Rob Ben’s in Oakland is Rescued on ‘Bar Rescue’

This week on Paramount’s Bar Rescue, host Jon Taffer assists NFL legend Marshawn Lynch in getting his family bar in Oakland, California back in line. The episode airs April 26 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

According to the episode synopsis, “In Oakland, California, NFL legend Marshawn Lynch calls for help to get his family in line at his bar, Rob Ben’s.” The episode was filmed last year, and the usually media-averse Lynch was hoping for some tough love from Taffer at the time.

“I thought he was going to come in and just rip everybody apart,” Lynch told the San Francisco Chronicle. “And at the time, that was what I was hoping for. I knew there would be some backlash from our staff, but eventually everyone was able to see it his way.”

Rob Ben’s Is Named After Lynch’s Childhood Friend

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Rob Ben’s is named after Lynch’s childhood friend, who was shot in Oakland in December 2007. In the teaser for the episode, Lynch opens up about how much his friend’s death affected him when Taffer asks to hear about Rob.

“I ain’t gonna lie, it’s more of a touchy subject with that. I mean, you know, just, it was my brother. Just from … as early as I could remember, opening my eyes, him being in my life, and he was taken away from me,” he said. “Just the impact that he left on my life, the name of the restaurant is in honor of him.”

Rob’s older brother works at the bar alongside much of Lynch’s family including his aunts, uncles, cousins and brother.

At one point in the video, one of the bartenders is seen drinking a beer behind the bar, leading Taffer to mention it to Lynch, who responds “Somebody don’t give a f**k.”

Lynch and Taffer then talked about how full the bar was at the time, and Taffer mentions they weren’t making as much money as they should be with such a full place. He showed a metric that proves Lynch’s bar was losing over $190,000 worth of liquor over the past year if they continued wasting the amount of alcohol they had been during the Bar Rescue process.

The Bar Has Positive Reviews

Unlike some Bar Rescue venues, Rob Ben’s has positive reviews on all reviewing platforms including Google Reviews, Yelp and Trip Advisor. Many of the positive reviews on Google mention the food being good and perfect servings, and most of them mention they’ll be back again. The restaurant and lounge has a 4.5 out of 5-star rating based on 454 reviews on Google.

One reviewer wrote, “This food INSTANTLY brought me back to grandmas cooking. Soul is definitely a good name for this. Ordered one 6 piece swahi fish with green beans and mac n cheese. Immediately put in two more orders but added the yams as a side. Omg!!!”

On Yelp, the restaurant and bar has a 4 out of 5-star rating based on over 150 reviews. Most of the recent reviews are five stars, but there are a few one and three-star reviews mixed in.

The restaurant features soul food, which is important to Lynch.

“With the gentrification s— going on, what Oakland represented is disappearing,” Lynch told SeattlePi. “But to have a soul food restaurant in a place that has so much soul, you don’t have many of them like this.”

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