BIZNOTE: New Luck Toy is open again

| West Seattle news | West Seattle restaurants | WS beverages

A month and a half ago, we reported that New Luck Toy co-proprietor Mark Fuller had confirmed to WSB that the establishment WOULD reopen. And tonight – it just has. Here’s the announcement:

Surprise! We’re open at 5 pm tonight and serving food till 10. Bar’s open till midnight. Due to nationwide staffing shortages we’re not offering takeout or to-go at this time in order to help protect our staff from takeout burnout. (It’s a thing) So in-person dining only. New hours are 5-10 for food, bar till midnight. Wednesday-Saturday.

New Luck Toy is at 5905 California SW. It’s been closed for 10 months.

Thd3 September 16, 2021 (6:02 pm)

Bless you Mark Fuller

RS September 16, 2021 (7:53 pm)

Best news all year!

East Coast Cynic September 16, 2021 (8:54 pm)

The restaurant needs to fix the order online part on the website. I get an error message every time I click on it.

[edit} I just saw the message that they are not taking online orders:(

J September 16, 2021 (9:24 pm)

Thank God! I love the middle finger to takeout, too. Can’t wait to get back.

CAM September 16, 2021 (10:47 pm)

I’ve been anxiously awaiting this news but since they aren’t doing take out and there’s no nod to vaccine requirements on any of their sites I guess I’ll continue waiting another month.

anonyme September 17, 2021 (7:42 am)

“The only business I want is the kind that puts people at risk”. What a ridiculous stance.

Kravitz September 17, 2021 (8:23 am)

Thrilled that they’ve survived the Pandemic (thus far) and have re-opened, but not thrilled about in-house dining only. We love you New Luck Toy, but please bring back take-out options for those with underlying higher-risk conditions so they too, can continue to support local businesses and enjoy your offerings.

Huh September 17, 2021 (10:09 am)

Omg really? The workers are burned out on take out. I don’t blame them for putting that on hold. Give them a break.
- s September 17, 2021 (11:42 am)
  
  How can they be burned out on takeout even before they reopen? They were closed for 10 months until yesterday.
  - CAM September 17, 2021 (2:42 pm)
    
    Take-out burn out is a real thing actually, despite my reluctance to dine-in without other protections. Staff having to take care of a full restaurant demanding normal levels of service (because there are no more COVID occupancy limits and people are jerks) cannot also support full demand for people ordering food to go and demanding it be ready promptly anytime they want it. It isn’t feasible unless you’re built for it from the beginning or make major adjustments to your business model. Tip your restaurant staff. Or better yet, demand we move away from the tip culture.

Andros September 17, 2021 (9:40 am)

Heck yes!

Carson September 17, 2021 (9:55 am)

Not sure I understand the negative of take out/to go orders. We tip those at the same rate these days as we used to for sit down. Same $$$, less work. I will take the hint however and take our business elsewhere.

Foop September 17, 2021 (12:53 pm)

For what it’s worth, they call out in their Instagram that it’s due to worker shortage, I recall them getting absolutely slammed with Togo orders before. That said, I enjoy NLT, but it’s not that great. I wish they’d institute a vaccine policy. Surely, with they’re staffing concerns, the few customers that would keep away wouldn’t affect their business, no?

Mongo September 17, 2021 (10:35 am)

Happy to see the thread title, sad to read the thread content…Given the abysmal quality of the food at most of the other Chinese (not pan-Asian, Chinese) restaurants in West Seattle, I was excited to see New Luck Toy reopening. And want to do my best to continue to support local restaurants in this difficult business environment for them. Unfortunately, I’m not willing to take the risk of eating out indoors in our current COVID environment, when I can just as easily support restaurants safely via take-out (and tipping just as if I’d eaten in). So, at least for us, a re-opened restaurant without takeout is substantively no different than if they had stayed closed. Hoping they reconsider that limitation soon, as we’ll be ordering from them the next day. Oh, well…

Big Bling September 17, 2021 (11:37 am)

Carson comments – you need to have a better perspective on restaurants, when there is burn out I believe them. Take out is almost if not harder than in person. Multiple “special requests” that doesn’t have a person to translate, no “stop too many orders” mechanism. A tough road for everyone, throwing money at them won’t be the panacea. Compassion for everyone should rule the day.

PullPinThrow September 17, 2021 (1:55 pm)

THIS IS AWESOME NEWS! And even better, looks like those that are paralyzed with fear (not talking to those with underlying conditions) will stay home and won’t jam-up one of the busiest dining rooms in West Seattle! Stay safe, stay home… More table availability for the fully vaccinated, unafraid citizens of West Seattle who will keep New Luck Toy in business while the pandemic runs its course.

trickycoolj September 17, 2021 (3:50 pm)

No outdoor seating, no take out, that’s a no from me.

Zoomy September 17, 2021 (4:23 pm)

I’ve never worked in a restaurant. Can someone who has explain to me how doing takeout orders is more work than working in the dining room full of people? Seems odd.

flimflam September 17, 2021 (4:31 pm)

To those wondering what the harm is in take out – many places are so busy with to go orders that in house guests are left with long wait times as the kitchen is over burdened with take out orders. That may seem like a good problem to have but it can be quite a hassle – also factoring in the cost of take out supplies (the better quality biodegradable stuff that places are supposed to use are not cheap) and the fact that (sorry) many people do not tip on take out as well as (again, sorry) many third party delivery drivers are pretty rude/clueless and will stand in the way or otherwise take up space when waiting for orders.

aa September 17, 2021 (6:22 pm)

If Mark Fuller is open to it, maybe he could explain what he means so we can understand. How / why is take out causing so much burnout? I honestly would like to learn more about the impact. As a customer I think we are trying to support businesses and stay safe. Is it simply too much volume? It makes sense that stopping take out brings down the amount of work. Unfortunately that also reduces income. I guess we are all just trying to find our way through this mess.