Vitale’s Hideaway, formerly known as Slotzy’s, near Worden, Illinois, is featured on the “Bar Rescue” television reality series on the Paramount Network.
Vitale’s at 7708 State Route 4 sits where two prominent Route 66 alignments converge — the original Illinois 4 alignment and the later alignment of the Mother Road.
In the show, entrepreneur and host Jon Taffer and his team use secret cameras and undercover customers to identify a bar’s weaknesses. They then present plans to the owners on how to improve operations.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nick Lang inherited the bar from his father in 2022 and reached out to “Bar Rescue” for help last year when the business stagnated.
Lang said his bar “failed miserably” during the Bar Rescue stress test when serving a packed house of demanding customers pushes a bar or restaurant to the limit, revealing its weak points. Taffer yelled at Lang and the bar staff, but “he’s not angry for no reason,” Lang said.
“He’s just like the show. He’s very direct, knows what he’s talking about,” Lang said of Taffer. “If he’s yelling and screaming, it’s because you deserve it. He made us better at what we do.”
The Bar Rescue team then remodeled the interior of the bar to give it a speakeasy, mobster feel. Lang said construction took 36 hours, and at times, 50 contractors were on site.
Taffer renamed Slotzy’s as Vitale’s Hideaway, after St. Louis mobster John Vitale, and gave the kitchen recipes for signature menu items like homemade mobster meatballs, smoking gun wings, pulled pork and cheese cannolis.
Since reopening, Vitale’s Hideaway has seen an uptick in customers.
The Vitale’s episode will air at 9 p.m. Central on June 29 on Paramount Plus.
According to county property records, the bar was built in 1950. Internet records show the tavern also had the names of Diggers Dugout and Worden Y Club.
Schlecte’s Service Station, dating to 1937, once stood next door to the bar. It was torn down in 2016, according to TheRoute-66.com.
(Image of Vitale’s Hideaway near Worden, Illinois, via Facebook; image of Slotzky’s circa 2023 via Google Street View)