Imperial Bar of Reno closes to 'rebuild and rebrand'
Johnathan L. WrightBarbie has left the building.
Imperial Bar & Lounge, the downtown Reno mainstay that transformed itself into Barbie Q Korean barbecue pop-up under new owners, has closed to "rebuild and rebrand," said Carver Wright, one of the new owners who purchased the bar in January 2019.
Wright (no relation to this reporter) indicated the owners' intentions in a text but would not elaborate on plans for the bar, an OG of Reno's cocktail culture. Both the hot pink Barbie Q cursive and the Imperial script have been painted over on the bar's facade.
When they purchased Imperial, @RGJTaste dubbed the new owners Fun Boy Three: Wright, a Sacramento event planning guru; Hassan Mahmood, a food-and-beverage guy with gigs around the West to his credit; and Dave Scanlon, a commercial real estate executive from San Francisco.
The trio took the reins of Imperial from Justin Owen and Ryan Gold, who opened the bar in 2012.
Right after purchasing Imperial, the owners introduced a Let's Eat menu featuring starters like sliders and carne asada fries, salads, pizzas, bone-in or boneless wings anointed with a choice of six sauces, and burgers and sandwiches like a guacamole burger.
Later, they remade Imperial into Barbie Q, a concept mingling Korean barbecue dishes with Barbie-themed cocktails and Barbie-themed decor in a profusion of hot pink.
Barbie Q was initially scheduled to run through November 2019. The bar closed last Dec. 1.
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Johnathan L. Wright is the food and drink editor of RGJ Media, part of the USA Today Network. Join @RGJTaste on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.