(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 3 | View All Season 3 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: October 20, 2013
The Bar's Original Name Was: Kerry's Sports Pub
Bacon Bar Address: 3520 N Rancho Dr Las Vegas, NV 89130
Episode Recap
Bacon Bar, originally named Kerry’s Sports Pub, was a Las Vegas, Nevada bar featured on Season 3 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Bacon Bar Bar Rescue episode aired in October 2013, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that.
It was Season 3 Episode 23 and the episode name was “Grandpa Got Run Over by His Grandkids”.
Kerry’s Sports Pub is a bar located in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Owner Bill Davis has invested his life savings into the bar and hired his family and staff to save money.
In 2011 Bill suffered a stroke, and his family took advantage of him.
Justin, Bill’s grandson, is a flirt, and Kim, his daughter, lets too many things slide.
The bar is losing money, and there are no customers.
Bill tells Bar Rescue he only has three months’ worth of cash to keep the place going.
Melody and Jana are bartenders and are both exes of Justin’s.
Jon has undercover hospitality employees go into Kerry’s Sports Bar to check the service.
They order a margarita and a bloody mary.
There are two bartenders required to make these simple drinks.
Jon and Bill then call a meeting, and Jon plays a video of Justin badmouthing the bar. J
on has a surveillance video of John and Lacey, another staff member, stealing money from the till.
They say it was just their tips. Lacey then accuses Melody of stealing.
Kim decides to give everyone one more chance.
Jon pulls up a report that shows stealing is occurring in the bar.
Jana and Melody are responsible for losing 1/2 of the bars sales.
Kim is convinced to act as a manager and fires both girls.
Jon promises to find them, new bartenders.
Jon then introduces Chef Brendan Collins.
Brendan has the cook make a BLT and trains him on the presentation.
Mixologist Phil Wills teaches Justin and Lacey on drinks until the new bartenders are hired.
Phil says that Lacey is nervous and Justin is rude.
Kim is designated as manager during the stress test.
Kerry’s Sports Pub is immediately slammed.
Justin is not applying any of his feedback, and Lacey is flustered.
Justin is only making one drink at a time.
Phil steps in to help Justin, but he walks away, annoyed.
The next day Justin comes in apologizing.
Jon says they will use bacon to differentiate themselves from other sports bars.
Victoria is hired as a new bartender, and Justin is instructed not to date her.
Phil trains the bartenders on making Bloody Mary’s with a bacon twist.
The kitchen is trained on making bacon sandwiches.
The bar is renovated and renamed The Bacon Bar.
The interior is very colorful with bacon-themed decor.
There is even a separate bucket for tips.
The customers love the bacon concept.
Kim is taught to check the cash register at mid-bar operation.
Bill loves the new bar and is very excited about the future.
So was the Kerry’s Sports Pub Bar Rescue episode a success? Keep reading our update to learn what happened to the bar and how it’s doing in 2024 and beyond.
Bacon Bar Update - What Happened Next?
The Bacon Bar is one of Jon Taffer’s true success stories.
Six weeks after his visit, sales were up 32%.
Justin and Lacey no longer combines their tips, and there were mostly positive reviews online.
Many regulars were happy with the changes that Bar Rescue has made.
Bacon Bar built on these early successes to create a long-lasting business.
Bill also kept Taffer’s concept and didn’t revert to the old Kerry’s Sports Pub name like a lot of other Bar Rescue owners have done.
Jon Taffer also did a Back to the Bar episode in Season 6 Episode 13, named Back to the Bar: The Power of Bacon and Beer.
You should be able to watch a clip of it here.
I can’t find anything on YouTube unfortunately.
The reviews weren’t always amazing – it has just 3.5 stars on Yelp – but they’ve definitely built a successful business out of it. I’ll share some examples of real reviews below.
Because of the bar’s unique branding, lots of YouTubers have posted videos about visiting it.
For example, here’s a 2020 video from Strange RV Tours:
However, the Bacon Bar owner would eventually want to permanently retire and leave the business, which led to the bar’s closure.
Is the Bacon Bar still open after Bar Rescue?
Bacon Bar closed in May 2022 because Bill Davis, the Bacon Bar owner, wanted to retire.
At that point, it had been open for almost a decade since the Bacon Bar Bar Rescue episode.
For that reason, it’s really hard to call this one a “failure”.
The bar was successfully open for a long time using Jon Taffer’s concept, even surviving the Covid-19 pandemic that took out a lot of other bars.
It only closed because the owner wanted to retire.
Overall, the Bacon Bar Bar Rescue episode still goes down as a winner – congrats to Bill Davis and Jon Taffer!
With that being said, I do still have to mark this one as closed, so it will still negatively affect Jon Taffer’s open rate.
As of 2023, the old Bacon Bar Las Vegas location is now occupied by a Mexican restaurant named Camino Real Mexican Restaurant and Cantina.
The Google Maps Street View has already updated to show the new branding – the bacon bar look is totally gone (though it does still show the coming soon sign for the new restaurant):
Bacon Bar reviews after Bar Rescue
At the time that Bacon Bar closed, it had a 3.5 star Yelp rating on over 595 reviews, which makes it one of the more popular bars in terms of review count.
Again, it was really succesful for a long time.
Here’s a sampling of reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer…
4 star Yelp review from February 2022:
Been on my list to check out as I heard it was good from a few friends and had heard it was a bar rescue recipient.
Decided on the bacon wrapped onion rings and a bacon burger.
The onion rings were good.
The sauce served with it a bit spicy for me but a good accoutrement to the rings.
The bacon burger was cooked perfectly dressed well and had the hand cut fries, my favorite.
Service was good.
I’d say the prices are a bit steep but maybe that’s just the sign of the times.
Definitely worth trying for their bacon specialties.
5 star Yelp review from November 2018:
We LOVE this place.
Great atmosphere and the food is fantastic.
I’ve won a bit on the games as well.
We saw this place on Bar Rescue before moving to Vegas, so we had to try it out.
Now we are frequent guests.
2 star Yelp review from November 2017:
So we ate here tonight because my 14 y/o saw the Bar Rescue episode today, and we are in Vegas on Vacation.
The reviews I read were mixed, and so is mine.
Service fair, food fair, very few patrons, bathrooms poor, man candy yummy.
Would not return
5 star Yelp review from July 2017:
My fiancé and I have always wanted to check this place ever since we saw it on bar rescue.
Beyond happy with the food and drinks.
The service is great and we got our food super quick.
The bloody marys were amazing, 4 different kinds to choose from.
So happy we came here and can’t wait to come back!
Overall, Bacon Bar is a legitimate Bar Rescue success story, even though the bar is closed now.
It was open for nine years and using Jon Taffer’s concept the whole time.
I’m not sure why Bill didn’t pass the bar on to his family when he wanted to retire, but you can’t fault him for wanting to get out of the bar business.
It’s just a shame there wasn’t anyone to take over the Bacon Bar Las Vegas location and keep it running.
Bar Rescue has featured a bunch of Las Vegas bars on the show.
If you want to see some other Las Vegas Bar Rescue episodes from Season 3, 4, and 5, you can check out these posts:
- Gipsy bar update
- Garnet Lounge / Alibi Casino update
- Champagne’s Cafe update
- The Bradley / City Bar update
Or, you can check out my list of all the Las Vegas Bar Rescue episodes.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/bacon-bar-las-vegashttps://www.facebook.com/BaconBarLV/
What did you think about the episode? I'd love it if you shared your thoughts on the episode in the comments below!
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And don't forget to check out all of the other Bar Rescue updates.
Last updated: 2023-03-18 05:31
Glad this one worked out for the better. The grandpa really deserved it to be a success. He should have cracked down earlier on his family though.
I wonder why the kids didn’t take it over?
Yeah I’m not sure why either. I wish they had put out an announcement explaining why they closed.
“I do still have to mark this one as closed, so it will still negatively affect Jon Taffer’s open rate.”
Just wondering what your time line is to consider the rescue successful, 1o years, 20 years. I would think that somewhere around 2-3 years a successes given all the negatives to overcome in the bar business. Thx
Well for open/closed rate I just go based on the facts. For success rate, I generally consider anything over 3+ years to be a success, with 5+ years being a major success.
I’m working on adding data for the bars that shows how long they’ve stayed open. I already have most of them added so I will probably add that data to the main Bar Rescue open or closed list soon.
My guess is that property values were so high then that it was better to sell than continue on.
Owner retired and it’s closed permanently earlier this month.
Thanks for sharing! I will update the post. I also see it as permanently closed now.
There is a place moving into the old Bacon Bar property. Part of its name is Camino Real or something similar to that name. I don’t know how soon it is expected to open.
I drove past it just yesterday and it looks like it’ll be a Mexican restaurant, based on the signage and it has a new paint job as well.
Cool thanks for sharing! I’ll update this when the new restaurant is open. I still don’t get why he didn’t try to sell Bacon Bar instead of just closing it.
I am so sad! We never left Vegas without stopping for at least 4 or 5 orders of Man Candy to take back to California. Why oh why not try and sell the business instead of just closing? I will keep memories of Kansas City Chiefs fans coming together to watch the games back in the day. I can say the times I’ve been there, they definitely had plenty of customers to keep them busy. Where will I get Man Candy now??? No one made it like they did.
Yeah I was also wondering why he didn’t sell it. It seems like a really successful business so I’m sure he could’ve gotten some money for it. Or maybe it was more valuable to just sell the property – I’m not sure whether he owned the actual building or not, but that could be a reason.
There is a new sign up that says. Coming soon Camino Real Mexican Food.
Cool thanks! I will update this when it opens. I guess the Bacon Bar Las Vegas theme is no more. Mexican food is always good, though.
According to tax records they do not own the building. Not knowing his lease it could have been up for renewal or the owner wanted to jack it up. Either way it is sad that it closed.
I feel like you need some new stat counters. Any bar that stays open for more than 7 years (since the average restaurant shuts down in 2-5) should count as a success, especially after Covid 19. Success isn’t staying open forever.
That’s an interesting thought. I think I’ll still keep open/closed as the main one because that’s what most people are interested in, but I could add how long the bar stayed open as an additional filter. I’ll think about the best way to do it.
I agree! I see a lot of bars on here that are counted as “closures” when it was several years after bar rescue and on top of that successful runs. Feel like it’s not super fair!
I’m working on adding a feature that will let you browse bars based on how long they stayed open after the episode
So sad that the bacon bar closed!! I have been going there for years and it will be greatly missed. Amazing pizza and bloody Mary’s!!
We went the day it closed We are from Ontario Canada. It would be great if the new owners keep it going especially with the great cooks .
This must have been Jim Gaffigan’s favorite bar.
What I would like to know, is why didn’t Bill’s family continue to run the bar?? It was going great. Bill could have been a “silent partner”. If it wasn’t doing well, then I’d understand it being closed. It was an opportunity lost.
Yeah I’m not sure why either. It does seem like he could’ve just passed it on. Who knows, though – maybe nobody wanted to run it.
The Restaurant Brokers conclude that up to 90 percent of independent establishments close during the first year, and the remaining will have an average five-year life span. Therefore, I would suggest that the Bacon Bar having been open for nine years is quite a success, and Bill Davis and his family should be proud of their accomplishment!
Agreed! Closing to retire is definitely not a failure. I’m just curious why he didn’t try to sell the place rather than just shutting it down.
I love this website but I want to criticize your rating of Taffer’s success and failures. Maybe you should cut off the stats after 3 years on whether the bar was a success or not? Having a bar closed 10 years after renovation, and after covid, isn’t a fair metric at all.
I’m working on adding stats for how long each bar stayed open after the show, so people can make their own decision on what “success” is. I’ll have them up soon.
When I live in Vegas, I used to love stopping at this place for dinner, especially after a late shift. I never got to take the wife to it after she moved down unfortunately, when I drove by a year or so ago, it was gone. And now I know why!! They had a lot of menu items that had bacon in it, including lasagna. Why a sad loss for Northwest Las Vegas.
And it’s a different Mexican (I think) place now, camino real is gone and the new name I can never remember and barely read as I drive by.
Thanks for letting me know! I will update the post when I have some time.
Every bar rescue a success! Deliver exactly what promised! Can’t change some humans behavior, previous legal or licencing problems, violations, crimes.. after, landlords selling or revoking lease ECT.. I’m still curious why family didn’t take over also? Were they involved when closed?
I don’t get why either. It seemed like a successful business that could’ve stayed open, so I don’t understand the decision to shut it down when he retired.