SHUT IT DOWN: ANOTHER ‘Bar Rescue’ Bar Closed Down Forever This Past Weekend

Last week I posted about how Jon Taffer’s so-called “Most expensive Bar Rescue ever” was a massive failure. Shortly after posting that story, the website Barrescueupdates.com hit me up with a follow-up to another Bar Rescue failure mentioned in that article: Piratz Tavern in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The Piratz Tavern episode of Bar Rescue from the show’s second season is one of the most legendary Bar Rescues of all time. Taffer and the bar’s Jolly Rodger-loving owners, Tracy Rebelo and her husband/bar chef, Juciano, clashed immensely over the course of the episode. In the episode, Rebelo claimed she was in the hole $900,000 and forced to live in her parents’ basement with her husband.

Because the D.C. suburb of Silver Spring, Maryland is the LAST place on the world you’d expect a pirate-themed bar (…seriously, go to Ocean City or something, idiots), Taffer turned it into a swanky after-work hangout for white collar office drones called “The Corporate Bar And Grill.” The Rebelo’s hated Taffer’s attempt at rescuing the bar and converted it back to Piratz’s Tavern just one day later. After a mutiny against Taffer and quit a bit of fall-out, the bar briefly claimed to be doing well three years ago when the episode originally aired.

Then things soured. The bar lost its lease and its last day of business was Saturday, April 4th. According to the Washington Post, the owner’s continue to take their frustration out on Taffer and Bar Rescue, YEARS after the episode originally aired:

The owner’s frustration stems, in part, from her own fateful decision in early 2012, when she and her husband, Juciano, did something very un-pirate: They asked for help to rescue Piratz Tavern, where the sharks were circling. The couple requested a makeover from Spike TV’s “Bar Rescue” and its host Jon Taffer, who’s something of a one-eyed swashbuckler himself. Tracy and Juciano hoped Taffer would plug the holes of their listing ship and save it from a rendezvous with Davy Jones’ Locker.

If Tracy Rebelo had a broadsword in her hand when she first saw the renovated operation, she might have sliced Taffer in half, right on the spot. Instead, she and Juciano wasted little time dismantling the Corporate structure of their new place. They even burned the business logo in effigy, caught in an elegiac video, complete with its own sea shanty soundtrack. Within a few weeks, the couple relaunched their pirate ship, although Spike TV’s endless re-airings of the infamous Piratz Tavern episode continued to cast a long shadow on the business, Tracy notes.

“Unfortunately, the aftermath of reality TV has became an unbearable burden,” Tracy wrote via e-mail. “The constant airing of our episode of ‘Bar Rescue’ has had a widespread negative effect on our social media presence. Especially recently it seemed John Taffer was doing his best to personally provoke me on his Facebook page. I can honestly say there were no positive gains by our participation on the show, only negative, and as a result the decision was made not to renew our lease.”

What a bunch of cry babies. Taffer’s solution wasn’t exactly great for Piratz, but at least it was a solution to help them out of the silly hole they dug for themselves. In true passive-agressive form, the bar’s owner then decided to put Taffer and company on blast on Facebook:

I can’t believe they had the balls to even ask Jon Taffer back. What a bunch of assholes:

Last night on a clip show catching up with old Bar Rescues, Taffer put the owners of Piratz on blast for burning down everything he set up for them as The Corporate Bar And Grill:

Taffer clearly has no use for these jabronis. I’m happy to see him laugh these clowns off:

“”And why wouldn’t he re-rescue Piratz Tavern?

Shut it down. Once and for all. Good move, Taffer. You’re better than this ship of fools.

Ship of fools on a cruel sea, ship of fools sail away from me.
It was later than I thought when I first believed you,
Now I cannot share your laughter, ship of fools.

Brandon Wenerd is BroBible's publisher, writing on this site since 2009. He writes about sports, music, men's fashion, outdoor gear, traveling, skiing, and epic adventures. Based in Los Angeles, he also enjoys interviewing athletes and entertainers. Proud Penn State alum, former New Yorker. Email: brandon@brobible.com