What Happened to Kiva Lounge and Bar After Bar Rescue? (San Marcos, TX)

Kiva Lounge and Bar was a live-music venue in San Marcos, Texas, owned by musicians Miles and Henry, who bought the business for about $150,000 without prior bar-industry experience. The "Miles from Success" episode, broadcast April 21, 2019, found the venue losing roughly $5,000 a month, with bounced checks to vendors, unsanitary food handling in the kitchen, and drink orders bartenders could not fill correctly during a recon visit by two local patrons. During the rescue, staff were retrained on basic cocktail recipes and food safety, and the venue was renamed The Morgue, a reference to the building's earlier use, with a brightened interior and a new photo booth added for the relaunch.

Owner-operator Miles led the bar during a stress test that ultimately ran short on clean glassware before the venue reopened under the new identity. According to a Facebook post from the business itself, cited by Reality TV Updates, the owners reverted the venue to its original Kiva Lounge and Bar name not long after the rescue, explaining that "The Morgue is where bars go to die" and that they wanted to return to the concept they originally built. The same source reports that Kiva Lounge and Bar closed for good in October 2019, roughly six months after the episode aired, with the closure also announced on the business's own Facebook page.

The owners later stated on social media that they rebranded the same location as a college-oriented bar called Axis later in 2019, reporting sales up sharply from the venue's Kiva-era performance, though that claim comes from the owners' own account rather than independent verification. A Yelp listing for the original address, updated in August 2026, shows Kiva Lounge and Bar listed as closed, and this check found no independently dated, verifiable source confirming what business, if any, currently operates at the location under the Axis name or otherwise.