(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 6 | View All Season 6 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: May 13, 2018
The Bar's Original Name Was: The Cave Sports Bar
The Cave Sports Bar Address: 628 W Orangewood Ave Anaheim, CA 92802
Episode Recap
The Cave Sports Bar was an Anaheim, California bar that was featured on Season 6 of Bar Rescue.
Though the The Cave Bar Rescue episode aired in May 2018, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that.
It was Season 6 Episode 10 and the episode name was “Caving In” .
In this episode, Jon Taffer and his crew head to The Cave Sports Bar to try to save it.
The Cave Sports Bar is in Anaheim, CA.
Bolivian Maria Apaza, who moved to America when she was 21, owns the bar.
Her husband purchased the bar in 1995.
The bar was then named La Cabana.
Unfortunately, he died in 2000, and Maria had no choice but to lead the bar even with two children.
It’s a very sad story.
The Cave Sports Bar was successful at first, but Maria began experiencing health issues.
Jaime, Maria’s son, stepped in for her.
In 2015 Jaime renamed and remodeled the bar.
Due to cutting corners, the bar doesn’t work well.
The corners of the bar are sharp and can cut the staff as they walk.
The team is allowed to drink, and Jaime starts to ban customers.
With Maria not in control, the bar is out of it. It’s experiencing a ton of issues, so it needs the Cave Bar Rescue episode to turn things around.
Mia Mastroianni, bartender and mixologist, joins Jon Taffer to help save the bar.
The bar windows are blacked out, and Jon and Maria agree the bar looks untrustworthy.
The bar is in a popular location since it is near many hotels and Disneyland.
Blacked out windows doesn’t really match the Disneyland vibes, though.
Eric, Nimra, Cynthia, and Jessica are the bartenders at The Cave Sports Bar.
The spies Jon sends in order drinks that taste terrible.
There is only one soda gun and one ice bin.
A bus full of hospitality professionals, sent by Jon, enters the bar.
Jaime is shocked and gives out shots.
Maria asks Jaime to help out with the bar, but he is rude to his mother.
Jon Taffer enters the bar and talks to Jaime, who is full of reasons why the bar is failing.
The next day Jon returns for a staff meeting.
The staff is reminded about the drunk bartenders who pass out at the bar and customers who puke in front of the bar.
Mia is then introduced.
Mia tells the bartenders they must stop overpouring and drinking at the bar.
She then shows them drinks with blueberry lemonade and fruit punch.
The stress test challenges the staff to make 70 drinks in one hour equals one drink per 30 seconds.
There are many drinks Mia dumps during the test because they weren’t made properly.
The bar reaches 70 cocktails at the last second despite some stumbles.
Jon shows Jaime a Partender report.
The bar lost almost $5,000 the previous weekend because of overpouring, which is a massive issue.
How are you supposed to be profitable if you’re wasting thousands in lost liquor sales?
Jaime begins to take accountability for his part in the bar’s decline.
Mia then trains the staff on green cocktails.
Maria and Jaime are emotional when Jon unveils the bar after the renovations.
Unlike a lot of other bars that appear on the show, Jon Taffer opted not to change the name and stuck with The Cave Sports Bar.
However, he did make a lot of changes inside the bar.
The bar top has been replaced with marble.
The bar has been gifted two new POS systems, two soda guns, and two ice bins.
Over 200 people are waiting to be let into the bar for the relaunch.
Jaime does a great job managing the bar. The night is a success.
So was the Bar Rescue The Cave Sports Bar episode a long-term success?
Keep reading to learn what happened next and if this Anaheim CA bar is still open in 2024…
The Cave Sports Bar Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the The Cave Bar Rescue visit, let’s talk about what happened to the bar after Jon Taffer and his crew left Anaheim, CA.
Six weeks later and sales have increased by thirty percent, which is a great beginning for the bar.
Jaime manages the bar alone now while Maria can stay home to rest.
So would the good times last? So far, it seems like the answer is yes.
Is The Cave Sports Bar from Bar Rescue still open?
As of 2024, The Cave Sports Bar is still open and serving customers in Anaheim, CA.
It did seem to briefly close for the Covid-19 pandemic, but it has long since reopened and is doing well.
A reviewer did mention that the bar has stopped serving food, but I’m not sure if that’s true or not.
Reviews for the bar are very good as it has a 4.5 star rating on Yelp, which is pretty high for a bar that was featured on Bar Rescue.
People seem to enjoy watching sports there, along with the drinks and food.
They also seem to draw a lot of people who are staying at nearby hotels.
They regularly post and advertise events on the Cave Sports Bar Facebook page, which I’ve linked below.
At the other location (more on that later), they seem to have regular live music from DJs, such as this event flyer from Facebook.
Here’s what the Cave Anaheim CA location looks like today…
This is the most recent picture from Google Maps street view:
The Cave reviews after Bar Rescue
Overall, The Cave Sports Bar has a 4.3 star Yelp rating on over 200 reviews, which is quite good for a bar that appeared on Bar Rescue.
That number includes reviews from both before and after the Jon Taffer visit, but reviews from after the episode seem to generally be positive.
Here’s a sampling of a few reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer…
5 star Yelp review from June 2022:
So we went back to The Cave last night and it was, once again, a stellar example of a local dive bar.
Great bartender and a cast of characters that a movie director would dream of.
Excellent Mexican food delivered from the restaurant next door!
3 star Yelp review from May 2017:
Came to watch boxing event.
Was charge 15$ per person.
Only one bartender for a bar filled with 34 people, Including myself.
Was a hassle to get a drink. eventually was able to.
Would not recommend to come during sports events if you want to get drinks.
Maybe if you want to stand and watch only.
Since seating is semi limited past 20 people.
3 stars, met the bare minimum to justify it as a bar, probably due to the canelo fight.
Drink was well made.
5 star Yelp review from April 2022:
Was here in April 2022.
They had all the games on, NBA playoffs too.
Drinks were cheap from what I remember.
They no longer serve food but you can walk next door to the Mexican restaurant and they will deliver it over, so that worked out.
All in all a great spot. Mexican food was tasty too.
5 star Yelp review from March 2022:
Small place. Came here after a celebration for my husband at the Disney Hotel.
Because everything closes so darn early at DT Disney, I found this bar to close at regular hours and was also the closest.
I ordered a tequila Sunrise, which was made with pineapple juice because there was no orange juice.
My husband ordered a Moscow mule and both drinks were so good!
I ended up ordering a Moscow mule for myself after.
Bartender was friendly and ambience was pretty chill.
Wasn’t over crowded and an enjoyable place to chill and drink for the rest of the night.
The Cave Opened a New Location in 2018
The Cave Sports Bar is doing so well, in fact, that they actually opened up a second location in Garden Grove, CA.
They opened this location in mid-2018.
You can see more in this Facebook post.
As of 2024, the Garden Grove location is also still open and seems to have good reviews.
You can check out the Yelp page for the Garden Grove location here.
Final thoughts on The Cave bar
Overall, this one seems like a real Bar Rescue success story as the bar isn’t just surviving, but it’s also expanding and growing.
The original The Cave Anaheim location that you saw on the show is still open.
But what’s more, the bar has also expanded to open a new location, which is also still open in 2024.
Congrats to Jon Taffer and the Cave Sports Bar owners!
If you want to see some other nearby Bar Rescue California episodes, you can check out my updates for Second Base / Extremes in Orange, Bottoms Up Bar and Grill in Stanton, The Olive Pit / OP in Orange, and Canyon Inn / Canyon Saloon in Yorba Linda.
And if you want to share your thoughts on the episode or if you’ve been to The Cave Sports Bar in person, please use the comments section below.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-cave-sports-bar-anaheimhttps://www.facebook.com/thecavesportsbar1/
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Last updated: 2024-03-03 05:40
Really happy to read Jaime and Maria are doing well. Really good staff too!
I watched the episode and they have never served food so I’m not sure why anyone would note that they “no longer served food”.
Taffer says before the opening, “We have about 200 people out there…” you couldn’t fit 25 people in that hole!
I went because curious, was in area, but even tho wad wyd bruh had no food. Left to go to dinner. I’d say successful because I didn’t think they would last til show aired.
I wish more bar rescue participants would listen to Jon they would be millionaires! I don’t understand why some don’t listen to him. He is making money because he knows what he is doing. Thank you for sharing the success stories.
I wonder how the pirate bar is doing in 2024 and if they would have done things differently afterwards. Going back to what wasn’t working is unbelievable!
Thank you.