Piratz Tavern

What happened after

Pirate-themed bar at 8402 Georgia Ave; permanently closed April 4, 2015 after losing its lease. Space became short-lived 'The Republic Garden' nightlife venue afterward.

Closure date on record: 2015-04

What happened on the show

Tracy was living out a Peter Pan fantasy, running a pirate-themed bar in Silver Spring while parked in her parents' basement. Taffer sent his wife Nicole in for recon; she got an oddly polite reception and pulled out convinced the staff had made her, so he sent a backup team dressed as pirates, who walked into a deserted room and were eventually served half-cooked, previously frozen food and a drink called a Grog. Tracy was unashamed even at 900,000 dollars in debt. Her husband Juciano, the untrained chef, insisted he could cook, and Taffer told him the food was the worst he had ever seen. Against a staff unwilling to drop the pirate act, Taffer rebranded the room as Corporate Bar and Grill.

After the cameras left

The pirates won the war of wills. Owner Tracy Rebelo rejected Taffer's Corporate Bar and Grill concept and reverted to Piratz Tavern within weeks of the episode airing, a defiance the show revisited twice. The stubbornness did not pay off: the pirate-themed bar at 8402 Georgia Avenue closed permanently on April 4, 2015, after losing its lease, per Eater DC. The space briefly became a nightlife venue called The Republic Garden before that too faded.