(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 4 | View All Season 4 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: July 10, 2016
The Bar's Original Name Was: City Bistro
The Beechwood Address: 2718 Gravois Saint Louis, MO 63118
Episode Recap
City Bistro, later renamed The Beechwood, was a St. Louis, Missouri bar that was featured on Season 4 of Bar Rescue.
Though the City Bistro Bar Rescue episode aired in July 2016, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that.
It was Season 4 Episode 55 and the episode name was “Gone in a Flash”.
In this episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer visited City Bistro.
City Bistro is a bar in St. Louis, Missouri.
The bar is owned by Tiffany Hutchinson, who bought it in 2012.
That means she’s been the owner for about four years at the time of the City Bistro Bar Rescue episode.
In the beginning, it practically ran itself, earning around $14,000 per month.
To increase the income, Tiffany decided to hire bartenders who would flash the customers for more money.
That’s…an interesting tactic haha.
However, this trick backfire as not every visitor was comfortable with staff exposing themselves and they stopped coming.
Due to declining sales. she got herself in deep debt.
There were other issues, too – the bar even got accused of refilling expensive bottles with substandard liquor, which is mentioned in a 2015 article from the Riverfront Times.
When Tiffany had only two months left to save her bar she decided to call the Bar Rescue Team to get her out of this mess.
To help save the bar, Jon Taffer brought Mixologist Shawn Ford and expert chef, Ryan Scott.
As soon as Jon entered the bar, he was repulsed by its atmosphere.
He said it looked more like a strip club than a bar…which kind of makes sense when you consider the flashing bartenders.
On the counter, they ordered the most famous drinks of St Louis which would easily be available at any bar in the area but City Bistro didn’t have them.
The bar even had a kitchen space that no one was utilizing.
All the bartenders were also taking shots instead of serving the customers.
When Jon heard the lewd remarks of the bartenders he decided he had enough.
Immediately he went to Tiffany and told her that this is the most absurd bar he has ever been to.
Tiffany agreed with everything Jon said and acknowledged that her bar’s condition is extremely worrisome.
When Jon went into the storage he saw fruit flies in liquor bottles and a dead rat in deep-fryer.
The first thing Jon told Tiffany was to fire an employee so that others would take her seriously.
Jon Taffer calls this a “landmark fire” tactic.
She instantly fired Tami which shocked the other staff members.
Then Shawn showed the bartenders difference between the three main types of beers.
Jon and Ryan also decided to create a menu that would guarantee sales.
The stress test went great and everybody performed exceptionally well.
After the renovation, Tiffany couldn’t believe her eyes, the bar looked like a new place.
As part of the changes, Jon renamed the bar from City Bistro to The Beechwood.
In addition to matching the new look, the new name can help the bar get away from its seedy reputation with flashing bartenders.
Tiffany thanked Jon a lot and told her that this would solve her financial woes.
Even the staff workers agreed that they liked the new place so much better and they would do a good job to keep it that way.
So was the City Bistro Bar Rescue episode a long-term success? Keep reading to learn what happened next and if the St. Louis Missouri bar is still open in 2024.
The Beechwood Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Beechwood Bar Rescue visit, let’s talk about what happened to the bar after Jon Taffer and his crew left St. Louis, MO.
After eight weeks of relaunching, The Beechwood saw a significant increase in its beverage and food sales.
Bartender Lauren even got fired for drinking at job, which shows that Tiffany is taking things more seriously.
The Beechwood reviews after Bar Rescue
Overall, The Beechwood had just a 2.5 star rating on Yelp, but only on 4 reviews.
On Google Reviews, it wasn’t much better, with a 3.8 star rating on 83 reviews.
Here’s a sampling of a few reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer…
1 star Yelp review from April 2019:
This place was a joke.
Cash only, poor service.
My group of 6 women actually wound up leaving after sitting for a while because even though the server/bartender greeted us, he never bothered to return to take our order.
Some older (maybe in their 60s) women at the bar voiced some very rude comments about us, I’m assuming they are regulars or employees.
2 star Yelp review from April 2017:
Dropped in on a Saturday afternoon for a late lunch.
Found out kitchen isn’t open on Saturdays.
Also only looked like they had 3 beers on tap.
Just an all around ‘meh’ experience.
5 star Google review from 2019:
They have a basketball game and darts.
Big plus, surprisingly spacious.
The food was pretty good and the drinks are sneaky.
Deliciously made and then there’s the alcohol.
They play music that will have you dancing all night.
It was a lot of fun.
4 star Google review from 2019:
This was a nice bar.
The inside had more of a dim light setting.
The crowd was that of people in their mid to 20s to mid 30s.
Everyone was pretty much in their own groups enjoying their own company.
The music was up-to-date.
They served Hookah but im not sure about food.
The staff was very attentive and friendly.
The front door security person however was too stern and not too friendly in my opinion.
It’s a cash only bar but they do have an ATM inside.
The only thing that I didnt like was the neighborhood in which it was located as it’s a little sketchy.
Other than that I had a great first time experience here.
Is The Beechwood from Bar Rescue still open?
As of 2023, The Beechwood / City Bistro is closed. I can’t find a specific closure announcement, but the bar is marked as closed on Google and Yelp and the social media profiles are no longer active.
The old The Beechwood Facebook page is posting about another restaurant called Social Bar and Grill, so it’s possible that the Beechwood owners opened a new bar there.
The last Facebook post about The Beechwood was back on April 6, 2018, which was advertising a live band:
A new bar called Pressbox Sports Bar is was said to be opening up at the old The Beechwood St. Louis location – you can see an article about it here.
Because this article was from June 2021, that means The Beechwood must’ve closed a bit before that.
As of 2023, Pressbox Sports Bar seems to be open and getting decent but not great reviews.
If you’re in the St. Louis area, you can check it out.
Here’s a Google Maps street view embed that shows the most recent look at the old City Bistro St Louis MO location:
If you want to see some another Bar Rescue St. Louis, Missouri episode, you can check out our Crafted / Van Goghz update.
To see some other Bar Rescue Missouri episodes, you can also check out my updates for BARcode / RG’s Lounge in Independence, Badlands County Nightclub / Long Shots Saloon in Grain Valley, and Stix and Stones / The Pit Stop in Sugar Creek.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-beechwood-st-louishttps://www.facebook.com/citybistro2718/
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Last updated: 2023-02-20 06:21
is was the scariest Bar Rescue by far. I felt so sorry for the poor girls bartending. They really don’t realize how gross they looked.
Honestly, the owner looked like such an innocent gal, however, she urged her workers to perform indecent , lewd acts to line her pockets, and she stole from customers by selling incorrectly labeled products. She was basically a selfish, thieving pimp of sorts. John Rapper should have avoided her and moved on to another bar owner. His Beechwood concept was awesome, just too good for the owners.
Those bartenders were pathetic. I love the opening of this episode where one of them flashes her filthy flapjacks and then it cuts to her again and she goes “I am going to throw up” and heads for the bathroom. lol
Tam Tam aka HO HO was a pathetic joke! Glad she was fired, the piece of trash.
It’s amazing someone can open a bar and just let employees go??? Ignore everything, not open kitchen.. it’s amazing!! I’ve worked on 3 episodes, this blows my mind! As a chef also it’s a beautiful little kitchen, just made more money in electrical and plumbing lol, but Tiffany didn’t have the spine before or after to be successful, amazing when have kids? Not surprised