Is Latitudes Bar and Grill Still Open? Bar Rescue Update (Denver, NC)

Bar Rescue featured this Denver, North Carolina, bar and grill in the episode "How The Cookie Crumbles" (S8E37), aired 2023-06-11, under the name Latitudes Bar and Grill. According to Lake Norman Publications and LKN Magazine, the business is owned by husband and wife Patti and Steve Merkel along with their son, Travis Sloan; opening the restaurant had been Patti's longtime goal, and Steve funded the venture with proceeds from selling his cookie manufacturing business, a detail both outlets tie directly to the episode's title. During the televised rescue, Jon Taffer adjusted the restaurant's concept and name to Latitudes Island Bar and Grill, adding an island theme to both the decor and the menu.

A check of the business's own website, latitudesnc.com, performed 2026-09-08, returned an HTTP 200 response with a page title of "Latitudes Bar and Grill | Reservations" — the original name, without the "Island" descriptor Taffer added on air — and an active online ordering and reservations system. The site's "About Us" section describes the Merkel family's history and refers to "their Denver, NC, neighborhood restaurant," a phrase that continues past where the page excerpt reviewed for this record was cut off, so this record cannot confirm what description follows it. The latest year found in the site's visible text was 2025.

The site's live, functioning online ordering system indicates the business is still operating. No information in the sources reviewed here gives an exact date when the "Island" branding was dropped from the business's public-facing name. Google's Places record for the address does not list an alias name distinct from Latitudes Bar and Grill, consistent with the operator's own website continuing to use that name rather than the on-air "Island" variant.