My husband, Les. No, I'm just kidding.
[laughs] I'm kidding.
I'm teasing.
Sort of.
Male narrator: For over 30 years, Jon Taffer
has travelled the country saving hundreds of bars
from failure and ruin.
Jon: I started rescuing bars decades ago
because they're part of the backbone of America.
Let's go. We're doing it! We're doing it.
But as the industry continues to explode,
the amount of failing bars is increasing at an alarming rate.
[dramatic music]
When do I have you say, "that's not gonna work?"
But I can't be everywhere at once.
So I've hand-picked some of the nation's
top hospitality experts...
You gotta interact with guests.
to help me lead the charge.
You're being a dick! You know that?
Male narrator: Now Jon's team is heading
to Houston, Texas to attempt to rescue
Uncle Albert's Pub.
We are determined to raise the bar
and rise to the occasion.
[upbeat music]
Male narrator: In 2005, auto industry professional
Les Weaver decided to buy Uncle Albert's Pub.
An Albert Einstein themed bar as an investment opportunity.
Les: I don't have any background
in the bar and restaurant industry at all,
but I purchased Uncle Albert's hoping to make some money.
I feel like I need a Long Island tea.
Male narrator: Busy with his full time job,
Les turned to his wife Rebecca for help managing the bar.
So at night we checked to see, is the line good,
if you can rotate it to see.
I grew up with my family owning bars and restaurants,
so it's really kind of second nature for me.
Male narrator: For many years, Uncle Albert's
flourished under Rebecca's leadership.
We had business in here nightly.
We had, you know, standing along
sometimes, and it was a lot of fun.
Male narrator: But when Rebecca decided
to retire and spend more time away
from the bar, standards began to slip
without her watchful eye.
Les: Even though Rebecca retired,
I had no intention to manage the bar.
I tried to hire managers and I went through a number of them.
It would start off good and then it would go wrong,
and that the staff takes advantage of that situation.
I am not the manager. I just work here, baby.
I envisioned myself enjoying my retirement
because I've worked so much all my life and it was a good
ten months or better that I just didn't come in here,
when I did start coming back in here,
checking on the business, I was very disappointed.
Nothing was done here.
This was empty. This was empty. This was empty.
Male narrator: With Rebecca's retirement on hold,
she attempts to regain control of Uncle Albert's.
Her husband's dismissive behavior poses a challenge.
This is boss' drink called Strong Island Iced Tea.
Les's nickname is Long Island Les.
He has to have two or three Long Islands when he comes.
That can be a problem sometimes.
That kinda takes his mind
away from responsibilities.
Male narrator: Now Uncle Albert's is losing
$3000 a month and only months from closing its doors.
We have taken over $120,000
out of our personal savings to keep the bar going.
And I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel.
When we pull some money aside
and maybe if we pull that money aside...
More money, take more money out of our savings...
and pay a manager--
put it into this place,
that's been losing money...
We're both frustrated.
We argue about staff, we argue about money.
Les: What am I supposed to do?
You just do you.
Rebecca has a tendency to wanna talk about staff and kitchen
and things that she's upset about that are going on here.
But I don't wanna hear it. I really don't.
Male narrator: In hopes of saving both their
bar and their relationship,
Les and Rebecca have agreed to pull back the doors,
bust open the books and make a call for help to "Bar Rescue."
I'm giving up my retirement.
I'm taking away time for my grandchildren.
We need a kick in the butt.
[glass shatters]
[upbeat music]
For this rescue I've asked one of my long time experts,
Phil Wills and my long time friend
Danny Trejo to rescue this bar.
Between the two of them, there isn't a single aspect
of this rescue they can't tackle.
[Phil exhales] Good to see you, Danny.
-Si. -Yeah.
Danny is not only a wildly popular actor,
he's also an extremely successful restauranteur.
Danny is no doubt an intimidating force,
but he's also hell bent on creating
second chances to those in need.
U-Uncle Albert's?
It kind of sounds like a cartoon show.
Hey kids, it's Uncle Albert.
[Phil laughs] Yeah.
It doesn't say bar, doesn't say pub.
There is no identity to it at all.
Male narrator: For the kitchen, Jon brings in
Chef Tatiana Rosana.
With over a decade of experience in fine dining,
Chef Rosana is fluent at many different
international cuisine styles.
She's a cooking competition winner, and her experience
making flavorful dishes out of uncommon ingredients
makes her the perfect expert for creating
food programs from scratch.
Ha-have you have you went forward with the testing
and you just got the car work charged?
- But it's ready to be tested. - Okay.
So that's Les right there. He's the owner of this place.
Tatiana: The one who's drinking and eating right now
and not managing?
Phil: Yeah. Tatiana: Okay.
Phil: He owns, like, an exotic
car company, but he doesn't know
anything about the bar or food or beverage.
I mean, he knows how to drink a Long Island,
that's for sure. Right?
- Yeah, absolutely. - Long Island Les.
They're about a $123,000 in debt right now.
Yeah. That's a big chunk of change.
Phil: Yeah. - Love you, Les.
- Love you too, man. Danny: He just took a shot.
You know, at Trejo’s Tacos, nobody drinks on the job.
Nobody, it's that simple. You'd be fired.
That's why you guys are successful.
- And that's why he is not. Danny: Yeah.
- Wings coming along okay, Jr.? Junior: Huh?
- Naked Wings? Junior: Not quite ready yet.
Right over here is Les's wife. That's Rebecca.
Remember, they're a little small, so some of them
would be done before the others.
So the good thing is Rebecca does have
experience in bars and restaurants,
but she doesn't wanna do any of this. I mean, she's retired.
She wants to spend time with her family, but she's here
constantly because they're losing so much money.
- Yeah. - So catch up on some goodies.
Phil: That's Raiel.
- Now, he's the manager here. - Okay.
Phil: He doesn't have a lot of manager experience.
I think he's been a manager for maybe a month.
He used to be a cook, though.
- Okay. - 8:00 this morning?
Phil: Right here is Elisa.
She's one of the bartenders.
Want more? Alright, I got it.
And that's Keesa. She's a bartender.
Phil: And then right here is Junior. He's the cook.
So for recon tonight, Jon brought in
Claire Goodman and Sherrie Handrinos.
Now, Claire, she is the senior reporter
for the Houston Chronicle.
And Sherrie, she's the owner
of Boost One Marketing and PR.
And this is what they do.
They report on brand new
restaurants that are opening.
They promote restaurants that are opening,
and they're the perfect people for this recon.
Keesa: Hi, ladies. - Hi!
- How you doing? Elisa: Welcome in.
And then what are we drinking?
I will do a Long Island iced tea, please.
- Okay. What about you? Sherrie: You have ranch water?
Ranch water? Yeah.
I feel like we should order a couple things and share.
Sherrie: Okay. Philly cheese fries, chicken tender sandwich.
Yes. And I'll do the, uh, Uncle AL's burger.
So the way she's pouring from that bottle,
I feel like doesn't give her a whole lot of control.
There's no way that drink is balanced.
No way.
[tense music]
Wow.
That was wow. But it wasn't a good wow.
- It's, uh...strong. - It's, uh, interesting.
Sherrie: It's just strong. Claire: Yeah.
- You wanna try? - No.
[dramatic music]
This looks like maybe a chicken sandwich,
but I don't see any salt or pepper on that.
The grill is disgusting.
If I walked into the kitchen
and the grill was like that, I would go nuts.
Phil: Yeah, you got to have standards
and you have to have systems in place.
So they should be cleaning that grill every single night.
Tatiana: Absolutely. Danny: Of course. Look at that.
Tatiana: It's sticking because it's dirty.
And now they're throwing something in the microwave?
Ugh. So they're microwaving their chili and their cheese.
Tatiana: Oh, come on. Disgusting.
Chili cheese fries.
I'm going to start with the squishy one.
Fries should be crispy, not squishy.
[tense music]
I don't think, I mean...
- Nope. - No.
- Didn't like the fries?
Sherrie: No, I don't think I like the chili.
And then they, they look a little soggy, too.
Yeah!
We have these things called
tater kegs, they're, it's like
a large, um, tater top,
but inside of it has bacon and cheese.
You want to try the kegs instead of these?
- Okay, let me do that. Claire: Okay. Yeah.
Phil: See, Rebecca's doing a good job.
She's seeing that there's an issue, there's a problem,
she's checking on her guest.
- Yeah. - What is Les doing?
Danny: He wants to party.
He wants to hang out with his pals and drink.
The fries were not good. Too soggy.
I want you to make an order of kegs. Okay?
Make sure you cook them through. I wanna, make them pretty.
Phil: If I was Rebecca, I'd be pissed off.
You know, it would really piss me off to have
have my partner just sitting there.
Sherrie: Thank you. Keesa: You're welcome.
Phil: Okay, here comes their food. Let's see how this goes.
Sherrie: Look how much mayo is on here.
Phil: Gosh, look at all that mayonnaise.
They use all that mayonnaise to-to cover up
that the chicken has no flavor to it, right?
This is just grilled chicken. It's nothing like, special.
Tatiana: They are not happy.
This is why this bar
is losing so much money.
- Absolutely. All: Cheers! Whoo!
- And there's the other reason. Tatiana: Yep.
Tater tot kegs.
Claire: Oh, these are the kegs. Cool.
Sherry: Okay, let's try. Claire: Thank you.
It looks good. It does.
[tense music]
- It's so cold. - Uh-uh.
- Stop it. - Think they're frozen.
This was supposed to be the recovery?
- I think this is worse. - Right. Yes.
- Still frozen in the middle. - I'm so sorry.
Phil: So the cooks don't know what they're doing.
Bartenders can't make a drink.
The manager doesn't know what he's doing.
Rebecca's running around trying to operate
and manage and train while she's on the fly.
Meanwhile, Les, he doesn't give two shits about it
because he's just sitting there hanging out, having a good time.
I'll tell you what, I've seen enough.
I think it's time for us to go in there right now.
- Yeah - Danny, what do you say?
- Let's go and kick some ass. - Let's do it.
- Go get 'em, guys. - Got it.
[upbeat music]
We are bombing out with you guys, aren't we?
Phil: Hi. How you doing? - Oh, I'm good. I'm Rebecca.
Rebecca, how you doing? I'm Phil Will.
Rebecca: Hi, Phil. Phil: This is Danny Trejo.
Rebecca: Hi. How are you? -Jon Taffer had us come in here.
We wanted to check out what you guys have going on.
Rebecca: Okay. - Alright?
You girls are here for these guys?
We bombed out. [laughter]
- We did. I felt so bad. - Well...
Yeah. When we saw you, you were the only one working.
- Yeah. - Oh.
And you have a lot of experience in the business, right?
- I do. - Yeah. How long?
Probably 16-17 years.
I wanna take a look in your bar.
Let's take-let's take a walk and look in your bar.
Les, this shit's going on right there.
Are they being nice to Becca?
- They make drinks here, right? - Yep.
And then everything dips down into the ice.
And is that something that you want your guest drinking?
- No, no, no. - Oh, my God.
Rebecca: And that's what I said. I'm not proud of it.
Do you guys have cleaning systems in place
to maintain the cleanliness of the bar?
Rebecca: Yes, we do. Phil: You do?
Rebecca: But it doesn't get--
You have systems in place
and your system's in place--
No, no, no. I'm saying it's not done well.
- It's not. It's not at all. No. - No. I get it.
You know what? There's no reason to yell at her.
You want to yell at somebody, yell at me.
No, no, no, no. Nobody's yelling.
- Don't attack her, please. Rebecca: No, baby, stop.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out. Time out.
Les: Okay. - My name is Phil.
- My name is Les. Phil: Okay.
Phil: So-- - I don't know you.
You come in my bar and start yelling at my wife.
You're the one they call, they call Long Island Les.
- 'Cause all you do is drink. - There you go. Yell at me.
- Okay. - Don't yell at her.
She even said, "he's not yelling."
We were having a thoughtful, professional conversation.
This is what professionals do
when they're passionate about a business.
- They have conversation-- - Yell at each other?
We... Were we yelling?
Were we yelling? This is yelling.
- This is me yelling. - I can yell too.
- Good. - We can all [bleep].
- Show some passion. - Do not disrespect my wife.
- I wasn't disrespecting-- - Yes, you did!
Who the [bleep] do you think you are?
The owner.
You're the owner who's now over
a $123,000.
- Yes, sir. - Oh, and you're proud of that?
- No, I am not. Maybe I do. - Okay, so maybe you need this.
Maybe you need professionals to come in here
and kick your ass and do something right.
- But be respectful of her. - I am respectful of everyone--
- I didn't hear respect. - You didn't hear respect?
You had your face at a [bleep] Long Island Iced tea
you couldn't hear anything.
This young lady who we're having a professional conversation...
I would love to help her.
- Help her then. - You...
I do not wanna help you.
Alright, fine. Help her.
But be respectful.
- Listen, stop. - There you go.
With that respect, you're not being respectful!
- Do you have a wife? -You don't know what's going on.
- Do you have a wife? - I have a wife, I have a child.
- I have a family. - Les...
You let somebody talk to her that way.
Phil: Absolutely not.
Because I wasn't yelling at her.
- Stop. - Get it in your [bleep] head
Why could I hear you from over here?
Hey, she's trying to tell you to shut up!
[glass shatters]
Hey, she's trying to tell you to shut up!
[tense music]
Now go sit down and let us finish
talkin' to the reasonable one.
Danny: Shut! Shut! - Please be respectful to her.
Get your ass over there and sit down.
Fine, okay.
[indistinct chatter]
- I apologize, okay? Rebecca: I'm sorry.
I respect you because you've been running around here busting
your ass working trying to make things right
and do things correctly. This is what's gonna happen.
You come over here with me right now. Do you want our help?
You wouldn't be here if I didn't need it.
This is what's gonna happen.
- This is no more. Okay? - Yeah.
No more, because this, Les, $123,000.
This is where all of your money is going because you can't make
rational decisions on anything that you do.
It is all my fault.
- You're being a dick! - I am being a dick.
You hear that? You're being a damn dick.
And if you want us to stick around,
if you wanna come out of this debt, if you wanna survive,
you need a humble up right now and listen to the professionals
that are in your bar. You got it?
You got it? I need a yes or no, and that's it.
You say yes, we'll come back tomorrow.
[dramatic music]
Yes, sure.
We're gonna do it for her, okay?
- Please, do. Phil: We're gonna do it for her.
My husband's actually a good man.
That was pretty [bleep], man, geez.
You know, but... you drink so many Long Island teas,
[chuckles] you react differently.
'Becca, I ain't comin' back. Sweetie, I love you.
They'll fix it for you.
Just go home and stop. I don't wanna do this anymore.
[upbeat music]
Rebecca: First of all, there was a lot of drama last night
and that drama carried over into getting personal.
I had to convince Les to come back today.
I had to remind him that this is our responsibility,
not just mine, it's both of ours.
We got a fresh slate right here,
and that's what I'm really excited about.
But I need everybody on board.
What I do need from him is his involvement.
This is not a social club for him, it is a business.
We can really shine, I know we can.
Let's go.
Last night during recon we saw so many things
that were wrong with this bar.
But the one thing that we didn't expect
was how Les was thinkin' that we were disrespecting him
and disrespecting his wife.
Phil: Hey guys. How we doin'? Rebecca: Hey.
You know today we really have to see
how Les is going to walk in, you know?
How, what his attitude's gonna be.
God, I hope it changes because I really think
we could help these people.
Phil: Guys, I know last night was really tough.
John sent us here for a reason. To save your bar.
And if you don't step up to the plate,
and you start to understand why we're here,
we're not gonna be able to do it.
We need to get to know you guys a little bit individually.
So I want to talk to your staff because we didn't get
to talk last night, okay?
- Who are you young man? - I'm Junior.
I'm the cook here.
How long you been working here?
About a month.
And you have prior cookin' experience?
- Yes, I do. - Okay. And how about you?
My name is Elisa. I've been here since October, I'm a bartender.
Phil: Okay, alright. How about you?
I'm Keesa, bartender.
Phil: Hi Keesa. - How are you?
- How long you been here? Keesa: A year.
Phil: How long you've been bartendin'?
- Probably Ten years. - How about you, partner?
Uh, my name is Raiel and [clears throat] I'm the new manager.
Uh, actually, I started as a cook here about 17 years ago.
- And moved up to bartending. - Wow.
They gave me the manager's position after
a very long time and I'm here to help out.
You'd jump in to help out if things get too heavy?
Raiel: Absolutely. - Yeah.
What do you feel like when Les comes in
and he gets his classic Long Island?
Is it just funny, "Oh, that's just Les being Les.
- That's what he does." - It's Les being Les.
Yeah. We don't think like otherwise of it.
Keesa: Yeah. - Okay.
It's not like I'm sittin' around
here drinking all day.
You know, I work all day like most people.
I Like to go out and relax just a little bit.
Anything you drink today?
- No. - You sure?
- Positive. Phil: Okay.
Have you a commitment to not
drinking while we're here this week?
Sure. It's not a problem.
Okay. Alright.
Let's talk about last night, how do you feel about it?
I didn't appreciate the way my wife was treated.
I'm not accustomed to people raising their voice to her.
Uh, it's not something that I allow to go on.
Let me ask you this, who raised their voice to your wife?
Les: You did. - Who?
Rebecca did anybody raise their voice to you?
I think that we were havin' a conversation
you asked me the same question twice
and, in yes, a little bit tone went higher
but you were asking a question that needed to be asked.
Do you understand that we have four days to come in here...
and make a difference, okay?
So if I walk in and I glad hand your wife,
we're not gonna get through.
At no point did we disrespect your wife.
That's your opinion.
I don't think you understand
what disrespect is.
I've seen her work from the time
I walked in here to the time we left.
I've seen you sittin' at a table
drinking the profits. That's disrespect.
How much money do you have sunk into this place, Les?
Well, I mean, since 2020 about $120,000.
- In debt. - Yes.
How many more months do you think you guys have
to operate before you close the doors for good?
At it's pace, you know,
I'm gonna be done in six months.
[tense music]
You know, one thing that we did is we called up
our buddies at Partender to come in and check
your pours and check your Liquor and see
where you guys are losin' money.
This is what we found.
Over the weekend you poured $7,700 worth of booze.
Into the register was only $6,300 put into the register.
So that means over this weekend you lost $1,400
from the money you should have made from the amount
of alcohol that was being poured. Now check this out.
In one month you're losing almost $12,000 in overpour,
in one year, it's a $1,40,000 in overpouring.
- Now you are how much in debt? - A $120,000.
And you're losin' a $1,40,000
just from stuff not bein' rung up or overpouring.
And the prime example last night
was the ladies that came in and they got strong drinks.
We can't go anywhere and do anything
if you think that we are gonna disrespect you
every single time we raise our voice or we make a point.
We need respect from you because we respect your wife already.
[scoffs] We don't respect you right now.
Not the way you treated us last night.
If we can move forward...
we need an apology from you.
Okay, I'm sorry guys. How about that?
Not how about that? How about you?
If you don't believe that, that's fine, too.
Look at yourself. Let's apologize.
Phil: Be sincere about it.
I want you to come out on the other side a better person.
Okay?
Let's apologize.
[shattering]
If we can move forward, we need an apology from you.
Okay. Look at our customers.
- You've got to get... Do this. - Okay.
- Thank you. Thank you. - Alright.
- I'm sorry guys. - We're good?
Les: Yeah. - Can we move forward?
Please, let's do.
- Can we move forward. - Do it!
Rebecca, do you wanna spend 60 hours a week in here?
No, I'm-I'm retired last year I-I really don't wanna do that.
Right. What needs to happen is you need to set
your standards up and set your systems in place and then
you can have Raiel just run it. Raiel, would you like that?
Would you like to have some sort of system in place
that you can just take it and run with it?
- Yeah, absolutely, um... - I'd love that.
I'm still new and training, will take a little bit of time,
but I'm willing to work and work hard.
Yes, we need to tighten up that training.
Now, we're not gonna do it on our own.
I'm gonna bring in my experts right now. Come on in guys.
Michelle, good too see you. Good too see you.
I have two great experts for you guys this week
We have Chef Tatiana Rosana,
and for the bar we have Carlos Ruiz.
Male narrator: For the bar, Jon brings in Carlos Ruiz
a native of Lima, Peru, Carlos is a multi award-winning
mixologist and a hospitality industry consultant.
Carlos has spent nearly two decades
in the New York nightlife scene where he has worked
tirelessly to master his craft and to rise to the top
of the custom cocktail field.
We have a lot of work to do tonight before stress test.
-So let's get to it. Danny: Good.
[upbeat music]
Alright, how's everybody doin'?
- Good. How are you? - Great.
Last night I'd heard that
they were overpouring cocktails.
So there was a lot of waste, a lot of waste.
So that means no money in the pockets.
Show me how to make that Ranch Water.
So for bar training today, I really wanna see
the skill level of these bartenders, so I could assess
what they're really doing behind the bar.
Alright, so your pour was a little bit too strong
and also with the Ranch Water,
it has to be a sparkling mineral water.
Male narrator: While similar, soda water
and sparkling mineral water have a key difference.
Both soda water and sparkling mineral water
are made by infusing still water with carbon dioxide,
which results in bubbles and fizz.
Sparkling mineral water has an additional layer
and includes sodium bicarbonate,
like salt added to food to enhance flavor.
The sodium in sparkling mineral water enhances
the flavors of the spirits within the cocktail.
Alright, so now let me show you how to make
the hibiscus Ranch Water.
So you start off with
Twisted Alchemy lime juice.
We're gonna add a quarter ounce.
We made a hibiscus tea syrup.
We're gonna add one ounce.
And now for your tequila, an ounce and a half.
Now we add the ice.
So the final ingredient is the sparkling mineral water.
And there you have it the hibiscus Ranch Water.
- A lot better than mine is. - Okay.
Elisa: Yeah. I like it 'cause it's like a good balance.
It's like sweet but you get like the tequila as well, so...
- Mm-hmm. - A lot of flavors in that one.
Alright, everybody, there's a lot more training to do
and stress test is comin', so it's gonna be stressful
but make sure to not overpour
and just make eye contact with everybody
and you're gonna have a good time, alright?
- Welcome to kitchen training. - Thank you.
The chicken sandwich we saw last night was a complete disaster.
It wasn't seasoned. It didn't look good.
So the first item we're gonna do today
is a Texas ranch-fried chicken sandwich.
The chicken sandwich that we're giving them, it's fried crispy,
it stays juicy and it really is a quality product.
These are fresh chicken thighs not frozen
and we're gonna do them in a buttermilk brine.
So the buttermilk is seasoned
but not only that, the flour is also seasoned.
We'll take this over to our fryer.
For this dish, we're gonna start with a base of pickles
and then we have some house-made slaw here.
Fried chicken, hot out of the fryer
and then we have ranch seasoning
and that is a Texas ranch fried chicken sandwich.
Rebecca: It's got a lot of flavor in the batter,
which is terrific and, uh,
I'm a big fan of coleslaw.
It's probably three or four steps
above what we were serving.
Tatiana: Alright, tonight is stress test.
There's still a lot of training that needs to happen
in order to get this kitchen where it needs to be.
Les: Um, feel good after today's kitchen training.
The food that she put together, it was exciting.
I think all of us has just not been providing
a good experience for customers.
But, uh, then we've had a lot of training on the new menu.
So I'm feeling better about the way things
are gonna go here tonight.
[upbeat music]
What are your guys's plans tonight as far as your role?
We're gonna try to work on the tables as far as taking orders.
And give 'em to Raiel so he can ring 'em up.
The key is Raiel, 'cause that's your way out really.
Okay, we're leaving. We know everything's okay.
The biggest part for tonight is givin' Raiel direction.
- Not a problem. - Alright guys.
Make sure that your team is ready to go.
- Alright. Good luck. - Alright. Thank you very much.
- Yeah. Rebecca: Okay, guys.
Alright, you guys ready?
- Hi, guys. Hi. - Hi, everybody.
Welcome to Albert's, come on in.
Come on in. Come on in, everybody.
Keesa: Hi, guys. Elisa: Hello.
Keesa: Our menus are right here for today.
And now, what can I get you?
Woman 1: Can I get the hibiscus Ranch Water?
You want the, the ranch one too?
- Okay - Wings and the western burger.
Wings and a chicken sandwich.
Hey, everything needs to come up together.
It needs to come up hot. It needs to come up correctly.
- Okay? Junior: Okay.
Last night this kitchen was a disaster.
Now tonight, sink or swim.
Let's find out whether they can do it or not.
- Three quarters. - What's the count on that?
Three quarters special fruit...
Half an ounce. Half an ounce.
- On passion fruit? - Mm-hmm.
- Okay, do it again. - Thanks.
Carlos: Here.
Hey guys, listen up
all the drinks that we make wrong tonight
we're gonna dump in this bucket, okay?
So if you taste your drink and it doesn't
taste good, you send it right back.
All: Yeah! - That's what I'm talkin' about!
All right, let's go guys!
Pick it up! Pick it up! Pick it up!
Tatiana: You've got a lot of tickets pilin' up on here.
We got to be quicker. What else do you have?
Let's go! Where are your fries? Did you drop 'em?
- No, I have no space in there. Tatiana: Chicken thighs...
Western burger, two orders of wings, right now, coming up.
Tatiana: Let's get this food out!
[indistinct speech]
Carlos: That's an overpour. I can't let this go out.
Bring it back.
Carlos: Yeah.
[groans]
Junior, do you have a burger almost ready
so I can take 'em both at the same time?
Junior: That burgers gone. I'm waiting on the wings.
Raiel: Somebody, ticket. Okay. - Yes.
Um, I'm gonna take one order of wings.
- Okay, I'll take those. - Junior is drowning.
He's about seven or eight tickets behind
hardly any food is left this kitchen.
There is zero communication
between front of house and back of the house.
Rebecca: Where's my two wings?
I-I already sent out two wings.
Rebecca: You did send them out? Junior: Yes.
That's what Raiel just took.
Tatiana: We need organization.
Alright, great. We got some food over here. How's it tasting?
She's not happy with her burger.
- Why? - I said medium.
- That's-that's really rare. - Yeah, this is...
Phil: Look, look at this.
So this is somethin' that we have to return.
- Raiel! - Yeah.
I need some help over here, please.
- What happened, sir? - Check this out?
We ordered this at medium. What does that look like?
It's got to be medium rare. It's probably cooked less.
Won't you see you go back there and handle that, okay?
Yes, sir. I'm sorry 'bout that. Uh, let me... apologize.
That burger for Debbie, it came out, uh, medium rare.
Can I keep 'em longer? Check the burgers.
Check the temperature before you take them
off the grill if you can, Junior.
So let's get that re-fire on the grill
get it out the window, turn this experience around!
[whistling]
Hey, everybody, how many are waitin'
for drinks right now?
- Me! - Everybody.
Too slow, Danny. Too slow.
Danny: They're not doing well. Stress test right now is chaos.
'Cause, you know, they're tryin', so, but...
but they gotta have some kind of system.
Carlos: You're overpourin' again.
Is it too late?
[groaning]
- Come on, man. Fifth time. Raiel: Alright. Okay. So...
- Chicken on this-- - They wanted a burger.
The wings come in here, too?
I got two orders of wings that are waiting at that table.
They already got their burger.
Les: Yeah, well, this is different table.
Wings are gone. Does this mean they're gone?
- Probably so. - Okay.
They need to 'em with 'em.
When you leave tick the tickets...
- They were lying around. - It's not-it's not over yet.
I need the burger for Bonny.
Tatiana: There needs to be some system
what's where and what still needs to be going.
Raiel: The burger is gone.
Rebecca: Here when you're done, okay?
Junior: Uh, the [bleep]!
They are drowning in here right now, Phil.
Phil: There's no way we're gonna get caught up tonight.
- No. - There's no way.
How many managers does it take
to get a burger out the window?
[shattering]
There's no way we're gonna get caught up tonight.
- No. - There's no way.
How many managers does it take
to get a burger out the window?
Phil: This is not gonna work tonight.
Problem is their systems. The systems are non-existent.
Drinks are getting dumped in the bucket
which means we're wasting so much money.
Food's coming out wrong. Food's going back.
I'm a little concerned about Raiel
because he's kind of running around
he doesn't have a game plan tonight.
And in order to be a good manager
you have to have a game plan going into the night
and you have to execute that game plan.
Raiel's not doing that tonight.
- Is that the better sweet? - You're pissing me.
- I hate this job. - Alright, sorry.
But, the staff is trying.
Les actually is stepping up to the plate.
- This one? - Two-two buffalo wings. Yeah.
It's so amazing what he can do when he's not having a drink.
Phil: Look at this.
This is how much we've wasted
in 30 minutes of being open so far, okay?
People waiting for drinks. People waiting for food.
Phil: That's right. Shut it down, we're done.
We're done tonight. We're all done.
- Sorry guys. - Let's get out of here.
We got a lot of work to do.
Overpour.
Seeing the drinks dumped in a bucket was like watching
someone burn my money right here in front of my face.
It didn't feel good.
[instrumental music]
Carlos: Hello, hello. Les: Hello, Carlos.
- How's everybody doing? - Doing good.
Yeah? Alright, so the next cocktail we're gonna be doing
is the spicy pineapple.
Now, this is for your
spicy margarita lovers.
You're gonna have the spiciness
from the jalapeno, but then that
earthy quality from the Lowland tequila.
It's just a delicious cocktail.
So if we can stop that overpouring,
I think this is going to be one of your best sellers.
Spicy pineapple.
In a mixing glass, you're gonna
add two jalapenos.
Adding some cilantro in here.
And now we're going to grab our badass muddler
from Cocktail Kingdom. Two count of simple syrup.
Add two count of Twisted Alchemy lime juice.
A four count of Twisted Alchemy pineapple juice.
Two count of Ancho liqueur.
Six count of a Lowland tequila.
Add ice all the way to the top,
lock it and shake up the cocktail.
[rattling]
So we're using this beautiful agave cup
from Cocktail Kingdom.
[rattles]
For garnish, we have these beautiful pineapples
from Dress The Drink.
And there you have it, spicy pineapple.
Rebecca: Nice. Les: Nice.
Carlos: Alright, here you go.
Raiel: You know, I feel energized.
We never had a drink menu before.
We never had specialty drinks.
And, you know, last night Carlos pointed out
my mistakes, which I need to adjust.
So it's-- it's still a lot to learn, a lot to practice.
Alright, everybody, we still have a lot of training to do,
but I know we're going to do well. Alright?
Carlos: Thank you so much. - Yes. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Carlos.
[instrumental music]
After last night's stress test,
Danny and I want to meet with Les and Rebecca.
We want to see how they're feeling about where we're at
right now and what they're going to do moving forward.
How was last night for you?
It was disappointing in a lot of ways.
Les: We didn't have the systems in place
to get through that kind of rush of business.
If you guys really want to step away from this business
and feel comfortable that
you have to feel comfortable and right out.
It's sad to say, but if he can't do it,
we've got to get somebody that can.
That's why I want to understand the systems
that you put in place, so that I can make sure
he is implementing them properly.
Yes, yes, absolutely.
Les, you've come a long way.
- I feel a lot better. - Do you guys feel like you...
you have a little bit more energy into this a little...
- You feel recharged? - Absolutely. Yeah.
- Yeah, I'm very excited now. - I feel excited.
Recharged. I agree.
And I like it better when we're, when we do it together.
- Me too. - It makes it a lot easier.
You know, you guys have a very special bond
and you guys deserve to... have more time together.
Your bar and your restaurant...
it can get back to where it was before.
You get your manager in place. We get the systems in place.
I'm confident that you can set it all up and run this place
and be very successful for years to come.
Leave it for your family, a legacy.
We appreciate it.
You know, after the first night,
I was ready to just quit right now.
But after spending more time with Danny and Phil,
I feel really good.
I feel like I want to be involved in it.
I'm re-energized.
I want to make Uncle Albert's
something that I can be proud of and we'll be profitable.
We're not out of the woods yet.
There's still a lot of things that we have to do with
your bar, we want to get with Jon and make sure
that we're implementing everything.
We have to get back over to the bar and get cracking, okay?
Alright. Thank you very much.
[upbeat music]
[whirring]
Jon: Hey, everybody. - Hey, Jon.
- Hey, Jon, what's up?
Jon: You know, Laura, when I
looked at the pictures, it seems
like we need some textures.
I couldn't agree more.
Their bones are great, but there's
nothing that gives this place
class or something special.
So I think bringing in some more upscale,
like obviously to the roots of Texas,
but just, I don't know, maybe some brand identity
to really give it something special inside.
Jon: I think we can come up with a name together
that connects the bar to their future.
- Yeah, I like that. Jon: Yeah, you know...
Jon: Something that could be meaningful to them.
Guys, so I think we need to work hard
on that as well as the design.
Yes, yes.
Jon: And, Phil, you talked big time about the bar
to the point that it almost seems like we have to start over
again with a whole new back bar.
The bar has good bones. I like the shape of it.
I think it's just more so the ergonomics behind of,
of where the wells are placed. There's no service bar there.
So we have to do some interior
equipment moving and bring in some new stuff.
Jon: Well, thank you all. That's good-good work.
We got a lot of work to do.
Laura: Thanks, Jon, - Alright, Jon, talk soon.
[whirring]
[up-tempo music]
- Hey, guys. All: Hey!
Hey, Phil, Danny, how you guys doing?
- What's up, guys? - I'm doing alright.
- How are you guys? - Doing well.
- Let's do this already. Right? - Right. Absolutely.
Les, tell me how this week was for you.
I-it was exciting.
It was a learning experience.
When we first started, we were
kind of on bad turns, weren't we?
I think we worked our way through it.
We did. And I appreciate that.
Good people can work through anything.
- Yes, sir. - How about you, Rebecca?
- How was this week for you? - Enjoyed it. We learned a lot.
We had a lot of work to do, to give you guys an identity
that's totally different than what you guys had before.
You guys want to see it?
- Yes. - Absolutely.
Ready to have them turn around?
- Let's do it. - Let's do it. Ready.
Both: One, two, three!
[upbeat music]
Wow!
Look at that.
- Wow! - Wow!
- Beautiful. - I like it.
[shattering]
- Let's do it. - Let's do it. Ready?
Both: One, two, three!
[upbeat music]
- Woah! - Wow!
Les: Big W Cattle Company. Rebecca: Wow!
Phil: Big W Cattle Company.
We decided to not only pay homage to the weavers,
but to Houston as well, as it's the home to the largest
livestock exhibition in the world.
Phil: What do you guys think? Both: Love it.
We had Humble Sign Company work
all night for you guys. You guys ready to go check it out?
Rebecca: Yeah, let's go. Les: Absolutely.
- Go on in, guys. - Let's go.
- Oh, my God. - Oh, wow.
- Oh, yeah. - Wood laden.
Rebecca: Wow!
- Awesome. - Look at the chairs.
It's the chairs for me. Look at the lights.
Les: Oh, they put new TV's in here. Those are bigger ones.
Rebecca: I love it. This is very nice.
Elisa: It's like, so like Texas. Keesa: It is.
I don't know how they could do this much.
In what, 36 hours? It's a new start.
[gasps] Look at these lights. I love it.
Look at this down here under the bar. They got stone.
I love those. So exciting.
- Hey, guys. All: Hey.
Got some seats and we'll come around the bar
and tell you everything we did with this place.
- Okay? - Okay.
They feel like couches.
Look at that smile on Les. I love to see that.
Guys, what do you think about your place?
- It's beautiful. Yeah, love it. - Love it.
You did a great job.
As we talked to Jon about the concept
and what we wanted to do with it
we wanted to make sure that it spoke to the community.
And it says Texas that you could feel prideful about as well.
Okay, so if you look at the color scheme in this place,
the little stone accents to add some texture,
new lighting fixtures all around your bar.
- The taps. Phil: Look at that.
The draft system is from a company called Draft Horse.
They put in eight brand new beer lines for you guys.
- Thank you. - Very nice.
All of your vinyl wraps
and logos were done by
Got Signs Houston.
We've got self leveling tables
from Rockless Tables.
We put in three brand new TV's
by TV Installation Houston.
They also redid all your audio and video as well.
We got you guys Skytab POS system
and what's really great is that you guys have
these glass tablets. Okay?
So now you can have people going around the outside
taking orders, punching them in.
That's going to save so much time.
No more messing around or nothing.
We were able to get Osre Inc.
to get you brand new stainless steel work tables,
a whole brand new natural gas deep fryer
and a brand new back bar cooler.
We also have Texas Metal Company
that put in all of your laser cut stainless steel.
All of your plumbing was done by Aberles Plumbing.
Probably one of my favorite things.
Remember you were losing $140,000 a year
from overpours or not ringing things in.
We got you guys a subscription to Partenders.
- Very nice. - You got stuff going on here.
You did a whole lot.
This is a great community bar.
Those new customers are going to come in here
and feel so warm and welcome.
I know that we have a packed house
waiting to come in right now.
If you want to get one chance to make
a first impression, this is tonight.
So let's make that first impression
the best impression you could possibly do. Okay?
- Okay. - Alright.
Let's do it.
Alright, Danny.
[all cheering]
I know what this is.
Alright, everybody ready?
Yaahh!
[upbeat music]
[indistinct chatter]
- Big W. - Yes, sir.
- Hi, guys. How are you? - Spicy bottles of fresca.
Texas Ranch chicken sandwich.
Texas Ranch chicken sandwich with chili's.
Tatiana: Alright, we need four chopped cheeseburgers.
You got those chopped cheeseburgers working, right?
Yeah, they're cooking right now.
Tatiana: We'll also need one
fried chicken sandwich.
That fried chicken is working. What are you working on now?
Uh, the western burger.
One is medium and the other one is medium well.
Tatiana: How long do we have? - Medium is coming out now.
Tatiana: Coffee, let's do this.
- What are we making there? - Uh, the tea.
Fantastic. What are your counts?
3-3-3-6-8.
There you go.
[rattling]
- How's it feel? - Confident.
Honestly, it feels a lot better.
I feel like everything's set up
so I can honestly do what I need to do.
- That's great. - Tex mex.
And a Texas ranch chicken.
- This is for you. - Thank you so much.
Did you notice our logo?
It's us. Ain't that cool?
Anybody came here to see you guys?
Alright, I guess this whole section is taken care of.
This is a big moment for Raiel.
I'm missing one bittersweet.
Phil: The passion is there,
the commitment is there,
our systems in place are there.
The spicy pineapple.
He is really coming around.
I see him with confidence
and seeing taking charge.
I'm already seeing a lot of people with drinks
so that's awesome.
This big W, unbelievable.
I'm really proud of what they've done,
and all we've helped them do.
I think Raiel has really stepped up.
He's acting a little bit more like a manager.
And that's what you guys need to see.
The minute everybody walked in,
they just took pride in the place.
And that's one of the things that makes
us happy, makes Jon... ecstatic.
- Oh, you should be. - You guys did a great job.
- Thank Jon for us. - Appreciate that.
Yeah. Absolutely. Congratulations, brother.
- Thank you. I appreciate that. - Thank you so much.
Phil: The future of the Big W is endless.
Jon gave us the direction that he we wanted us to go with this
and we took it and we ran with it.
The future for the Big W is bright. It's huge.
They're going to do well for decades
to come at this location.
[laughing]
Let's get out of here.
[laughs]
[upbeat music]
[theme music]