restaurantMystery Diners · Season 6, Episode 9 · Aired June 2, 2014
Nacho Daddy
Las Vegas, Nevada
Open. The rescue stuck and it continues to operate.
On the show
Season 6, Episode 9 · June 2, 2014 · restaurant
scorpion/exotic-food gimmick sting
What happened after
Scorpion/exotic-food-gimmick restaurant at 121 N 4th St, Fremont Street downtown; open, and the brand is actively expanding (new AREA15 location opening July 2026).
What happened on the show
Paul Hymas was short on the expensive tequila and the live scorpions that go into his Las Vegas restaurant's signature Scorpion Shots. Charles Stiles sent mystery diners Peter and Andy in as a barback and a customer. As aired, a bartender with a serious gambling habit is hustling guests, running unauthorized drinking contests with the scorpion shots, and comping food and drinks to cover his debts, a waiter helping, while the manager never returns from a personal errand. The confrontation has Paul firing the bartender and the waiter. Stiles closes with the bartender checking into a recovery center. Given the scripting claims that later dogged Mystery Diners, this scorpion-shot sting is best framed as broadcast rather than as documented event.
After the cameras left
Nacho Daddy is open and, if anything, on the rise. The scorpion-and-exotic-food restaurant at 121 North 4th Street on the Fremont Street end of downtown was still serving in our 2026 pass, with the brand expanding to a new location. A restaurant opening additional outlets is the opposite of one in crisis, and its health underscores how loosely the show's alarm mapped onto reality. This one never needed rescuing and clearly did not get it, because it was doing fine on its own gimmick.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.
What is there now
Street imagery via Google Maps. Location approximate.