Is Big Mike's Sports Bar & Grill Still Open? Bar Rescue Update

Big Mike's Sports Bar & Grill in Denham Springs, Louisiana was the subject of the March 2017 episode "Bar Over Troubled Water," which addressed a very different kind of crisis than the show's usual mismanagement stories. On August 12, 2016, historic flooding hit the Baton Rouge region, with rainfall far exceeding what Hurricane Katrina brought to the area; the flood destroyed thousands of homes and caused billions of dollars in damage across the region. Big Mike's took on roughly six feet of floodwater, and owner Mike O'Neal lost not only the business but his home as well.

His wife, Jocelyn, described watching water rise around their house while Mike was at work, and the family was ultimately evacuated by boat. A member of the kitchen staff, known as Mookie, was scheduled to attend her son's wedding on the day the flood hit. Because the flooding had destroyed fixtures, equipment, and structural elements rather than simply leaving the bar outdated, Jon Taffer and his crew rebuilt the location essentially from the studs rather than performing a typical cosmetic renovation; the rebuild was said to cost about $750,000.

Unlike many Bar Rescue subjects, Big Mike's was not held up as an example of an owner's poor decisions -- the bar's own account of the episode frames it as a rescue made necessary by the flood rather than by any shortcoming in how the business had been run. Big Mike's Sports Bar & Grill has continued operating at the same Aspen Square location since the rebuild. The business's own website remains active with a current menu, online ordering, catering and event-booking pages, and links to its Facebook, Instagram, and Yelp profiles.

Yelp's listing for the bar, updated as of August 2026, shows ongoing customer reviews and posted operating hours consistent with a business currently open to the public. No evidence of a subsequent closure, rename, or change in ownership was found in the years since the 2016 flood and the Bar Rescue rebuild, and the bar continues to use the same name it operated under before the show's visit.