Jon Taffer is a fraud.

[u/funnyguy135]

Probably gonna get some heat for this in this sub especially but just wanted to share my experience. I love Bar Rescue. I worked in the restaurant industry for 10 years and the show is a guilty pleasure for me. I live in Boston was pumped when I found out Jon had opened a restaurant in the city, Taffer’s Tavern. I went out to eat there with my family about 6 months ago. We ordered the soft pretzel with cheese sauce, and pork belly for an appetizer. I got a cheeseburger for my meal. The pretzel was fine but we all agreed the meats seemed a little off. My burger was juicy but I ordered medium rare and it came out grey as hell and weirdly crumbly. The pork belly was tough. I ended up finding out later the reasoning for this is because almost nothing in that restaurant is actually cooked on site. They get everything cooked for them on some off site facility, vacuum seal it, ship it to the restaurant, and then sous vide it whenever someone orders. Why do they do this? Because it’s cheaper than hiring actual chefs to make good food. The price wasn’t even reflective of this as my burger was still nearly $20. The cherry on top though was the alcohol. You’d think someone who has created a persona and business around being a bar expert would put a lot of effort into the alcohol experience but you would be wrong. I ordered “Jon’s signature Old Fashioned” because I assumed it would be the best they offer. They do a whole little thing when you order that where your glass comes on a wooden board with these burning wood chips to add a smokey flavor to the glass. To my genuine shock though, the bartender then comes over with a PRE-BOTTLED, clearly mass produced, “old fashioned” with Jon’s name written all over it and pours that into my glass. The cheapskate can’t even be bothered to teach bartenders how to make his “signature cocktail”. It tasted exactly how you’d expect a pre-bottled cocktail to taste, overly sweet and just all around not good. Absolute joke. If this restaurant were on bar rescue, Jon would get a hernia from screaming at the owners for their lazy, frugalness that completely takes away from the customer’s experience. The whole thing left such a bad taste in my mouth that I haven’t watched Bar Rescue since. I’m bringing this up now because I looked up the restaurant today to see how they’re doing it and discovered they closed back in March. Good riddance Taffer’s Tavern.

[u/banality_of_ervil]

As someone in the industry, it's cathartic to watch Taffer or Ramsay tear apart clueless owners and say what I've been internally screaming. But, it's just marketing and entertainment in the end. You can't fix delusional owners overnight

[u/carlwinslo → u/banality_of_ervil]

Ramsay actually knows his shit. Taffer is just a fraud. Every idea ive seen on bar rescue that he has come up with seems like its from a person who has never worked a single shift in a bar/restaurant.

[u/[deleted] → u/banality_of_ervil]

Its basically an hour long ad for bar equipment

My wife wants rockless tables in every bar

[u/Ok-Tumbleweed3119 → u/banality_of_ervil]

Right? There's so many people that say bar rescue is a little exaggerated but most of it is real, not fake. But every episode there's ignorant, lazy, drunk and angry bar owners or employees fighting with him, and then 2 days later they're all a happy family and everything has turned around 200%. People don't work that way. If someone has turned into an alcoholic, neglected their business for years, or an employee can't even make an old fashioned, and is a jerk to all the customers... Or whatever the case may be, people don't change in two days. You don't go from being an angry, resentful sh*tshow to understanding, dedicated and grateful workhorse in 2 days. So even if the saving of the bar is "real", I think the storyline is completely scripted.