(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 8 | View All Season 8 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: May 2, 2021
The Bar's Original Name Was: Paradise Cantina
Paradise Cantina Address: 4480 Paradise Rd Ste 1250 Las Vegas, NV 89169
Episode Recap
Paradise Cantina was a Las Vegas, Nevada bar featured on Season 8 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Paradise Cantina Bar Rescue episode aired in May 2021, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that during Bar Rescue’s Covid-19 focus on Las Vegas.
It was Season 8 Episode 1 and the episode name was “Two Tickets to Paradise Cantina”.
Located in Las Vegas, Nevada, Paradise Cantina is owned by Ronnie Pellegrino.
The bar is located on Paradise Rd – hence the name.
It’s just a little less than two miles from the main Las Vegas Strip.
Ron bought the restaurant in the year 2018, which was about three years before the Paradise Cantina Bar Rescue visit happened.
In the first year of operation, the bar made $1.2 million, so things certainly weren’t going badly.
However, they began suffering during the state restrictions put in place in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ron had to let the staff leave and now he is over $700,000 in debt, and his life savings is gone.
Ron is homeless and living in a hotel.
He has let the rules lax, and the staff drinks while working at the bar.
Jon recons the bar with mixologist Derek Turner and expert chef Anthony Lamas.
There is a good mix of college students in the area as well as casino workers and tourists who should be visiting the bar.
Ron blames everything on the pandemic.
I kind of agree with him given that the bar was so successful before the pandemic happened.
Jon begins surveillance and sets up more than usual.
The bar gives out paper menus instead of using a QR code for less contact.
The spies order a mojito, but the bar is out of the ingredients needed to make it, so they order a watermelon margarita and a Mai Tai instead.
Customers begin returning drinks as they are too strong, and they tell the spies that it is a common occurrence at the Paradise Cantina.
Ron comes out and recognizes the spies as Derek and Anthony.
Jon has the two men then order multiple items from the menu to test everything.
The drinks all look alike, and the bar staff is having a hard time telling them apart.
Jon tells Ron he is too lenient with his team, but Ron says he is the problem, not his staff.
Ron quickly changes his mind, gets upset, and tells the staff that their overpouring and drinking are ruining the bar.
Jon finds out that Ron has lost his home.
He then shows Ron that he overspent by $100,000 that year.
Jon believes that the failures of the bar area are due to the operations and the way it is run, not the pandemic.
Do you agree? Let me know in the comments!
Jon wants his experts to watch how the staff pours their drinks.
Derek trains the staff to pour properly and teaches them a tropical-themed cocktail.
Anthony teaches the kitchen how to make chicken wings with pineapple salsa.
Jon does a stress test using poker chips.
The staff collects chips from customers when orders are filled correctly.
The bartenders immediately begin making mistakes.
The kitchen sends out incomplete orders and then gets backed up correcting the orders.
At the end of the test, bartender Jared has 25 chips, and Melissa has just 11.
The renovations start the next day and take 36 hours.
The sign is new and bold, but Jon Taffer decided to keep the existing Paradise Cantina name.
You’ll see this a lot with the bars featured on the first half of Season 8, because the problem was more to do with Covid-19 than a need to rebrand Paradise Cantina itself.
The inside has a beach vibe and wood accents with shades of blue.
As part of the renovations, there is a new POS system and a lifetime subscription for inventory.
So was the Paradise Cantina Bar Rescue visit a long-term success?
Keep reading to learn what happened next and if this Las Vegas bar is still open in 2025 and beyond…
Paradise Cantina Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped what happened on the episode, let’s talk about how Paradise Cantina is doing after Bar Rescue.
I’ll start by answering the most important question on your mind, and then I’ll get into some other aspects, such as reviews for the bar after Bar Rescue.
Is Paradise Cantina from Bar Rescue still open?
Unfortunately, Paradise Cantina closed some time around November 24.
I can’t find any official announcement about why Paradise Cantina closed (there are no posts on social media).
However, the bar is now marked as closed on Yelp and reviewers on Google have noted that it closed without notice.
Given that Paradise Cantina almost made it to the end of 2024, this means that it survived for around four years after the actual visit from Jon Taffer, which is a pretty solid run.
I wish I had more information about why the bar closed – I just can’t find it.
Prior to closing and going dark on social media, the bar regularly posted events and specials on its Facebook page and seemed very active.
Reviews from after Taffer’s visit seemed very good, with a lot of people visiting because of Bar Rescue.
There were a few negative reviews, mainly to do with slow service.
But in general, people seemed very complimentary of the food and they like the drink prices.
I’ll share some real examples of reviews below…
But first, here’s a look at the Paradise Cantina Las Vegas location in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view (December 2021, which was after the Paradise Cantina Jon Taffer visit).
Now, let’s get back to the Paradise Cantina reviews…
Overall, the bar has a 4.3 star rating on Google Reviews, a 4 star rating on TripAdvisor, and a 3.5 star rating on Yelp.
Here’s a sampling of a few reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer.
5 star Yelp review from June 2022:
I saw this place on Bar Rescue, and wanted to give it a try.
WOW! what a great place.
I travel to Vegas monthly, for work, and i never would have found this place if it wasn’t for the TV show.
I will defiantly go back there when I return next month, and probably every month thereafter.
The chicken wings are now on my top 10 favorite, and I eat a LOT of wings.
They came out piping hot, the sauce had great flavor, and enough heat to get you attention.
Beers were reasonably priced, and the service was good.
Did i mention the wing were great?
It’d defiantly a “locals” place, but that it what i like.
I highly recommend this place.
5 star review from February 2023:
THIS PLACE IS AMAZING.
After being at a convention all day this was the perfect spot.
Cantina mixed with a dive bar vibe.
Came here on a whim.
Omar and mycheal greeted me and from there awesome energy, good food and drinks. is my new spot.
The Queso fundido it was on point.
It’s hard to find a spot close to the strip with this kind of vibe.
Highly recommend.
5 star review from September 2022:
Decided to stop by late in the evening for dinner and a quick drink.
The bartender here knows his drinks.
The wet burrito was a bit messy but overall highly recommended this place if you’re in the area.
Affordable and convenient.
1 star review from August 2022:
Went a couple weeks ago.
We absolutely would not recommend.
We ordered some tacos and drinks on a Tuesday. The food was good.
The service was a disaster and unacceptable.
We think our bartenders name was Jaz.
We were a little thrown off with her attire.
I would have thought staff members would look more professional and not that they just got out of bed.
We never had a someone give us an attitude like she has.
Unfriendly, short answers.
It made us feel like we were a nuisance to her to ask about the food.
I’ll never go there when she is working and won’t recommend Paradise Catina because of her.
5 star review from August 2022:
The bar tenders are among the friendliest I have ever seen.
It’s a limited menu but what is served is awesome.
I have only been there during daytime hours and it’s laid back with a friendly atmosphere.
I’ve been told it really gets hopping at night.
Ronnie also said that business and profit levels are back to what they were before the COVID-19 restrictions (or even higher).
Given that Paradise Cantina was making over a $1 million before the pandemic, that seems like a great thing for the long-term success of the bar.
Final thoughts on the episode
Overall, the Paradise Cantina Bar Rescue episode seemed to be really promising.
Reviews from after Taffer’s visit were positive and Ronnie said the bar was back to its pre-Covid profitability.
Unfortunately, for some reason, that would not last and the bar closed around November 2024.
Because the bar didn’t share any reason for closing, I don’t know if it closed because of business or personal reasons.
If you know anything, please let me know in the comments.
Either way, four years is still a pretty solid run, so congrats to Ronnie, Jon Taffer, and the whole Paradise Cantina and Bar Rescue teams!
There are a bunch of Las Vegas Bar Rescue episodes. If you want to see some other Sin City bars, check out the full Bar Rescue updates page or my dedicated page that lists all of the Las Vegas Bar Rescue episodes.
Or, here are a few nearby bars to start you off – check out my updates for Gipsy from Season 3, Club Platinum from Season 6, and Champagne’s Cafe from Season 5 and Season 8.
All of those are within a few minutes of the Paradise Cantina Las Vegas location.
And if you want to share your thoughts on the episode, you can do so using the comments section below.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/paradise-cantina-las-vegashttps://www.facebook.com/paradisecantinalasvegas
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Last updated: 2024-12-07 05:14
Just seeing the episode today May-13-2022. One classy upgrade Jon did for this one!! Glad to see this owner and staff get back on track! Covid screwed up this nation! Many businesses…..not just bars……will never open again! I appreciate Jon’s expertise and wish Ron and his crew continured success!! I spent many years tending bar and love Bar Rescue!! 👍👍👍
Melissa . 😍😍😍🤪😍
Kinda weak episode . But nice people .
So
Were Melissa and her Nice gray jeans coordinated w Tapper’s jacket? .
Again
Melissa .😍😍😍😍🤪🤪
Nice girl ..
Maybe a lil Salt and Peppa.?. Mm.. cute black girl there too…)
But seriously .
Does Melissa still work there? .
I haven’t been to Vegas in a while .. ☺️😊💋💋💋💋💋💋
Creepy man
There is hope for autism. You aren’t alone bro.
No. She gone
Just saw this episode in New Zealand, so glad they are still up and running. Great owner and glad his team are supporting him too.
Great job man
Is Ron still homeless? I hope not. He seemed like a great boss and a really sweet person!
I don’t think so given that the business is doing better and making money again.
A straight up dude, I wish him success, and that’s not my normal reaction to most these owners ha
Amen 🙏, right bro.
Just back from Vegas, wanted to visit bar but things happen, hope still well next year, will update if open.
This is my favorite episode. Ron made a joke on Facebook about “selling his soul to reality TV”, but he’s an endearing character. Very happy for him that this is a “Bar Rescue” success story!
I watched and I’m happy to see they are still open, however based on mixed reviews I will not make an effort to visit until they get there score up to at least a 4.5 or 4.6…I don’t mind ok food but I HATE bad service
Just checked on google and it says permanently closed?
Thanks for letting me know. I will check it out and update if needed. It was still open when I checked earlier this year, but maybe that’s changed.
It is now closed.
Thanks for letting me know! I just updated the post to mark it as closed.
A bartender (Angela Davidson) posted on the still-alive Facebook page that Ronnie gambled away all the money and then blamed the staff for the bar’s closure, and that he still owes her money.
I couldn’t say that is true, but it is definitely true that she posted it.
On the main Paradise Cantina Facebook page, you mean?
https://www.facebook.com/paradisecantinalasvegas/
Also, Google shows it as “temporarily closed”, and Instagram indicates it is under new ownership.
https://www.instagram.com/paradisecantina/?hl=en