Is Sandbar Sports Grill Still Open? Bar Rescue Update (Miami, FL)

Sandbar Sports Grill was a longtime sports bar in Miami's Coconut Grove neighborhood when Bar Rescue filmed "Bromancing the Stone" (aired March 8, 2015). Jon Taffer's team redecorated the space, worked to attract a broader customer demographic, and taught the bartenders new drink and food recipes, rebranding the business as The Hot Rock Bar & Grille as part of the overhaul. The name change did not stick long-term: the owners eventually reverted the business to its original Sandbar Sports Grill name, a return the show's Florida retrospective coverage attributed simply to a return to the bar's established identity rather than to any specific shortcoming of the Bar Rescue concept.

The bar continued operating for years afterward, but closed in 2020 after Florida's pandemic-era shutdown of indoor dining forced it into takeout-only service; according to Miami New Times, a kitchen fire broke out just two days into that takeout operation, gutting the kitchen and leaving smoke damage throughout the restaurant. The bar remained closed for about a year while the damage was repaired. Miami New Times reported that Sandbar reopened in April 2021, and Creative Loafing Tampa confirmed in an August 2025 report that the bar was back in business, describing it as currently operating under the Sandbar Sports Grill name.

A Yelp listing for the 3064 Grand Avenue address continues to show recent customer activity as of a 2026 update, consistent with both outlets' reporting that the bar remains open. Unlike several other bars the show featured, Sandbar's roughly year-long, pandemic-related closure appears unrelated to the business practices addressed during its Bar Rescue episode, and available reporting treats the fire and its aftermath as a separate chapter from the show's makeover, distinct from the earlier rebrand and name reversion that had already taken place well before the 2020 fire occurred.