Bar Rescue

The pirate-themed Piratz Tavern in Silver Spring, Maryland, which had been rebranded Corporate Bar and Grill by Taffer, reversed all of the changes Taffer made to the bar shortly after their episode was filmed. The owner released a YouTube video called "Piratz Revenge", showing the "Corporate" sign created by Taffer's team being shot at and burned in effigy.[25] The video was heavily disliked by YouTube viewers, and garnered a positive rating of only 4%. Taffer of their decision, "If you had a pirate concept that had failed for five years and had a new concept, would you go back to the concept that failed for five years or try something new? It defies logic that someone would go back to a (failed) concept just because they don't like the new name."[18] The owners blamed the "negative publicity" on the show. Piratz was revisited as part of the April 5, 2015 episode, in which Taffer grades the bar an "epic fail", and the owner sought a second rescue. Within a week of the revisited episode's premiere, however, Piratz decided to close its doors for good. In a "Back to the Bar" episode, the owners made amends with Taffer and announce that they plan to open a new bar, Bar Refuge, within the next year in Florida. They also appeared alongside their daughter in the episode "Getting Freaky at the Tiki" as recon spies for The Tiki Lounge.

Taffer's most expensive rescue also resulted in his biggest failure. His visit to The Los Angeles Brewing Company during season 4 saw him put $1 million into updating the bar, which included the installation of a self-service beer tap and an in-house brewing system, which was intended to allow the bar, which was rebranded as LABrewCo, to start serving its own beer. Four months after the rescue, the brewing system was discovered to have never been used, the self-serve tap was disconnected, and the owner had reverted changes to the bar taps and the menu. In addition, LABrewCo's liquor license had been suspended and the business was put up for sale.[26]

Taffer's first walkout was the trailer-themed O'Face Bar in Council Bluffs, Iowa in the season 3 "Punch Drunk and Trailer Trashed" episode. The owners, Matt and Karen, named the bar after a vulgar expression and engaged in terrible behavior to their staff. In one of Bar Rescue's most infamous moments, Matt and Karen responded to a staff member fight by firing the victim, bartender Cerissa, instead of its instigator, manager Amanda, (as Jon demanded), because they liked Amanda more. Jon was infuriated and almost left on the spot. The owners made amends by firing Amanda and apologizing to Cerissa, but this cost a day of training.

Their treatment of customers was little better. Matt refused to give customers the recipe to their signature O'Gasm shot and bartender Dave was irresponsible with fire. After an abysmal stress test, they wasted still more time by bickering and family drama. Karen blamed security guard Syck, one of the bar's only decent people, for shortcomings. Karen also had a drinking problem and carried her own bell to ring when she wanted more alcohol. (The entire staff drank at work, but not to the extremes Karen displayed). She had a lousy attitude, refused to accept personal responsibility and habitually blamed Matt, who in turn berated anyone who snapped at her.

Yet another memorable scene showed the staff and owners occupied with arguing in the backroom instead of training, while Jon and his experts waited in vain at the bar. Jon had to go in the back room, break up the fight and list each action that resulted in his decision to declare their bar unworthy of rescue.

The final straw for Jon was his background check of the staff, which exposed evidence of criminal acts, a video of Matt slapping Dave and offering Syck a raise to throw him through a window. Matt showed no remorse. Jon refused to involve himself with, or risk his reputation, for people with such a lack of morals and professionalism. He refused to rescue their bar and walked out, telling Matt and Karen that they needed psychiatric help and marriage counseling more than they needed a bar rescue. An incensed Matt yelled at Syck while the latter gave his final thoughts. Syck was later fired and Amanda rehired. In a follow-up episode of "Back to the Bar", Jon learned that the bar's owners had remodeled it, but its negative depiction and dreadful brand identity were unchanged. Drink and food sales were unimproved (Matt actually didn’t have any idea at all what their sales figures were), although Matt displayed promise by removing a regular who acted inappropriately toward a female spy.

In February 2016, Matt was arrested and later pled guilty on charges of the second degree sexual abuse and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse on an O’Face bar employee. He was sentenced to two years in jail, but the charge was suspended to 90 days followed by 2 years of probation, 20 years of parole and the requirement to complete a sex offender treatment program on the condition that he would abide by his plea agreement. Matt completed his jail sentence in April of that year, but soon afterwards was arrested again and sent back to prison for failing to register as a sex offender. As of 2019, O’Face Bar is still in operation.

Jon's second walkout occurred in the season 4 "Second Base, Third Strike" episode. This began as a planned re-rescue of baseball-themed Second Base in Orange, California, (the prior episode "Bikini Bust", when it was called Extremes Sports Bar).

At first Gary, who was promoted to manager at the end of "Bikini Bust", appeared to be at fault because he did not seem to do his job and blamed successful bars nearby for stealing customers. At one point Gary became so agitated he pushed down a retaining wall. Instead Jon discovered that owner Terry didn't give his staff tools or funds required to operate his bar, constantly replaced old bartenders with new ones he didn't even meet and abandoned Jon's menu and uniform changes.

Terry invested all of Second Base's funds into a (supposedly) more successful new bar instead of making improvements or even covering basic operating expenses for Second Base. He refused to listen to criticism and badmouthed Jon and his expert Lisamarie Joyce. Despite this he still expected Jon to come in and save his bar again without personal effort. Jon, with his characteristic insistence on owner responsibility, had no intentions of cooperating with this notion. After a stress test which Jon deemed one of the worst he has ever seen, he gave Terry an ultimatum: he would re-remodel the bar, but only if Terry put up $30,000 of the expense himself. Terry now claimed his new bar lacked enough success to support Second Base and refused. Angry, disgusted and disappointed because one of his favorite bar concepts ever had been ruined, Jon called Terry a slime bucket and departed. Terry's final excuse to Jon was that he would’ve agreed to contribute to the new remodel if he had the money, to which Jon replied to Terry that he would’ve had the money if he ran Second Base the right way. Jon did, however, promise to assist Second Base's staff in finding new jobs.

Jon's third walkout was the punk rock-themed Black Light District in Long Beach, California in season 4's "Drunk on Punk" episode.

Owner Dave refused to accept any changes to the building, drink menu, or music choices. He would only play punk rock, deeming anything else as "selling out." He made it clear he'd rather have his bar close than play another genre. He displayed an immense ego, going so far as to insult customers who criticized the music along with Jon and mixologist Phil Wills. He sneered at Phil's attempt to prepare a fruit-based drink menu that sold well at other music-themed bars.

The Vandals bassist Joe Escalante, who acted as a recon spy, pointed out that as much as he himself loved punk rock, it was a specialized genre unlikely to keep a bar in business by itself. Instead of finding fault with Escalante's knowledge or logic, Dave chose to respond with a personal attack. He mocked Escalante's "grandpa sweater" and implied that the 35-year veteran of the punk scene was too old to "get" punk. The insulted bassist departed from the episode. The only change Dave was interested in was the addition of a kitchen. Jon found this ludicrous since Dave couldn't even run a bar right. Dave's bar was filthy and he proved more of a hindrance than help during Stress Test. When Dave told Jon to his face to leave, insisting he knew better, Jon happily complied. The staff, especially jilted investor Gabe, was dismayed by Dave's apathetic attitude and the hope Jon took away with him.

Jon and Nicole Taffer, along with the show's production company Bongo LLC, have been sued by Dr. Paul T. Wilkes from Bar 702 (formerly Sand Dollar). In episode "Don't Mess with Taffer's Wife", Wilkes is shown to hit on Nicole, and Jon yells at him in retaliation. However, Wilkes stated that the producers ordered him to be sleazy and make offensive comments on women, and texted him to "Hit on Mrs. Taffer hardcore!!" After Wilkes did so, Wilkes states that Taffer called the control room to tell them to have a drink near the spot where he intended to confront Wilkes, so he could throw it in his face, and said to a colleague, "Now I'm going to show you why my show is Number One." According to Wilkes, Taffer came in to confront him and showed him footage of his audition tapes, in which he insulted the way Taffer dressed. Taffer then physically assaulted Wilkes, leading to a scuffle, resulting in a hyperventilating Taffer collapsing onto the floor. Wilkes stated that he suffered from emotional distress and symptoms such as migraines, nausea, vomiting, night terrors, crying spells, severe depression, and anxiety attacks as a result of the confrontation.[27][28] As of August 11, 2017, the case was dismissed with prejudice at the request of Dr. Wilkes after it settled in arbitration for a confidential amount. As a result, the "Don't Mess with Taffer's Wife" episode no longer airs in reruns on Paramount Network or appears on the network's website and apps.

During the taping for season 3, Taffer visited BoondoxXx BBQ & Juke Joint in Nashville, Tennessee and worked with owner Chris Ferrell, who was noted for having a hot temper. The rescued bar was renamed Pit & Barrel and the episode featuring the bar was to air on November 24, 2013, but on the night before the episode was supposed to air, Ferrell was arrested by Nashville police for shooting and killing country singer Wayne Mills during an argument inside the remodeled Pit & Barrel. Spike immediately pulled the episode from its originally scheduled premiere slot in primetime. However, it failed to remove the episode replay carried three hours later at 1 a.m. ET/10 p.m. PT from its broadcast automation system, thus it still aired. The network drew criticism for the error, in light of the circumstances. Since the accidental airing, the episode has never re-aired, though it has been distributed on file-sharing websites.

Ferrell stood trial for the murder of Mills and asserted he acted in self-defense, claiming that Mills had violated the bar's nonsmoking rule and had threatened to kill him with a broken beer bottle. The jury convicted Ferrell of second-degree murder in March 2015 after a long-delayed trial,[29] and he was given a 20-year sentence without the possibility of parole. The verdict and sentence are being appealed.[30]