(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 6 | View All Season 6 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: March 11, 2018
The Bar's Original Name Was: Game Time Sports Grille
The Legacy Bar and Grille Address: 11695 Hwy 70 Ste 101 Arlington, TN 38002
Episode Recap
Game Time Sports Grille, later renamed to The Legacy Bar and Grille, was an Arlington, Tennessee bar that was featured on Season 6 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Legacy Bar Rescue episode aired in March 2018, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that.
It was Season 6 Episode 1 and the episode name was “Put It on Cody’s Tab”.
Game Time Sports Grill is in Arlington, TN.
Arlington is a small town that’s in the suburbs of Memphis, so it’s part of a larger metropolitan area.
Teresa and Bryan are the owners who bought the bar in 2008.
That means they’ve owned the bar for almost a decade at the time of the Game Time Sports Bar Rescue episode.
Their son Cody was in college when they purchased the bar.
The bar was initially successful, but soon their inexperience began to show.
The owners then put the bar in their son’s name, so they didn’t have to file for bankruptcy.
Cody has had to leave his dreams behind and come back to run the bar and clear the debt in his name.
The staff does not respect Cody despite him being the owner.
Lisamarie Joyce, an expert mixologist, and Chef Vic Vegas assist Jon Taffer with the rescue.
Jon tells the experts about Cody, who recently had a baby.
Bryan sits at the bar while Cody and his mother are working.
The footage also shows the kitchen’s unsafe practices.
Jon recruits three local women to spy on the bar and get some intel for the rescue.
Bryan asks the females for their IDs at the bar despite not identifying himself as the manager.
Teresa tells him to stop as it is not his job to do that but the bartenders.
She also calls him out on his drinking, but he still has another one.
Bryan gives free shots to the spies, and his wife tries to stop him.
The couple goes outside to fight, and Bryan follows her back inside, where the fighting continues.
Jon comes in and meets Cody in the office.
Bryan doesn’t care and continues to drink at the bar.
Teresa tries to get Bryan to join them in the office.
He leaves and gets physical, which causes a fight outside.
Cody tells his dad he will no longer be allowed at the bar drunk, and Teresa doesn’t stop him from leaving.
The next day Bryan is shown footage of his behavior.
Bryan says he is sorry, and Teresa is quick to forgive him.
Cody and Jon Taffer think Teresa enables her husband.
Lisamarie looks over the bar and finds out the cooler is broken.
The bar also loses a lot of beer, so they will not serve beer that night until the issue is fixed.
Chef Vic Vega and Jon look at the walk-in cooler, which is dirty.
The staff has to clean the kitchen before training.
Lisamare has Bryan and Cody make a drink together while the team berates Bryan as he does.
Bryan is in charge of the bar for the stress test, and Teresa will run the kitchen.
The bar is quickly overwhelmed, and customers wait up to twenty minutes for drinks.
Cody is making too many mistakes, but Bryan is at least doing well at the bar.
Chef Vic stops raw chicken from being served, which could’ve caused food poisoning for some of the guests.
Cook David keeps eggshells on the counter, which contaminates the food and everything has to be tossed out.
David gets mad and needs to cool down.
The test is shut down, and Jon Taffer calls a meeting to address what happened.
Now, it’s time to start making improvements at Game Time Sports Grille…
The kitchen is trained on a steak dish.
While that’s happening, Lisamarie trains the staff on a female-centric whiskey cocktail.
Jon meets with the owners and tells Bryan his son is worthy of his respect.
Bryan promises to change and give his son consideration.
As part of the renovations, the bar is renamed The Legacy for its family commitment.
The full new name is The Legacy Bar & Grille.
The interior is now decorated with wood and leather furniture.
They have been gifted Bistro-style uniforms, so the staff looks more high-end.
In the kitchen, David has been given a chef’s coat.
The kitchen is excellent even though David is nervous.
Jon Taffer feels good about the bar as he leaves.
So was the Gametime Sports Grill Bar Rescue episode a success? Keep reading our update to learn what happened next and if the Legacy is still open in 2024 and beyond.
The Legacy Bar and Grille Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Legacy Bar Rescue visit, let’s talk about what happened after Jon Taffer and his crew left Arlington, TN.
Things for the newly named The Legacy Bar and Grille started off well.
At the six-week check-in with the Bar Rescue producers, we learn that sales at the bar are up by more than 20%.
David is also taking much better care of the kitchen than what you saw on the Game Time Sports Bar Rescue episode, which is good to see.
The bar seemed to be doing well for a while. Unfortunately, though, it would eventually become a victim of the global Covid-19 pandemic and associated government closures.
Is The Legacy from Bar Rescue still open?
The Legacy Bar and Grille closed for good in January 2021, which is a little under three years after the Bar Rescue The Legacy episode aired on TV.
In December 2020, they had to close for 14 days due to violating a Covid-19 health violation.
You can see a post about the closure here.
The closure came from the Shelby County Health Department and was “due to multiple documented violations of requirements and provisions” of the health directives.
Here’s another local news article about the bar’s struggles with the Covid-19 restrictions.
The Legacy owners were waiting to reopen, but that took too long, and they lost too much money.
The owners decided to stay closed for good. You can read about this in the bar’s last Facebook post here:
Ok, most people know that The Legacy was shut down by the SCHD on Dec. 14,2020 for “breaking the rules” I will OWN that one.
But when a great band like Twin Soul is playing it’s hard to keep control.
We as owners and employees did everything that the SCHD told us we had to do to reopen.
We were inspected and PASSED on Dec. 21, 2020.
We ask if we could reopen and she informed us that she would turn it in and Bruce Randolph would have to approve it and send someone to take the sign off the door so we could reopen.
Another week passed and no word.
So we made the tough decision to close our doors permanently.
Well!!! I’m starting to adjust to there just no being a Legacy in Arlington anymore.
Owner locked us out, everything is going downhill!
Here’s a screenshot of the actual Facebook post:
However, the owners claim that the health department “buried the Legacy paperwork to keep us from reopening”, so they seem to think there was some funny business.
I have no idea what happened – just relaying what they said on Facebook.
Here’s an earlier post from them about the issues (it was posted on December 29 2020):
I also found a local news report about what happened – you can watch the short video here.
Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video – you have to watch it on the Action News 5 website.
Either way, it’s pretty clear that The Legacy Bar and Grille is closed for good.
Despite that, it does seem to have been out of their hands, so I don’t think you can fault the owners or Jon Taffer too much for the failure here.
As of 2023, the old The Legacy Arlington, TN location is now occupied by a catering service named Pink Flamingo Catering and Events.
So, it seems like there’s no longer a bar at that location, but reach out to them if you need any catering services in Arlington, TN.
The Legacy reviews after Bar Rescue
At the time of its closure, The Legacy bar and Grille had a 3 star rating on Yelp and a 4.1 star rating on Google Reviews, which aren’t great (but I’ve seen worse).
Overall, a lot of people seem to say that the service was slow (but friendly).
There were also some criticisms about the quality of the food.
Here’s a sampling of a few reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer…
5 star review from August 2020:
Great spot.
Underrated thus far and idk why.
Wings were seasoned well and crispy.
Country burger was perfect.
I mean perfect.
Asked it be cooked medium and the egg over easy.
Whoever is cooking got it down pat.
All 5 of us were more than satisfied.
Honestly it feels like compelling business may be driving reviews down.
I’m not the easiest to please but if you had the same experience I had you’d agree.
3 star review from December 2019:
Good portions on food selections however the food was bland and tasteless.
It’s a great place to watch a game because there are a ton of TVs to watch from.
Unfortunately we received bad intel and brought our kids for “brunch”.
The server had no idea what we were talking about when we asked about their brunch menu.
I would come back if I was with friends and looking for a decent place to watch a game but I’m not bringing the family back.
3 star review from August 2018:
The food was quite tasty.
We had a chicken philly and the country burger.
Both were very nicely seasoned.
The bar was very clean.
The only issue was that service was slow compared to the actual crowd size.
The server was very sweet, but just slow.
It was time consuming getting a bottled beer from the bar.
We will definitely go back, just hoping the service improves.
Regardless of the reviews, one thing is for sure – The Legacy from Arlington, Tennessee is officially closed for good.
If you want to see some other Tennessee Bar Rescue episodes, you can check out these posts:
- Gaddy Shack / Crossroads Grille update
- Pit and Barrel / BoondoxXx BBQ update
- Robusto / Havana Mix Cigar update
- The Dickson / Wanted Saloon update
- MT Bottles and Cans update
- Brew U / Fairways Golf & Grill update
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-legacy-bar-and-grille-arlingtonhttps://www.facebook.com/LegacyBarandGrille/
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Last updated: 2023-03-01 06:25
This one breaks my heart, Jon came in and fixed the horrible family dynamic that was ruining their son’s dreams and life and seemingly really turned things around. To be taken out by Covid and govt bureaucracy is just horrible. I wish Cody and his family all the best.
Yeah, Jon fixed that marriage, that Dad, c’mon dude, you serious man? Food establishments that refuse to respect health should be shut down and I’m as “small gov” as it gets
You sound like a big government liberal. So many restaurants in America got shut down, even after following guidelines
Shame on these parents!!! WTH? Saddle your kid with the debt YOU owe so you don’t have to file for bankruptcy. The son never wanted to be in the bar business. These parents disgust me!!
A case of government (city) that did want this place around, another case of blaming COVID for health violations. Hope the owners follow up with a law suit against the city. Something sticks here and it’s not the bar!
Sue the city for clueless health and wellness procedures, brilliant idea. I’m sure they’ll cut a big fat check that very day.
Had hoped for them, bad times with violations, then the government restrictions, covid.. closed a lot over places around TN, they let go of standards, and had spotlight on them, overall just a shame.
Jon Taffer doesn’t have a very good track record for successful for bars to stay open. Every time I check to see if the business is still open and most of them say they are closed. What’s the point in putting all that money in to fix the places up only to have the owners fail. The show is getting monotonous. I would like to see a business grow and succeed like it was intended.
They were successful and stayed open for 3 yrs after Bar Rescue. Did you read the review or even watch the episode?
People tend to sell the bars after Jon Taffer remodels them. That way, they get their money back. Please don’t blame Taffer for that.
It’s not neurosurgery, good food isn’t some uncrackable riddle. It’s hard work and dedication. Taffer remodels places, everything else is common sense. He may present as if he’s the only person on the planet w such knowledge, and apparently, there’s plenty of tv viewers that buy that shtick hook line and sinker. So weird how gullible people are to reality tv
I’ve seen plenty that are still open. I even remember when did one in a small Arizona town south of Phoenix, (Maricopa). I was disappointed it was closed, but that was for the show, and got to be a customer. It’s still there, and many other ones are also. It’s not Jon’s fault the decisions the owners make. He’s also had to go back and re rescue a few other ones
Watching that plump gray headed old guy chatting up those 28 y o’s as they gagged, and him thinking he was a badass college freshman was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.
That grill mans pinpoint pupils were a bad sign. Uncle opi onboard and the chickens raw
Did the son get stuck with all the restaurants debt or did they do well enough in the 3 yrs they were open to pay it off? Hope he didn’t have to shoulder a large debt!!
Girl! You read my mind!
Worst parents ever. Especially that sorry excuse for a father. Disgusting. Poor Cody. I absolutely loved how much Taffer ripped into him. He said everything Cody probably wanted to.