Award-winning Seabird restaurant to close on Bainbridge Island

Bainbridge Island seafood restaurant, Seabird, has announced it will permanently close its doors at the end of September, according to The Seattle Times.

The Seabird restaurant has garnered numerous accolades throughout its time in the Pacific Northwest, including multiple “Best New Restaurant” awards.

Bainbridge Island’s Seabird set to close

Seabird Chef Brendan McGill posted on social media that the final day of service will be September 28, and encouraged customers to come by for delicious eats before its close.

“Please come see us for a filet of summer king salmon, a bowl of clams cooked just-right, a crispy fish sandwich or a bowl of peak summer gazpacho with chilled spot prawns,” McGill stated. “The wine will be delicious and the cocktails will be fun. There are six weeks left this summer and we intend to make them count!”

McGill claimed the restaurant’s operating costs have skyrocketed, and in an area that depends on tourism, it has been tough getting people through the door.

“All our costs doubled and tripled, and the appetite to spend is just not there anymore,” McGill told The Seattle Times. “It worked great during the summertime when everyone is visiting the island. But I know what will happen in November when it’s 42 degrees and rainy outside. We are just not going to see a lot of people.”

 

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McGill opened Seabird in May 2022 with the intention of returning the fine dining experience to its customers after the COVID-19 pandemic. McGill mentioned that the heavy foot traffic in the summer, offset by a slow winter, is financially unstable for the restaurant to stay open.

“It used to be a seasonal split, summer profitable and winter marginally profitable,” McGill told The Seattle Times. “Now that seems too difficult to make it through the winter with that style of restaurant.”

The Seabird menu features a wood-fired oyster appetizer with koji butter, lime, and togarashi crumb. Some of the entrees offered include clams and mussels, king salmon succotash, and a farro koji-cured pork new york, with kale, black eyed peas, smoked onion, and hot sauce.

Seabird sources all of its food from the fields, waters, and woods that surround it. Customers can expect the dishes they’re served to be locally sourced from Bainbridge Island and the greater Olympic Peninsula.

McGill dubbed the Seabird a “swing and a miss,” but has plans to unveil a new restaurant within the same space, although no timeline was provided.

The Seabird closure will not affect any of McGill’s other restaurants, including his two Café Hitchcock locations in Bainbridge and Seattle, Bruciato in Bainbridge, and the Oyster Cellar in Seattle.

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