(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 3 | View All Season 3 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: April 27, 2014
The Bar's Original Name Was: Oasis Hookah Bar
Taza Nightclub Address: 1507 Farnam St Omaha, NE 68102
Episode Recap
Oasis Hookah Bar, later renamed TaZa Nightclub, was an Omaha, Nebraska bar that was featured on Season 3 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Oasis Bar Rescue episode aired in April 2014, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that.
It was Season 3 Episode 38 and the episode name was “I Smell A Rat”.
In this episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer went to inspect Oasis Hookah Bar in Omaha, Nebraska.
If you’re not familiar with Nebraska, Omaha is one of the bigger cities in the state, with a population of around 500k people.
It’s the home of the University of Nebraska Omaha campus, but this is not the location of the big sports powerhouse (that’s the branch in Lincoln).
The Oasis Hookah Bar owner bar is Jesse Hill.
He spent all of his savings of $50,000 to open this bar.
In its early days, the hookah bar was a good spot for youngsters to hang out.
When the business took off, Jesse hired Corrie as the manager.
Sadly, the success was quite short-lived and soon the quality of the bar went downhill.
That’s why the Oasis Bar Rescue episode exists. After all, successful bars don’t generally ask for help from Jon Taffer.
The bar was dirty, the service was slow and even when arrived late the drinks weren’t good.
Because of all of this, the bar is now dealing with over $100,000 in debt, which is a pretty tough hill to climb.
Jesse also somehow lost interest in his passion project and spent most of his time watching videos in his office.
When Jon Taffer’s team arrived, their goal was to see if a hookah business can be a success in such an area.
Jon’s spies Abbie and Jack went first to see how they operate.
They ordered “Oasis Water”, a signature drink but even the servers couldn’t tell much about it. Sounds weird to me…
When the drink arrived both Abbie and Jack didn’t like it.
The condition of the hookah wasn’t great either as the pipe was extremely dirty.
After all, this Jon went to confront the owner but he didn’t take it seriously.
After having a dialogue with Jesse, Jon checked the bar thoroughly and he found out how truly filthy it actually was.
From dead rats to fungal growth everything was exposed.
The dead rats are the reason that the Bar Rescue episode’s name is “I Smell a Rat”.
Upon seeing this, Jon told Jesse to give customers their money back.
This served as a reality check to Jesse who was then embarrassed by this whole situation.
When Jon left he called the staff for an urgent meeting.
In the end, they concluded that Corrie wasn’t an efficient manager and Brandon was the most deserving person for this position.
Jon then tells Jesse that hookah isn’t a good them for that area he suggested making it more of a Morrocan theme where cocktails are their main specialty instead of hookah.
To fix this, Jon and his team got to work on renovating the bar.
They added the new theme and renamed the bar from Oasis Hookah Bar to Taza Nightclub, which is named after a city in Morroco.
As hard as Jon tried to convince Jesse to leave the hookah theme behind, Jesse didn’t listen.
On relaunch, the bar got positive reviews from visitors and finally, it became the ideal place for a fun night out.
So would Taza Nightclub be able to survive in Omaha?
Keep reading to learn what happened next and if the bar is still open in 2024.
Taza Nightclub Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Oasis Bar Rescue episode, let’s talk about what happened when Jon Taffer put down his hookah and left Omaha, NE.
At first, things seemed to be looking up as the bar’s alcohol sales were up a whopping 30% thanks to the Bar Rescue bump.
However, they weren’t about to give up the hookah theme, so they started to undo some of Jon Taffer’s changes.
First, they brought back the hookahs.
Then, they went through a number of name changes after ditching the Taza Nightclub name about two years after Taffer’s visit.
First, they melded the two names together, going with Taza Hookah Lounge.
Then, they switched to Oasis Hookah Lounge, which is pretty close to the identical Oasis Hookah Bar name.
So did all of the name changes work?
Is Oasis Hookah Bar from Bar Rescue still open?
Oasis Hookah Lounge closed for good in February 2017, a little less than three years after appearing on Bar Rescue.
Reviews for the bar were not good, as it had just a 2.5 star rating on its Yelp page (though on only 13 reviews). I’ll share some review examples below.
The Oasis Hookah Lounge owners posted the following message on Facebook about the closure:
Omaha, it has been a fun 6 1/2 years.
Thank you for all the support over that time, thru all the ups and downs.
Thank you to all the staff that has worked here and busted their ass for this place.
Thank you to all the DJs that kept the party going every weekend and kept you moving.
And finally thank you to you, the loyal Hookah Heads that have been puff, puff, passing it with us since July 16th, 2010.
We will genuinely miss you and we just hope we made a few fun memories for you all.
So goodbye for now and See You in the Smoke!!!!
Here’s a screenshot of the Facebook post in case it gets deleted:
Why did Oasis Hookah Bar close? Well, among other issues, the bar was having trouble with the Omaha City Council.
For example, in 2016, the City Council recommended against renewing Oasis’ liquor license, which is obviously a huge deal for a bar.
The City Council cited issues with too many police calls, unpaid taxes, and potentially illicit cigarette sales.
As of 2023, the old Oasis Hookah Bar Omaha, NE location is occupied by a very interesting new business – Flying Timber Axe Throwing.
Here’s a Google Maps street view shot that shows the new business:
So instead of smoking hookah, you can now go throw axes!
Pretty cool – check it out if you’re in the Omaha area.
Oasis Hookah Bar reviews after Bar Rescue
As I mentioned above, Oasis Hookah Bar did not have very good reviews at the time of its closure.
Combine poor reviews with issues with the local government and it’s no surprise that it closed.
Most of the reviews seem to cite annoyance with the bar’s cover charge.
Here’s a sampling of a few reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer…
1 star review from March 2016:
I really wanted to like this place.
I saw it was on Bar Rescue and I was excited to go.
I had heard since they show aired they had reverted back to their old bar ways.
As soon as I walked in they charged $10 cover.
To be honest, I don’t like paying cover for places where I am going to spend my money anyway, however, I understand there are some places where it is appropriate.
I could see paying $5 as most places that have a cover will charge.
$10?? That is the highest I have ever paid in Omaha.
I would hope to step into the best bar in Omaha for that rate.
…(review continues – it’s super long).
1 star review from March 2016:
Walked in there it was 10 dollars just to get in per person.
Not even 3 seconds we left because the vibe of the crowd was gelhetto and while we was walking out this woman wearing nearly nothing was walking in heels.
Never go there especially since they have security and a bouncer that smell like weed
2 star review from November 2015:
Not a bad place if you come before the young crowd it can be a fun way to start the evening before heading to more “grown up” environments.
Not the cleanness place, and most staff are friendly if not stoned out of their mind and stuck.
But Watch your bill.
They like to add gratuity onto it even for a party of 2 and not say anything.
Has some pretty horrible business practices.
But as long as you know what you are in for it can make for an interesting start to your evening.
Overall, I’m not really surprised that Oasis Hookah Bar closed – but I am surprised that it survived for three years!
If you want to see another Nebraska Bar Rescue episode, you can check out my update for Sorties Tavern / O’Banions Bar in Bellevue.
Just across the river in Iowa, you can also see the infamous O Face Bar episode in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/taza-hookah-lounge-omahahttps://www.instagram.com/omaha_oasis_hookah_lounge/?hl=en
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Last updated: 2023-03-18 04:40
I just watched this episode, and the recap is interesting. For instance, he brought back the hookahs (which I love) knowing there wasn’t much interest in the area, so I wonder just how successful they were. And they put their liquor license in jeopardy, who was in charge of security? That manager chick who couldn’t put a pipe together after working there years?
Corrie may not have been much of a manager. But the few times I’d gone there, she definitely gave great service.
As the saying goes, you can’t fix stupid
The episode was good and I would have thought that the owner would had held it together. But like most situations, you can’t let a Blind man lead the Safari into the jungle and expect to come out the other side alive.
I just watched this episode. I’m shocked it took 3 years for this place to close.
This is the first Bar Rescue I remember that included restroom rehab. I wish they did that more often. Bathrooms are the biggest complaint I’ve encountered with bars.
Just rewatched this episode and I’m not surprised he went back to hookah.
Jesse the owner was like a spoiled brat who wanted to do what HE wanted and didn’t really care about his business. Just like the owners who open a bar simply bc they like to drink!
The way he blamed his staff while taking zero accountability himself was pathetic. He was a lazy uninspired owner and I’m shocked he made it another 3 years!