(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 4 | View All Season 4 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: May 22, 2016
The Bar's Original Name Was: Cirivello's Bar
The Aging Room at Cirivello’s Address: 4115 N Viking Way Long Beach, CA 90808
Episode Recap
Cirivello’s Bar, later renamed to The Aging Room at Cirivello’s, was a Long Beach, California bar that was featured on Season 4 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Cirivello’s Bar Rescue episode aired in May 2016, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place a few months earlier.
It was Season 4 Episode 54 and the episode name was “Danny Sits on His Fanny”.
Cirivello’s Bar is located in Long Beach, CA. However, it’s not really close to the beach – it’s more in the city area.
It’s not too far away from California State University Long Beach, though, so there is a chance to draw a college crowd.
Danny Harris is the owner who bought the bar as it was his favorite bar to hang out.
Since Danny could not afford the bar on his own, he has three other investors.
Justin Allen, Val Allen, and Marcus Rosenthal are the other investors.
The investors own 60% of the bar, while Danny owns 40%.
The bar is in disrepair and is in a lot of debt.
The investors are upset that the bar is running poorly, and Danny doesn’t want to disappoint them.
This situation is why he reached out and asked for the Cirivello’s Bar Rescue visit.
Expert chef Brendan Collins joins mixologist Lisamarie Joyce to rescue the bar, along with Jon Taffer of course.
Jon’s wife Nicole Taffer and her friend spy on the bar.
Ashley, Nicole’s friend, orders an old-fashioned, and Nicole orders a whiskey sour.
The drinks are disgusting, and when they are remade, they are even worse.
Soon, the bar realizes Nicole and Ashley are spies.
Nicole admits she is Jon Taffer’s wife.
She decides to order one of everything on the menu, hoping the bar can improve before Jon enters.
The food is just as gross as the drinks, and soon the kitchen is flooded with water.
Frustrated, Jon Taffer walks in and calls Danny inconsistent.
Danny doesn’t respond well to Jon’s critiques and walks out.
Jon Taffer also goes a little wild and shows a bunch of dishes around, eventually dumping a lot of the food on the floor:
Jon Taffer returns the following day for a meeting.
Val Allen says she was surprised about Danny’s behavior.
Danny says it was in the best interest of everyone that he left.
Jon reminds the employees that they have to keep the standards at the bar high.
Danny has seen the error of his ways and promises to do better.
Lisamarie takes the bartenders through making an old fashion the proper way.
Brendan shows the kitchen staff the recipe to a high-end steak recipe in the kitchen.
The team is doing great during the stress test except for Danny, who is just standing there.
Soon the bar and kitchen are behind, and food is being brought to the wrong tables.
Lisamarie tasks the owners with pouring, but none of them know how to do it, and in the kitchen, the staff does not know how to work the window.
The stress test is shut down, and Jon and the experts meet to discuss the direction they should take the bar.
The staff is trained at an off-site location as the bar is remodeled.
Lisamarie adds two new drinks to the menu, the Toasted Cask and the Rack Reserve.
Brendan also adds new entrees to the menu.
The owners meet with Jon to discuss the state of the bar.
He wants them to reflect on what they have learned during the past few days.
Everyone gathers to see the remodel.
As part of the changes, the bar is renamed from just Cirivello’s Bar to The Aging Room at Cirivello’s.
Barrels and casks are placed as decor and it looks much fancier.
The bar is gifted a lifetime subscription to Jon’s training program, Taffer Virtual Teaching, so that they can keep the bar up to standards.
The relaunch runs smoothly.
The new draft beer system has the bartenders pouring beer faster than ever.
Danny is talking to the customers and being helpful.
The owners are all feeling hopeful – but would the good feelings last?
Let’s find out what happened after The Aging Room Bar Rescue episode and whether or not this Long Beach bar is still open in 2024.
The Aging Room at Cirivello’s Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Cirivello’s Bar Rescue visit, let’s talk about what happened after Jon Taffer and his crew left Long Beach, CA.
Things seemed to start off well for the new Aging Room at Cirivello’s.
At the normal six-week check-in with the Bar Rescue producers, we learn that sales are up by more than 20% and Danny seems to be proud of the bar.
Unfortunately, the good times would not last…
Is the Aging Room from Bar Rescue still open?
The Aging Room at Cirivello’s closed in July 2017, which is a little over a year after the Aging Room Bar Rescue episode aired on TV.
At that time, the bar seemed to still most market itself as Cirivello’s on its social media pages.
While The Facebook page did still use the name “The Aging Room at Cirivello’s”, most of the event posts just showed “Cirivello’s”.
Here’s an example:
Some did use the Aging Room name, though.
On Yelp, the bar went by Cirivello’s Sports Bar – I’ll share some real example reviews below.
In terms of the closure, there was little notice given, as some patrons and performers were unaware that it had even been closed.
The bar also didn’t post any notice on Facebook or other pages.
The bar seems to have closed primarily because it lost its liquor license.
Obviously, it’s pretty hard to run a successful bar if you don’t have a liquor license.
For a time, the old Cirivello’s Long Beach, CA location was empty.
A Google Maps screenshot from March 2021 shows the building with a “For Lease” sign out front:
This makes sense, as people weren’t exactly opening new bars during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, as of 2023, it seems like a new tenant named Long Beach Grocery Cooperative has moved in.
So – the old Cirivello’s location is no longer a bar – it’s now a grocery store.
The Aging Room reviews after Bar Rescue
At the time that The Aging Room closed, the bar had just a 2.5 star rating on its Yelp page.
This is probably another reason why Cirivello’s closed, as that’s a pretty bad rating.
Here’s a sampling of some reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer…
2 star Yelp review from March 2016:
What the heck happened after the rescue.
The kitchen has gone downhill since my first visit in February.
This is March and they are out of all the pork dishes on the menus.
I ordered a pizza which took over an hour after complaining to both bartenders.
The pizza arrived half done, so disappointed.
Two owners came to me and I was offered a discount coupon for my next visit.
Poor management and poor kitchen.
So sorry to see they didn’t listen to the experts from bar rescue.
SO SAD!
1 star Yelp review from February 2016:
So bar rescue was here and what a waste.
The service was even worse than before.
The service stunk and the so called menu was as lame as it gets.
4 sandwich an 3 dinners.
Paid 17 dollars for a wine and large beer.
THE VERY LAST TIME THERE.
And bar rescue needs their money back
5 star Yelp review from April 2016:
Great food the pesto chicken sandwich is the bomb and the wings are meaty.
Andrea the bartender is a superb mixologist.
Owners friendly and open to suggestions of all sorts.
Newly remodeled by Bar Rescue program on T.V and looks great.
2 star Yelp review from April 2016:
I have been here a few times.
Before “Bar rescue” and after. I see no difference.
I feel that some of the staff is rude.
And I feel they don’t schedule proper staffing for special events.
I will not come here again.
This is just my opinion.
If you want to see some other Long Beach, CA Bar Rescue episodes, check out these posts:
- Black Light District update
- Tidal Bar / Liquid Lounge update
- Lona’s Wardlaw Station / Lona’s City Limits Cantina update
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/cirivellos-sports-bar-long-beach-4https://www.facebook.com/TheAgingRoomatCirivellos/
What did you think about the episode? I'd love it if you shared your thoughts on the episode in the comments below!
You can also click the buttons below to share this post!
And don't forget to check out all of the other Bar Rescue updates.
Last updated: 2023-02-11 05:13
What caused them to loose their liquor license?
How does a business lose their liquor license? Stupid ownership!
How does his liquor license get pulled really please anser
Jon’s magic seems to leave him when he works near LA. What’s the attraction of going to a place that will age you?
It’s a reference to aging barrels, you know barrels that are used to age bourbon, whiskey, etc. He wasn’t talking about the aging process of people 🤦♂️. They explain it in the episode duh, did you even watch it
This is hilarious. People aging… what a dope! Lol
The mother som relationship was creepy to watch
That’s an understatement! LOL He was hanging on her like she was a scared rabbit….one of them, if not both, need SERIOUS counseling!!!!
I agree. Wondered what was going on
I found the two co owners son/Mom clueless and really son was so clingy to Mom
The son and mom were uncomfortably intimate. It was like they were a couple, creepy.
Exactly what I thought while watching the show.
I thought the same thing!!
Omg I thought they WERE a couple !
Hey guys we gotta a lot of work to do w dese comments, so I’ll buy the coffee, let’s get to woik!!!
A simple solution to many problems in food and bar places, make every employee learn every role. When I co owned a place, I could get 2-3 nights out of a server washing dishes, in kitchen etc, but it made all the difference w both teamwork and respecting the other persons job. When these owners or managers have done it for years and still have no clue how to cook, serve, wash dishes or do inventory, they have zero chance at long term success. Not neurosurgery, but it does a require a little pride in your craft and hard work. Drinking on job means a 90% chance of absolute failure, it require a lot of brain processing power and multi tasking to cook, serve or bartend effectively. The dulled out senses of a buzzed person will guarantee a crappy job done. Rant transmission complete, thank you, drive through
Downright creepy hanging on his mom like she’s his girlfriend
Wait, that guy hanging on the lady was his her son?
I’m thankful others noticed the son and mom dynamic cuz it was really weird.
Creepy is an understatement. I recently saw a re-run and my skin was crawling.
I’m totally late to the game here however… “The Aging Room”? Long time F&B team member on many levels, love John, NOT walking into anything called the aging room even though I know what it really means 😳🙃😂🤣
Wow the mum/son , I thought they were a married couple . 🤢
Omg the mom and son were gross I just found out they were not a couple??!! if that’s what they do on camera imagine off 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢
Thought same thing watching re run today as i saw before with son constantly croaping his mom! Couldnt watch. Why would someone want to go in that bar & possibly see son straddling mom? They closed not because of liquor licence but of NO business of people watching creepy mother & son looking like love mates. He goes to her house to watch TV & they snuggle up under blanket together! He needs to get a chick but bet mama will cry so he dumps chick for mama!