This week on Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Hayward, California to rescue the Russell City Sports Bar & Grill. During the rescue, which took place back in June, 2016, Jon Taffer changed the name from Russell City Sports Bar & Grill to the Fogline Bar & Grill. The owner kept the new name and we can also report that the Fogline Bar & Grill is still in business.
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The Fogline Bar & Grill (Russell City Sports Bar & Grill) is owned by Lee (LeMack) Bellot. Lee has a personal Facebook page here.
When Lee first took over the bar it was pulling in about $50,000 a month. That’s understandable due to the fact that the bar is adjacent to the industrial park in Hayward. Lee indicated part of his early success was related to not having any competition in the area. Despite all that, the bar is somehow in debt to the tune of $280,000 and facing imminent closure unless the dire situation changes.
Incidentally, before the Bar Rescue, the names Russell City Sports Bar & Grill and Russell City Grill & Sports Bar were used interchangeably.
A Closer Look
One thing that stood out during the research phase for this article was the fact that the bar appears to have a real identity crisis. For example, several Facebook pages and websites associated with the bar were discovered. Here’s a look at some of the identities the bar has online:
Facebook Pages, Websites and More…
- Here’s the “unofficial” Fogline Bar & Grill Facebook Page
- There’s also a Fogline Bar & Grill Facebook Group
- Here’s the Russell City Facebook Page
- Fittingly, there’s a Russell City Sports Bar & Grill Facebook Page
- There’s also the Russell City Grill & Sports Bar Facebook Page
- Here’s what appears to be the latest Fogline Bar & Grill Website
- Here’s the Russell City Sports Bar & Grill Website
- This is the Russell City Grill & Sports Bar Website
- There’s also the Russell City Sports Bar Website
- Here’s the Fogline Bar & Grill on Instagram
- But there’s more… here’s the Fogline Sports Bar on Instagram
- And here’s a look at the Russell City Grill & Sports Bar on Instagram
- And yes, there’s also a Russell City Sports Bar Instagram Page
Here’s an Instagram post showing the setup during filming for the episode on June 21, 2016.
Here’s a Facebook post with a few images from the grand opening party back in June.
Grand Opening of Fogline Bar & GRILL (formerly Russell City Sports Bar)
Posted by Chirika Gates on Friday, June 24, 2016
The Reviews Are In
As always, we like to take look at online reviews post-rescue to get an idea of how the bars are doing since Taffer’s intervention. Over at Yelp, reviewers are pretty much evenly split. Negative reviews can be described as being very negative, while positive reviews are less than spectacular. Here’s a look at some excerpts of reviews since the rescue.
Positive Reviews
- THE BEST SPORTS BAR IN HAYWARD! Food on point, tv’s everywhere, and sound is superb!
- Recently remodeled, excellent menu for students at the college across the street. Friendly staff.
- I love the new look and the new food! The Bay Area burger is as home made as it gets! Perfect spot for a quick lunch break.
- The Tacos $1 each were damn good. The chicken strips were basic, nothing special but my coworker liked them.
The place looks nice but a bit dark. I’d come back for tacos and to check out the night life.
Negative Reviews
- Never coming back to this bar. Came here during the Warriors’s 73rd win and was extremely disappointed. Not only did it take 20 minutes for my cousin to get a pitcher of beer, but it took us an hour just to ORDER food.
- Even with a little lipstick.. this is still a Dump..I have been driving PAST this bar since 1994. It sucked then and still does.
- My main complaint was we had the worst waitress, I observed all the other waitresses and they where busting there ass to serve the guest, our waitress which I will say her name is love, everytime we order it took over a 1/2 hour to get our drinks or she would just forget about us,
- First and last time for this place !the word dump doesnt discribe it ! And a draft bud lite is $ 4.50 ???? They should be giveing it away just to keep people here!!!!!!!
This week’s episode, “Win, Lose or Brawl” airs Sunday, October 2, 2016, at 10 p.m. on Spike.
Episode Promo Videos
Images – YouTube, Google, Facebook
The best part of the episode was watching that fatty “Church” getting his ads kicked by Boggie. That was hilarious. Church is the biggest chump in Northern California.