Sauced Bar Rescue Update (Gil and Rick’s) – Dave Portnoy – Still Open in 2024?

Episode Recap

Gil & Rick’s Sports Bar and Pizzeria, later renamed to Sauced Sports Bar, was a Largo, Florida bar that was featured on Season 6 of Bar Rescue.

Though the Sauced Bar Rescue episode aired in May 2019, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place around a year earlier in 2018.

It was Season 6 Episode 36 and the episode name was “Pie Hard”. This is also the Dave Portnoy Bar Rescue episode if you’re a Barstool Sports fan, as Dave was one of Jon Taffer’s helpers.

In this episode, Jon Taffer and Dave Portnoy, a special guest, are in Largo, FL visiting Gil & Rick’s Sports Bar and Pizzeria.

Gil Grim and his friend Rick Johnson bought the bar in 2015, which means they’ve owned it for about three years at the time of the Gil & Rick’s Bar Rescue visit.

Due to the owner’s inexperience in the hospitality industry, the bar declines.

Gil and Rick have invested a lot of time and money into the bar and are now in debt.

The two men also manage the bar differently, which leads to confusion amongst the staff. 

As I mentioned above, Jon Taffer has a very special guest for this episode – Dave Portnoy.

If you’re not familiar with Dave, he’s the founder and CEO of Barstool Sports.

In addition to managing that company, he’s also very active on social media, including posting videos where he reviews pizzas from all the places that he visits.

Because the bar in this episode serves pizza, it seems like a perfect chance for some cross-promotion with Barstool Sports, which is why the Dave Portnoy Bar Rescue episode happened.

To see what’s happening in the bar, Jon Taffer and Dave Portnoy are watching camera footage in the car.

The hidden camera footage shows the owners not working hard.

The footage also shows Erica, the bar manager, Kelly and Michael, the bartenders, and the kitchen manager, Taz. 

Frank, a Barstool Sports staffer, goes into Gil and Rick’s Sports Bar and is told to order every pizza option on the menu.

After sitting for a while, Frank’s order is finally taken.

Taz is upset in the kitchen about Frank’s order because it’s so big. He keeps calling Frank an a**hole, even though all Frank did was order some food.

It’s also weird because Taz has to keep looking at the menu to even make the pizzas in the first place.

To make things even more awkward, Gil approaches Frank at the bar and asks him to prepay for his meal.

This really grinds Jon Taffer’s gears because it’s not creating a good customer experience.

Rick and Taz make the pizzas in the kitchen and bring them out to Frank.

Dave Portnoy enters the bar and tries the pizzas with Frank.

Frank and Dave decide the pizza is undercooked and greasy.

After entering the bar, Jon samples the pizzas and gives the owners negative feedback.

He also tells them he doesn’t appreciate how they treated their customers. 

The next day Jon Taffer returns.

Rick is condemned for giving away fifteen complimentary cocktails the day before.

Pizza maker Frank Pinello and mixologist Rob Floyd are introduced to further help with the rescue.

While inspecting the bar, Jon Taffer finds dirt and grime all over the floor and the soda guns. 

Rob trains the bartenders on a margarita after the owners and the staff clean the bar.

Frank teaches the cooks in the kitchen how to make a tasty pizza quick.

The stress test is about to begin, and the customers are going to time how long it takes from when they order their pizza until they receive it.

Immediately the bar is overrun with customers. 

Taz is overwhelmed in the kitchen and keeps messing up.

The oven is broken, so the pies are cooking unevenly.

Jon Taffer shuts down the test once the kitchen reaches one hour’s wait time.

The next day, Rob trained the staff on making Rick’s Mule, a signature drink.

The kitchen staff learns how to cook pizza like a New Yorker. 

Jon Taffer also meets with Rick and Gil and reminds them they need to support each other to keep the bar afloat.

While all of that’s happening, Jon Taffer and his crew are also hard at work on renovating Gil & Rick’.

Before the relaunch, the renovations are revealed.

As part of the changes, Jon has changed the bar’s name to Sauced.

I think the new is a huge improvement as it’s easier to remember and also has some fun wordplay for a bar.

If you’re not familiar, “sauced” is also slang for being drunk.

Beyond the new name, there are also physical changes and improvements in the bar.

Draft Medic supplied the bar with a beer tower, and East Coast Chair and Barstool gifted the bar new furniture. 

Customers come to the bar for the relaunch.

The bar can keep up with all of the orders coming in.

The customers love the décor and the pizza. 

So is Sauced still open in 2024 and was the first and only Dave Portnoy Bar Rescue episode a success? Keep reading to learn what happened next!