The Hideaway Bar Rescue Update (Idaho) - Still Open in 2024? (2024)

Is The Hideaway Bar and Grill still open today?

The Hideaway Bar and Grill Update - What Happened Next?

Now that we’ve recapped the Hideaway Bar and Grill Bar Rescue episode, let’s talk about what happened to the bar after Jon Taffer and his crew left Meridian, ID.

Because Jon Taffer did not renovate the Hideaway Boise Idaho location or implement any of his own policies, there’s no reason to expect the bar to improve.

However, I’m sure you’re still interested in learning where the bar is today.

I’ll start with the most important question on your mind – if it’s still open (and the bar being for sale).

Then, I’ll share some real The Hideaway reviews to give you an idea of real customers’ experiences match what you saw on the Bar Rescue The Hideaway episode.

Spoiler alert – there’s even more real-life drama based around car towing at The Hideaway.

Let’s start with the most important question on your mind…

Is The Hideaway still open after Bar Rescue?

The Hideaway Bar and Grill closed on July 30, 2023, which was around 3.5 months after the Hideaway Bar Rescue episode aired on TV and almost exactly a year after the actual visit The Hideaway Jon Taffer visit.

This is no surprise because the bar had already been listed for salebefore the episode aired on TV – more on this below.

Beyond that, reviews for The Hideaway Bar and Grill are pretty negative across the board – I’ll show some examples below.

In mid-July, The Hideaway owners posted the following on the bar’s Facebook page:

Thanks to all our wonderful customers over the years.

The Hideaway has been sold.

Our last day is July 30th so come by and say goodbye.

It’s been 11 great years but it’s time to hang up our hat and move on to retirement

According to the Facebook post, The Hideaway closed because Dwayne wanted to retire.

When I originally published this post at the time that the episode aired on TV, a reader below pointed out that the Hideaway Idaho property has been listed for sale since February 22, 2023.

The listing was on Loopnet here and the asking price was a cool $2,725,000 – so not cheap!

You do get a “LIKE-NEW, EXTRAVAGANT BUILDOUT”, though.

The listing was marked as “Under Contract” in late March 2023.

Then, on April 2023, the listing wasmarked as “No Longer Available”, so it seems like the sale went through (or it got taken off the market).

October 2023 update– The deal went through and there is a new tenant. More on this in a second. First, let’s look at a few more details of the sale.

Here’s the full property listing description from that Loopnet page:

Here’s another listing page from RealNex that puts the asking price slightly higher at $3,275,000.

I guess they reduced the price based on Loopnet.

Interestingly, I also found the RealNex listing for the vacant land parcel from before.

It seems like the asking price was $550,000 for just the land back then, so Dwayne could be making some money if he sells it for $2.7 million.

If you want to see a walkthrough of The Hideaway without Jon Taffer’s yelling, I also found this video tour from the commercial broker:

And then here’s what the Hideaway Meridian Idaho location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view:

The picture hasn’t been updated since 2019, though.

I’m mainly including it so that you can explore the area around the The Hideaway property.

As of October 2023, the old The Hideaway location is now occupied by an Indian restaurant named Red Fort Cuisine of India.

Red Fort seems to still be successfully occupying the location as I’m checking again in February 2024.

Here’s a link to the new restaurant’s website.

It has four different locations, with the newest one being the Meridian location that replaced The Hideaway bar.

Looking at the website confirms that it’s in the exact same location as The Hideway bar.

The other locations are all in nearby Utah.

Based on a local news article, it seems like the Indian restaurant opened at that location in September 2023.

Reviews for the restaurant seem quite good so far, as it has a 4.8 star rating on Yelp.

The Hideaway reviews after Bar Rescue

Prior to The Hideaway closing, The Hideaway Bar and Grill reviews were pretty uniformly poor, both before and after the visit from Jon Taffer.

Overall, The Hideaway Yelp page had just a two star rating on over 140 reviews, which is pretty bad to be honest.

Shortly after the Hideaway episode aired on TV, they had to freeze the Hideaway Yelp page because a lot of angry Bar Rescue viewers were leaving reviews based on the episode (without visiting in person).

On Google, The Hideaway Bar and Grill reviews came in at just 3.6 stars on over 500 ratings.

Google is usually a lot more generous than Yelp, so 3.6 stars is pretty bad.

Beyond general issues with the food and service, one thing I saw in a few different reviews was people alleging that the Hideaway owner is very aggressive in having people’s cars towed.

I’m not sure where the truth lies – it’s just something I noticed in a few reviews.

Some of these people seem like they parked in The Hideaway lot without actually going to the restaurant, so I can’t tell who is “right” here.

For example, consider this string of consecutive reviews, including a response from the Hideaway owner:

A lot of the reviews also seem to mention that it’s kind of a competition between The Hideaway Bar and Grill and a neighboring restaurant named The Griddle.

The Hideaway owner seems to always mention that The Griddle didn’t pay for overflow parking, so it kind of seems like something personal.

Here’s another very lengthy Facebook thread with someone who was angry about being towed after eating at The Griddle, including lots of “evidence” pictures and back-and-forth with the owner.

However, even people who did visit The Hideaway Bar and Grill seem to have had issues with overly aggressive parking enforcement.

Here’s a sampling of a few The Hideaway reviews that were written after the Hideaway Bar Bar Rescue visit and don’t exclusively involve parking – all of them are still pretty uniformly negative…

1 star Yelp review from March 2023:

We use to go there weekly usually for weekend breakfast but the food and service has become subpar.

The last time we went the server brought me the wrong food and then walked out to her car and left.

Came back with a male friend and got into a verbal loud confrontation with I assume the manager.

After an extended time a server came over and I told her I got the wrong meal she looked at me and shrugged her shoulder and walked away.

I left the meal and payed and we have not been back

Add to the fact they are now towing vehicles at ridiculous charges I will not be back.

2 star Yelp review from February 2023:

Not the first time we’ve eaten at the Hideaway but will probably be the last.

The food is just not great.

I had a French dip sandwich and it was ok, the fries were definitely not completely cooked.

My wife ordered one of their happy hour specials and they couldn’t tell her what type of drink it was shot or co*cktail.

So they just brought it out as a shot.

Ordered a basket of tots which was not very big.

There are plenty of other restaurants in the area to try before this one.

1 star Yelp review from January 2023:

INSTANTLY HOSTILE:

I was coming in as part of a group.

Two of the people organizing called ahead to confirm that there was space.

When I arrived the women behind the bar forced us to wait outside in the snow for the rest of the group to arrive.

After 20 minutes past the gathering time we walked in and got seated.

As we sat down (before any staff even approached our table) one last person arrived. the same woman who sent us outside came to our table yelling about how we lied about the number of people and told us we had to leave.

When we called ahead we said it would be between 15-25 people.

When we got kicked out, there were only 11 of us.

1 star Yelp review from November 2022:

Ate there twice, because everyone has bad days- but turns out, its just a bad restaurant.

Subpar food and as very overpriced and service was absolutely terrible.

No one checked on us or offered to get us more drinks.

Honestly, the idea is so cool but the business was not executed well.

Makes sense why I never see anyone else eating there.

We also watched the owner case the parking lot with two tow trucks waiting on edge of lot waiting to tow anyone he doesn’t feel is going to eat there.

He aggressively chastised people parking- which is a pretty stupid business move if he wants people to come into his establishment.

Clearly shady business, and will make sure no one in my circle ever eats there again.

1 star Google review from November 2022:

Jovonna C gave us the worst service I have ever had.

First, she requested that we “flag her down” when we wanted another drink rather than her coming to our table to check on us.

Each time, it took several minutes for us to get her attention.

Several times we went to the bar to order a drink from her because it took so long.

Then, at 9:30pm she informed us that it was last call.

After looking up the hours on Google (it said 11pm), I asked her what time they close.

She informed me that it’s “up to bartender discretion and I’m not making money” so she is closing early.

There were 8 people at the bar in addition to the four people at my table.

I had a couple of friends coming to meet us and they arrived when she called last call.

I was telling them about what had happened and that we would not be tipping her.

She overhead me having a private conversation with my friend and confronted me saying “You’re not going to tip me?”

I found her confrontational attitude in addition to the terrible service to be very off putting. I will not be back.

Overall, based on all of The Hideaway reviews that I read, it seems like the Hideaway Bar and Grill Bar Rescue episode was pretty dang accurate.

Shortly after The Hideaway episode aired on TV, some angry Bar Rescue fans started review bombing the Google review listing.

While I don’t think that’s nice to do, it did elicit a response from The Hideaway owner about the Bar Rescue episode:

Final thoughts on The Hideaway Bar and Grill

That wraps up my The Hideaway Bar Rescue update!

Despite spurning help from Jon Taffer and causing him to walk out of the bar, The Hideaway Bar and Grill did manage to stay open for a few months.

However, the reviews were very bad across the board.

The bar was already listed for sale before the episode aired on TV, so it’s no surprise that it eventually closed.

According to a Facebook post from the bar, Dwayne sold the bar so he could retire.

If he got anywhere near the asking price ($2.7 million), that will be a pretty good retirement (though I’m not sure how much debt he was carrying on the property, so I can’t know his actual profit).

In September 2023, an Indian restaurant named Red Fort opened at the old The Hideaway Meridian location, so the bar is officially gone for good.

As of 2024, Red Fort seems to still be operating from that location.

Regardless of the bar’s performance, though, they did seem to at least be making a good bit of money towing people’s cars.

If you want to see two other bars that Jon Taffer completely walked out on, you should read my updates for O Face Bar in Council Bluffs Iowa and Black Light District in Long Beach California.

The Hideaway Bar and Grill was the only Idaho Bar Rescue episode at the time that it aired, though Jon Taffer did visit three other Idaho bars later in Season 8.

Those bars are Dave’s Firehouse / Firehouse Sports Pub in Nampa, Country Barn / Corner Cafe in Horseshoe Bend, and Bullseye Sports Bar / Strikers in Meridian.

If you want to see some other nearby episodes, the closest bars so far are in nearby states like Utah, Nevada, and Oregon.

Here are a few of the closest ones – Oak Tavern / The Bullpen in Reno NV, Linda Lou’s / Purser’s Bar in Layton UT, and Panic Room / Tonic Lounge in Portland, OR.

And if you want to share your thoughts on the Hideaway Bar and Grill episode, you can use the comments section below.

Thanks for reading!

More Information

https://www.yelp.com/biz/hideaway-bar-and-grill-meridian-2
https://www.facebook.com/MeridianHideaway/

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Last updated: 2024-02-02 06:21