(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 4 | View All Season 4 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: July 5, 2015
The Bar's Original Name Was: Murphy's Law Irish Pub
Money Bar Address: 180 W Peckham Ln Ste 1070 Reno, NV 89502
Episode Recap
Murphy’s Law Irish Pub, later renamed Money Bar, was a Reno, Nevada bar that was featured on Season 4 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Money Bar Bar Rescue episode aired in July 2015, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that.
It was Season 4 Episode 23 and the episode name was “Emergency Exit” .
Note – Murphy’s Law Irish Pub is different from J.A. Murphy’s in Fell’s Point Baltimore, which was featured on Season 2 and renamed Murphy’s Law. Click that link if you’re looking for the update for the other episode.
In this episode, Jon Taffer visits Murphy’s Law Irish Pub located in Reno, Nevada.
It’s located in a strip mall, so it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing location.
Gary Telfer is the owner, along with his girlfriend, Maria, and their friend Nellie.
The couple had dreams of opening a bar and asked Nellie to invest the remaining money.
The bar was initially successful until Maria and Gary’s relationship began falling apart.
The couple broke up, and Maria kept 40% of the business even though she had not invested any money.
That’s a big “oops!” on Gary’s part!
Today, Gary is writing checks for the bar to stay in operation.
Jon brings in chef Nick Liberato and mixologist Gerry Graham to assist with the bar.
The outside of the bar has an Italian flag flying out front instead of an Irish one.
The inside of the bar is very chaotic. Jon brings in local business owners Kevin and Brittany to spy on the bar.
They hate the drinks they order and send them back.
Maria is not acting like an owner; she hangs out with the customers and plays bar games.
Nellie and Gary begin to fight outside when Jon walks up.
They tell Jon about the money problem.
Jon tells them they better have sorted things out before their next meeting.
The following day Gary met with Jon alone first.
He tells Jon that the bar was his and Maria’s dream but it’s too hard to have her around now.
After he meets with Gary, he meets with Maria.
Jon tells Maria that Gary doesn’t want her around anymore.
After she leaves, Gary informs the staff, and they are happy she is finally gone.
While in the kitchen, Nick trains the team to make a simple chili dog using hotdogs.
The bar staff is working on pouring with Jon.
At first, Nellie struggles, but eventually, he picks up.
During the stress test, Jon has given out five cards to customers, and it is up to Gary to provide excellent service and collect these cards.
Once he has collected the cards, Jon will assist him with saving the bar.
Nellie does poorly during the stress test.
Gary does collect all the business cards, but the kitchen is a mess.
The next day Jon shows the kitchen staff their new kitchen appliances.
Chef Nick trains James in the kitchen on steak and eggs.
Gerry teaches them to make a root beer float with a twist at the bar.
Jon sits with Gary and shows him checklists to run the bar the right way.
The staff gets together thirty-six hours later to see the bar’s renovations.
As part of the changes, the bar is now called the Money Bar instead of Murphy’s Law Irish Pub.
There are new bar stools and a new interior design.
Side note – I hate the new Money Bar sign – it looks so horrible and cheap. Let me know what you think in the comments.
They open up their doors for the relaunch.
The bartenders do their best work.
The patrons love the new drinks, and the kitchen keeps up with their orders.
Money Bar Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Money Bar Bar Rescue episode, let’s talk about what happened to the bar after Jon Taffer left Reno, Nevada.
First off, it wasn’t named Money Bar for long. Soon after the visit from Jon Taffer, the owners changed the name back to Murphy’s Law Irish Pub.
Despite that, sales were doing a bit better, as the numbers were up 20% six weeks after Taffer’s visit.
Nellie is also on the road to paying his mom back all the money that he owned.
However, the bar ended up being sold to a new owner in August 2016, a little over a year after the Money Bar Bar Rescue episode aired on TV.
The bar temporarily closed at that time for the new ownership to move in, posting this on Facebook:
Hey all you guys who have been with us through all the thick and thin of Murphy’s adventures, bar rescue lol, and our new friends:
We will be closed temporarily while a new owner is coming in.
Hopefully Monday it will reopen and look for exciting changes and some familiar faces.
It is Reno lol!! Hope to see you all soon!
However, things went down hill.
Is Money Bar from Bar Rescue still open?
After temporarily closing in August 2016, Money Bar/Murphy’s Law permanently closed in October 2016.
It seems like there were issues with the new ownership and the bar never got back on track after the temporary closure in August.
The owners posted this on Facebook:
Well time for an update.. Murphy’s Law is officially done in more ways then one.
To all the friends and supporters I bid you well!!!
As far as the new Jimmy B’s coming in, I wouldn’t go near that if my life depended on it!!!!!
Pm me if you would like more details. My name is Maria Bedient and I support this message.
As of 2023, the old Murphy’s Law Reno, NV location is occupied by a German beer bar named Prost Reno Biergarten, which seems to have good reviews based on the 4.5 star rating on its Yelp page.
The location was also occupied for a time by a bar called Jimmy B’s.
However, as you can see in the Facebook message above, the Murphy’s Law owners seemed to have some dispute with Jimmy B’s.
You can see the current tenant of the old Money Bar Reno location in this shot from Google Maps street view – the strip mall seems to have been renovated since the episode aired:
Overall, Murphy’s Law / Money Bar is officially closed.
Murphy’s Law / Money Bar reviews after Bar Rescue
At the time the Murphy’s Law Reno location shut up shop, it had just a 2 star rating on Yelp, which is pretty bad.
Here’s a sampling of a few reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer…
2 star Yelp review from July 2015:
I don’t know if this is Money Bar or Murphy’s Law, they’ve got both signs on the outside!
Anyway, the inside is decorated nicely.
Our waitress informed us that the kitchen was closed (this is a Saturday, doesn’t make sense to me) and that they had no drink specials.
Service wasn’t great, our waitress was a sourpuss and seemed to disappear after our first round of drinks.
We didn’t really feel welcome and definitely won’t be back.
We were the only ones there at about 10pm on a Saturday.
It should tell you a lot though, just knowing that the people that own/run the place thought it was a good idea to change the name back to Murphy’s before their episode even aired on TV.
That’s where all your business is going to come from!!
Anyway the only way I would ever go back with my friends was if the drinks were free.
2 star Yelp review from December 2015
We were in the area and had remembered that a bar close by was on bar rescue.
So we googled it and found it and could not figure out if it was called Murphy’s Law or Money Bar since the two signs were out front.
We walked in right when happy hour started on a Saturday… We were in shock that it was completely dead.
We were the only people.
The place looked nice but as we sat down by the pool table my boyfriend noticed the outlet was hanging out with wires exposed.
I also walked into the bathroom and it was gross and not re done which I had expected it would have been since bar rescue came in.
I am giving it two stars because the food was good and service was alright not amazing.
It’s safe to say that we will not be coming back.
If you want to see some other non-Las Vegas Bar Rescue Nevada episodes, you can check out my updates for Paddy’s Pub / Pat’s Courtyard Bar in Pahrump and VFW Post 10054 in Pahrump.
There are also tons of Bar Rescue Las Vegas episodes that you can find on the main Bar Rescue updates page.
I also have a dedicated page that lists all of the Nevada Bar Rescue episodes, which are mostly in Las Vegas.
And again – this is a different Murphy’s Law then the renamed JA Murphy’s on Season 1 of Bar Rescue. You can read my JA Murphy’s update to learn more about the other Murphy’s Law Bar Rescue episode.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
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Last updated: 2023-03-25 06:52
Love how they reopen, everyone is happy and the owners change back and the place is mediocre at best. Some people care more about their pride than accepting help to make a winner.
I never quite understood why the “girlfriend” stated that she was SO angry. Girl, you had no skin in the game, you’ve been hanging around a couple years now, drinking your ex’s booze and eating his food, and expecting him to give you a generous allowance every month besides. What a leech. She knew her ex was hung up on her and was using that to live off him. Pathetic. She should be ashamed, not angry.
I completely agree with Traci! Maybe she was mad because she had been exposed for what she was; a freeloader!
200%. Total lack of empathy…sociopathic narcissist! A hallmark of a narcissist is when they are faced with rejection. They become completely angry, and blame it on the other person instead of themselves! When she said she didn’t have any guilt about sitting around using him.. horrible woman
Maria is the Maria Bedient who commented above so her vile self was still part of the bar and probably a big part of why they sold it. That place was doomed. My only hope is they sold it just to get her out of their lives for good.
She was angry that her gravy train derailed. She saw Taffer enter the building and knew it was over
Would like to know what was in the mystery drink behind the door?
I went to karaoke a few times before the rescue. It was nasty in there. I was going to go back after the rescue, but I didn’t make it.
Thanks for sharing your experience! Hopefully things are better there now.
I think they sometimes have to go back to their old restaurant name due to licensing costs.
Whatever happened to Maria
Did she ever come back
Is she still getting paid an “allowance “ every month?
Man Maria sucked. What a freaking gold digger.
And yet again, the name changed. I didn’t exactly like “Money Bar”…stupid name IMO but going back to the old name when your bar wasn’t Irish at all…yeah that was stupid.
Just watched this episode again, did anyone else catch that the reveal of the new bar had the people’s reaction, and in the background behind them were broken and sagging blinds over the front windows? Oops, attention to detail bar rescue!!
I’m surprised nobody addressed the fact that on paper she was still a 40% owner. She could have easily have sued them and probably did, hence their final demise?
I thought the same thing! like what was up with that? so, yeah sure, she was a hypocrite freeloader narcissist but she was still given 40% ownership of the bar and they just made it look like all they had to do was ask her to leave and be done with. It’s a good thing I wasn’t the only one who caught that and am still wondering too what happened with that “little detail” they left off.
I am sure that hag Maria had everything to do with this place closing. “I’m so hurt”… yeah okay, sure you are. That guy was a damn fool for giving her such a huge share of the place. What a dumbass.
As far as the name change… he even said “we needed this change” at the reveal. Why go back to the old name? Another reason he is a dumbass.
I’m not shocked that they shut down.
First I don’t blame them for going back to Murphys. Money bar was a really stupid concept.
Second shortly after the episode aired they were all over fb saying bar rescue was a fake and Maria wasn’t the problem – they just set her up to be a villain and just bitching about bar rescue in general. Which let me say even if it’s true I don’t exactly think going public and biting the hand you were looking to get publicity from was the way to go.
Honestly these people all just seemed like a hot mess! IMO they were the type of people who love to be able to say “I own a bar” rather than the type who are serious about owning a bar and actually making it successful.