Restaurant makes amendments to pass review

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH - A restaurant recently under fire by its neighbors

passed an annual review by the Planning Commission Tuesday.

After a month of delay, the commission gave a unanimous stamp of

approval on the Tsunami restaurant, located in the Huntington Harbor

Shopping Center at 17236 Pacific Coast Highway.

“This is a very successful business,” said Commissioner Fred Speaker,

lauding the restaurant’s effort to address the complaints of residents

and fellow center businesses and appease them. “They have, as a tenant in

the center and not its owner, cooperated with the city 100%. I wish this

city had a dozen like them.”

The review first came before the commission Feb. 13 when they received

public input on the restaurant’s operation since March 1999.

Last year, Tsunami owner Larry Krueger expanded the restaurant by

adding about 900 square feet and started a valet service to meet parking

needs. That valet addition drew the ire of other businesses in the

center.

“There are a lot of people unwilling to use the free valet service,”

said Pam Morgan, owner of the Lotus Lounge establishment at the center.

“When they don’t want to park in valet, they simply take up the spaces

needed by other businesses.”

Also, residents living behind the restaurant complained at the Feb. 13

meeting that noise from the late night disposal of trash and bottles was

not only disturbing, but a constant nuisance.

Some center restaurant and business owners met with commissioners and

planning staff Feb. 25, which led to a parking and noise management plan

that addressed valet and evening noise issues.

The plan includes signs encouraging patrons to use the valet service,

as well as plans to keep fire lanes clear and eliminate the disposal of

bottles and cans after 10 p.m.

“At Tsunami’s, we try to do as much as we can to find a balance with

the complaints of residents and fellow businesses,” Krueger said, adding

that the restaurant routinely requires employees to park off-site to keep

parking spaces available.