What Happened to Liquid Lounge After Bar Rescue? (Long Beach, CA)

Liquid Lounge was a long-running bar in Long Beach that had fallen into disrepair and developed an ant infestation by the time Bar Rescue's "Silence of the Ants" episode filmed in early 2017. Owner Rob McCarthy had bought the bar around 2010 using an inheritance from his parents, and sales briefly topped $650,000 in 2013 before sliding into six-figure debt. Exterminators found ants living inside a cracked wall, and the Long Beach Post reported separately that the bar had been cited after alcohol was found contaminated with insects.

The kitchen also drew scrutiny during a hidden-camera visit: dirty soda guns, disorganized food storage, and cross-contaminated shrimp left host Jon Taffer unwilling to let his own daughter eat there. Taffer's team, including mixologist Rob Floyd and chef Tiffany Derry, retrained the staff, who had struggled with basic service and cash handling during a stress test that was shut down early. The kitchen shifted to simpler, lower-cost dishes such as panko-crusted shrimp poppers, and the bar introduced new cocktails, including a Jack Daniel's-based drink called the Weekender.

As part of the makeover, the bar was renamed Tidal Bay Beach Bar, with a beach theme replacing the previous décor and new POS systems and soda guns installed for the relaunch. The changes initially helped: sales were reported up roughly 20 percent in the weeks after filming, and the owner kept the new Tidal Bay Beach Bar name rather than reverting to Liquid Lounge, unlike many bars featured on the show. That success did not hold. According to Reality TV Updates, the bar closed in January 2019 after losing its liquor license, a decision a California Alcoholic Beverage Control appeal record ties to the business not making its financial records available for review.

Yelp reviews from the period between the relaunch and the closure were mixed, with longtime customers split over higher drink and food prices paired with smaller portions compared with the pre-Bar Rescue bar. The Long Beach address at 3522 East Anaheim Street sat empty for a period afterward before a different, unrelated business moved in. As of a 2023 review, the space is occupied by the Bamboo Club, a tiki-themed bar, restaurant, and live-music venue with no ownership or branding connection to the former Liquid Lounge or Tidal Bay Beach Bar. No record was found of the original Liquid Lounge name or its former ownership continuing to operate anywhere else in Long Beach after the 2019 closure.