Penticton went without a resident steakhouse for roughly six months, which may explain the success Block 300 Casual Steakhouse has had in its first week of operation.

According to owner Fred Trainor, the soft launch on June 3 for invited guests was a great success, but he was still taken aback by the number of customers his restaurant had at the official opening on June 7.

“The turnout was massive, which made it a little bumpy. There were challenges, I think in the first 20 minutes we had 60 people to seat and our capacity is 84,” said Trainor. “And it’s all brand-new to us.”

Trainor said his team of kitchen staff and servers worked tirelessly to stay on top of orders that first night, but being a new restaurant they did see a lag in service time. He expressed his apologies to those who were affected by this and said they have improved each day since so it will not be a normal occurrence.

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“Anyone whose experience wasn’t what they would have liked it to have been should give us a second shot at it. Because we’re getting better by the day,” said Trainor. “So Saturday was better than Friday, and Sunday was better than Saturday and so on.”

Trainor said, for now, the restaurant has limited its menu selection and hours of operation to cater to the supper crowd so his team has time to find their groove in keeping up with orders. He said he hopes to have Block300 Casual Steakhouse open for lunch in roughly a week.

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He said they also have already partnered with multiple community events such as the upcoming Peach City Beach Cruise, so residents can expect to see the restaurant actively-involved in the community.

“We’ve only heard good things about the food and how good it is. We’ve had a lot of very, very satisfied customers” said Trainor. “There was so much interest before we were even opened, with people constantly asking us when we’d be ready to go. So we’re very thankful for the community’s continued support.”

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