Way Point Saloon Bar Rescue Update (Molly Malone’s) – Still Open in 2024?

Is Way Point Saloon still open today?

Status: >> OPEN <<
(keep reading to learn what happened)

Season: 4 | View All Season 4 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: October 11, 2015
The Bar's Original Name Was: Molly Malone's
Way Point Saloon Address: 1270 Main St Ramona, CA 92065

Way Point Saloon Bar Rescue Update (Molly Malone's)

Episode Recap

Molly Malone’s, later renamed to Way Point Saloon, was a Ramona, California bar that was featured on Season 4 of Bar Rescue.

Though the Way Point Saloon Bar Rescue episode aired in October 2015, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place a few months before that in Spring 2015.

It was Season 4 Episode 33 and the episode name was “Shamrocks and Shenanigans”.

Molly Malone’s is an Irish-themed bar located in Ramona, CA.

If you’re not familiar with California geography, Ramona is a small town just to the northeast of San Diego proper (and still part of San Diego County).

That is, it’s near the bottom of the state.

Bob Isaacson is the owner who bought the bar in 2006.

That means he’s owned it for almost a decade at the time of the Molly Malone’s Bar Rescue episode.

Molly Malone's owner

To be able to open the bar, Bob got a massive $350,000 loan from his parents, which is the elephant in the room.

Rayne, Bob’s girlfriend, was hired to manage the bar.

However, the bar is now losing significant money – around $6,000 per month to be exact.

It’s also carrying a massive debt load. The loan from Bob’s parents is only part of it – the total debt is over $680,000.

The stress of the bar is putting a strain on their relationship and the staff.

Not to mention the fact that Bob borrowed so much from his parents.

Molly Malone's parents

Expert mixologist Mia Mastroianni and chef Gavan Murphy are brought in to recon the bar with Jon Taffer.

The bar is outdated and worn out and has no Irish theming.

Inside, it’s not much better as the service station is the wrong spot for the servers.

Danielle, Paul, and Tara are the bartenders, and footage shows them sitting around playing pool.

Chris, the cook, does a great job and cooks good burgers. 

Molly Malone’s has no drink menu and has a signature drink that is just a mix of different vodkas improperly labeled.

The spies hate the beverages they order.

In addition to having crappy drinks, the bartenders begin fighting with each other in front of the customers.

Jon Taffer decides to enter the bar and stands there until he is noticed. 

Tara and Danielle try to explain to Jon the cause of the fight, but he instead yells at Bob for not taking control sooner.

Jon makes Bob send one of the girls home, and he sends Tara home for the evening.

Jon Taffer then leaves and returns the next day. 

The next day, Tara and Danielle are still fighting.

Bob admits he sent Tara home instead of Danielle because Danielle is Rayne’s best friend, and he didn’t want to upset his girlfriend.

Rayne reveals to Jon she left school to help Bob with the bar, and even though they have been together for seven years, if things don’t get better, she will leave. 

Molly Malone's owner girlfriend

Now, it’s time to prep for the stress test.

Gavan is introduced and shows Chris how to make burgers without weights.

He also tells him to use less bacon on the jalapeno poppers to cut costs.

Mia trains the staff on how to make a Purple Rain cocktail.

For the stress test, Jon Taffer places jars of money on the bar.

For every drink dumped or thrown away, Jon will remove money. 

Jon makes Danielle and Tara work together to learn to get along.

Bob is working at the bar while Rayne will be out working the floor.

The stress test starts badly with bartenders making many mistakes.

Danielle performs the worst out of everyone and has the most money removed from her jar.

Bob is overwhelmed, and soon the bar runs out of drinking glasses. 

Danielle and Tara eventually start working well together, and Bob calms down.

However, the service is still slow, and the bartender’s skills are lousy.

Overall, the bar did poorly during the stress test, but the kitchen held up okay.

Jon tells the staff he is changing the theme to more of an old west American restaurant.

Mia trains them on new whiskey drinks served in a mason jar geared towards females.

Gavan shows them simple dishes in the kitchen to cut down on time.

The staff gathers for the reveal with Bob, who had proposed to Rayne.

As part of the renovation and theme change, Jon Taffer has renamed the bar from Molly Malone’s to Way Point Saloon. 

The outside of the bar is bright with a western theme.

There are three new POS machines, along with a bunch of other new equipment to help the bar.

The customers love the new theme of the bar.

The bar makes drinks without any mistakes, and the kitchen has low wait times. 

So was the Molly Malone’s Bar Rescue episode a success? Keep reading our update to learn what happened next and how the bar is doing in 2024.

Way Point Saloon Update - What Happened Next?

Now that we’ve recapped the Way Point Saloon Bar Rescue episode, let’s talk about what happened to the bar after Jon Taffer and his crew left Ramona, CA.

Things seem to have started off for the newly named Way Point Saloon.

At the normal six-week check-in with the Bar Rescue producers, we learn that drink sales have increased by 25% and food sales are up even higher, by 40%.

Bob decided to stick with the new name from Jon Taffer and it continues to use the Way Point Saloon name to this day.

Is Way Point Saloon from Bar Rescue still open?

As of 2023, Way Point Saloon is still open and serving customers in Ramona, CA.

The bar isn’t very active on its Facebook page, but it does have its own website and seems to still be doing well as a business.

Here’s what the Way Point Saloon Ramona CA location looks like in the most recent Google Maps street view update:

Way Point Saloon did have to shut its in-person business during Covid-19 health restrictions, but it did keep open to-go food.

Bob was quoted in an article from the Ramona Sentinel about the Covid-19 restrictions affecting bars:

There’s literally no money coming in.

The money doesn’t support the grill, let alone the staff.

Unless business picks up, or unless the county releases us, we may have to suspend operations.

I have 25 employees.

It’s weighing heavily on us to do this.

We’re trying to stay open, but I have a finite amount of money to work with.

It’s going to take us down to the wire.

At one point, he said this the bar’s business was down more than 90% because of the pandemic.

Despite that, Way Point Saloon did manage to survive and it’s back to full strength in 2023.

Reviews for the bar seem generally positive, as it has a 3.5 star rating on Yelp and a 4.3 star rating on Google Reviews.

If you’re in the Ramona, CA area and you want to check it out, you can learn more at the official Way Point Saloon website.

Way Point Saloon reviews after Bar Rescue

Here’s a sampling of positive and negative reviews that were written after the Way Point Saloon Bar Rescue episode.

4 star Yelp review from March 2022:

Found this spot to have a drink after checking in to our hotel for the night.

Friendly service, strong drinks, great smoking patio and live music on the Friday night we were there. What a nice surprise.

We had the fried pickles and crazy bacon jalapeno poppers – both were delicious.

Ordered the pastrami to go and mowed down on it in the hotel room.

I remember it was salty like pastrami should be but a little sweet with the stone ground honey mustard on the sandwich.

I remember there being a lot of meat.

I’m pretty sure my husband and I enjoyed it…..did I mention the drinks were strong? LOL

Fun place to hang out. Seemed pretty reasonably priced until we got our bill – YIKES.

Did I mention the drinks were strong?

5 star Yelp review from March 2022:

Came here for the first time and really enjoyed it.

Loved the atmosphere and enjoyed great food and drinks.

Nicole was the bartender and she was very friendly, attentive, and engaging.

Would definitely come back especially if Nicole was working.

2 star Yelp review from April 2019:

So we went up on Friday, in part because we had seen a rerun of Bar Rescue and also because there was going to be a pretty good band playing.

First off, they have no drink list.

This seemed odd as if you have ever seen an episode of Bar Rescue, they always create a special menu for the bar.

Second, the bartender had no idea how to make two basic Vodka drinks.

Then we found out after waiting almost an hour that the band had cancelled.

They never changed the signs that were advertising the band playing.

Owner was just sitting at bar chatting with a couple friends.

Looks like old habits……

Are Bob and Rayne from Molly Malone’s still together?

As far as I can tell, Bob and Rayne from the episode are not still together.

According to a comment on the Way Point Saloon Facebook page, it seems like Bob has since married a different woman.

I can’t confirm that, though, so I’m not 100% sure what happened.

That finishes up my update for Way Point Saloon and Molly Malone’s.

Overall, this seems like a real success story as the bar has been going strong for around eight years now.

If you want to see some other San Diego area Bar Rescue episodes, you can check out these posts:

Thanks for reading!


More Information

https://www.yelp.com/biz/way-point-saloon-ramona-2
https://www.facebook.com/Way-Point-Saloon-106379479693643/


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And don't forget to check out all of the other Bar Rescue updates.

Last updated: 2023-02-16 06:42

8 thoughts on “Way Point Saloon Bar Rescue Update (Molly Malone’s) – Still Open in 2024?”

All comments are the sole opinion of the commenter and are not endorsed by RealityTVUpdates.

    • So true. She was a sweetheart and he was lucky to have her. If he landed another one even close to Rayne, he must have something that I don’t want to see. SMH.

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