What Happened to Fatballs After Bar Rescue? (Jacksonville, FL)

Fatballs, a bar and grill in Jacksonville, Florida, was featured on the Bar Rescue episode "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Fatballs," which aired July 29, 2018. Beyond the name itself, the episode focused on owner Tony Azer's difficulty accepting responsibility for the bar's problems, which included a stale menu and inconsistent service that Taffer's team worked to correct. The rescue team overhauled the food and drink offerings, retrained staff on service standards, and renamed the business The Bayou as part of the relaunch, aiming for a more marketable identity than the original name.

According to Bar Rescue Updates, Azer changed the name back to Fatballs not long after the relaunch, citing that his liquor and business licenses were still filed under the original name, that sales had declined under The Bayou branding, and that regular customers assumed the bar had closed when the sign changed. The reversal restored the pre-rescue identity, so this record reflects Fatballs as the operating name throughout its post-rescue run rather than treating The Bayou as a lasting rebrand. That run did not last, however.

According to Bar Rescue Updates, the bar's last Facebook post came in May 2019, and the owners confirmed around that time that Fatballs had closed. A Yelp listing for Fatballs at 7475 103rd St, Jacksonville, lists the business as closed, with the page updated in June 2026, corroborating that the closure has held for years rather than being reversed. This closure rests on the owners' own social media confirmation together with a maps-style listing marking the business closed, rather than on two independent news outlets. In short, Fatballs briefly operated under the show's new name before reverting to its original identity, and according to Bar Rescue Updates the bar closed for good in May 2019, a status the current Yelp listing continues to reflect as of 2026.