On this tonight’s episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Mount Dora, Florida to try to rescue Sidelines Sports Bar & Grill. During the May 2017 rescue, Taffer decided to change the name of Sidelines to Lake House Bar & Grill. The owner decided to keep the new name.
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The Sidelines (Now The Lake House) is a family-operated bar owned by Rich Marinacci, with sons Joey and Richie. Tonight’s episode “There Will Be Family Blood” features Taffer arriving just in the nick of time to to save a family-run bar on the brink of ruin with an aggressive father at its helm.
According to an article published by the Mount Dora Buzz, the owner of Sidelines applied to Bar Rescue for the makeover – which included a major transformation and revamped menu featuring seafood, burgers, sandwiches, wings and salads.
Drunken Man Mows Down Richie With Car At Bar
According to a report in the Daily Commercial, back in October 2016, an intoxicated man entered the Sidelines Bar and was asked to leave by the bar’s owner Rich. When Rich escorted the man outside, the intoxicated man pushed back.
That’s when Rich asked his sons for help. When Richie and Joey attempted to remove the keys from the ignition of the man’s car, he allegedly tried to run them over. Richie was hit by the car, rolled over the hood, and hit the ground. He sustained injuries to his elbow, knee and ankle but refused transportation to the hospital.
Kenneth Kelvin Lane, 65, of Sorrento, was charged with aggravated battery with a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of a crash and simple battery.
A Closer Look
- You can go here to view a series of makeover photos from the Lake House Bar & Gill taken during the big reveal event on May 17 2017.
- Here are the Facebook pages for the Lake House, and Sidelines (The Sidelines Facebook page also doubles as bar owner Rich Marinacci’s FB page).
- Here is the Facebook page for the owner’s son and cook, Richie Marinacci.
The Reviews Are In
We always try to gauge the success of a bar since Taffer’s intervention by taking a look at a sample of reviews from online review portals like Yelp, and Trip Advisor. Here’s a look at a sample of what we found:
Positive Reviews
- Waiter and owner, Rich, are always right there with suggestions, service and attention. The Friday night AYCE is the best fish around.
- …we were pleasantly surprised at the cleanliness and well-maintained wood interior. The service was absolutely exceptional.
- Service by Ashley. Was very good we will definitely return.
- Dinner out with a group of friends; the food was very good. Some had the fish special and others had a wonderful salad. Their batter up grilled chicken cobb salad is very tasty.
- We had to try this place after bar rescue tried to do a reset for this business. The whole time we were there the owner never left one table filled with what seemed to be family and long time regulars and not bothering to check on customers.
- This is now the Lakehouse. It was revamped but all they did really was a paint job there is nothing exciting about the interior of this place. The food is a little bit better than it used to be but not a whole lot.
Negative Reviews
- Well this was a go and try after the place supposedly got retooled, renamed and re-menued following its focus as a subject of a reality TV show. I thought being the subject of one of those shows would improve a restaurant. Apparently the only thing changed here is the name and the interior(nice btw).
- I don’t usually give poor reviews. Food wasn’t that yummy…burger overcooked, chicken salad dry, bathrooms nasty. Our server Dani was sweet and super attentive.
- This place was decent before, especially for trivia night. Since the “revamp,” food is worse and overpriced, drinks are stingy and overpriced, service is even slower, and all the personality is gone.
Images – Google/Lake House