You may recall back in May, the Council Bluffs City Council voted against renewing O'Face's liquor license due to their appearance on Bar Rescue and the negative publicity surrounding the bar. O'Face appealed this decision to the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division on July 28th, and on August 11th an Iowa judge ruled that O'Face should be allowed to renew their license. The judge ruled that there wasn't enough evidence to support the denial of the liquor license, and that Council Bluffs didn't provide the episode of Bar Rescue on which it relied on to deny the license. The only evidence was owner Matthew Overmyer's testimony, and based on the limited evidence, the judge ruled to reverse the decision of rejecting O'Face's liquor license renewal.This decision is still not final, as it can be appealed by either party within 30 days. Also, the Iowa Beverages Division does not have to agree with the judges decision. If they do not agree with the judges decision, Matthew Overmyer can then appeal to the district court.
Another thing that is interesting is the testimony of Matthew Overmyer at the hearing. The full document is here, but the highlights include:
- He was told during their audition video, which had a staged fight, that the footage would only be shown to Jon Taffer and Spike TV executives.
- When the film crew arrived, they "wanted to show chaos at the bar, including fighting, disorderly conduct, and an empty bar without customers."
- The bar was not open to the public or regular customers during the filming, and Bar Rescue provided the customers for the stress test to complain about the food, drinks, and service.
- Both fights on the episode were done after the Bar Rescue crew suggested they needed more drama.
- He said he told the film crew that he was done with the "shenanigans" and would not cooperate with filming any more staged scenarios. The crew left saying they would use the footage they had.
- Matthew was surprised and embarrassed to see the casting video as part of the footage of the actual show.
- O'Face has seen a decline in business since their Bar Rescue episode aired.
It is pretty much things we assume and have heard with other Bar Rescue episodes, however it is interesting that he says they told the crew they were done staging scenes which caused them to leave.
Would Jon Taffer have walked out on this Bar Rescue if O'Face continued giving the film crew what they wanted? Or are we to even believe what Matt claimed? I guess the only people that know for sure were the people involved in the taping of the show.