Is Handlebar Cafe Still Open? Bar Rescue Update (Pawcatuck, CT)

Handlebar Cafe was a motorcycle-themed bar in Pawcatuck, Connecticut, where two sisters running the business were letting binge drinking on the job undercut its finances by the time of "Two Flew Over the Handlebars." Jon Taffer's team, working with mixologist Russell Davis and chef Brian Duffy, found the same drinking-on-shift problems recon teams flagged inside, along with a business that had not built a food or drink program strong enough to support a biker-bar identity beyond its handlebar motif. The rescue team built out a fuller food menu, trained the sisters and staff on running the bar without drinking alongside customers, and rebranded the business Handlebar and Grill, adding a large handlebar sign and a custom mural for the relaunch to lean further into the motorcycle theme.

Coverage of the location in the years since describes a business that reverted many of Jon Taffer's changes after the cameras left, according to a 2025 update from the site Popthruster, while continuing to operate under its original Handlebar Cafe name rather than the show's Handlebar and Grill rebrand. Yelp's listing for 210 South Broad Street, updated in June 2026, still identifies the business as Handlebar Cafe and shows recent reviews, and the bar maintains an active Facebook page under that same name. A separate online ordering page for the property continues to operate under the "Handlebar and Grill" name, suggesting the two names remain in informal use side by side rather than one fully replacing the other.

No ownership change or relocation for the Pawcatuck address turned up in this research pass. The sisters who ran the bar during filming were not identified by name in the secondary coverage reviewed for this update, and nothing turned up on whether they remained involved with the business by the time of its most recent Yelp update in June 2026.