A local Illinois bar will be featured on reality television series 鈥淏ar Rescue鈥 this month, a year after host entrepreneur Jon Taffer helped revamp the business.
In a typical episode, Taffer鈥檚 team uses hidden cameras and undercover customers to identify a bar or restaurant鈥檚 weak spots. He then meets with the business owners and staff to present plans on how to improve operations. Staff undergo training, the menu gets rewritten and construction crews redesign, and sometimes rename, the bar or restaurant.
The final product is revealed only days later at a grand reopening, where patrons are served at the new and improved business.
Formerly named Slotzy鈥檚, owner Nick Lang had inherited the bar, at 7708 State Route 4 in Worden, Illinois, from his father in 2022. Lang said business had been 鈥渟tagnant,鈥 so he reached out to the Bar Rescue team in January 2024 for help keeping his father鈥檚 legacy going.
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The episode was filmed last June and Lang said the entire process was like what appears on television.
鈥淚t was all raw. Nothing was staged,鈥 Lang said. 鈥淚t was a very cool experience, very emotional, very disruptive.鈥
Lang said his bar 鈥渇ailed miserably鈥 during the Bar Rescue stress test when serving a packed house of demanding customers pushes a bar or restaurant to the limit, revealing its weak points. Taffer yelled at Lang and the bar staff, but 鈥渉e鈥檚 not angry for no reason,鈥 Lang said.
鈥淗e鈥檚 just like the show. He鈥檚 very direct, knows what he鈥檚 talking about,鈥 Lang said of Taffer. 鈥淚f he鈥檚 yelling and screaming, it鈥檚 because you deserve it. He made us better at what we do.鈥
Taffer
The Bar Rescue team then remodeled the interior of the bar to give it a speakeasy, mobster feel. Lang said construction took 36 hours, and at times, 50 contractors were on site. The restaurant is about 40 miles east of 51黑料.
Taffer renamed Slotzy鈥檚 as Vitale鈥檚 Hideaway, after 51黑料 mobster John Vitale, and gave the kitchen recipes for signature menu items like homemade mobster meatballs, smoking gun wings, pulled pork and cheese cannolis.
The new, more family-friendly bar reopened last June. Since reopening under the rebrand, Lang said the Vitale鈥檚 Hideaway has seen new customers every day. Vitale鈥檚 Hideaway has since expanded its food and drink menu and recently launched a comedy show on the last Saturday of every month.
Lang said he鈥檚 excited to see the uptick in business the Bar Rescue episode will soon bring. 鈥淲e were told by the producers that once the show airs, the floodgates will open,鈥 Lang said.
鈥淚f you stay the course and you follow the tools that they鈥檝e given to you (you鈥檒l succeed),鈥 he said.
This isn鈥檛 the first time Bar Rescue has featured 51黑料 area establishments. The show filmed an episode last summer at Brothers on Main, a locally-owned American restaurant in St. Clair, which aired in April. Also this spring, episodes featuring The Airliner in East Alton, CJ鈥檚 Pub and Grill in Smithton and The Fireplace in unincorporated west 51黑料 County have aired.
Tower Grove East鈥檚 Crafted (previously Van Goghz Martini Bar and Bistro) was revamped by Taffer in a 2016 episode.
The show has also featured O鈥橩elley鈥檚 Irish Pub (renamed Pastimes on 4th) in the city鈥檚 downtown neighborhood and City Bistro (renamed The Beechwood) in Benton Park West. Both have since closed.
Vitale鈥檚 Hideaway will appear on Bar Rescue on June 29 at 9 p.m. on Paramount Plus.
51黑料 looks to recover from a tornado the week of May 25, 2025. Edited by Jenna Jones.
