“Piratz” now “Corporate”: Hipsters Make T-shirts
Socked with irony, of course. I think that’s the only way this whole thing can end: with people wearing t-shirts to highlight said irony. Here are a few photos I snapped a short time ago from the new “Corporate Bar & Grill” (once Piratz Tavern). No one going inside quite when I was there.
Who is this anonymous, silhouetted man?:
Some of the people below asked me to move away because they were shooting a show inside. I point no fingers. I may have disrupted things:
The line wrapped around the front and down Bonifant – something I’ve NEVER seen when it was Piratz. But, you know, it’s new and hip and people are scrambling to get in and on camera:
The producers nonchalantly had out official-looking numbers to the growing number of people in line. “Oh – and could you sign this release for me?”:
Finally, a couple of shots from over the fence onto the back patio:
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I doubt this is an organic crowd. I’m sure the show’s producers recruited all these people for the “reveal”episode. How would it look if no one was there? They won’t be there next week.
This is great! I hope the menu captures all the culinary excitement of a corporate cafeteria. Maybe now I can enjoy the company egg salad on weekends too! A guy can dream.
Corrrrprate barr and grill!
This whole thing seems like it could just as easily be a bad joke.
New theme to try and attract crowds from the Exculpatory Channel?
Is that a small bar near the front entrance or a table where you can sit and pour your own taps? The latter would be pretty cool.
Wish they’d gone with “Corporatz,” that would have been fun.
I still miss the Korean-run sandwich shop that was in there!
I wrote this a few days ago on “Silver Spring Singular”:
“I just hope that we don’t end up with a corporate-approved monstrosity that seeks to satisfy everyone and is bland as a result.”
I’m going out to buy a Powerball ticket! (And if I win, I’ll buy “Corporate” and turn it back into a pirate bar).
Oh my god. THIS could not be ANY MORE of a huge f- you to everyone who ever went to this bar because it was a fun geeky pirate spot. It was like a year round renn fair! And we liked it! All they had to do was fix the food and the menu! They coulda put in a cool pirate or something! There are plenty of crappy corporate bars already in silver spring! This is like killing faeries. Seriously.
This is pretty hilarious. It’s obvious from the clear improvement on the inside that the previous owners have no idea how to run a business. At all.
The problem they had (apart from the service) was that a specialty place like that needs to be more centrally located for the entire region.
I admit that I was sad to hear about Piratz going under but I’d been there exactly twice.
Folks like me from Northern Virginia don’t have any burning desire to hike out to Silver Spring just to go to a half-assed pirate themed bar with any regularity.
For that to work, they’d have needed to be in the District where there would be tourist traffic as well as regional pirate freaks.
Second that, Amazon42.
I went to that crowd on thursday night and asked around. no one was recruiting.
Silver Springers seem to desperately want anything normal to fail around here.
This is unfortunate. I loved Piratz Tavern. I did not love the way it was run, but that seems to be a common thing. I have no interest in seeing the faceless corporate bar, if I want that, I can go to DC. Spike ruined this place even more than Tracy ever did, in a fraction of the time. Unfortunate.
Most of the people there were, indeed, extras recruited by the show. And yes, the new concept is as about as big an f-u to the former spirit of the place, I can’t imagine it wasn’t meant to be ironic. It the newest bland bar concept. I loved the former place, but I know it had its problems. I’m hoping that they will take some of great things (staff training, new chef) and perhaps try to incorporate some of the old spirit into it. As someone who was involved in the community that were their core customer base, a lot of hearts were broken with this new iteration of what was one of the very few original restaurants in the dc area.
This is bullshit I for one will boycott this bullshit excuse for a bar. How dare they kill the only place I could dress in my pirate garb and feel like myself my wife and I have been going there for the past 3 years for our birthdays. My 3yr old loved going there. I hope this place fails and someone with a soul buys it and turns it back into Piratz Tavern. If I had the fucking money Id do it myself This is total bullshit. I even hope the show that did the makeover fails. I hope the fat prick host has a heart attack while drinking a highball in that shit hole they turned my favorite place into. Fuck Spike t.v. for this they had no right doing this to such a wonderful place that so many people enjoyed.
hope this place works out. so much better than the old crappy piratz bar. this town sorely needs some good bars
I believe the name and concept are supposed to be ironic. I looked inside and there are demotivational posters on the wall. The owner of Piratz clearly likes places that you shouldn’t take too seriously and this new theme is along those lines. It just looks a whole lot nicer.
Calm down folks – the makeover is for a reality show. Once the filming stops the owners can do whatever they like, include flying a jolly roger. They entered a contest for this show because they were in financial trouble. The alternative would have been going under and everyone there losing their jobs.
This is terrible news. Does anyone know if the Tavern return after this monstrosity is done filming?
I am currently having flashbacks of the corporate pirate bit at the beginning of Monty Python’s ‘Meaning of Life.’
Well I’m glad to hear this can be temporary. And I do understand financial issues, I just wish maybe they could have let the “faithful piratz” know what was going on and maybe we could have done something before it got this extreme. I’m still going to wear my pirate costume when I go.
It’s all like something from an issue of MAD…
Honestly, if you can forgive the name, it doesn’t look too bad inside.
Anyway – the real problem with the Piratz Tavern was that the service and food were both terrible. When I was single and frequently drunk, me and some pals tried very hard to love that place.
Either they wouldn’t charge us for anything, which was awesome when it happened but raised some questions about their viability, or you’d get in a fight with someone drunk (the owner perhaps) about being overcharged.
The food was inedible. I’ve had better meals from CVS.
So if there’s no accompanying management advice to go with this makeover, I doubt it’s going to help them much in the long ron.