Shores Bar Rescue Update (Inland Tavern) – Still Open Today?

Is Shores Bar + Kitchen still open today?

Status: >> OPEN <<
(keep reading to learn what happened)

Season: 9 | View All Season 9 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: June 9, 2024
The Bar's Original Name Was: Inland Tavern
Shores Bar + Kitchen Address: 1001 W San Marcos Blvd, San Marcos, CA 92078

Inland Tavern Bar Rescue update

Episode Recap

Inland Tavern, later renamed to Shores Bar + Kitchen, was a San Marcos, California bar that was featured on Season 9 of Bar Rescue.

Though the Shores Bar Rescue episode aired in June 2024, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place in September 2023.

It was Season 9 Episode 15 and the episode name was “Inland Tavern, Underwater”.

In this episode, the Bar Rescue crew heads to San Marcos, California to rescue the Inland Tavern.

I say the “Bar Rescue crew” and not Jon Taffer because, unfortunately, this is another episode where Jon is not doing the rescue in person.

Instead, Phil Wills will be rescuing the Inland Tavern, along with his experts.

Inland Tavern experts on Bar Rescue led by Phil Wills

I think this is a bit of a bummer as, if we can’t have Taffer, I would at least prefer that it’s Ashish (who has been my favorite guest host so far).

At the time that the episode aired, this marked Bar Rescue’s 54th visit to California.

It’s by far the most popular state on the show.

If you’re not familiar with California geography, San Marcos is located just to the North of San Diego, near Carlsbad.

The bar is located in a strip mall, like a lot of other bars on the show.

However, it is on the end of the complex and has a nice patio area, so the atmosphere is better than normal.

The Inland Tavern bar is owned by Pete Zacarias, who bought the bar back in 2012.

At the time that Pete bought it, the bar was named Penny Lane.

The bar had been around for 21 years at the time that Pete bought it, but Pete gave it a big renovation in 2015, which I think is when he changed the name to Inland Tavern.

As I mentioned above, Phil Wills is leading the team to rescue the bar, rather than Jon Taffer.

When the experts watch footage of the bar, they see one of the bartenders using a steak knife to cut a jalapeno for the cocktail.

Inland Tavern bartender

Then, she proceeds to kind of just wing it and not measure any of the ingredients in the cocktail.

Phil also notes that the bartenders seem to only work out of one side of the bar, despite there also being a well on the other side.

He then sees her mixing and straining the drink improperly, which doesn’t make the experts feel any better.

That’s all I really have for the episode so far since I’m writing this a day before it airs on TV.

I might come back and update this with a more detailed episode recap once it airs.

However, I do know what happened in terms of renovations.

As part of the rescue, Phil Wills and the Bar Rescue team opted to change the name of the bar.

They switched it from Inland Tavern to Shores Bar + Kitchen.

One commenter on the bar’s Facebook page had a funny response to the name change haha.

Funny comment about name change

So – was the Inland Tavern Bar Rescue visit a long-term success?

Keep reading my update to learn what happened next and if this San Marcos bar is still open in 2025.

Shores Bar + Kitchen Update - What Happened Next?

Now that we’ve recapped the episode, let’s talk about how the bar is doing after Phil Wills and his crew left San Marcos, CA.

I’ll start by talking about whether the bar is still open, along with some events and details on the bar.

Then, I’ll look at what customer reviews are like after the rescue, along with any other fun details that I can find.

Is Shores Bar still open after Bar Rescue?

As of my most recent check in 2024, Shores is still open and serving customers in San Marcos, CA.

What’s more, they seem to have totally embraced the new name and concept from Bar Rescue and are continuing to use those across all of their channels.

Shores Name change

This is great to see, as some of the other bars from this season haven’t gone all-in.

The bar is very active on social media, regularly posting about events and specials.

They seem to have a lot of the food/drink specials that you’d expect from a bar, such as Taco Tuesdays.

Shores Bar Taco Tuesday event

There’s also a Sunday brunch that seems to be popular.

People can add bottomless mimosas to an entree for $14.99, which seems like a great deal if someone wants to get toasty on a Sunday morning.

Inland Tavern brunch special

The bar also has live music, which is another cool thing going on.

They seem to have it on some evenings, as well as during the brunches sometimes.

Live music shows

There’s also an official website for Shores that lists the menu and events.

Here’s a screenshot of the Shores menu to give you an idea of the prices:

Inland Tavern menu after Bar Rescue

The prices seem pretty good for the area, to be honest.

The menu page also lists the full beer list, which seems to be pretty good.

I would probably stop in if I lived in the area.

They also offer catering services for events and parties, which gives them another source of revenue.

Inland Tavern catering services

Here’s what the Shores San Marcos location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view…

The preview hasn’t been updated since 2022, unfortunately.

I’m mainly including it so that you can explore the area around the bar.

Shores Bar reviews after Bar Rescue

Next, let’s take a look at some real customer reviews that have been written after Bar Rescue visited the bar.

Overall, the bar has an 3.7 star rating on Yelp and an 4.2 star rating on Google.

However, both of those numbers include a lot of reviews from back when it was known as Inland Tavern.

To see how things have changed, I always focus exclusively on reviews that were written after the Bar Rescue visit.

Because the actual rescue happened back in September 2023, we have a good amount of reviews to choose from.

There have been a ton of Yelp reviews, with most of them being very positive.

There are a few negative ones mixed in…

But in general, the bar is doing a lot better than its over 3.7 star rating, and I estimate that the post-Bar Rescue reviews are well over 4 stars.

It’s the same on Google, where most of the recent reviews are positive (though there are a few negative ones mixed in).

People seem to praise the food, drinks, and the quality of the service people.

One of the common criticisms in the negative reviews is that the bar is often understaffed.

This seems to have also been a complaint back when it was Inland Tavern, so it kind of seems like that part hasn’t changed since Phil’s visit.

Basically, people seem to praise the staff that work there – some reviewers just wish that there were more of them.

Here’s a sampling of a few real customer reviews so that you can see what people are saying about the new Shores concept…

5 star Yelp review from April 2024:

Example review #1

5 star Yelp review from April 2024:

Example review #2

5 star Google review from February 2024:

Example review #3

5 star Yelp review from March 2024:

Example review #4

5 star Yelp review from March 2024:

Example review #5

5 star Yelp review from January 2024:

Example review #6

4 star Yelp review from September 2023:

Example review #7

4 star Google review from December 2023:

Example review #8

3 star Yelp review from November 2023:

Example review #9

3 star Yelp review from September 2023 (right after the rescue):

Example review #10

3 star Yelp review from May 2024:

Example review #11

These are just a sampling of some of the reviews that I found the most interesting – the bar has had absolutely tons of reviews since the remodel, so you can use the Yelp page link (below) to read even more if you want.

Final thoughts on the episode

Overall, Shores seems to have completely embraced the new concept from Bar Rescue.

The customer reviews from after Phil’s visit also seem to be much better than from before Bar Rescue, which is great to see.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the bar stay open for a long time given that the changes seem to be really having a positive effect.

That wraps up my Shores Bar Rescue update.

If you want to see some other nearby California episodes, you also might be interested in my updates for Sierra Madre Cantina / Kalaveraz Cocina-Cantina in Escondido, Way Point Saloon / Molly Malone’s in Ramona, and Off Base Bar / Filling Station Pub in San Diego proper.

I also have a page that lists all 54+ California episodes.

And if you want to share your thoughts on the bar or the episode, you can join other people in doing so in the comments section below.

As always – thanks for reading!


More Information

https://www.yelp.com/biz/shores-bar-kitchen-san-marcos
https://www.facebook.com/shoresbarkitchen


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And don't forget to check out all of the other Bar Rescue updates.

Last updated: 2024-06-10 08:03

1 thought on “Shores Bar Rescue Update (Inland Tavern) – Still Open Today?”

All comments are the sole opinion of the commenter and are not endorsed by RealityTVUpdates.

  1. I hate how they don’t show the bars anymore after the gran openings! They just do a quick walk in and then they just open and the shows over. They used to walk through the whole bar/kitchen and show all the updates, and with this new season they don’t do any of that anymore. I thought it was just the first few episodes, but now I am noticing it is every episode. Bummer. I want to see the bars!

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