What Happened to Friar Tucks After Bar Rescue? (Pomona, CA)

Friar Tucks was a castle-themed bar in Pomona, California that had been open since the 1980s when Bar Rescue filmed "Storming the Castle" (aired March 15, 2015). Owner Ivan Vuich, who had taken over the bar through a family connection, was making roughly $60,000 a month at one point, but conflict with manager Sami and a slide in standards had left the business more than $100,000 in debt by the time Jon Taffer arrived. Taffer brought in comedian Doug Stanhope, along with mixologist Jason Bran and chef Aaron McCargo, to help retrain the staff on drinks and food and to address Vuich's own volatile management style.

After a rocky stress test, Vuich and Sami repaired their working relationship, and the bar was relaunched with a German theme and a new name, Stein Haus Brau & Brats, complete with a beer-garden-style interior and a bratwurst-focused menu. Sales were reported up 15 percent six weeks after the visit, and the show described the two managers as working well together in the aftermath. The improvement did not last long term: Stein Haus closed by around 2016, without any public explanation from the owners beyond an absence of further updates on the business's social media and listings.

The castle-shaped building has remained vacant since, based on Google Street View imagery from multiple years reviewed for this update, with no new tenant reported at the 540 E. Foothill Boulevard address. A 2023 law-enforcement action targeting an unrelated illegal gambling operation was reported at that address by ABC7 Los Angeles, though that report did not connect the operation to Stein Haus's prior owners or staff, and no source reviewed for this update suggests any link between the two. The castle building's distinctive exterior, a defining feature of both the original Friar Tucks and the Bar Rescue-era Stein Haus branding, remains standing and recognizable in available imagery despite the years of vacancy.