(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 9 | View All Season 9 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: May 18, 2025
The Bar's Original Name Was: Jon's Goodtime Bar
Brother's Smokehouse Address: 27553 Cherry Hill Rd, Inkster, MI 48141
Episode Recap
Jon’s Goodtime Bar and Grill, later renamed to Brother’s Smokehouse Bar and BBQ, was an Inkster, Michigan bar that was featured on Season 9 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Brother’s Smokehouse Bar Rescue episode aired in May 2025, the actual filming and visit from Bar Rescue took place around a year earlier in April/May 2024.
It was Season 9 Episode 35 and the episode name was “Bad Times at Goodtime”.
In this episode, Bar Rescue is back in Michigan for the seventh time, making it one of the more popular states on the show.
More specifically, they’re in Inkster, Michigan, which is one of Detroit’s Western suburb areas.
This is despite the Paramount getting the episode description wrong again and listing it as “Inkster Minnesota”.
For some reason, the descriptions for all of this season’s Michigan episodes have said “Minnesota” instead. Maybe the intern writing the descriptions doesn’t know their state abbreviations.
Sadly, I have to say “Bar Rescue” and not “Jon Taffer” because Mr. Taffer will not be leading this rescue.
Instead, Phil Wills and his experts will be doing everything.
Phil and his crew are in Inkster to rescue Jon’s Goodtime Bar and Grill, which, despite the name, has three different owners.
The three owners are all friends, which always adds an interesting dynamic to the business.
To recon the bar, Phil sends in two players from the Detroit Lions to act as his spies and order food and drinks.
After he finishes watching their experience from outside, Phil enters the bar in a dope suit and hat (personal opinion, haha).
He talks to the spies, who call their experience with the food “not the best meal they’ve ever had”.
Phil then informs them that all of their food was cooked in black grease, which obviously doesn’t make them very happy.
I mean – thanks for the update Phil, but maybe you could’ve told us that before we ate it?
You’re going to get somebody killed, Phil!
The drinks weren’t much better, as the Whiskey Sour just tasted like whiskey and water.
Phil criticizes the owners for not interacting with the guests at all and ensuring any quality service.
He then takes the owners back into the kitchen.
Because it’s an open kitchen, Phil rightly points out that the patrons can see everything that’s going on in the kitchen, so it’s important that it’s clean and efficient.
For example, there’s a fly trap hanging in the kitchen that’s visible from the bar, which is kind of gross.
Phil then asks the chef when the oil was changed.
The chef admits it’s been around two weeks since the oil was changed (gross), even though he knows it should be changed every 3-4 days.
Beyond the oil issue, the kitchen is also just generally gross and needs a deep cleaning.
The refrigerator also stinks and has spoiled food in it.
Phil dumps out some of the meat from the fridge and instantly gags, which obviously isn’t a good sign.
Honestly, I think Phil took it pretty easy on them given the state of the kitchen, though he’s always been a little more chill than Jon Taffer.
As always, I’m writing the episode recap the day before the episode airs on TV, so I don’t have all the details yet.
However, I do know the new concept that Phil Wills chose to put in place.
He decided to ditch the original Jon’s Goodtime Bar branding and relaunch it as Brother’s Smokehouse Bar and BBQ.
Obviously, as part of the new smokehouse branding, Phil and his crew put in all new food and drink menu items to match with the new smokehouse concept.
So – was the Jon’s Goodtime Bar Rescue visit a long-term success?
Keep reading my update to learn what happened next and if this Inkster, Michigan bar is still open in 2025.
Brother's Smokehouse Update - What Happened Next?
Now that I’ve recapped the episode, let’s talk about how the bar is doing after Phil and his crew left town.
I’ll start by talking about whether the bar is still open and using Phil’s concept.
Then, I’ll look at some real customer reviews to give you an idea of how real customers are liking the new Brother’s Smokehouse concept.
I’ll also share any other relevant details that I find along the way.
Let’s dig into it…
Is Brother’s Smokehouse still open after Bar Rescue?
As of my most recent check, Brother’s Smokehouse is still open and serving customers in Inkster, Michigan.
More importantly, they seem to have really leaned into the new concept from the show and are continuing to operate as Brother’s Smokehouse.
The bar does not seem to have an official website, but it is active on both Facebook and Instagram.
On every Sunday from 6-10 PM, they seem to have an event called Sunday Blues & BBQ, which has a live DJ and food specials.
They also have specials around pro sports events, which is pretty common for a bar.
For example, before the Pistons got eliminated from the 2025 playoffs, they were hosting events for the series vs the Knicks.
Finally, they also seem to host a regular trivia night on Thursday nights, which includes $5 drink specials.
That seems to be most of the events that I can find, though they also post about food and food specials a good amount.
Here’s a screenshot of the Brothers Smokehouse menu to give you an idea of the prices:
Here’s what the Brother’s Smokehouse location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view…
Google most recently updated the pictures in July 2024, so you can already see the new Brothers Smokehouse concept.
Brother’s Smokehouse reviews after Bar Rescue
Next, let’s take a look at some real customer reviews from after the Bar Rescue episode.
I like to do this because it gives us a good feel for how real people in Inkster are reacting to the changes from the show.
Unlike a lot of bars on the show, Brother’s Smokehouse decided to create brand new Google and Yelp profiles for the new concept, so all of the Brother’s Smokehouse reviews that you see on Google were written after the rescue.
Overall, reviews for the new Brother’s Smokehouse seem to be incredibly positive.
On Google, it has a 4.8 star rating on over 164+ reviews, which is one of the better ratings that I’ve seen for a rescued bar.
Again, all 164+ of those reviews are for the new concept.
On Yelp, there have only been two reviews, but the bar is currently rocking a perfect 5 star rating.
People seem to be really positive about the food, especially the smoked items (and especially the brisket).
The service and ownership also seems to be good.
There are a few minor complaints here and there, such as one reviewer mentioning a mandatory 5% service fee (which I agree is annoying).
But in general, people seem to really be loving the new Brother’s Smokehouse concept.
Here’s a sampling of a few representative reviews that I found on Google, to give you an idea of what customers are saying…
5 star review from April 2025:
4 star review from 2024 that mentions the service charge:
4 star review that mentions the “new place” after Bar Rescue:
5 star review that compliments the brisket:
5 star review that compliments the service:
3 star review with mixed opinions:
3 star review with mixed opinions on takeaway:
Final thoughts on the episode
Overall, Phil seems to have done a great job on this rescue, at least in terms of actually helping the bar.
The Jon’s Goodtime owners have embraced the new Brother’s Smokehouse branding.
More importantly, customers seem to really be loving the smokehouse concept, with lots of compliments for the food at the bar.
Given how positive all of the reviews are, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this turn into a long-term success story.
Fingers crossed!
That wraps up my Brother’s Smokehouse Bar Rescue update.
If you want to see some other Michigan episodes, you can also read my updates for Taylor’s Tavern / Backroads Bar in Holly, Pete’s Butcher Block / Pete’s Cutting Board in Chesterfield, The Arena in Ann Arbor, Jazz Katz / Backbeat Piano Bar in Southfield, Chix on Dix / Power Strip in Detroit, and Proving Ground / The Hooch in Dearborn Heights.
And if you want to share your thoughts on this bar, Phil’s hosting skills, or the episode in general, you can do so using the comments section below.
As always – thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/brothers-smokehouse-inksterhttps://www.facebook.com/BrothersSmokehouseInkster/
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Last updated: 2025-05-19 08:23