Sunday, March 9, 2014

Bar Rescue - Sorties Tavern (O'Banion's) Update

Tonight on the season premiere of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Bellevue, Nebraska to try to rescue O'Banion's Bar.  This is the first of three bars this season that were filmed near Omaha, Nebraska.  O'Banion's has three owners, and one of the owners is a heavy drinker who is acting obnoxious in the bar.  The other co-owners do a hostile takeover of the bar and make the heavy drinking owner go home.  During the Bar Rescue makeover, O'Banion's was renamed Sorties Tavern, and is an Air Force themed bar.

Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates of Sorties since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar.




Positive Reviews:
  • "Clean and friendly bar near Offutt AFB.  Has one pool table and a dartboard. They have about a dozen beers on tap with a full bar. ATM located on site and they take debit/credit cards.  They have several craft beers available along with Guinness."
  • "The new bar looks good."
  • "Not O'Banion's anymore, now called Sorties. Same great service"

Negative Reviews:

  • "Went to the bar rescue unveil waited four hours to get in then waited one hour for the bartenders to ignore me. What a crappy place to eat and drink. I really hope the place goes under"
  • "I think bar rescue was here... They should come back for a do over."
  • "Asked bartender what whiskey cocktails they have since it says "whiskey cocktails" on front window. Bartender says "I don't know" and looks at all the clear liquor in the wells."
  • "I would not ever recommend that anyone go there.  I was so dissapointed.  I met 2 of the owners, one was very nice and one was so rude I will NEVER go back there. I asked him if he would fill my water while he was behind the bar and he said NO apparently he feels he is to good to serve the new customers that are coming there.  As a person works daily in customer service I was insulted by his arrogance. I had to wait over 20 minutes to get any service.  There were only 6 people in the bar at the time. Its not like they were busy and they had 2 bartenders and 2 owners there at the time. John Taffer, you might want to come back and give them another dose of reality. No wonder they called Bar Rescue, however, because of the main owner, they will not succeed!!!"
  • "Been to this place.. supported this place for 10 years, staff is great, experience tonight with the owner has solidified that I will never entertain going to this venue. Jerry, the owner, is completely out of control, still a drunk at his own place and has zero concept of professionalism. "

Reviews from Urbanspoon, Foursquare, Yelp, Sorties Facebook


Other and News and Links:
  • There are 5 preview videos for this episode on the Spike TV website, and it looks like they are playing up the owner Jerry being a loud and drunk owner.
  • Here is the Sorties Tavern Facebook Page, and Jerry is in some pictures on the page.  You will see the Air Force theme of the bar that Jon decided to do due to the close proximity of an Air Force Base.
    Photo - Facebook
  • Speaking of Jerry, here is his Facebook page, where he has been counting down to the episode.  He is also building a new "estate," so the bar must not have been struggling too much. Here are co-owner Dave and Steve's Facebook pages.  When Steve shared the video preview, someone commented "Funny as hell! Jerry is a great actor! Reality TV is such a hoot!!!!"
  • Jerry is speaking at the Nightclub & Bar Convention & Trade show in Las Vegas (Jon Taffer is President) at a "Bar Rescue - Where are they now?" event.  His bio says, "Jerry Dalrymple is the owner of Sorties Tavern in Bellevue, Nebraska.  Besides the Tavern Jerry manages his family’s real estate rental firm as well as he is an auto racing instructor. When he is not teaching auto racing he races cars throughout the country to advertise for his sponsors. Jerry grew up as a Military brat traveling all over the United States with his family watching his dad serve in the United States Air Force.  They finally settle down in Bellevue, Nebraska at Offutt Air Force Base.  Jerry graduated with a Bachelors degree in Business Management and Marketing. He entered the service industry as a Security Guard at the Gold Coast Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. When he returned back to Nebraska he wanted to have a place that would give the military service men & women a place to relax and have fun.  He bought a dilapidated bar by Offutt Air Force Base’s military housing in 2005. Over the years he has struggled to fix it up and turn it around. After bar rescue stepped in after many years of struggling he has been providing a place for the active military and Veterans to come and relax ever since called Sorties Tavern."
  • A website Hit That Dive was at some of the makeover of Sorties (and the upcoming ones in Omaha), and witnessed the reveal.  They said Bar Rescue filmed the reveal multiple times with the staff running up to the door.  Someone from the website also said,"I was also in line behind some friends of the owner who said the owner wasn't hurting for money at all, and all he wanted was the makeover to get new stuff in his bar and the publicity. I also happened to talk to the owner's daughter at the nearby pizzeria while waiting in line for the bathroom, and she said it was a "stressful" week for her dad. She then explained that owning the bar is just a hobby of his, and he has a real job outside of it. She even told me he was out of town for a day or two this week, so he wasn't even around the whole time for filming."

Conclusion:

The episode tonight will definitely play up the fact that Jerry is a drunk owner that is ruining the bar.  While he may be obnoxious, as with much of reality TV, it will be taken up a notch for the benefit of the show and cameras.  Judging by some of the negative reviews, Jerry seems to still be causing some issues at the bar, especially with new customers.

It doesn't seem like the bar owners were struggling that badly judging by the quote that the bar is pretty much a hobby for them.  Also, while Jerry will be heavily criticized tonight, Jon Taffer thought enough of him to invite him to speak at his convention in Las Vegas for a "Bar Rescue - Where are they now?" event.


UPDATE 3/13/2014 - The owner Jerry did an interview with Omaha.com, where he said Bar Rescue changed the order of a few things on the show.  He also said Bar Rescue "got all of these original bar stools from a local furniture place and they're meant for in-home use. So, to tell you the truth, they all ended up in the Dumpster, they all fell apart. We had to get new stools from a real bar place. You've got to do a lot of the things after they finished. They didn't do anything behind the bar or in the back or in the bathrooms."

UPDATE - Jerry describes the experience on the show with doing multiple takes for some scenes and getting encouragement from directors to yell with a little more urgency.  He also was drinking water when the show claimed he was drinking tequila. They are still happy with the makeover and definitely think it was worth it. (Link

They also are not currently serving food at the bar, and Jerry said "We had Nick Liberato, the chef, (teach) us how to make all that stuff. Well, they didn't really leave us any direction on where to get all the supplies. And then we have to learn how to make the stuff. He gave us some direction, but he didn't leave us recipes, so we had to relearn how to make it as well as our food license as well as find a food supplier ... we don't even have a cook"

Bar Rescue had that 100% increase in food sales in their update at the end of the show.....

UPDATE 4/2015 - Sorties Tavern is Listed For Sale.  The bar sold in early 2016 to new owners.


*To see how all of the bars from Bar Rescue are doing, go to the Bar Rescue Update page, and also Like us on Facebook or Follow Us on Twitter to stay up to date with all things involving Bar Rescue

26 comments:

  1. Shame about the negative reviews. The bar looked awful neato on TV, especially that plane-wing table. Those deluxe baked potatoes looked mighty tasty too, if not maybe a little rich for food you're going to get drunk with.

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  2. You can tell the two sober owners didn't want to do any work of any kind. They looked lost trying to find tables and work in the kitchen. They didn't even think to check the number of glasses before the big night. They want to be owners but not lift a finger. Sorry to say, sometimes you have to get your hands a little dirty fellows.

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  3. They didn't even have a kitchen to start nor a cook..So how would they know? As far as the glasses go there has to be something behind the scenes cause it happens alot.

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  4. I hate to say it, but I think it is time to close down Bar Rescue. The producers have gone from focusing on the science of the bar business to the over-hyping of almost fake conflict. The producers have also stopped looking for bars that truly need help to bars that are owned by people who own other bars and/or businesses. Tonight's episode was the epitome of the new focus of the producers.

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  5. Biff SchmuckatelliMarch 11, 2014 at 8:35 PM

    Bar rescue just like restaurant impossible, mystery diners and other such shows have about used up their product lifetimes and have become obsolete. It's time to cancel all of these fake shows and move on. The same goes for bachelor, Keeping up with the Kardashians, etc. If one wants reality, just get a camcorder and go around recording stuff without comment and turn it in to youtube or a producer.

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  6. Sorry but the excuse "they didn't leave us with any instructions" doesn't fly with me. They didn't think to ask questions while they were there, taking notes? The producers & Taffer need to be better judges of character. If bars fail after the "remakes" in any kind of trend, then it damages their reputation.

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  7. SuperChristopher2518 .March 18, 2014 at 6:30 PM

    I agree with Phoenix Justice. Bar Rescue's overt fakery and manufactured drama is too much. What did you think about the bartender who walked in and announced she was too tired to work? Could the scene be any more scripted? I think not. Time to put this show in the bin.

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  8. Biff SchmuckatelliMarch 19, 2014 at 1:10 PM

    I did too until I found out that these people are paid actors doing re-enactments of supposed true stories.

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  9. The problem may be that they're chasing what the average viewer wants, rather than what somebody more interested in the actual bar business might want to see. Reality TV tends to over-emphasize drama, real or contrived.

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  10. It's funny, isn't it? They're roughly fifteen minutes outside of Omaha and supposedly don't know how to find a food supplier? http://bit.ly/OI7Qws

    They didn't follow up and ask for the recipes?

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  11. This place is a crap hole!! The manger is a dumb ass and deserves to be fired!

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  12. From what I remember the majority of the menu consisted of stuffed baked potatoes. How many recipes and how many chef's are required to keep the kitchen up and running. Stop making excuses and start pointing fingers in the right direction.

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  13. Here's a recent story: http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140321/SNI01/140318536

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  14. The blond that left was really hot. I bet she is right about that being a lot of work for just a part time job, but, who knows... She might have been a plant

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  15. Seems like that Jerry pig is hopeless. Seriously, they (bar rescue) didn't give them new bathrooms, leave them recipes, give them culinary training or names and phone #'s of suppliers? WTF? Isn't he supposed to be a bar owner????? I'd be willing to bet that he's already sold the brand new kitchen appliances! And Taffer is becoming more and more suspect. He's digging the fame and recognition of the show and lost his integrity for quality assurance in these bars. Like Jerry really mad a remarkable change in a day or two? This bar was a joke, and I'm sick of Taffer and his bragging about himself. And he DOES know how to talk, so clearly the yelling is his over acting!

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  16. I agree with little angle bond ... if they were able to dothat inthe first place , they wouldn't need a bar rescue

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  17. you know it's on SPIKE TV, right?

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  18. What a disaster this place was, maybe still is.

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  19. Excuses are like assholes when assholes don't have a fuckin clue what they're doing. And you Jerry, are a fuckin asshole. Either put up or shut up. Our AD/ANG/Veterans deserve it. To earn respect it, you have to show it. And it's a characteristic you don't seem to possess. There is no excuses when it comes to being a business owner.

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  20. I work with one of the two, Dave, at TD Ameritrade. He's one of the hardest-working financial professionals in the industry. He's poured tons of his own money into the bar to bail out his brother.

    So by the time he arrived at the bar, he'd already been "lifting his fingers" for ten hours or so at his job, which has provided for the bar and saved his brother's ass on numerous occasions.

    "Sorry to say", but you don't know what the hell you're talking about.

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  21. Some bar owners think all they have to do is throw money in and then sit back and collect. It is hard work and some people are not cut out for that type of hard work. I'm sure he's a great guy and a hard worker. He's lucky to have friends like you that defend him.

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  22. http://omaha.craigslist.org/bfs/4851385233.html

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  23. Sorry to say clown, but you just described a guy who shouldn't own a G'D bar then. Cool story about his job, nobody forced him to take on a second. When you have non-invested owners, employees suffer and your partners suffer. I know exactly what I'm talking about, and nobody at the bar gives a damn that he's too busy working his 1st job.

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  24. Defend him? I think you mean make excuses for his poor decisions that have a negative affect on HIS employees. Get out of the business if you don't have the time for it. Peoples jobs count on it.

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  25. All I can say is that little tart Brittany (BC) needs a good Connery-style banging to get rid of her bad attitude. She's what we call a hate-f!!k in the finger-banging biz.

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