - Tim, good to meet you guys. The only people here are
the three that I sent in. This is Clay. So you manage bars professionally. - Yeah, in the past.
- If he was your bartender for a year and 1/2 standing
there not knowing those drinks with his arms crossed like
that, what would you do? - He wouldn't be here in a year and 1/2. - You'd fire his ass, right? Bingo. Do you think it's funny that
you don't know how to make any of the drinks that
you've been on your board for a year? - I know how to make 'em,
just because it's not exactly to their taste doesn't mean
that I'm doing it wrong. - Is this a bartender who
cared about what you wanted? - Nope. - Austin's unique,
trying to keep it unique. - No, you're being a fool. So here's the reality of it. You wanna get behind the bar,
you learn the frickin' drinks! Next, a customer does
something you don't like, you don't treat 'em like a child! Use your inside voice! - Are you gonna use your inside voice? Your bummin' me out, man! - Good, I want to! If I bum you out, maybe you'll change! (tense music) There's Mike. Mike's our owner. Mike has owned this bar for 14 years. You ready for this? He's $1 million in debt. (laughs) And he's losing $10,000 a month. - Wow. - Sell something. - There's Jen. - I wish I had a candle. If I had a candle you could
have a little candlelight dinner, you know, but-- - She's a bartender and she's Mike's wife. - Best bartender ever. - I do not have a list of shots. What kind of shots do you like? You like fruity, you like creamy? - There's Brittany. She's a bartender. - You guys said lemons, right? - That fruit gives you the hangover, man, you gotta watch it. Just sayin'. - You've never had a shot on fire? I can light some booze on fire. You trust me? It's good and it's strong. Trust me! - [Man] You spilled a drink
and now your bar's on fire. (Brittany laughs) - Blow it out with your
mouth and then drink it with a straw 'cause the
rim's gonna real hot. - So they just lit the
whole thing on fire, they're giving it right to the customers without anybody blowing it out. - Unbelievable. Would you ever serve a
flaming drink to a customer? - Never! - Woo! - Whoa, it's hot. - I'm excited about
anything I can light on fire to be honest with you. Firework! (dance music)
(laughing) - Tonight for recon I got some University of Michigan grad students. They not only know University of Michigan, they know downtown Ann Arbor and I'm hoping they can shed some light on how the hell Mike
got in debt $1 million. (gasps)
- Oh my god a table! - There's Lauren, she's a server. - [Recon Man] I can't believe
how outdated it is in here. - Here are some menus for you. - Oh thanks. - Do you have any specials
tonight or anything? - No, not really. - We're just gonna get some appetizers. One order of the nachos with beef. And then we're also gonna do
one order of the steak bites. - Can I get a Long Island? - Long Island, yeah. - And rum punch. - Rum punch. - Yeah. - I can't do a rum punch because
we don't have simple syrup. - [Recon Man] Let's do a Rum Runner. - Rum Runner? - Yeah, I'll do that.
- Okay, all right, I can do that. - [Jon] Wow, a bar like this
should have simple syrup. That's a red flag right there. - Yeah. - [Lauren] What's in a Rum Runner? - I don't know, I can Google it and see if we have all the ingredients. Let me Google it in a second. - [Jon] She's actually trying
to look up the drink recipe on her phone!? - So we must never have made a Rum Runner because it had three
different ways to make it, each one called for blackberry brandy. - When you have to start
Googling things behind the bar, that just shows that there's
not a lot of training on what they know for drinks. - Long Island. Tequila Sunrise. - It's really sour. How's yours? - Yeah, a little sour as well. - [Jen] Hey, did one of
you guys get a Rum Runner? - Yeah, I did. - You gotta pick a different drink. - Okay, let's just do a gin and tonic. - [Recon Man] It seems
like they're catering more to just beer.
- Beer, yeah. There's so many better places
that we could go for these. - Not happy with the sandwich. - There's Vinny. Vinny's the actual manager. - [Mike] Get outta my window, old man! (tense music) - Mike presents himself
as menacing, not inviting. - He's not that approachable. - No. There's no way that that's
the guy I'm going to to ask for help when I need help. - Are we still doing
the fresh green beans. - I gotta take a look at 'em,
they may have lost their life. (beep) - That's Jimmy. He's your cook. Not a look of confidence, I see. - Yeah, I haven't seen beef
tips in 18 to 19 years. It's dated, doesn't make any sense. - [Server] Nachos? - You can just put 'em out--
- Sharing everything? Okay. - [Recon Man] Thank you. - Enjoy. - [Recon Man] How's your steak? - It's a little rare. - It's a little rare. I'm gonna flag her down. See if she can cook
the meat a little more. - You guys need something? - Yeah, these are a little undercooked, they're kinda all over the place. So if you could just cook
them a little longer. It's actually pretty chewy too. - Ugh. I mean, it's culinary 101. When you're cooking really simple bites, you gotta knock it outta the park. - Steak bites were a little all over the place, they're saying. - [Jimmy] They want a new one? - Yeah, so if we can fly that. - All right. - Great, thanks, Jimmy. - How were the steak bites? - Uh, a little undercooked. - [Mike] Oh yeah? - Yeah, they just weren't together in terms of temp-wise, but-- - [Recon Man] We wanted mediums. - [Recon Man] Yeah. - Yup. - Oh well. - [Mike] Somebody's tweaking me out. - Felt like I kinda got grilled. He gave me the stare of death. - Look at this frickin' guy. He looks angry all the time. - [Mike] So what was up
with the steak bites? - [Jimmy] Not evenly cooked? Making 'em a new one. - That's (beep). Get a side of stay home? I'm gonna snap. - Drop it off? - I'll take it out. (tense music) Here.
(plate clangs) Wanna give 'em a couple seconds to choke on your steak bites, see if they loved it. - Every time he walks away
from the table, a person, he's got something to say that degrades either the customer, the
employee, or everything that's beneath him. This guy is just a dick. - Sorry! Sorry, honey, daddy's a dick. - Definitely different steak bites. - [Recon Man] Yeah. These suck. - The other ones were fine,
they just were not cooked right. - Mike your veins are starting to pop out. - [Mike] I wanna hear how
spectacular they were. - I don't wanna sound like a jerk but these are undercooked too. So, um... I'm sorry. - [Mike] Oh my god, are you kidding me? Kiss my ass, dude. - Look at this! He's got a line to say about everything, but he's the one who's failing! - That's why I cut my hair,
so I don't pull it out. Didn't like these! They don't want any more. Or I'm not giving 'em
any more or something. - This guy's attitude
is killing his business. - Think we got more food in the trash than we actually sold today. Trying to keep away from those guys 'cause I swear to god I'm
gonna punch 'em in the face. - [Server] Not very nice, Mike. (Mike grunts) - Would you wanna work for this guy? - No, he looks like
he's there to intimidate everyone around him. - [Mike] Shut up! (beep) - No change. Nobody went to the bank today, so. - There's Max, he's one of the
two brothers who opened it. - I have zero patience for
any kind of stupidity today. - And there's Ryke, Max's brother. Ryke and Max were defense department subcontractors in Afghanistan. Ryke got wounded, that's why
he wears those sunglasses. - If there's any (beep)
customers, anybody who's rude or disrespectful, just let me know. - There's Sabrina, she's our manager. - Sabrina, can I get
another bottle of these 'cause we don't have that much. - There's Candice, she's a bartender. - You're working the
bar tonight too, Josh? - Yeah, I'll be here all week. - There's Josh, he's a bartender,
and there's Eric, chef, he's one of your cooks. Max might be the worst
user of social media I maybe have ever seen. Managing your reputation on social media means that you take all negative messaging and you turn it positive. Not him. I gotta show you what Max posted. (beep) "Do you have any problems
or issues with my bar? "Listen, you (beep), if you wanna donate, "then I'll give you. "If not, then shut the (beep) up." Now he put that online for all to see. - Wow. - In a small town you're
gonna lose on social media like this, it's over. - And Max has some other
inappropriate responses to reviews as well! Look at this. He takes all social media messaging and turns it negative himself. So guys, here's what I did. The people that you
just saw on social media that Max has been insulting,
I reached out to them and I asked them to get a
bunch of friends together to come to this bar. Max doesn't have a history
of containing his temper on social media. Tonight I wanna put Max under stress and let's see if he
can control his temper. (tense music) - [Customer] Can I have
a Honey Punch please? - [Candice] A Honey Punch? - [Customer] Yes please. - There's no urgency. And they're not smiling. Her shake is lazy. The ingredients aren't gonna
be properly bound together. - Right. - [Candice] For you women. (laughs)
- I don't like it. - Short (beep). - I see a lot of people. Do you see a lot of drinks? 'Cause I don't.
- No. - [Jon] Look at those tickets! Look at that! (beep) - [Ryke] What table is that,
can you print out their check? - Who? - Hey, where's your 16-ounce glasses? - [Candice] We have no more. - What was I getting for you? Something red. - [Jon] Isn't she the manager? - Give me one second. Hey, Sabrina, where is the olives? - [Sabrina] In the fridge. - Boy they're confused. - [Jon] They're lining up 14 shots. - [Man] Woohoo! Long way down. - Look at the drinks crossing the bar, they're not collecting money. - No they're not. They're literally giving away. - They're literally giving
away drinks to save face. This is a cluster (beep). - [Man] Yeah. - [Woman] Never got my drinks! - [Max] You wanna wait? I can get it for you.
- No! We waited 45 minutes. - [Max] Okay, no problem. - We got our food, we're done. - [Ryke] Take care, guys. - All right. - He's letting them
walk out without paying! - We haven't gotten our drinks yet. - Okay, what was your drinks? - I got a cranberry juice. - And? - I don't want it anymore. - He's comping everybody
'cause they're failing. - [Max] Did you guys
everything that you ordered. - Look, the nachos were burned-- - I would love to bring
you another nachos. - Okay. - Okay? Anything else that I can
do to make you happy? - When you have a problem with a table that's an opportunity to
build a better relationship than you've ever had. So you use it. - [Customer] We're all
a little unsatisfied. - [Max] I'll fix it. Can I get you another nachos? - Yes, they want another nachos. (talking over each other)
- Give me about two minutes, I'll make it myself, okay? - It was 25 before, so next two, I'm good. - I'm gonna make it myself for you just to make you happy, yes.
- Someone get a phone out. Someone get a phone out and time him. - Okay, take it easy, I'll get it for you.
- Don't say two minutes. - [Jon] His attitude, his body language. - I'll get it as fast as I can. - This is not a guy who's good
at controlling his temper. - [Max] Jeez! - Oh! - Hey, make the (beep) nachos correctly. The same people that started
bashing me on social media, they're here just trying
to be a (beep) dick! I need a nachos, guys have one minute. - I would serve burnt food if my boss talked to me like that. - You're here making the food, I'm the one who gets yelled at. - I made it myself. - [Customer] Those are beautiful! - [Customer] Wow. - Their drinks are bad-- - No their drinks are not bad. - Oh! - [Max] So everything is bad for you? - Yeah. - [Max] Get the (beep) out. Leave. - He is disrespecting his own customers. I'm going in. I didn't send my recon
spies in to cause problems. I wanna see how Max deals with
the tension of a busy bar. - Have a nice dinner, sir, please. - And just like he did on social media, he turned it negative,
escalated everything. Now I have to sit down
with him and teach him what's wrong about his ways. Where is the mental
giant who runs the place? There you are! - I'm here.
- Come on over. He needs to hear from
you how much he failed. Is there any plate that
came out on this table that you said, wow,
this is good, try this. You've done everything wrong. - It's frustrating. - Are you frustrated. - Yes. I feel from the get-go
I was set up for failure from the minute that I walked in. (laughs) - All right. Whatever, Jon. - You understand the
depth of your failure? I go on social media and
I watch you call customers the C word online, right? - [Woman] She's here. - You had a bad experience
in this bar, correct? - Who let you guys in? You guys are the ones
who started this thing. - Did he not call you the
C word on social media? I was told you care, I don't see it. I was told you were
respectful, I don't see it. - Jon, cut the bull crap, come on. - I see a loser. - Man, you need to (beep) stop
with this (beep) insulting. - Was this insulting to
put in front of customers!? Is that an insult to her!? Is this an insult to her? It is! I'm insulting you 'cause
you insulted them. Not one customer looked at you
and said, good job tonight. I loved your business. Raise your hand if this place sucks. Raise your hand if you'll never come back. - [Ryke] Max has got patience. - Good job, buddy! You are a failure! Apologize to every guest and
then I'll come back tomorrow. Goodnight. - Have a nice day. - [Customer] Woo! - Okay. - [Customer] Come over here and apologize. - [Max] Whatever. - No, come over here and apologize. - Get the (beep) out. I do not like you, you need to
get out of my establishment. (shouting over each other) - She (beep) started the whole thing! - Are you (beep) kidding me!? - [Max] Yes! - [Woman] Shut your
goddamn mouth for once! - [Customer] Don't (beep)
talk the a woman like that, not ever again. Do something! Do something!
- You're (beep)-- Get out, get out. (shouting) All right, come on, I need a security! (shouting) - [Man] Let me go! - These are the people
that demotivated me. This is the reason I'm in debt! Just a couple of idiots talked
some stupid nonsense crap and everybody else just follows them. And you see, this is how they are!
- When I see it-- - Listen! I'm gonna continue to do what is right, I'm gonna continue to
help the homeless patrons, I don't care about these piece of (beep), nobody can discourage me and
I'm going to continue to do what I want! I do not owe anybody
apology, nobody paid my bill because I'm still in debt! So (beep) you! For the record, I'm not
(beep) apologizing to anybody. These people are the reason
that I am where I am today. Anything they said is
false and it's ridiculous. (shouting)
(beeping) - I'm not gonna apologize to anybody, Jon Taffer doesn't wanna
help me out then that's fine. (beep) it. I'd rather shut it down,
but I'm not gonna lose my self-respect and dignity. - All these people that were here upset, they're from the community. Customer's always right. The people in the community
are our customers. We want them here, we want them to believe that we want them here. - He wants my apology, I'm
not (beep) giving any apology. He doesn't have to
rescue it, I don't care. - I'm scared that Jon
won't come back tomorrow and what is the future
gonna look like for me? What am I gonna tell me kids? I don't even wanna go
home 'cause I'm scared. - [Max] I dare anybody who has the balls to walk into my kitchen again. (rock music) - Hi, this is Jon Taffer. Click here to subscribe to
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