New owners plan to give The Lighthouse Restaurant and Lounge a 'facelift'

Mark and Jill Wambold, who have successfully run numerous local restaurants including Brix 25° in Gig Harbor, bought the Lighthouse Restaurant and Lounge on Bay Street two weeks ago.

And they plan to give it “a facelift,” says Mark Wambold.

“The restaurant has such a  beautiful building and established clientelle–we don’t want to turn it on a dime,” he said.

But he and his wife hope to make some small, “improvements,” as they see them.

The menu, for instance, will include more “healthy food–less fried food and more cooked fish,” he said, adding, “I want the seafood to be fresh, the produce to be locally-grown.”

He may buy some of the fresh produce from the nursery at South Kitsap Food Helpline, he said, but hasn’t bought any yet or made any official agreements to do so.

The Wambolds also plans to serve a traditional, buffet-style Sunday brunch, featuring “baked goods and different egg dishes,” which the Lighthouse Restaurant stopped serving, recently.

It will be an important meal for the restaurant, going forward, Mark Wambold says.

The Wambolds also plans to substantially expand the restaurant’s wine program.

“We have one small, private dining room that we’ll convert into a wine cellar,” Mark Wambold said.

“We’ll sell all the wine for a retail price plus a corkage fee,” he continued. “It will make good wines much more affordable and accessable.”

The Wambolds also plan to build a stage for live music in the restaurant’s lounge area.

They plan to book “a lot of jazz trios,” said Mark Wambold, to make the place feel like “somewhere nice to go to have a cocktail and listen to a piano and vocalist–to get a way from the kids for a bit.”

The price range for the food will be comparable to the restaurant’s current prices.

Dinner entrées will range from around $12.95 to $21.95, with appetizers starting at $5.95.

Lunches will range from around $5 to around $9.

The Wambolds have scheduled to launch the re-tooled version of the restaurant Saturday, Sept. 3.

Meanwhile, the restaurant will stay open with the same menus and decor it's been using since the previous owner ran it.

 

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