(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 9 | View All Season 9 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: May 4, 2025
The Bar's Original Name Was: CJ's Pub
Smithton Station Address: 102 N Main St, Smithton, IL 62285
Episode Recap
CJ’s Pub and Grill, later renamed to Smithton Station Classic Kitchen & Cocktails, was a Smithton, Illinois bar that was featured on Season 9 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Smithton Station Bar Rescue episode aired in May 2025, the actual filming and visit from Bar Rescue took place before that in July 2024.
It was Season 9 Episode 33 and the episode name was “On the 3:10 to Failure”.
In this episode, we finally get Jon Taffer back in person doing a rescue, after having outsourced it to guest hosts for the past few episodes.
This time, Jon Taffer is in Smithton, Illinois.
If you’re not familiar with Smithton, it’s in the south of Illinois and not too far away from St. Louis.
That is, it definitely isn’t a Chicago suburb!
Jon Taffer is in town to rescue CJ’s Pub & Grill.
The bar is owned by a husband and wife duo named Jeremy and Christy.
It’s run out of a building that’s owned by the American Legion, though it’s a separate entity.
When Jon Taffer observes service at the bar, he instantly finds issues.
For example, the bartender is muddling a cocktail using a shot glass instead of an actual muddler, which results in his fingers getting in the drink.
They also have two spots where they make food – a pizza station out front and then an actual kitchen in the back, which obviously isn’t very efficient.
It’s also not a legal food service area, which could get them in trouble with the health department.
When Jon Taffer calls them out, Jeremy admits that he’s been “a little lazy”.
Jon Taffer also adds that he’s “a little full of sh*t” haha.
Then, Taffer sits down with some customers to get their experiences on the drinks.
One has a sweet margarita that tastes like “sour skittles”.
Taffer tries it and says it’s sugar water and he can’t taste any alcohol in the margarita.
When Taffer notices a bartender going into the walk-in, Taffer decides to go investigate.
He finds issues, with mold on the wall, gross stuff on the floor, and other problems.
All stuff that might require them to SHUT IT DOWN.
That’s it for the recap because I’m writing this a day before the episode airs on TV.
However, I do know what concept Taffer decided to put in.
He opted to change the bar’s name from CJ’s Pub to Smithton Station: Classic Kitchen & Cocktails.
So – was the CJ’s Pub Bar Rescue visit a long-term success?
Keep reading my update to learn what happened next and if this Smithton IL bar is still open in 2025.
Smithton Station Update - What Happened Next?
Now that I’ve recapped the episode, let’s talk about what happened to the bar after Jon Taffer and his crew left Smithton, Illinois.
I’ll start by talking about whether the bar is still open and using the concept from Jon Taffer.
Then, I’ll take a look at some real customer reviews for the bar and share any other interesting information that I’m able to turn up.
Let’s get into it, starting with the most important question on your mind…
Is Smithton Station still open after Bar Rescue?
Unfortunately, Smithton Station was already closed at the time that the Bar Rescue episode aired on TV.
After the rescue, the bar did operate as Smithton Station for a short time, but quickly switched back to the original CJ’s Pub concept.
Based on Facebook posts, it seems like they only used the Smithton Station name for less than a month, so they really didn’t give it much of a try.
They continued to operate as CJ’s Pub until around September 2024, when it closed as that concept.
The bar closed because Christy and Jeremy sold it to new owners, starting on September 15 2024.
The new owners have changed the name and it currently operates as The Roost Bar & Grill.
Here’s the Facebook post from the bar’s last day of operation:
It’s our last day and we would love to see each of you before our departure.
There will be live music on the patio and great food!
We open at 12pm…See you soon
Here’s the Facebook page for the new business that has replaced Smithton Station / CJ’s Pub.
Side note – if you’re an avid Bar Rescue watcher, you might remember that there have actually been two bars named “The Roost” on the show.
Here’s another Facebook post from the CJ’s Pub page where they promote The Roost:
Make sure you are following The Roost.
Terra & Dave purchased the location from CJ’s Pub and Grill last month.
Still supporting amazing live music and great food specials.
CHECK THEM OUT
As for the length that they used the new concept, I found a July 2024 Facebook post where the bar advertised itself as “Smithton Station: Previously CJ’s Pub & Grill”.
However, by early August (maybe earlier), the bar seems to have been back to exclusively calling itself CJ’s Pub.
Before they sold the bar and CJ’s Pub closed, it seemed to be pretty active with events and specials, including tons of live music.
I also did find a screenshot of the menu/prices from the Smithton Station concept, if you’re interested in those.
Here’s what the Smithton Station / CJ’s Pub location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view.
The picture was updated in September 2024, so it already includes the signage for the new The Roost bar.
Smithton Station reviews after Bar Rescue
Next, let’s look at some real customer reviews for Smithton Station / CJ’s Pub from after the visit from Jon Taffer.
Because the bar closed around three months after Taffer’s visit, there’s not a huge body of reviews to pull from.
Overall, the bar had a 4.3 star rating on 25 Google reviews and a 4.7 star rating on 3 Yelp reviews.
However, almost all of those reviews were written before Taffer’s changes, so it’s hard to get any feel for how the bar was doing after he left.
Final thoughts on the episode
Overall, this one unfortunately does not fit as a Bar Rescue success story.
The owners quickly switched back from the new Smithton Station concept to the original CJ’s Pub name.
Then, they ended up closing and selling the bar to new owners around September 2024, which was more than half a year before the episode aired on TV and only around three months after the actual visit from Jon Taffer.
At the time that the episode aired, the bar is operating as The Roost under that new ownership.
All in all, it’s a bummer that we actually get Taffer for an episode instead of a guest host and then it still turns into a failure because they didn’t keep his concept.
That’s it for my Smithton Station Bar Rescue update.
If you want to see some other nearby episodes, you can also read my updates for The Airliner in East Alton IL, Pastimes on 4th / O’Kelleys in St. Louis, City Bistro / The Beechwood in St. Louis, and Crafted / Van Goghz Martini Bar in St. Louis.
And if you want to share your thoughts on the bar or the episode, you can do so using the comments section below.
As always – thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/cj-s-pub-and-grill-smithtonhttps://www.facebook.com/p/CJs-Pub-and-Grill-100087882773102/
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Last updated: 2025-05-04 08:43
Looks like it was a remodel-then-sell situation.
They didn’t say it, but I’m guessing the train station mural on the wall is a photo of St. Louis Union Station.
Jon started out giving him the kinder veteran treatment he usually uses with the VFW rescues, but then flipped back to himself quickly.
They didn’t show Mia demonstrating the new cocktails after the stress test. Something seems off with her lately.
Instead they spent a lot of time showing Jen teach them how to carve steak. Everyone knows that they were never going to order beef in bulk and carve it like a real chef would. Just look at the outside–this is a place where older people stop by for beer. Planning for this to be a high volume restaurant with good steak products was always a waste of time.