Patrons line up for TV show at Martini Brothers

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

More than 100 people lined up along Phelps Street on Tuesday night for a chance to stress employees at Martini Brothers Burger Bar and get on TV.

The restaurant/bar, located in the Knox Building at 110 W. Federal St., is the second bar to get “rescued” by the “Bar Rescue” team.

“Bar Rescue” is a Spike docu-reality series in which bars are given a physical makeover and have bad business practices highlighted and turned around.

The stress test is a segment in “Bar Rescue” in which customers are packed into the bar to see how the staff reacts under the pressure of a large crowd. Star of the show, Jon Taffer, a nightlife and bar-management expert, evaluates how the staff performed and works to improve the service.

Vince DeStefano, 22, of West Middlesex, Pa., and Chelsey Haney, 23, of Pittsburgh, sat along the curb, waiting to get in.

“I watch it all the time,” DeStefano said, so when he learned the program was in town he decided to try to get into the bar for the stress test.

Haney, a student at Youngstown State University, said she learned the show was here Monday night while at O’Donald’s, celebrating her boyfriend’s birthday.

“We saw Jon Taffer so that was pretty cool,” she said.

A member of the production crew who refused to identify himself told a Vindicator reporter and photographer not to talk to people in the line. The production company “owns” the public street and sidewalk, he contended.

He then threatened that anyone who spoke to the press wouldn’t be permitted in the business for the filming.

When production crew members moved patrons along Federal Street, the line extended to The Connection, four storefronts down.

“Bar Rescue” production crews moved downtown beginning last week. Sources said taping at Martini Brothers was underway Saturday night. Tents were set up behind the bar in a Commerce Street parking lot, and some parking in front of Martini Brothers and another downtown restaurant was blocked off for production of the show.

On Monday, the Knox Building Facebook page promoted a Lemon Grove space sixth anniversary event. A short line of patrons waited outside the bar for a few hours to get in for the party.

The reveal of the Martini Brothers, which once was the Lemon Grove and several other establishments, is expected to be later this week. The bar has been under the Martini Brothers name since December 2013.

Last Tuesday, it was the Royal Oaks under stress. The beloved East Side dive bar had a crowd of patrons waiting to get in for the show.

The Oaks, as it is called, had its big reveal last Thursday.