Summit House Grill And Tap - Bar Rescue Update - Open or Closed?

In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits Summit House Grill and Tap in Lakewood, Colorado.

Summit House Grill and Tap is owned by Josh and Alexia Lubliner, who opened the bar in 2014.

Before getting into the bar business, Josh was a financial manager for about 10 years.

He always wanted to own his own bar and Alexia went along with it.

Alexia worked in information technology. She was good at it and that she enjoyed it.

When Josh decided he wanted to buy this bar, she quit her job to help support his dream.

In the beginning, sales were very strong with them making around $30,000 a week and later $40-45000 a week.

Josh wanted him and Alexia to be more silent owners so they could take time away from the bar.

Manager Nichole says that she believes she was never given the proper resources and tools to help this place.

With the management team bringing the bar down, Josh had to take a more active role in the bar.

Travis, one of the bartenders, says that Josh is super neurotic.

With struggling to keep the business afloat, Josh started drinking to cope.

Travis says that if Josh is going to be drinking on the job then he will too.

He says he might as well have fun while he’s at the bar.

Nichole often has to babysit her boss when he is drunk.

Josh’s drinking is affecting both the bar and his marriage.

Josh says they’re losing $4,500 a month, with a total debt of $750,000.

Alexia says Josh has given up on everything.

Josh realized something had to give and made a call to Bar Rescue.

Jon Taffer has asked Alexia to join him in his car during the recon.

He asks her about the history of their bar.

She says they borrowed $250,000 from his parents’ retirements accounts.

Because of the city ordinances, Jon can’t change anything about the exterior of the bar.

He says this will be a challenge.

Alexia says he can handle managing the bar for a little bit.

However, once he starts to feel stressed out, he begins to self-medicate with alcohol.

Alexia says she thinks Josh doesn’t treat the staff well and that his negativity is infectious.

Josh is very obviously insulting the customers in the bar.

Josh is also swearing at his staff and is getting physical with them.

Alexia goes into the bar to talk to Josh but he’s blames everything on her.

Jon walks in and pours the rest of Josh’s drink on him.

Jon scolds Josh for his behavior tonight.

Travis kicks Josh out of the bar.

The next morning, Jon meets with the staff of the bar.

Alexia says that that Josh drinks on the job and hits on other women.

She tells him that he also treats the staff poorly and this is why the bar is the way it is.

Jon says that Josh manipulates people with the things he says.

Nichole stresses how aggravating it is that she has to babysit Josh instead of doing her job as a bar manager.

Jon says that Josh isn’t the victim but that his two kids are.

Jon says that over the last weekend, they poured $2,908 worth of alcohol, but only $946 worth was put through the till.

Over the last weekend the bar has lost $3,900 total in sales, and $204,000 in a year.

Jon makes Josh breath into a breathalyzer, which he passes.

Jon says that if Josh has one drink, he will walk out of the bar and abandon the rescue.

Jon brings in expert mixologist Rob Floyd and expert chef Michael Ferrara.

Rob wants to focus on customer service to help manage expectations.

Rob goes through the basic steps of service with the staff.

They are to give out menus, take the order and ring the drinks in, make and deliver drinks, upsell food and drinks and say goodbyes.

The staff proves that they have a lot of practicing to do to perfect their service.

Michael shows them how to make a French onion soup mac and cheese dish.

For the stress test Rob and Michael say their goals are good customer service and to see more food go out the kitchen.

The bar opens up for the stress test.

Right away they start messing up the steps of service.

The wait time for food is way too high.

Nichole is doing a great job with the steps of service but the rest of her team need to catch up.

Back in the kitchen, everything is a mess.

Food is taking forever, customers are hungry and food has been taken to the wrong tables.

Many people have been served a drink by Josh but haven’t paid for it.

Rob says Josh is a great pourer but is terrible at ringing the drinks up.

Jon tells Josh to shut down for the night and stops the stress test.

The next morning Jon asks Josh if he had a drink.

Josh says he hasn’t had one in two days.

Jon says they will never be able to compete with chains with mistakes like they made the previous night.

Jon decides to have a one on one with Josh.

He asks Josh what he’s afraid of and he says he is scared of failure and how he deals with failure.

Rob shows the bartenders a few new drinks recipes including the Hot Choddy.

Michael shows the cooks new recipes including a Summit Short Ribs.

Meat can dry out faster at their altitude in Colorado and this will make the dish something special.

Summit House Grill and Tap is ready for reopening after remodeling.

Jon says they couldn’t change the outside but he created a great concept for the inside.

Everyone is amazed by how great the bar looks now.

Josh says the bar has a breath of new life.

There are even USB chargers installed to modernize the bar.

Jon thinks the bar will be very successful as a result of the changes.

Jon gave them a lifetime subscription to Taffer Virtual Teaching and Partender.

On relaunch, Nichole is taking initiative as a manager.

Josh is very stressed out and is starting to go back to his old ways.

However, Rob and Jon help him through it.

Josh finally takes control over the situation.

The kitchen is slammed but they are handling it very well.

The food looks and tastes great, with it being sent out in about ten minutes.

Josh hasn’t had a drink and is helping out with the bar.

Josh tells Jon thank you for his help and hugs him.

What Happened Next at Summit House Grill And Tap?

Six weeks later, Jon remains sober and the bar is successful.

Summit House Grill And Tap closed in July 2018.

They closed for renovations and failed to reopen.

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This post was last updated in March 2022.