Pirates Tavern Silver Spring

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In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits Piratz Tavern in Silver Spring, Maryland.

• The pub couldn't survive the rough seas in the wake of Spike TV's epic 'Bar Rescue' episode in 2012.
• Piratz Tavern was a pirate themed bar featured on Season 2 of Bar Rescue. Check in for an update on what happened next to this Maryland bar.

Piratz Tavern is owned by Tracy Rebelo.

Spike TV Bar Rescue purported premise: Bars mean money, but they also mean stress if they aren’t properly run. Jon Taffer is a bar and nightclub owner who has started, flipped, or owned over 600 bars and clubs in his career and currently owns one of the most highly respected consulting firms in the bar and nightclub industry.

In 2007, she hosted a successful pirate-themed Halloween party.

Tracy wanted to bring this theme into her everyday life so she launched Piratz Tavern.

From the beginning, Piratz only attracted a small customer base of renaissance faire reenactors and pirate performers.

Tracey’s inexperience first surfaced when she hired her husband Juciano to run the kitchen with no cooking background.

Her next fatal flaw was staffing the bar with the customers.

The pirates continued to act like customers while the actual customers made their way out the door.

For five years, Tracey turned a blind eye to bookkeeping and now Piratz is a few months away from being shut down permanently.

Tracy says she is $900,000 in debt.

She lost her house and her credit is shot from trying to keep the bar open.

She says she lost everything and now she needs help.

On the northern border of Washington D.C. lies Silver Spring, Maryland.

It is a middle-class suburb with a thriving central business district.

By day, Silver Spring has a large business population with plenty of disposable income.

By night, those business people go home.

Jon arrives in his SUV with his wife to watch survelience and look at Yelp reviews.

Jon asks Nicole to do the recon tonight.

Piratz Tavern is a 2,800-square-foot linear space with an underused stretch of table seating in the front and a bar area in the back.

Nicole sits down and asks for a menu.

She says that the staff seems to be living in their own little fairytale world.

Nicole ordered a glass of wine off of the menu.

The staff seem very friendly but Nicole says they seem overly friendly as if they are covering up for something.

Nicole leaves the bar.

Jon brings in Bill and Jen to do a second recon.

They were unable to get help from the staff.

It’s obvious they helped out Nicole because they know that she is Jon’s wife.

The drinks are awful and they ordered food but this is also gross.

After an hour of being in this bar, Bill and Jen return to Jon to report their findings.

Bill says the staff made him uncomfortable.

Jon heads into Piratz Tavern.

Tracey admits that she lives in her parents’ basement with her husband and 17-year-old daughter.

Jon says she’s delusional for thinking this concept would work.

Jon says that if Tracey doesn’t admit that she’s failing then things will never get better.

Tracy says she is not ashamed of how things are.

Jon says that if she isn’t ashamed then she should close right now and he can’t help her.

Jon and Juciano begin arguing about the food being poor.

Jon meets with the staff to discuss how they got to where they are now.

The staff doesn’t appreciate how Jon is talking to them.

The next day, Jon brings in expert chef Josh Capon.

The menu is 18 pages long, which isn’t good for their business.

Josh says that they need to start tasting the food before it goes out to the customers.

For the bar, Jon brings in head mixologist for Diageo, Elayne Duke.

Elayne says that their drinks are guaranteed to cause diabetic shock.

Jon pulls the team together to discuss their findings and come up with a game plan.

Elayne says they have to start from scratch in terms of training.

Jon lays out his plan with Tracy.

Jon brings up how they need to be marketing towards their market area, the workers.

Jon tries to tell her that continuing with the pirate theme will not work for them at all.

Tracy gives in and accepts that things will have to change.

They meet with the staff to discuss the news.

Tracy tells them that they have to push more towards a corporate market.

Pirates Tavern Maryland

The staff don’t like how things are going to change.

Pirates Tavern Silver Springs Maryland

Jon asks one of the staff members if he’s going to be a part of this but he walks out.

The next day, the staff is greeting with Jon having already began taking away the pirate theme.

Jon has brought in a new cook Jason, who has just got out of culinary school.

Elayne meets with the bartenders to show them a few cocktails.

She shows them the Hottie.

Josh shows them some recipes that will be added to the new menu.

Jon brings in a third expert, Jessie Barnes.

She will teach the staff how to serve business clientele.

Jessie thinks they need to get out of pirate mindset but it’s hard for the staff.

Piratz Tavern opens for the soft opening.

The staff is swamped.

Customers begin walking out of the bar because the wait time is so long.

Juciano is oblivious to any of the issues the kitchen is having and cannot run this kitchen.

Jon tells him to get his stuff together and he walks out.

Tracy goes after Juciano.

Chef Capon thinks that Jason is a very talented chef.

The servers are dropping glasses and everyone is overwhelmed.

The bartenders slowly pull it together, gaining confidence.

The customers are loving the new food.

At the end of the night, Tracy returns without Juciano.

Jon meets with the staff to discuss what went wrong.

Juciano walks into the bar.

They make Juciano a runner for relaunch.

Jon begins remodel on the bar.

Meanwhile, the staff begins promoting their new bar to targeted demographic.

Thirty-six hours later, Jon brings the staff to see their new bar.

Piratz Tavern has been renamed and is now called Corporate Bar and Grill.

The staff does not like the new concept.

However, they do like the inside of the bar.

Jon has installed a Smart Bar.

Jon says he is very happy with the bar and has no doubt it’ll be successful if run properly.

Corporate Bar and Grill opens up for relaunch.

On relaunch, the food looks beautiful.

Customers are having fun and are enjoying the new vibe of the bar.

Tracy is struggling with the change and says she is going to sleep on it for a couple of days.

What Happened Next at Piratz Tavern / Corporate Bar and Grill?

The Corporate Bar and Grill remained open for only a few days.

Tracy closed it and officially reopened as Piratz Tavern just weeks after relaunch.

Tracy still lives in her parents basement with Juciano.

Piratz Tavern Silver Spring Maryland

Piratz Tavern closed in April 2015.

They blamed the closure on the negative backlash from appearing on Bar Rescue that led to vandalism and prank calls at the bar.

They also blamed constant repeats of the episode and their lease was not renewed.

Pirate Tavern Names

Tracy claims that she was promised a re-rescue in Back to the Bar but it was an interview instead.

She opened a new bar called Bar Refuge in 2016 and the bar was sold to new owners in 2018.

Click for more Bar Rescues
Previous episode - Angry Ham's Garage / Octane Bar and Grill
Next episode - Bamboo Beach Tiki Bar / Bamboo Beach Club

Pirates Tavern Silver Spring

This post was last updated in September 2021.