Bar Rescue - Pacific Coast Wine Bar (Brix Sunset Beach) Update

On tonight's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Sunset Beach, California to try to rescue Brix Sunset Beach. Brix Sunset Beach is a wine bar with an eccentric owner Rick Reich, who is too busy being the life of the party to notice his business is failing.  During the recon, the spies get him to open multiple bottles of wine to sample without buying any, which probably cost Rick hundreds of dollars.

During the Bar Rescue makeover, Brix Sunset Beach was renamed to Pacific Coast Wine Bar, however the bar has already gone back to its old name of Brix Sunset Beach.  Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates for Brix Sunset Beach since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar (All reviews are post-Bar Rescue):


Reviews:

• "Found this on Yelp and we are not disappointed. It was over and beyond the recommendations we read. Ambiance is fine but food is incredible. Pastrami lives up to its reputation, garlic fries are incredible and Bratwurst on homemade pretzel bun was to die for. This will become a regular spot for us!"
• " The service was slow, but the food was ok.  My take is that the restaurant was understaffed.  It was fairly busy and the help as well as the owner seemed stressed."
• "We love the great choice of beers on tap and they have a hugh selection of wines.  The food is really good we have never had anything that we didn't like.  The owner and staff are very friendly it is a great place to go."
• "Overall, it is a decent to good place that could be great.  Tons of beer, more wine than you can shake a stick at, live music, some pretty solid pub grub and some characters in their clientele and their staff that are fun to people watch"
• "I had a burger and it was decent. I asked for gluten free bun and they were out, offered g-f bagel instead!  The house Cabernet was basically vinegar...undrinkable. Service was ok, but they just seem like they aren't geared up to make decent dishes."
• "So here's the issue; the service still sucks. As hard as they tried to be nice and attentive, it took far too long to deliver. All signs point to the kitchen. Even the flat bread took 30 minutes which I do blame the server. The table next to us were told the bar had been sold and it was the new owners who contacted Bar Rescue for the free makeover. Rick will still be around but from the sound of his own e-mail, he's leaving the day-to-day operations to other people."
• "Bar Rescue just swept this place about a week or 2 ago, so you'd think there's some improvement.   The problem isn't the decor, it's the service and obviously the TV show had no effect on that.  We sat down at the bar.  Nobody really welcomed us, told us any recommendations, or made any attempt at conversing with us"

*Reviews from Yelp


Other News and Links:

• The Bar Rescue makeover happened in late May/Early June 2015
• Here is a preview video of the episode from the Spike TV website.  Maria Menounos is back to help with recon. 
• Here is the Brix Sunset Beach website and their Facebook Page, which is up-to-date.
• Here is Rick's (Owner) Facebook page.  Most of the people from the show are tagged in this album.
• The Brix actually has two locations, one in Sunset Beach, which was on the show, and another in Long Beach, CA called Brix At The Shore.
• The bar has a 4-star rating on Yelp with over 300 reviews (Link).
• A recent OC Register article talked to owner Rick Reich from the show.  Some of the things revealed:
• Rick said he knew it was Maria Menounos who was with Bar Rescue, which is why he was giving her the samples.
• About three weeks after the makeover Rick removed the Pacific Coast Wine Bar signs and put up new Brix signs.  He also brought back the sandwich board boasting the best pastrami.
• Rick believes Bar Rescue didn't do their homework and didn't understand his clientele.  About 65 percent of his business was from beer drinkers, and he was losing them with the name change.
• Rick admits with his second location, he hasn't been paying as much attention to this location and business was down 35 percent.  He also said he learned a lot from Jon Taffer and that "he knows his stuff."
• In another article, Rick said, "Beer people don't want any part of the wine people and vice versa. There's a distinct cult that grows there. So we changed it back."  He also said he has brought in new management and that the bar looks great now.
• One of the Yelp reviews above said the place was sold and the new owners contacted Bar Rescue, but nothing from the recent interviews seems to indicate that.

Conclusion:

Pacific Coast Wine Bar has gone back to their old name of Brix Sunset Beach.  The reviews before the makeover were mostly positive, but Rick said business had gone down since he opened a second location.  The reviews post-Bar Rescue makeover are also mostly positive, but there are still some complaints about the service at Bix Sunset Beach.  The bar has also brought in new management.

UPDATE 3/22 - Brix Sunset Beach is now closed and was actually purchased by Bottoms Up from season 7 of Bar Rescue - More information on that.


*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.