The Chinese restaurant across the street has been in the process of “updating” itself, since before we moved in. I was secretly excited to see a Chinese restaurant becuase its such a rare treat anymore to have Chinese cuisine. However, judging from the opinions of the neighborhood, and the 0.7 customer per day average, its not that fantastic a place.
Anyway, shortly after we moved in, the restaurant broke ground on an addition that would become a lounge. The liquor license was fought voraciously by the neighborhood, but was granted anyway. Construction was epilectic, and there were long stretches where nothing happened. Finally, after the construction permit expired, and a new liquor license was issued, construction ramped up again. The lounge finally opened up in January, and the owners even repainted the jade green building (mostly) to a subdued white. I say it was mostly painted because you can see where the ladders weren’t tall enough and the orignal green still shows. Some rather hasty landscaping has resulted in some doomed plant life such as this guy, who still has a “sold” tag on.
There hasn’t been much business for the lounge. There is usually one one car parked in the lot, and its the owners’. Since adding a cocktail lounge didn’t drum up business, what other addictive pastime might bring in some dollars? That’s right! Video Lottery!
Every side of the building now proudly displays that you can hang with the one-armed bandit. I’m sad to say, there are more cars in the parking lot now.
reminds me of “Pho 99” place on Bill McDonald Pkwy. I always thought it was a front for a drug house cause there were never any customers….yet it was open the entire time I lived in Bellingham.
I actually heard a lot of people say great things about Pho 99, but I never tried it myself.