O'Face Bar - Bar Rescue Update - Open or Closed?

In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits O’face Bar in Council Bluff’s Island, Iowa.

O’face Bar is owned by married couple Karen and Matthew Overmyer

They bought the bar in 2011 with their retirement funds to fulfil a lifelong dream of owning a bar.

The bar was named after Matt’s nickname and this caught the attention of the locals.

The locals streamed and after opening it was a great success.

They were doing well and making up to $15,000 a month.

The owners got overconfident and started partying at the bar and their manager acted very unprofessional.

Karen drinks a lot at the bar and is not managing the staff at all.

She blames Matt for everything going wrong at the bar.

They are now losing $4,000 a month and are in over $260,000 debt.

They are three months from closing permanently.

Jon recons the bar with Russell Davis, an expert mixologist.

They make jokes about how O’face references an orgasm face and it might not be a good name for a bar.

They also think that the exterior of the bar looks like a trailer.

Jon thinks that it is one of the ugliest bars he has been asked to rescue.

Inside, they see the owner Karen ring a private bell for drinks.

Vanessa is their daughter and she helps in the bar and works with staff.

Amanda is a manager, Brian is a bartender and Syck is the security guard.

The bar is empty and Jon fills Russell in on the financials of the bar.

Jon has asked Rick and Ryan, two locals, to recon on the bar.

They order two beers and two O’gasm shots but they hate the shots and say they taste premade.

Bartender Cerissa is selling shots in plastic shot containers that they clean and reuse, which is unhygienic.

Dave is a bartender who serves flaming drinks incorrectly.

This could be hazardous to the customers and the bar.

Karen calls for shots for herself and her friends, who do not pay for them.

Other members of staff are drinking in the backroom leaving the bar unmanned.

A customer has to make her own drinks as there is no one behind the bar to serve her.

Matt refuses to tell a customer how much alcohol is in the specialty shot.

This causes an argument between him Cerissa and Amanda.

Cerissa and Amanda get into a fight and when they go outside it gets physical with them on the floor.

Jon and Russell immediately leave their SUV to break it up.

Amanda is disrespectful to Jon while he calls Matt and Karen outside.

He shouts at them for allowing this to happen and how it opens them to a lawsuit.

Matt and Karen shout back at Jon while he gives them an ultimatum to fire Amanda or he will not save the bar.

Matt wants Amanda to go as she has been a problem.

Karen wants her to stay and they resolve to fire Cerissa instead.

Syck does not think she should go but does his job.

He gets her off the property and she leaves tearfully.

The next day, the staff are gathered together in the bar when Jon walks in.

Jon reminds them of his ultimatum and is shocked to see the instigator of the fight still in the bar.

He walks out on them and they are forced to rethink their decision and fire Amanda, who leaves.

Jon is watching it all from outside in his SUV while they are unsure what to do.

Jon is brought back in reluctantly and they are grateful.

The staff ask for his help and he resolves to take it a day at a time while introducing his expert.

Karen accuses Matt of drinking while Jon accuses her of being obnoxious, which she takes badly and walks out.

Matt follows her to talk to her and he apologises to her accepting it is mostly his fault to get her back.

He apologises to the staff and says it is all his fault.

Jon wants Matt to admit it is Karen’s fault and reveals he is hiring Cerissa since she was unfairly fired.

They will be having a stress test that night, despite not getting any training.

Cerissa arrives just as they are opening and the owners apologise to her.

The crowds gather and are let in for the stress test.

Russell is at the bar and evaluating all the drinks before they go out.

Anything improperly made is tossed down the drain.

Customers are left waiting at the bar for up to half an hour without drinks.

They are also left waiting for up to an hour for pizzas.

Matt is in the kitchen making pizzas while Jon has to tell Karen to smile more as the manager.

The customers hate the taste of the pizzas when they eventually come out.

Karen takes a smoke break in the middle of service.

There are so many things that go wrong during the stress test.

Pizza gets burned in the oven, glasses are broken and lots of drinks are tossed.

As a result, Jon shuts the bar down before any more damage is done.

The next day they are to begin training.

The bartenders are in the back room joking around instead of practising making drinks.

Matt tells Jon the origin of the name and Jon says it is embarrassing and it needs to change.

Karen wants the name to stay and Jon does not want to continue if she will change the name back after he leaves.

They are supposed to train with Russell and the owners go into the back to talk about the staff.

Syck and the other staff know they are being talked about and join in the discussion turning it into an argument.

Jon comes back and sees they are not training and has had enough of them.

He gives them one last chance to get in line but they are still unsettled.

Jon does a business background check as he has concerns based on what he has seen.

They dig into staff history and anything that is available in public records.

Russell trains the bartenders and owners on making some common cocktails in bulk and fast.

They do not do well and Russell does not believe they can handle a full bar.

The business background check reveals several criminal offenses that took place on the bar premises.

Jon gathers them together and shows a video of Matt physically assaulting an employee.

It also shows him offering to pay Syck to throw him through a window.

Matt is defensive but Jon sees they let too much slide and cannot see they crossed the line.

Jon wants nothing to do with them and wants to preserve his brand.

He leaves them with advice to seek counselling.

Jon leaves without rescuing the bar.

What Happened Next at O'Face Bar?

Three months after relaunch, security officer Syck was fired for speaking in support of Jon for walking away.

Matt, Karen and the staff still drink at the bar.

Amanda was rehired as bar manager.

The city council revoked their liqor licence based on the show but it was reinstated on appeal.

In season 4, Jon sends in two customers to do some recon.

A drunk customers tries to start a fight with the couple.

Matt steps in due to the lack of security and asks the drunk patron to leave.

Jon is shocked and recognises that Matt has stepped up.

They conclude that the bar has been cleaned up but it is the same crowd and they wouldn't return.

They believe that sales are up when in fact they are down and plan to open a second location.

O'Face Bar is open, despite Yelp saying it is closed.

Reviews of the bar are mostly terrible after Jon filmed at the bar but many are likely not genuine.

Since the show, owner Matthew Overmyer has been jailed for sexual assault.

He was later rejailed for not turning up for court mandated activity and refusing to register as a sex offender.

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This post was last updated in February 2024.