(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 2 | View All Season 2 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: August 19, 2012
The Bar's Original Name Was: The Olive Pit
The O.P. Address: 834 E Lincoln Ave Ste B Orange, CA 92865
Episode Recap
The Olive Pit, later renamed The O.P., was an Orange, California bar that was featured on Season 2 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Olive Pit Bar Rescue episode aired in August 2012, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that.
It was Season 2 Episode 5 and the episode name was “Bottomless Pit”.
The Olive Pit is a bar in Orange, CA.
Orange is, obviously, located in Orange County.
It’s southeast of Los Angeles and right near Anaheim.
Tim, a former banker, is the owner.
In 2001 Tim bought the forty-one-year-old bar with his life savings, which means he’s owned it for over a decade before the Olive Pit Bar Rescue episode.
Due to his neglect, the bar began to decline, and they are now losing thousands of dollars.
Tim also flirts with the female customers and staff, which isn’t a great habit for a bar owner.
Tim’s daughter Tracy works at the bar and wants to take it over, but her dad will not let her.
Nicole, Jon’s wife, spies on The Olive Pit.
When she asks for a bar menu, she is told they don’t have one.
Julie is a cook and a server, so the kitchen gets put on the back burner, and tickets pile up.
The drink Nicole orders is too strong, and she waits an hour for a burger.
When the food arrives, it is soggy. Nicole informs Jon about the poor nutrition and poor service.
She says Tim was drinking at the bar, and his daughter Tracy was too concerned about what he was doing.
When Jon talks to Tim and Tracy, he finds out the bar only has enough to stay open for three more months.
Jon watches video footage of Tim being inappropriate with the staff.
At the meeting the next day, Jon asks the staff if Tim has ever been inappropriate with them.
Tim says he has never done that, but the female team says they are all uncomfortable.
Kat Munday comes in to help the staff with service training, and Chef Brian Duffy is there for the kitchen.
They look at the bar and see mold and broken glass in the beer fridge.
A dirty bandaid is found in a cup, which is super gross.
The kitchen is messy and filled with grease.
Kat has the bar staff make drinks, but they come out too strong.
The cook has been serving and cooking for four years.
Tim and Tracy claim they had no idea this was happening.
Jon and experts want to make the bar more casual and fix the other issues.
Almost $800 worth of liquor was given away for free on Sunday, but Tracy defends the staff working that evening.
Jon tells the team they should be grateful for Tracy sticking up for them.
Kat uses a particular device to show the staff how to pour drinks properly.
They then make a modern Long Island Iced Tea.
Jon Taffer has given the kitchen a new oven.
Chef Brian and the cook make sandwiches and serve them to the staff.
Tracy manages that night, and Jon is expecting her to step up.
Chef Brian has to help after ticket times are up to twenty-five minutes.
The bartenders are busy and are making crucial mistakes.
There is an over-served drunk man that Tracy has to kick out.
After the stress test is over, Jon tells them to stop stacking orders.
The staff gathered at sunset the next day to see the renovations.
As part of the changes, the bar has been renamed The O.P instead of The Olive Pit.
The inside is more contemporary-looking.
Classic cars are there to celebrate the grand re-opening.
The staff does their best during the relaunch to stay successful.
So was the Olive Pit Bar Rescue visit a long-term success? Keep reading to learn what happened next and if it’s still open in 2024.
The O.P. Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the OP Bar Rescue visit, let’s talk about what happened to this restaurant after Jon Taffer switched to Apples and left Orange, CA.
A month after Taffer’s visit, Tracy is still managing The O.P. while Tim went down ‘ole Mexico way and didn’t come back.
The owners didn’t seem to love all of Taffer’s changes, though, as they ditched the new furniture once he was gone.
Sales were doing better, though, as the bar told the Bar Rescue team that sales were 20% higher.
Is the OP from Bar Rescue still open?
As of 2023, The O.P. / The Olive Pit is still open and serving customers in Orange, CA.
Reviews aren’t amazing, as it has just a 3 star Yelp rating, but it has successfully stayed open.
Things are a bit better on Google, where it has a 4 star rating on over 230 reviews.
I’ll share some examples of The Olive Pit reviews below.
But first – here’s what the Olive Pit Orange CA location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view:
As you can see in the screenshot above (which is from May 2022), it’s still using The OP Bar branding, at least on the sign.
Now, let’s take a look at The Olive Pit Orange reviews after the episode.
The positive reviews seem to compliment the food and the bartenders.
However, the negative reviews also criticize the service, so I’m not sure who’s right here.
Maybe it depends on the day haha.
Here’s a sampling of reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer…
3 star review from December 2013:
I wanted to check out this place since it was on Bar Rescue.
It was a decent place, but food stops serving at 6.
The drinks were good and so was the service.
Prices are very reasonable.
It is not the easiest place to find so just remember to pull into the parking lot and go around back.
4 star review from November 2013:
One of my old reliable go to Dives in the OC.
Because of its tucked away entrance and stand-alone location its less crowded than most bars.
Its got a comfy outside smoking area with stairs or benches to sit on, a musically DEEP jukebox, fair priced & generously served drinks and a variety of bar games (pool, ping pong, darts, etc…)
Oh and please dont come here expecting some bar rescue transformation with flair & mixology.
Its beers, whiskey, shots, & simple 2 ingredient drinks served over ice.
1 star review from February 2023;
This is more like Trash Pit.
Bar is disgusting, dirty, sticky tables/floors, smells terrible like cigarette smoke and urine.
Bathrooms were very rundown and dirty.
Felt very uncomfortable.
Run far, far away from the OP.
1 star review from April 2013:
Walked in through the dark outside, went up to the bar hoping to order one of their specials I read about on their website and saw on bar rescue.
Bartender responded with a blank stare and informed me they had no specials and were a super dive bar.
Then payed for my $5 pint that wasn’t super cold.
Sorta contradicting if you ask me.
Will not be returning and will be warning friends.
2 star review from May 2014:
The bar didn’t have anything to eat but chicken tacos and chips and salsa, but they were doing body shots! I took a video of it but Yelp won’t let me post it.
The sad thing here is that this bar was on the T.V. show “Bar Rescue”.
Turns out that after the construction crews and TV crews left, the sleaze bag douche of an owner had everything new taken out of the bar and installed in his home.
So, the bar is pretty much as it was 10 years ago with better wallpaper now.
So sad……So sad……
I’m not sure how to verify the allegation in the last review.
The bar is currently using the full The Olive Pit name on all its social media profiles, though, and not the shortened name that Jon Taffer gave it.
I’m not sure when they made that switch, but I can’t find any mention of The O.P. anywhere.
If you know anything about what happened to The Olive Pit after Bar Rescue, please share it in the comments section below.
Overall, though, this seems like a success story for now.
If you want to see some other nearby California Bar Rescue episodes, you can check out my updates for Canyon Inn / Canyon Saloon in Yorba Linda and Second Base / Extremes in Orange.
Or, you can check out my full list of all 48+ California Bar Rescue episodes, including the status of each bar as of 2024.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
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Last updated: 2023-03-22 06:16
Lots of friendly reviews as of October 2022 and still active, sometimes you really can’t tell with these bars haha. Whole bar has a 4.1 on Google. Been worse than died.
love how of all bars this is the one that stays open. swear every bar he rescue closes because of the idiot owner. this time the idiot owner leaves the country and the bar continues to stay open. imagine that
The bar looked great after remodel. It’s a bad move removing all the nice furnishings and sinking into old ways again.
Bar Rescue should only help
Bars more deserving and appreciative of their help
ExaAcTly, they say they Need Help and John gives it to them to Help them get money đź’´. The Owners need to pay him back for their DisRESPECT, but I guess they ArE ReaLLy Broke!!!!
I liked this Google review about the OP:
“Imagine weed smoke, cigarette smoke, urine and mold rolled into one scent.”
Which percent of bars are used to launder money? Higher than u think. Not accusing them, just saying why bars stay open isn’t always what it seems. You can clean thousands a night through a bar, millions per year.
The remodel was a TV remodel. Barely enough to look good in the right lighting for a few camera shots. Most of the new furnishings and slapped on vinyl fell apart within 2 years. The wood facia and bartop is still doing work. Nobody “took stuff home”. It was all rental or borderline trash. The most common customers are locals and dealers and users. It’s a couple concentric circles of aging people (more male the closer to the center) that are a somewhat close knit group. The liquor they buy, is the liquor the OP stocks. Food is usually brought in/delivered.
You know nothing.
Ok I’m not sure who’s trusting the reviews above or perhaps research a bit better if you’re writing an update. I go here 2 or more times a week. Regarding “owner taking the furniture,” that’s not completely true. The booths are still there (say there last week), the bar stools are still there, the high tops are still there (but broken down). Light fixtures are gone though. It went right back to being divey – but that’s the clientele. There’s no special drinks, it’s dark, dirty, the chef only shows up when he wants and will make you the one thing he wants to make (taqueria and wings have been ok). It’s a locals bar, and, it can be kinda rough on some nights or in the parking lot – but that’s how it is in certain parts of the city due to homelessness, etc. Tracey own this and The Cherry Pit.