barBar Rescue · Season 9, Episode 37 · Aired June 8, 2025
Swamp Tales Bar & Restaurant
Carlyle, Illinois
It is still up and running.
What happened after
Same name retained (show tried renaming it "Swamp Town Cajun Kitchen and Cocktails," did not stick). Active Facebook page and a FindGlocal listing showing specials posted as recently as 2026-06-18.
What happened on the show
Swamp Tales Bar and Restaurant in Carlyle, Illinois, run by owners Sarah and Nick, came in for the show's standard intervention. The room went through Bar Rescue's usual arc, a recon of the operation, a confrontation over its problems, a stress test of the staff, and a renovation aimed at giving the struggling bar and restaurant a stronger footing. The show tried renaming it Swamp Town Cajun Kitchen and Cocktails, betting that a Cajun-themed concept and a disciplined operation could steady the room. The reveal handed the owners a new direction, with the familiar test of whether the changes, and the new name, would take hold once the cameras left Illinois and the day-to-day fell back to them. A Carlyle bar and restaurant under owners Sarah and Nick, it had a local following worth keeping, which made steadying the operation the rescue's central task.
After the cameras left
Swamp Tales is still operating, back under its original name. The show's attempted rename to Swamp Town Cajun Kitchen and Cocktails did not stick, and the room retains the Swamp Tales name, with an active Facebook page and a FindGlocal listing showing specials posted as recently as June 2026 under owners Sarah and Nick in Carlyle, which puts the open call at high confidence. The bar and restaurant kept the physical improvements but held its original identity, landing this one among the survivors of the ninth season, an Illinois room that carried its makeover forward.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.