What Happened to The Toad Tavern After Mystery Diners? (Littleton, CO)
Mystery Diners, Season 7 Littleton, Colorado
Current status
As of October 2026, The Toad Tavern has closed — confirmed via Yelp, August 2026.
What the source shows: A Yelp listing updated in August 2026 marks The Toad Tavern as closed, and Google Places now associates the address with an unrelated, differently named business. How we decide a status →
- Episode Season 7, Episode 7
- Aired
- Address 5302 S Federal Cir, Littleton, CO 80123
- Website fracosbar.com
- Show map
© OpenStreetMap contributors © CARTO
About this show's format: Described as staged/scripted by Wikipedia's article, citing a 2012 realityblurred.com report. Surface this note on every record.
What happened after Mystery Diners?
Mystery Diners' episode 'Heavy Metal Mess' (Season 7, Episode 7), which aired 2014-09-10, examined service or staffing practices at The Toad Tavern, a live-music bar in Littleton, Colorado that had operated since 1986 and, according to Denver Westword, was purchased by new owners Leah Dillon and Garret Steward in December 2013. In keeping with the show's format, host Charles Stiles used hidden-camera footage to document the issue under investigation, then presented the recordings to the owner and discussed corrective steps. According to Wikipedia's article on Mystery Diners, citing its sources, the program carries a disclaimer that certain depicted events may be re-enacted for dramatic purposes, and a television critic quoted in the article described the show's scenarios and resolutions as implausible and staged-seeming.
A Yelp listing for The Toad Tavern was updated in August 2026 and marks the venue as closed, and a Tripadvisor user review describes the venue as no longer existing under that name. Google Places currently associates the 5302 S Federal Cir address with a different, unrelated business, Fraco's Bar and Live Music, rather than The Toad Tavern, and a site check on 2026-09-09 found that business's own listed website redirecting to unrelated gambling content. No source reviewed confirmed what, if anything, currently operates under the Toad Tavern name.
The episode
Also in Season 7
Season 7: 3 of 12 still open
-
Ep 2The Compass
Closed -
Ep 3Barrio Star
Closed - Closed
-
Ep 6730 South
Closed -
Ep 8SliceWorks
Open - Open
-
Ep 10Rockabillies
Open - Closed
Nearest open restaurants
-
Man v. Food
Open -
Bar Rescue
Open -
Food Paradise
Open -
Food Paradise
Renamed -
Best Thing I Ever Ate
Open - Renamed
Before you go: Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.
Sources we checked
- Yelp https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-toad-tavern-littleton
- Tripadvisor https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g33524-d8735153-r758529740-The_toad_Tavern-Littleton_Colorado.html
- westword.com https://www.westword.com/music/the-toad-tavern-in-littleton-gets-new-owners-5704061/
- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Diners
We work hard to keep every status accurate and dated, but restaurants change fast and our sources aren't perfect. If something here is wrong — a status, a name, an address, anything — tell us what you're seeing and where you saw it, and we'll check it.
Record md-079 · checked by Cal Marchetti.