TV Restaurants

What Happened to Casual Tap After Bar Rescue? (Chicago, IL)

Unknown unverified

Status unconfirmed as of September 2026. We have no reliable signal and haven't been able to confirm what, if anything, currently operates at this address.

Primary source
Yelp ·
Secondary source
restaurantji.com

Last verified

What the source shows: Yelp's listing for Casual Tap, updated July 2026, marks the business closed, but a separate directory listing shows posted operating hours with no closure notice, and tracker commentary notes the business is no longer marked closed on Google -- the available evidence conflicts.

  • Season / episode Season 5, Episode 22
  • Original air date
  • Address 5924 W Montrose Ave, Chicago, IL 60634

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What happened after Bar Rescue?

Casual Tap, a neighborhood bar in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood, was featured in the July 2017 episode "Casually Tapped Out." Owner Steve Magana worked full-time as a Chicago firefighter and had let the bar, built in 1953, sit closed by the time Bar Rescue got involved -- an unusual starting point for the show, which typically works with bars that are still open but struggling. The episode framed Magana as burned out from balancing firefighting with bar ownership, and Jon Taffer's task was less about fixing a failing operation in real time and more about helping Magana find the motivation to reopen the business at all.

Taffer and his team worked with Magana on a renovation of the space and a refreshed concept, aiming to have Casual Tap reopened in time for the episode's television premiere. That timeline did not hold: according to contemporaneous coverage from 2paragraphs.com, Casual Tap remained closed roughly ten months after the Bar Rescue visit, well past the point Magana had originally targeted for reopening.

Since then, reporting on Casual Tap's status has been inconsistent. Yelp's business listing for the bar, updated as of July 2026, currently shows the business marked closed. However, a separate restaurant directory listing for the same Montrose Avenue address shows posted weekly operating hours without any closure notice, and online commentary from bar-rescue tracker sites has noted that Google's own listing for the business is no longer marked closed, in contrast to Yelp. Because these sources point in different directions and no single dated, independent confirmation of either a reopening or a permanent closure was found, the bar's current operating status could not be reliably determined during this research pass.

Given Casual Tap's unusual starting point -- already closed before the show even arrived -- and the conflicting signals about whether it ever fully reopened and stayed open, this record reflects genuine uncertainty about its status as of 2026 rather than a confirmed open or closed outcome, and it should be treated as a priority for a fresh, direct check before it is presented as settled in either direction.

Featured on Bar Rescue

Season / episode
Season 5, Episode 22
Original air date
Episode title
Casually Tapped Out
What was featured
Already-closed neighborhood bar owned by a burned-out firefighter
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Casual Tap

Frequently asked questions

Is Casual Tap still open in 2026?

Status unconfirmed as of September 2026. We have no reliable signal and haven't been able to confirm what, if anything, currently operates at this address.

What happened to Casual Tap after Bar Rescue?

Casual Tap, a neighborhood bar in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood, was featured in the July 2017 episode "Casually Tapped Out." Owner Steve Magana worked full-time as a Chicago firefighter and had let the bar, built in 1953, sit closed by the time Bar Rescue got involved -- an unusual starting point for the show, which typically works with bars that are still open but struggling. Status unconfirmed as of September 2026. We have no reliable signal and haven't been able to confirm what, if anything, currently operates at this address.

Where is Casual Tap located?

5924 W Montrose Ave, Chicago, IL 60634. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Bar Rescue featured Casual Tap?

Season 5, Episode 22 of Bar Rescue, first aired July 2, 2017. The episode is titled “Casually Tapped Out”.

Did the makeover last at Casual Tap?

The episode first aired July 2, 2017. Our most recent check was September 7, 2026 — 9 years later —: Status unconfirmed as of September 2026. We have no reliable signal and haven't been able to confirm what, if anything, currently operates at this address.

Every status on this site carries a confidence label and a date, and names the source it rests on. Read the Editorial & Corrections Policy for what each label means and how quickly we act on corrections. The questions above are generated from this record's own published fields — we never publish a question we cannot answer from the data.

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Visit info

Address
5924 W Montrose Ave, Chicago, IL 60634
Venue type
bar
Official website
None found

Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources

  • Yelp — https://www.yelp.com/biz/casual-tap-chicago
  • restaurantji.com — https://www.restaurantji.com/il/chicago/casual-tap-/
  • 2paragraphs.com — https://2paragraphs.com/2017/07/chicagos-casual-tap-not-open-10-months-after-bar-rescue/

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