Earlier this month, Jeff Strong, owner of Nick’s Bar and Grill in Amboy, received a call that his beloved restaurant building was slammed into by a vehicle for the second time in under two years.
Around 1 a.m. on Feb. 9, a young driver took the corner of state Route 503 too fast and went off the roadway and into the front of the restaurant. In the summer months, the side of the property adjacent to the corner is hopping with motorcycle parking and pedestrian traffic.
“Here we go again,” Strong said of his thoughts when he received the call. “... I wish we didn’t have to go through it again. You know what I mean. Yeah, it’s insured, but still a pain in the ass.”
A Facebook post in the Amboy, WA Reporting group, and other social media posts regarding the collision the following day, gained a lot of traction online, largely critical of young drivers as well as the design of the road.
For Strong, the public outcry against the young driver felt unnecessary.
“It was a young kid. He was very respectful. He was very apologetic,” Strong said. “He screwed up. ‘You made a mistake. You hit the corner too fast. We’ve all done it.’ And I felt sorry for him because everybody on Facebook kind of beat him up and he was beating himself up bad enough.”
The last time a vehicle plowed into the restaurant under similar circumstances, equipment and games were damaged, and insurance didn’t fully cover all the costs. This time around, Strong said the process has been easier. He added that the black eye to the front of the business should be fixed in a couple of weeks with a new window replacement.
Strong doesn’t feel like there is a reasonable solution to the continuous problem with the corner on the state highway with its current layout.
“You can tell drivers to slow down, but you know they’re not going to,” he said. “... To be honest with you, you could put concrete barriers out there, then we couldn’t get to the building and we would lose our bike parking.”
Unlike the majority of curves on roadways, the various corners throughout Amboy — a 25 mph speed zone — do not have reflective arrow signage or suggested speeds at the turns.
As for locals and customers wanting to support the business after the crash, Strong said the best way is to continue to patronize his business.
Nick’s Bar and Grill is located at 22011 NE 399th St. in Amboy. It is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 12 a.m. on Friday and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
For more information, call 360-247-9914.
