barBar Rescue · Season 6, Episode 38 · Aired July 14, 2019
Thunderbolt Bar & Grill
Pleasant Valley, Missouri
Same spot, new identity after the show. It now goes by Thunderbird Tavern.
What happened after
Renamed Thunderbird Tavern after its Bar Rescue makeover; still operating at the same address under owner Don Gibson, with recent (within days at time of check) reviews.
What happened on the show
Jenny McCarthy joined Taffer to help the inexperienced, poorly-leading owner of the Thunderbolt Bar and Grill, whose only ally was threatening to withdraw her support. At the Pleasant Valley, Missouri, bar, the owner's weak leadership had left him isolated and the business exposed, with the one person still backing him ready to walk. The episode also marked the final appearance of mixologist Lisamarie Joyce, who later publicly broke with Taffer over his pandemic-era comments about the hospitality industry. The rescue worked to build the owner into a real leader before he lost his last ally. Taffer reopened the venue as Thunderbird Tavern, a rebrand meant to give the room a fresh identity, betting that a more capable owner could hold together a business his poor leadership had put at risk.
After the cameras left
Thunderbird Tavern stuck and is still operating at the same address, 8122 Northeast Highway 69 in Pleasant Valley, under owner Don Gibson. Recent reviews near the time of checking and a strong RestaurantGuru rating of 4.8 across 184 reviews confirm ongoing operation, which puts the open call at high confidence. The inexperienced owner's bar survived and kept the Thunderbird identity Taffer gave it, landing this one firmly among the renamed survivors, one of the cleaner outcomes in the late-season-six Missouri run.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.
What is there now
Street imagery via Google Maps. Location approximate.