(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 10 | View All Season 10 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: February 22, 2026
The Bar's Original Name Was: Bar 44
Apex Social Address: 2755 Canton Rd, Marietta, GA 30066
Episode Recap
Bar 44, later renamed to Apex Social, was a Marietta, Georgia bar that was featured on Season 10 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Apex Social Bar Rescue episode aired in February 2026, the actual filming and visit from Bar Rescue took place before that around May or June 2025.
It was Season 10 Episode 2 and the episode name was “One Man Brand”.
In the second episode of the two-episode premier of Season 10, Bar Rescue is back in Georgia.
This marks the show’s fifth visit to Georgia.
If you’re not familiar with Georgia geography, Marietta is a city of about 63,000 that’s located to the Northwest of Atlanta.
This puts it in a pretty large metropolitan area, even if the city itself isn’t that big.
The show is in town to rescue a bar named Bar 44, which is a “Sports Lounge”.
It’s pretty big and has lots of TVs, but obviously it’s in need of some help from Jon Taffer and his experts.
Based on the preview images, it seems like Jon Taffer is also rescuing this bar in person.
Because I’m writing this before the episode airs on TV, I don’t have any more detailed information in terms of an episode recap.
However, I was able to figure out the new name and concept that Taffer decided to put in.
As part of the rescue, Bar Rescue renamed the bar from Bar 44 to Apex Social.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a weird name because there’s already a company named Apex Social in Georgia, which is completely unrelated to bars.
This might be a bit of a spoiler about whether or not the bar kept the name, as you’ll see in a second.
So – was the Bar 44 Bar Rescue visit a long-term success?
Keep reading my update to learn what happened next and if this Marietta, GA bar is still open in 2026 and beyond.
Apex Social Update - What Happened Next?
Now, let’s talk about how the bar is doing after Jon Taffer and his experts left Marietta, GA.
I’ll start by talking about whether or not the bar is still open and using the Apex Social concept.
Then, I’ll take a look at some real customer reviews from after Taffer rescued the bar.
Let’s get into it…
Is Apex Social still open after Bar Rescue?
As of my most recent check, the bar is still open and serving customers in Marietta, Georgia.
However, they seem to have ditched the show’s new Apex Social concept and gone back to the original Bar 44 name.
While I found a couple of old social posts referencing the Apex Social name, they seem to have gone back to the Bar 44 name pretty much right away.
As I mentioned above, I’m actually ok with this because Apex Social is a bit weird and there’s also already an unrelated company named Apex Social in the area.
The bar is very active on its social media profiles, regularly posting lots of events and specials.
True to its “Sports Lounge” concept, most of these specials involve sports.
For example, they hosted an event during the NBA All Star Weekend 2026:
In addition to its social media profiles, the bar also has a dedicated website.
Here’s a screenshot of part of the Bar 44 menu to give you an idea of prices, and here’s a direct link to the menu.
Here’s what the Bar 44 location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view.
The screenshot is from 2024 so it doesn’t include any of the Bar Rescue changes.
Bar 44 reviews after Bar Rescue
As always, I like to take a look at real customer reviews of the bar from after Jon Taffer implemented his changes.
I think this is interesting because it gives us some insights into how actual customers feel about the rescue.
Reviews for Bar 44 / Apex Social seem to be a bit mixed.
Overall, it has a 4.6 star rating on 920+ Google reviews but just a 3.6 star rating on 72+ Yelp reviews.
However, both of those numbers include reviews from both before and after Taffer’s rescue.
When only looking at more recent reviews, they seem to be mostly positive – perhaps slightly better than before.
However, I don’t think there’s enough of a change to warrant any big conclusions, especially because the bar did not stick with Jon Taffer’s Apex Social concept.
Final thoughts on the episode
Overall, I’m not sure how this one fared as an episode.
While Bar 44 is still open and seems to be doing ok, they also never really bought in to Taffer’s new Apex Social concept.
As far as I’m able to tell, they went back to the original Bar 44 name pretty much immediately.
Time will tell if that was a good decision or not.
As always, I will update this post if anything changes.
If you want to see some updates for other nearby bars from the show, you also might be interested in my posts about Stadium Club / Gilly’s the Spot in Dunwoody Park, Tropica / Confetti’s in Norcross, and The Comeback / Barlow’s in Tucker.
And if you want to share your thoughts on the bar or the episode, you can do so using the comments section below.
As always – thank you for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/bar-44-mariettahttps://www.facebook.com/bar44atl/
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Last updated: 2026-02-23 11:08
It was pretty obvious from the start of the episode that he was just going to change the name back after the free remodel. The remodel doesn’t even look that great. Seems like this process was a waste of time and money.
Honestly I don’t like either name.
2 episodes in, I’m seeing that they spend half the episode with Jon chewing out the personnel. No introduction to the experts in the first half of the episode at all. He must be making up for lost time in that he missed out on a lot of yelling the past 2 years.
Seems like the whole “I want a part supper club/part night club” theme is a failure over and over. I wish they wouldn’t feature these sorts of businesses, but they appear to be common in the south.
The owner had a terrible ego problem and I agreed with Taffer – who the heck would know what the 44 meant? That said, I didn’t love Apex Social either. The owner has also opened SM44 – Steak Market 44 in Murietta. It’s got slightly below a 4 star rating on Yelp. One review says they have hookah which seems odd in a steak place. But overall, the owner really thinks the 44 is a thing.
There should only be one 44 in Atlanta & that is Hank Aaron. A basketball player that was not good enough to sit on the bench in the NBA should not attempt to build a “brand” when he can’t explain comps. He will soon be broke.
The owner is nuts that he thinks “44” means anything other than Hank Aaron. Good luck dummy… what an ego. For a mediocre pro player no one outside his high school knows. This guy is gonna be in real trouble thinking his own name is a brand lol
The owner has a real big ego , but it is bigger than his basketball ability. He has lost 1 1/2 million and thinks he knows better. Hope he goes out of business.
I am wondering if all the appliance improvements stayed in 44/Apex or found their way to the new steakhouse. All so noticed the rescued place now serves breakfast. No pork products at either location. Way to alienate Georgians.