BIZNOTE FOLLOWUP: Indofusion Kitchen and Bar close to opening in West Seattle Junction

Thanks to Ian for the photo and tip that signage is up at 4719 California SW, where Taqueria Guaymas closed three years ago, with the building’s then-new owners announcing they wanted to open their own restaurant there. Now, after a few pre-opening name changes, signage has just gone up and the restaurant is close to opening. Signage on both sides of the building carries the name Indofusion Kitchen and Bar.

The owners, of both the building and the future venue according to online documents, are the Virk family, who also operate Maharaja in The Junction. Work at Indofusion is continuing; we asked on site tonight about estimated opening date, and were told that they’re hoping to be open by New Year’s.

wssz December 23, 2024 (8:04 pm)

Much as I’d like to wish these owners well, I cannot. They caused absolute misery for Pharmaca and Bin 41, as well as the owners and staff of Tacqueria Guamas, the Mexican restaurant whose space they’ll be occupying.

The comments in WSB were heartbreaking. The tenants renting space owned by the Virk brothers found them to be completely nonresponsive to the multiple serious structural problems, mold, a leaking roof that resulted in Pharmaca losing $1,000’s in inventory, cracks in walls, and more.

The tenants were then forced to move out after their concerns were ignored by the Virk brothers.

The brothers then poured salt in the wounds by charging their tenants enormous penalties for having the gall to break their leases.

Here are couple of examples to shine a light on the Virk brothers from comments in WSB when Pharmaca was forced to close. Several of the comments were written by the staff and management of Pharmaca. — https://westseattleblog.com/2022/09/biznote-pharmaca-sets-west-seattle-closing-date/ —

A Concerned Local September 13, 2022 (5:24 pm) “Pharmaca is closing due to the landlords, Sam and Gary Virk (owners of Maharaja), letting the building fall into a dangerous state of disrepair after a year of both management at the store and Pharmaca/Medly corporate reaching out to them with little to no response and no legitimate action taken to fix the structural damage to the roof that eventually ended up shorting out several light fixtures and flooding the front end of the store a few months ago (posing both health and safety concerns for employees and customers but also destroying store fixtures and merchandise), no action taken to repair the walls that are cracking in two, or the damage to the foundation of the building that is essentially rotting away and is ultimately what caused Bin41 to leave as their floor was starting to sink in (hardwood floors should, like, be HARD not spongey). Did I mention that an independent mold test was paid for out of pocket by a tenant in the building? Would it surprise you if I told you that mold was found? Again, I want to reiterate that they were reached out to repeatedly, consistently, for a year with absolutely NO action taken to fix the damage. They had a years worth of opportunities to do the right thing, now as a result, many people have lost their jobs or businesses, have to uproot their lives, and/or don’t have access to the medication or supplements from a beloved and trusted community staple — it’s a ripple effect that impacts so many and is part of why this community feels like it’s being torn apart. I’m so tired of this.”

Here’s another —

A Concerned Local September 13, 2022 (10:35 pm) “

Please read the comments above, your comment is ill conceived. Pharmaca is leaving because they have spent a year consistently communicating with the landlords about the structural damage to the building, namely the roof and constant leaking and eventual flooding, with next to no response and no action to address or fix the issue. It has gotten significantly worse over time, the building is now hazardous to operate in and is why Bin41 had to vacate the building too. Pharmaca and the staff inside did NOT want to close this store down, as it does well monetarily, the staff *adore* their customers, and love this beautiful community. There is a plethora of reasons why they are not relocating (which was the initial plan), but the main one is that they’re trying to get out of the building before rainy season is upon us and the store floods again. It will cost the company a lot of money to either pay to break the lease now or pay monthly on the remainder of the lease… which is still less expensive than paying to fix the roof the landlords let completely decay. This all could’ve been avoided if Sam and Gary Virk were good landlords and abided by the terms of the lease. Just saying.”

And here’s another of many comments — (be sure to check the link https://westseattleblog.com/2022/09/biznote-pharmaca-sets-west-seattle-closing-date/ for more comments about the Virk brothers and the hardships they’ve caused their tenants) :

Sad for West Seattle Junction September 13, 2022 (5:55 pm)
- This is the second business to leave this building. If you’ve been in the Bin41 space, you’ll have noticed a huge slope to the floor going down to the KeyBank side of the space. There was a decorative pot that tried to obscure a giant crack running up the wall when the shop was open. With no paper up on the windows, the cracks in the plaster are very obvious to see if you’re in the hallway going to Pharmaca. I’m not surprised Pharmaca is leaving the building as well, due to the lack of response to these dangerous conditions from the landlords. First the Tacqueria, then Bin41, and now Pharmaca. Who’s next for these guys to force out of the Junction?

Oerthehillz December 24, 2024 (4:31 pm)

This sounds delicious

David December 26, 2024 (6:16 pm)

You can tell it sounds delicious from the name? Did I miss a link to a menu with prices?
- WSB December 26, 2024 (7:49 pm)
  
  No online presence for this place as of when I wrote the story.

Sorry, comment time is over.