First- I like to check Google from time to time and see if my former employer has been shut down yet. No such luck. This is a family run restaurant with rampant tip theft and other FLSA violations. The kitchen guys once told me they're basically being trafficked, as in they don't get actual wages but they live in the owner's rental house and he won't let them turn the heat on. In winter. In WA. They're afraid of being deported so don't want to complain.
Moving on, this is a recent review from a real live guest:
“ClayPit is Horrible, Rude Hubristic
We arrived at 6:30 on a Tuesday night, after calling and asking if a reservation was necessary. I guess we should have been concerned right from the start. A rather severe man demanded that our female guests stand aside, and wait for the entire party, before being seated at a table we were already assigned. There were six other patrons in the restaurant, not my definition of busy. We submitted our orders. After 45 minutes I asked the waitress what the hold-up was. She said that our food was “coming right up”. Another 30 minutes, no food, but 7 take-out orders and one group who came after us were served.
At this point I spoke to the severe man about why we were not served. His immediate response was that if I didn’t like the food I should leave. I informed him that I had no food to like or dislike. At this point things went from bad to worse as he tore into the rest of the party. After another promise of food in ten minutes we decided to take his advice and leave. He then told us he was calling 911 as we had to pay for the food we never got. This man’s escalating verbal abuse got even worse. One of our guests, 92 years old, was physically pushed toward the door. The appalling lack of manners and lack of remorse for this man’s behavior is beyond the pale. This owner, manager, is not suitable for public places.
I would not ever recommend this restaurant to anyone. It used to be good, but I was embarrassed and shock at the behavior of the staff. DO NOT GO TO THIS ESTABLISHMENT”.
Now imagine how he's treating the employees if this is how they treat the paying guests. Its bad, I'm telling you. The only reason I stayed as long as I did was I was a recent divorcee and so beaten down from that and trying to figure things out.
My point is, “no one wants to work anymore” is total bullshit. This kind of thing happens every single day in the service industry. WA state is known for its generous protections and places like this still skate. And this reviewer is right, the owners aren't fit for work with the public. Its crazy to me because they have a good location, decent food, they could be flourishing.
But they just can't refrain from fucking people over. Guests, employees… I mean, its wild.