The Daily Catch, a walk-up window at WildFin American Grill, opened Monday at The Waterfront Vancouver restaurant.
And if the smaller fry is anything like the mother ship, it will be the most successful Daily Catch in the WildFin chain.
“It’s by far our busiest WildFin location,” said Attila Szabo, president and operating partner of the group that owns five WildFins, as well as other branded restaurants. Szabo, who declined to divulge sales figures, said of the Vancouver restaurant: “It’s exceeded expectations.”
The WildFin next to the Columbia River opened Sept. 24.
“It’s such a spectacular location, and the setting is really unique and unlike anything else in the area,” Szabo said of the restaurant at the intersection of Waterfront Way and Grant Street, and a stroll from the cable-stayed Grant Street Pier. “We expected it would be a busy location and it would be as busy as our location at the waterfront in Tacoma.”
The Tacoma restaurant, he said, also is an eye-pleasing experience for diners, and that location had been the highest-grossing in the WildFin chain until the Vancouver location came along.
WildFin signed its lease agreement in early 2016 with Gramor Development for the restaurant’s 7,200-square-foot space on The Waterfront Vancouver Block 9 ground floor. It was the second restaurant to sign up, following next-door neighbor Twigs Bistro & Martini Bar, which opened Sept. 26.
More food and drink establishments are on the way.
Maryhill Winery is slated to open a tasting room next to Twigs on April 13. And Stacked 571 Burger & Whiskey Bar, a restaurant owned by the WildFin group, is expected to open in July on the ground floor of the Rediviva apartment building, located across Waterfront Way from WildFin.
Also in July, Pizzeria sul Lago will open in the ground floor of the Murdock office building, also on Waterfront Way, and Barlow’s Public House is set to open in a space over Twigs.
In late 2020, El Gaucho steakhouse will open on the ground floor of the future Hotel Indigo on Waterfront Way.
Szabo said he welcomes the competition, though for now he need not be concerned about anyone moving into the vacant space above the 200-seat WildFin.
“We always believe competition brings traffic energy and synergy,” he said. “So we welcome additional restaurants to the waterfront.”
For now, The Daily Catch — and its retro newspaper exterior motif — is the newest culinary offering. The walk-up window next to WildFin’s 130 outdoor seats sells hand-dipped beer-battered fish and chips, fresh and spicy fish tacos, Northwest seafood chowder and other takeout items.
