(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 9 | View All Season 9 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: June 16, 2024
The Bar's Original Name Was: Cielo Lounge
Don Marcos Cantina Address: 8765 S U.S. Hwy 1, Port St. Lucie, FL 34952
Episode Recap
Cielo Lounge, later renamed to Don Marcos Cantina, was a Port St. Lucie, Florida bar that was featured on Season 9 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Don Marcos Cantina Bar Rescue episode aired in June 2024, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place in February 2024.
It was Season 9 Episode 16 and the episode name was “Dancing Dreams Dashed”.
In this week’s episode, Jon Taffer is back in the driver’s seat as he heads to Port St. Lucie, FL.
This marks Bar Rescue’s second visit to Port St. Lucie this season, as Ashish Alfred rescued Los Cocos earlier in the season.
It’s also Bar Rescue’s 32nd visit to Florida, which makes it the second most popular state on the show.
This time, Jon Taffer is in town to rescue Cielo Lounge.
The bar is owned by two guys who I believe are named Mark and Ossapha.
They opened it back in 2021, which was a tough time to open a bar because of the pandemic.
To help him save the bar, Jon is joined by his experts, including long-time expert Mia Mastroianni.
To recon the bar, Jon sends in two local radio personalities, Virginia and Fran.
When the spies sit down, they order a mojito and Amaretto Sour, along with the calamari for food.
When Mia watches the bartender make the drinks, she has a lot of issues.
To start, there’s no service well across the front of the bar, so the bartender has to face the back wall when making drinks.
When he makes the drinks, Mia likes that he used fresh mint.
But then she takes issue with the overpouring and muddling.
Pro tip – I always learned that you should just smack the mint between your hands to release the oils instead of muddling it.
When the spies receive their drinks, they’re not fans.
The Amaretto Sour is way too sour and the Mojito has way too much mint, which is getting sucked up the straw.
Because I’m writing this a day before the episode airs, that’s all I have for the episode recap now.
However, I might come back and update this later on.
I do know what changes Jon made to the bar, though.
He decided to get rid of the Cielo Lounge concept and rename the bar to Don Marcos Cantina (or maybe it’s Don Marcos Cantina Nights, I’m not totally sure).
So – was the Cielo Lounge Bar Rescue visit a long-term success?
Keep reading to learn what happened next and if this Port St. Lucie bar is still open in 2025.
Don Marcos Cantina Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the episode, let’s talk about what happened to the bar after Jon Taffer and his crew left Port St. Lucie FL.
To start, I’ll quickly cover the bar’s reaction to the show, such as whether or not it hosted a watch party.
Then, I’ll look into whether it’s still open today and using the concept from Jon Taffer.
Finally, I’ll dig into some real customer reviews to see how people feel about the bar after Taffer’s changes.
Let’s dig in…
The bar’s reaction to the episode
As far as I can tell, the bar seems to be leaning into the episode and promoting it on social media, which is always a good sign.
They’re hosting a watch party to celebrate the episode release and they seem to be promoting the watch party a lot on Facebook.
They have this fun banner for “what have the boys done to make Jon SO mad”:
They’re also tying it in with the bar’s third anniversary celebration.
Overall, they seem to be pretty positive about the episode, which is great to see.
Is Don Marcos Cantina still open after Bar Rescue?
As of my most recent check in 2024, Don Marcos Cantina is still open and serving customers in Port St. Lucie.
More importantly, they seem to still be using the Don Marcos Cantina concept, though I do still see the old Cielo Lounge name in a few places.
On Facebook, the bar is using the Don Marcos Cantina concept as its primary name, but still shows Cielo Lounge in parentheses (I’m guessing so that people know the two are associated).
It seems to be a similar story in promo images.
They use Don Marcos Cantina primarily, but do still mention Cielo Lounge sometimes.
For example, they hosted a “Cielo Lounge 3 year anniversary” at Don Marcos Cantina, as you can see in the screenshot for the watch party above.
In other promos, though, they exclusively call it Don Marcos Cantina, such as this promo image for a Salsa night.
However, the bar is still listed as Cielo Lounge on Google and Yelp, which is probably something they should update to avoid confusion with customers.
In general, the bar is quite active on social media and seems to have tons of events and specials.
They seem to have Salsa and Bachata every Wednesday, for all levels.
They also have lots of live music and DJs at the bar.
Here’s what the bar’s location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view.
Unfortunately, Google hasn’t updated it since 2023, so it still only shows the Cielo Lounge concept.
I’m mainly including it so that you can explore the area around the bar…
Don Marcos Cantina reviews after Bar Rescue
As I mentioned above, the bar is still listed as Cielo Lounge on Google and Yelp, so it’s a little tough to find reviews for the new concept.
However, people have written recent reviews, so I’m assuming they meant the reviews for Don Marcos Cantina and not Cielo Lounge.
Overall, the bar has a 4.4 star rating on 140+ Google reviews and a 3.6 star rating on Yelp (but only on 10 reviews).
Most of those reviews were written before Taffer’s visit, though.
As always, I exclusively focus on reviews written after his visit so that we can get a good feel for whether the changes have had a positive effect.
In general, on Google, most of the reviews seem to be positive.
However, there are some negative reviews from people who don’t like the changes.
For example, the one post-Bar Rescue Yelp review is negative, with someone complaining about the changes.
I also found these Facebook posts where some regulars complain about the name change.
On Google, though, things are mostly positive, though there are a few mixed reviews still.
People praise the bar atmosphere and the staff.
They also seem to like the music and DJs, though one person complained that the bar is overly focused on Salsa and Bachata.
Final thoughts on the episode
Overall, Don Marcos Cantina generally seems to be doing well.
While the reviews are a little mixed and some regulars seem upset, there are also some positive signs.
What’s more, the bar seems to be very active with events and specials, which is always a good sign.
They also seem to be leaning into Taffer’s concept, which should hopefully set them up for long-term success.
That wraps up my full Don Marcos Cantina Bar Rescue update.
If you want to see the other Port St. Lucie episode from this season, you can read my update for Los Cocos / Three Tides.
For other nearby Florida episodes, you can also read my updates for Aura Nightclub / Mystique Lounge in West Palm Beach, Boca Luna Luxe Lounge / One11 in Boca Raton, and Ele Lounge / Heat Restaurant in Hollywood FL.
I also have a page that lists all of the Bar Rescue episodes in the state.
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 – thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/cielo-restaurant-and-lounge-port-saint-luciehttps://www.facebook.com/cielopsl/
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Last updated: 2024-06-16 10:29
When the ads ran for this season, we were told Danny Trejo would be standing in for Jon. All 4 of the southeast Florida episodes in production as the season started airing are slated to air this month along with the sets from southern California, Jacksonville, and greater Phoenix/Tucson.
Ashish did 1 Jacksonville/1 south Florida (filmed apart), Phil did Cali, and Dustin Arizona with Jon in all 4 sets so we know his absence was planned (maybe he needed to cut his own salary to get more episodes on the books).
The promos showed Trejo, and Jon has spoken about working with him in interviews, but I don’t think he’s been on the show intros where they show Phil, Ashish, and Dustin. I’m starting to think this was a bait-and-switch unless he was sent to Detroit or Milwaukee.
According to an FB post from Fat Floyd’s BBQ in Cleveland, TX, Trejo filmed at the Wagon Wheel (possibly now “The Pour Station”) the first week of April, 1-2 months after promos featuring his likeness aired.
Wagon Wheel had been named Ro’s until about 2022. Fat Floyd’s is on the other side of the intersection and appears to have been a Church’s Chicken until recently.
Trejo was in one episode and seemed very (to be nice) old. He wavered coming out of the truck and couldn’t seem to speak well as if he had a mini stroke so that may be why he hasn’t been back. He didn’t do much but whistle and yell once and that was about it from what I remember. He was with Phil at the time. I enjoy Ashish, he carried himself very well and does as good a job as Jon. Phil seems to need a bit more compassion at the right times, but he’s not bad. I just think we’ve seen more of Phil as a bartender and he shines in that but getting used to him running things is a bit too much for my palate at this moment. Dustin seems a little over the top and he forgets there may be an audience watching and that he is ‘performing’ like Jon does. Oh well, to each his own.
The best parts I enjoy, to learn new ways of arguing, are how people dead to right – wrong, continue to argue as if they stand a chance. Like a mouse against a corner wall. The obvious is, they’re still dead. I guess you can give the mouse some credit for crying, but he’s still dead in the end.