Robin, you been thru this?

[Jenise]

So this happened: someone posted a picture about a brand new restaurant in my sparsely populated neck of the woods with a complaint about there being no mozzarella on her chicken parm and that service was slow so it took a whole hour and a half for dinner. She wasn't being unkind, just sharing observations without thinking about the ramifications.

Facts: brand new restaurant. Extremely competent chef, a real Italian with a strong accent and lots of testosterone. The sparse population here makes it hard to hire competent help--he hasn't been able to find good people for the kitchen and the dining room turnover has been high. He works 12-15 hours every day 7 days a week making everything himself, including elegant desserts. Small but nice wine list, 12 or so pasta dishes, three salads, various appies. Service: very old world, respectful and attentive. In an area that only otherwise offers tourist burgers and bar food, this restaurant is an oasis.

So on the facebook page I created in order to promote food and wine stuff locally because nobody takes a paper anymore , the poster complained but without offering any offsetting positives and the embarrassed chef-proprietor responded (with what I was thinking) that she should stick with Olive Garden and a bunch of people piled on about how rude he is so they'll never go to his restaurant and he went Oh fine then don't come back, and all that went down in 48 hours. For the first time ever, I had to turn off comments in order to stop the fight.

JEESH.

Coincidentally, I had a reservation there during that time. Had a great meal. You can have dinner at any number of local places but this is the only place in Birch Bay where you can DINE.

Meanwhile, the mobs will stick with their bar food expectations. They have no idea what it is to cook from the heart the way this man does.

[David M. Bueker]

“McDonalds is in Avignon. Fish and chips is in Marseille!”

[Robin Garr]

Yeesh! Sounds like Yelp. But yeah, we have a new Italian place here, run by a fellow who grew up in the Bronx and is making grandmother recipes. Good stuff, but they've had kind of rocky going in the early days because we have a lot of both new and old restaurants without enough really experienced front-of-house staff to go around these days. Most people have a sense of humor about hiccups, but there are always going to be those whose entitled expectations aren't immediately met.

[Jenise]

Well what I can't get across to several of them is that the Customer isn't always right. That's a nice attitude to have for the business owner, but if the customer passes up their opportunity to complain in the restaurant and give the restauranteur a chance to address it in the moment, then it's backstabbing chicken shit to complain online and embarrass not just a restauranteur but someone who is technically also a friend and neighbor. Permanent population here (not including summer resort guests IOW), is maybe 10,000. This is one of about five restaurants, and the only one that isn't bar food outside of the resort at Semiahmoo, which is super expensive and can't hang onto a chef (or decent staff).

So If they want to bitch, take it to Yelp. But it's not welcome on my Birch Bay Wine & Enthusiasts facebook page!

[Robin Garr]

So If they want to bitch, take it to Yelp. But it's not welcome on my Birch Bay Wine & Enthusiasts facebook page!

Exactly! And you bring more than 30 years of experience in moderating online communities, so you've got the street cred. Plus, it's your page.

Meanwhile, the mobs will stick with their bar food expectations. They have no idea what it is to cook from the heart the way this man does.

This is the social media world. Reversion to the mean.

[Jenise]

Well this morning I deleted the threads so all the rudeness has been wiped clean, and last night at my own wine event I invited the woman who was not the initial poster, but the loudest defender on her behalf who said she'd NEVER go to that restaurant, to join Bob and I for dinner there. She said yes. So, it's healing.

Having run restaurants in the community you speak I feel for the Chef. Most people not in the business don't realize how difficult it is to run a successful restaurant, especially in such a small community. Finding help is next to impossible, and you end up living in the establishment... While the chef's response was not the best, it should not be enough to doom what could be a great restaurant, sadly in a town that small it may be... When I make it back up that way I hope we can go eat there!

[Jenise]

Kasey, Gianni really is a great cook. Not perfect but what he's created is so unlikely and so very much appreciated, and a number of us have banded together to make sure his restaurant doesn't get forgotten over the winter. He definitely needs to polish his social media skills, though I'm guessing that may not be possible--proud Italian male he very much is!!!

This IS a strange neighborhood. I virtually never go to Semiahmoo anymore--the time you cooked for me was the last good meal I had there. Efforts to get butts in seats since have been disastrous. Like the time I rounded up a party of 10 or 12 to head over there--Suresh wouldn't let us occupy Packer's we had to go to the more spendy room next door. So okay, we did that. Our food trickled out. Over 50 minutes passed before we saw our first dish. Some were fine but many were barely warm. When we complained the waitress told us it was because there were two kitchens and our food came from the furthest one so it cooled off on the way over! I kid you not. I understand this area's hard to cook for--too many cheapskates, for one--but when every meal includes some kind of disappointment, it's hard even for us who happily spend money on good food to talk ourselves into giving them a second--or sixth, or ninth--chance.

Sad to here, Semiahmoo has so much potential. The kitchen that is close to the two establishments is not big enough to run Packers in the summer when they open the deck. If they are running the food from the far kitchen that would be a logistical nightmare! I even hated how the kitchen set up for Packers was. You need to have a kitchen that the wait staff naturally flows though, not one they have to go down the hall for, otherwise food sits too long... I had worked on plans of how to remodel it to be more efficient, but never got the chance. I heard when they updated the restaurant they did a lot to make it look nicer, but very little if any to make it run more efficiently, which was desperately needed.

I had a great Restaurant Chef when I was there, he had worked at places like Melisse in LA when it was a 2 Michelin Star place. When they opened back up after I left they hired him back on. He either got fired or left (depending on who you ask) because he refused to use frozen fish flown in from across the country. When I was there we were purchasing local seafood, local produce when available and also, most importantly limiting seating to ensure everybody had a great experience. Before, and it sounds like after I left they returned to packing in as many people as possible, even if that meant a bad dinning experience...

Glad to hear you guys have somebody back in town that cares about the dining experience. I really hope it works out for him! In the mean time I need to figure out a way to move back up there!

[Jenise]

They've certainly made a lot of personnel changes. But the food...Bob and I went for lunch one day with friends who chose it. My pasta dish was very badly made but Bob had a sandwich (a pork belly BLT) that I liked. So when Suresh invited me for lunch (he was trying to woo me as an influencer) a few weeks later, I ordered the same sandwich. It bore no resemblance to what Bob had. Three shriveled little tiles of dried pork cooked off a day or three before when someone realized the meat was was spoiling. It tasted pretty rank. Should have been in the trash, but not only did they use it anyway they served it to a guest of the Food & Bev manager--who got called away the second the food was delivered and never returned! I eventually left, food uneaten. Right there you have everything that was/is wrong with the way those restaurants were run after you left--so bad on every level, but no accountability, and no consequence for failures.

Yes, the new Pierside looks great. And of late the winemaker dinners get good reviews as long as Devon (the ex-John Ash guy) is the chef, but regular dining continues to struggle. Such a shame--great looking spot and locals have few other choices. But cold food, spoiled meat and poor excuses won't bring people back.

I'm sure they blame the locals, not themselves. But the locals simply stay home because there's no place to go, and those of us who enjoy cooking happily cook for ourselves or head over the border for dining. And hey, the quality of the locals is improving. It's hardly the Colony at Malibu but the actor/comedian Ryan Stiles did just move in three doors up from me!

Would love to have you back!!!