TV Restaurants

Is Lona's Wardlow Station Still Open? Bar Rescue Update (Long Beach, CA)

Open reported

As of September 2026, Lona's Wardlow Station is listed open on Yelp, reviewed by our team on September 7, 2026; not yet independently confirmed through direct contact.

Primary source
Yelp ·
Secondary source
sigtrib.com ·

Last verified

What the source shows: Yelp's listing for Lona's City Limits Cantina at 1174 E Wardlow Rd shows 181 reviews with an August 2026 update reflecting current activity; the Signal Tribune's original coverage of the Bar Rescue rebrand corroborates the name and location history.

  • Season / episode Season 3, Episode 7
  • Original air date
  • Address 1174 E Wardlow Rd, Long Beach, CA 90807
  • Current name Lona's City Limits Cantina

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What happened after Bar Rescue?

Lona's Wardlow Station sat on the boundary between Long Beach and Signal Hill, California, and had drifted into trouble under a passive owner whose decisions included installing a coin-operated lobster crane game that clashed with the bar's identity, plus a manager whose inexperience compounded the problems by the time Jon Taffer arrived for "In a Pinch." The show's recon and stress test surfaced a bar without a clear food or drink identity and a staff unable to execute under pressure, leaving the owner's finances increasingly strained.

Taffer's team rebuilt the bar's drink program and rebranded it Lona's City Limits Cantina, a name meant to modernize the concept while keeping the original Lona's name intact, and retrained the staff ahead of the relaunch. The new format leaned into a cantina-style menu and clearer branding than the bar had carried under its previous management.

The rename stuck. Lona's City Limits Cantina has continued operating under that name at 1174 East Wardlow Road for more than a decade since the episode aired, and Yelp's listing for the address, updated in August 2026 with 181 reviews, shows continued activity and generally positive feedback on the food and service. The Signal Tribune covered the bar's Bar Rescue makeover at the time, noting its straddling of the Long Beach and Signal Hill city line, a detail that has followed the business into later coverage. No subsequent ownership change or additional rebrand for the location turned up in this research pass, and the cantina appears to be the same operation, under the same modernized name Taffer's team gave it, that reopened after the 2013 relaunch. The cantina's Wardlow Road address sits a few blocks from the Signal Hill boundary, a geographic quirk the Signal Tribune highlighted when covering the rebrand, noting that residents on both sides of the line consider the bar part of their own neighborhood's nightlife scene.

Featured on Bar Rescue

Season / episode
Season 3, Episode 7
Original air date
Episode title
In a Pinch
What was featured
Passive ownership, unfocused concept, inexperienced management
Role
Featured restaurant
Name on the broadcast
Lona's Wardlow Station

Frequently asked questions

Is Lona's Wardlow Station still open in 2026?

As of September 2026, Lona's Wardlow Station is listed open on Yelp, reviewed by our team on September 7, 2026; not yet independently confirmed through direct contact.

What happened to Lona's Wardlow Station after Bar Rescue?

Lona's Wardlow Station sat on the boundary between Long Beach and Signal Hill, California, and had drifted into trouble under a passive owner whose decisions included installing a coin-operated lobster crane game that clashed with the bar's identity, plus a manager whose inexperience compounded the problems by the time Jon Taffer arrived for "In a Pinch." The show's recon and stress test surfaced a bar without a clear food or drink identity and a staff unable to execute under pressure, leaving the owner's finances increasingly strained. As of September 2026, Lona's Wardlow Station is listed open on Yelp, reviewed by our team on September 7, 2026; not yet independently confirmed through direct contact.

What is Lona's Wardlow Station called now?

Now: Lona's City Limits Cantina (formerly Lona's Wardlow Station). As of September 2026, Lona's Wardlow Station is listed open on Yelp, reviewed by our team on September 7, 2026; not yet independently confirmed through direct contact.

Where is Lona's Wardlow Station located?

1174 E Wardlow Rd, Long Beach, CA 90807. That is the address on the record as of September 7, 2026.

What season and episode of Bar Rescue featured Lona's Wardlow Station?

Season 3, Episode 7 of Bar Rescue, first aired March 24, 2013. The episode is titled “In a Pinch”.

Did the makeover last at Lona's Wardlow Station?

The episode first aired March 24, 2013. Our most recent check was September 7, 2026 — 13 years later —: As of September 2026, Lona's Wardlow Station is listed open on Yelp, reviewed by our team on September 7, 2026; not yet independently confirmed through direct contact.

What do reviews say since Bar Rescue?

Lona's City Limits Cantina has continued operating under that name at 1174 East Wardlow Road for more than a decade since the episode aired, and Yelp's listing for the address, updated in August 2026 with 181 reviews, shows continued activity and generally positive feedback on the food and service. We summarise what dated sources report; we do not publish our own rating.

Is Lona's Wardlow Station still using the Bar Rescue menu or branding?

Taffer's team rebuilt the bar's drink program and rebranded it Lona's City Limits Cantina, a name meant to modernize the concept while keeping the original Lona's name intact, and retrained the staff ahead of the relaunch. Anything newer than our last check on September 7, 2026 may not be reflected here.

Every status on this site carries a confidence label and a date, and names the source it rests on. Read the Editorial & Corrections Policy for what each label means and how quickly we act on corrections. The questions above are generated from this record's own published fields — we never publish a question we cannot answer from the data.

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Visit info

Address
1174 E Wardlow Rd, Long Beach, CA 90807
Venue type
bar
Official website
None found

Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources

  • Yelp — https://www.yelp.com/biz/lonas-city-limits-cantina-long-beach
  • sigtrib.com — https://sigtrib.com/tv-show-bar-rescue-renames-and-makes-over-cantina-located-in-both-signal-hill-and-long-beach/
  • Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Rescue_(season_3)

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Record br-027 · last verified .