(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 8 | View All Season 8 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: April 3, 2022
The Bar's Original Name Was: The Brick Tavern
Char Bar and BBQ Address: 7340 S State Hwy 78, Sachse, TX 75048
Episode Recap
The Brick Tavern, later renamed Char Bar and BBQ, was a Sachse, Texas bar that was featured on Season 8 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Brick Tavern Bar Rescue episode aired in April 2022, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that in November 2021.
It was Season 8 Episode 15 and the episode name was “Personal Assistant, Professional Failure”.
In this episode, Jon Taffer visits The Brick Tavern, which is located in Sachse, TX.
It’s a local bar in a strip mall that has a lot of musical acts as part of its entertainment.
Sachse is a small city that’s part of the Dallas suburbs, being located to the northeast of Dallas.
The population of Sachse is only around 26,000 people, but it’s obviously a lot bigger when you factor in the Dallas suburbs.
It’s only around 30 minutes from JFK plaza in Dallas to the restaurant in Sachse.
It’s also a generally affluent area, so the bar should have a good chance of working well.
The bar is owned by Charlene Winter, a successful real estate executive and business owner (real estate and remodeling) who wanted to get into the bar business.
In 2012, she bought her local bar, which was The Brick Tavern.
That means she’s owned it for almost a decade at the time of the Brick Tavern Bar Rescue episode.
However, she has no experience bartending or waitressing, so it’s difficult to apply her other business experience to the bar business.
Her basic idea was to have running The Brick Tavern be her retirement plan.
Her ownership at the bar started off well because of the Brick Tavern’s existing customer base.
Basically, she was piggy-backing off the success of the previous Brick Tavern owner.
However, it started to go downhill because of Charlene’s lack of management skills.
In fact, that’s one of the problems – there’s no actual manager at The Brick Tavern.
Charlene also doesn’t trust her employees and give them full responsibility, which makes it hard for things to run smoothly.
Bre and Kyan, two bartenders, believe the bar still has potential, if it can only get the right systems in place.
That’s Jon Taffer’s specialty, so it should be possible.
Because of these issues, the previously loyal customers stopped coming in at The Brick Tavern and things went downhill fast.
The kitchen is also super gross – so gross that the staff won’t eat at The Brick Tavern, which is never a good sign.
There are cockroaches and mold – all the usual suspects of a real Bar Rescue disaster kitchen.
To help right the ship at the bar, Charlene makes her own personal assistant, Cassi, the bar manager.
That’s why the episode name is “Personal Assistant, Professional Failure”.
Cassi thinks she can be successful if Charlene gives her the authority, but Cassi struggles to be both a personal assistant and a bar manager.
I agree with Cassi – you can’t just make someone a bar manager if you hired them as a personal assistant.
Things are so bad at the bar that Charlene is in over $530,000 of debt.
She’s had to raid her retirement accounts to keep the bar afloat, but things still just aren’t working out.
Basically, there are a lot of issues that need to be fixed, so Jon Taffer and his crew definitely have their work cut out for them.
As part of the renovations, Jon Taffer changed the name from The Brick Tavern to Char Bar & BBQ.
As the name suggests, it has a new focus on barbeque, which fits the Texas location.
The bar will still have live music, though, so that part isn’t going away.
I gotta be honest – I don’t really like the new name. It seems so generic. But who am I to argue with Jon Taffer?
The Brick Tavern Bar Rescue visit and renovations happened in November 2021.
The new Char Bar and BBQ had a soft opening on November 19 and a grand opening on November 20, 2021.
Charlene Winter posted about the reopening on her personal Facebook page here and you can see the event page for the reopening here.
So did it work out? Let’s talk about what happened next after the cameras stopped filming and how this Sachse Texas bar is doing in 2024 and beyond.
Char Bar and BBQ Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Char Bar and BBQ Bar Rescue visit, let’s talk about what happened after Jon Taffer and his crew left Sachse, Texas.
Unlike a lot of other bars on the show, Charlene has decided to keep the new name from Jon Taffer, at least for now.
You can see the new façade in this image from the What’s New in Wylie, TX Facebook page, which documented the Bar Rescue filming.
Since the relaunch, the bar has continued to use the Char Bar and BBQ branding.
Is The Brick Tavern / Char Bar & BBQ from Bar Rescue still open?
As of 2023, Char Bar and BBQ is still open and serving customers in Sachse, TX, still under the new name that Jon Taffer gave it.
The bar is quite active on its Facebook page, regularly posting about specials and events.
They seem to have regular live music every weekend, along with other events like a bingo night, karaoke, and more.
For example, in the Char Bar cover photo on its Facebook page, you can see the upcoming music events.
The bar also seems to heavily promote the “As Seen on Bar Rescue” angle:
However, the reviews for the new business don’t seem much better than when it was The Brick Tavern.
While Char Bar and BBQ doesn’t seem to have its own Yelp page yet, the Google Reviews aren’t good, with just a 2.6 star rating.
The Brick Tavern also only has a 2.5 star rating, which is what people seem to be using to review Char BBQ on Yelp.
People seem to say the food and service are still bad. Someone also left a comment about being blocked by a group of bikers.
Here’s a sampling of Char Bar and BBQ reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer…
5 star Google Review from September 2022:
Been coming here for years.
The food is alot better now that they have bbq.
And the service is always good.
Great live music on the weekends.
Definitely recommend this place.
3 star Google review from August 2022:
Planned to go see a band that ended up canceling, so the “house band” stood in….
no offense but with so many great bands touring DFW, Char Bar may consider expanding options.
At many points during the songs, no one in the band would be playing an instrument but there was a drum or guitar solo playing over the speakers.
Is it karaoke?
The drinks didn’t look like the photos in the menu and food was okay but took awhile.
Still a fair bit of wasted space, and only staff to greet us was the bartender – we walked right past the manager on the show twice but she never looked up from her beer bottle.
1 star Yelp review from August 2022:
So no longer the brick tavern maybe it should still be…
Because the char bar sucks….
If you want food don’t bother hour and a half in on just a simple appetizer no show…
Overpriced drinks half of a bar and bad bartenders pass…
Not a good place $50 in and still no food so suck itsSo no longer the brick tavern maybe it should still be.,.. because the char bar
1 star Yelp review from November 2021:
Went to the grand opening last night 11/20/21.
Probably the worst bbq if had in a while and the only plate that was fully eaten of our party of 8 was the loaded potato skins.
Both new drinks, the one with rosemary and the bourbon one, were awful to drink.
Understood and was patient with the servers but it’s the food that will not be back for.
Lots of bikers in the front entrance blocking the way, just FYI.
Not sure if that bothers anyone but just was hard to walk around them to get in the restaurant.
1 star Google review from June 2022:
Well this our first time here after the Bar Rescue…..
Not good at all.
We first got here sign says seat yourself so we did.
We were then told we needed to more to the actual bar area because the area we were in by the stage was just for an event.
So we move to the bar area then we were told 3/4 of the menu was out for the night…..won’t be back
As I mentioned above, Char Bar and BBQ still hosts live music acts, so you can hear some music along with your BBQ.
At the time of the Char Bar Rescue episode, the bar also seemed to be expanding.
In a March 30, 2022 post on its Facebook page, they offered $100 if someone refers an employee who works for the bar for more than 30 days.
So it seems like they’re actively in need of more staff, which is a good sign I guess.
The Facebook page also advertises a lot of musical acts, such as tribute bands for Motley Crue and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Overall, the jury is still out on whether the Char Bar Rescue episode will be a long-term success. But, at least for now, the bar is still going.
If you’re in the Sachse / Wylie Texas area and you want to check it out, you can learn more at the official Char Bar and BBQ website.
The Char BBQ menu seems pretty affordable, with sandwiches only costing ~$7 and BBQ entrees going for $13-$16.
Here’s an example of the Char Bar and BBQ menu and prices:
If you want to connect with Charlene, you can see her Facebook page here.
She’s pretty active and posts a lot of travel pics.
If you want to see updates for other nearby Texas Bar Rescue episodes, you can check out my update posts for Harbor Point / JB Taco in Richardson, Ace’s Sports Hangar in The Colony, and Drunken Donkey in Lewisville.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-brick-tavern-sachse-4https://www.facebook.com/CHARBARBBQ/
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Last updated: 2023-03-09 06:45
This website states the address as Char Bar and BBQ Address: 7340 Hwy 78 Ste 1400 Sachse, TX 75048
This establishment is actually located in Wylie Texas
The official website and all of the social media profiles say Sachse, TX.
The website even describes the restaurant like this: “CHAR BAR & BBQ is Sachse, Texas’ hottest venue for live entertainment, awesome BBQ, and great craft drinks.”
Is Sachse part of Wylie, TX? Otherwise I’m pretty confident it’s in Sachse and not Wylie.
Hi I just watched this new episode and Jon Taffer did an Excellent Job remodeling that Bar!!! I love the Patio and everything about it!
I hope this bar succeeds because he did a very good job! I personally don’t think I could work with the staff or owner. They all seem so uptight and nervous. Nobody seemed happy about themselves. Just my observation, I could be wrong.
So what?
I give them a couple more months till they shut down for good. It’s just another bar closing statistic…
Bar Rescue is a show you love to hate. Between Taffer’s histrionics and success record (less than 50 percent), it’s like slowing down to watch a wreck. But, when they twice reference that the no one knows how to make a Godfather, a drink that doesn’t even make the list of the 200 most popular cocktails( let alone in a barbecue tavern in Texas!), a wonder what kind of Yankee know-it-all bravado is Taffer and his crew trying to sell here!
How do I contact Jordan ?
You can probably find her on Facebook. I try to avoid linking to the personal social media profiles of the employees as they didn’t sign up to be publicly shared on the internet. I only link to social media profiles for the owners as they made the decision to go on TV.
Any word on Cassi and why they left the bar?
I came here trying to find that out?
tough episode to watch; was like the Addams family. Thing could have helped out at the bar though
Thank you for the update. We are late to the party regarding the show Bar Rescue. However, had we seen the episode of this place prior to last Saturday night (June 24, 2023) we would have gone for the entertainment only, which btw was the best band ever, TEXAS FLOOD, which was the main reason we decided to go and thought… “who doesn’t love BBQ”. Well our food experience sucked and our first clue should have been there was absolutely zero smell of fresh BBQ or fresh anything cooking! Will never return!
She is trying to sell the smokers!
If u go to her page and on jul 28th is puts up the smokers for sale.
Google says this location is permanently closed.
Are you sure you’re using the right name? They created a new Google Business profile for Char Bar instead of re-using the Brick Tavern one.
The Brick Tavern is marked as permanently closed on Google. However, if you look at Char Bar it’s still marked as open and is still receiving reviews.
They’re also still actively posting on the Facebook page with no signs of closure. They just celebrated the bar’s 11th anniversary.
If you can share any other information I’m happy to update this if needed.
Thanks!
She’s selling the smokers?! What an assclown! She should have run with the Kevin Bludso BBQ and stuck with it, it was the only thing differentiating her from other bar failures. Good thing she is a real estate agent because she’ll be selling the bar soon enough.