09/12/2026
Well, friends, this is a post we really hoped we wouldn’t have to make. It’s a long one but we’d appreciate you taking the time to read it fully.
For now, The Potholes Bar & Grill will no longer be operating at its current location. The end came much more abruptly than we expected, and before the rumor mill gets too far ahead of us, we want to explain what actually happened, thank the people who deserve thanking, and hopefully leave this chapter with a little more truth than it has been given lately.
The story actually starts years ago. When we first obtained the lease for the restaurant, we also began negotiating to purchase the resort. We eventually reached an agreed price of roughly $3.5 million, with some seller financing, and the understanding that if we could put the deal together, the resort would be ours. That mattered to almost every decision we made afterward because, for most of our time here, we genuinely believed we were working toward owning and rebuilding the place.
When we opened the restaurant, we originally opened at 7 a.m. to serve the golf course. We were also asked to provide a beverage cart, so we purchased one outright to do so. Neither ended up being economically viable because there simply wasn’t enough revenue to justify the early mornings or operating the cart.
Eventually, we figured out why neither was producing the revenue it should have. Business was being intercepted through the pro shop, including recommendations of outside food and alcohol. That interference later became part of the court record. We adjusted our hours because the revenue simply wasn’t there, only to later have those reduced hours used against us.
When we raised concerns about the golf course staff during the purchase negotiations, ownership told us to ignore them because they didn’t know what they were talking about and had nothing to do with the sale, while also confirming that the restaurant was our business to operate as we saw fit.
So we kept working toward the purchase while trying to improve the quality of the food and the overall function of the property. We reached the agreed price, and then the asking price suddenly became $5 million in cash, with no financing available. We kept going anyway.
Around the same time, a cattle fence and electronic gate were installed in our parking lot without our permission. As y’all know, this is a lake and camping community. Our lot regularly has boats, campers, RVs, trailers and delivery trucks in it, and when the lot was full the fence made it extremely difficult for those vehicles to maneuver. We had more than twenty complaints almost immediately, deliveries were affected, and our revenue dropped roughly 25 to 30 percent.
At the same time, the fence created a very narrow one-way entrance and exit that raised fire and emergency access concerns. Our advisory team flagged the issue because the entrance is literally in the middle of our leased parking lot, creating potential liability for us. We brought it to the CFO, who told us that the Golf Course Manager had misrepresented our approval of the fence and that it would be removed. At that point we were still friendly, still actively negotiating, and still expecting to buy the resort, so we took them at their word and continued working toward the new $5 million price. Months later, we got there.
We informed ownership that we had achieved the ability to meet the $5 million ask. Then, not long afterward, an HOA meeting was held in our own bar, which we hosted, and homeowners were told by those very people we had been negotiating with that there was essentially no interest in buying the resort and that improvements and amenities weren’t possible because the golf course didn’t generate enough revenue. That was particularly confusing for us because not only were we actively trying to buy it, there were two other offers or acquisition opportunities on the table at the time. We had also previously been told by the resort CFO that the golf course was intentionally operated at a loss to offset the tax burden associated with another resort property they owned and operated in Sedona, Arizona.
Our proposed buildout, which was provided during the purchase negotiations, was intended to solve exactly that problem. It included a lodge, clubhouse, recreation center, stargazing cabins and other improvements designed to create new revenue, with a structure intended to make homeowners participants in the community’s revenue generating assets. Instead of the community continually paying more to maintain less, the idea was to use a phased, self-funded building strategy to create assets that could help pay for the community and allow everyone to benefit from its success.
After the HOA meeting, we went back to the owner and CFO and asked what was going on. We brought up what they had just told homeowners, reminded them that we had reached the $5 million figure, and again asked why the fence they had promised to remove was still sitting in our parking lot.
It was also fire season in 2025, so with the additional liability and access concerns, we again requested the insurance information owed to us. That request shouldn’t have been controversial. Our lease expressly requires Potholes Bar & Grill to be named as an additional insured under their insurance and requires that information to be provided to us every March. We still have never received it.
About a week later, instead of receiving the insurance information, we received an eviction notice citing “Operating Hours.” We disputed it because the lease does not establish required operating hours and leaves those decisions to us. This prompted Frenchman Hills to sue us for unlawful detainer in October 2025.
There were multiple show-cause hearings, and we prevailed through all of them. Ultimately, the court found our interpretation of the lease clearer and found enough substance in our damage claims that the matter needed to proceed toward a regular civil trial rather than simply removing us through unlawful detainer. Frenchman Hills then immediately dropped the lawsuit.
By then, however, the restaurant had been bleeding from every direction. There was the fence, pro shop interference, outside food and alcohol, customers being told we were closed or evicted when we were still operating, lack of tee-time information, legal expenses, and something we had tolerated for almost two years because we were trying not to jeopardize the resort purchase…
Frenchman Hills has never paid us the money it owes us. The lease made us responsible for the restaurant’s utilities, not the pro shop, golf cart charging, bathrooms, septic and other resort operations that were being run through expenses we were paying. We had requested reimbursement essentially since the beginning of the lease and, despite being told multiple times we would be compensated, never received it.
However, despite all of that, we had never missed a rent payment. Until in April 2026, in the middle of the first lawsuit and after nearly two years of being owed money while our revenue had been substantially damaged, we finally began withholding rent.
We did it to keep the restaurant operating without taking out loans or financing while the amounts between us were resolved. When Frenchman Hills later demanded the rent, we offered to negotiate and settle everything so both sides could determine what was legitimately owed, be paid in full, and walk away amicably. They sued us again instead, this time for the withheld rent.
Unfortunately, at that point our attorney had to withdraw for health reasons and we could not afford replacement counsel on short notice, so I attempted to represent the company pro se. The court initially allowed that and later determined that I could not represent the LLC. We attempted to raise the Washington precedent in Munden v. Hazelrigg and argue that the landlord’s own conduct and our related claims required the larger dispute to be heard in civil court, but once I was no longer permitted to represent the company, that argument could not meaningfully be heard and we were not given any practical time or way to obtain another attorney.
Because unlawful detainer is so narrow and the second case was based on withheld rent, Frenchman Hills finally had the procedural route it needed. The judge entered a writ of restitution and judgment for the rent, while specifically preserving our ability to pursue our claims separately. The court did not decide that Frenchman Hills owes us nothing or that the interference and damages didn’t happen. Those issues simply have to be litigated elsewhere. That is how we got here.
Up until this point, we have also stayed quiet about much of the purchase history because we signed an NDA during the negotiations and initially treated it very broadly. On closer review, its confidentiality provisions concern financial information Frenchman Hills provided to us for the transaction, not our own offer, things we personally witnessed, later events, court proceedings or information independently obtained. The relevant records have also been retained because the litigation required us to preserve them. At this point, we are not going to voluntarily conceal things we believe our community and the homeowners deserve to know simply because silence is more convenient.
At this point, we are now looking for an attorney to pursue our remaining claims for the unpaid amounts and substantial damages. We will also be referring the appropriate records to local prosecutorial, state, and federal authorities so they can independently determine whether anything warrants further investigation.
Because Potholes Bar & Grill is also a ministry partner and major contributor to the cultural, charitable, spiritual and heritage preservation work of the Dynastic Covenant Christian Church and the Holy Dynastic Commonwealth of the United Covenant Peoples, the matter will additionally be referred to King David’s Covenant Judicial Court of the Holy Dynastic Commonwealth of the United Covenant Peoples for review under Covenant law.
That Court has no civil authority over Washington or the United States, and we aren’t stating otherwise. Its authority is internal to the Covenant community. It will determine whether the documented treatment of a Covenant ministry, Covenant Peoples and the House of David constitutes Dissonant, Antisŷnic, Antisemitic or otherwise sanctionable conduct since they were made aware of its inherent importance to the local ministry.
A finding of Dissonance can result in an Order of Covenant Interdiction, which can restrict Covenant institutions and faithful from voluntarily conducting commercial, institutional, official or other specified dealings with designated individuals or entities, always subject to the ordinary laws and legal obligations of the countries where Covenant people live. In practical terms, it acts as a moral warning and internal sanction to Covenant Christian Peoples if such a finding is made. We do this in the hope that nobody else is treated this way.
After all of that, though, the thing we really want this post to be about is you. Over our time here, we have quietly put more than $60,000 in food, meals, assistance and other support back into this community. Most of it was never advertised because helping someone who needed dinner, or helping a family through a bad month, was never supposed to be marketing. We started this place wanting to be useful to the community around us, and despite everything, and because of you, we got to do that.
So thank you!
Thank you to Justin at PVO Productions for the amazing karaoke and support, I think we can all agree you’ve brought us some truly wonderful memories!
To Kazja for driving everyday from Yakima to help get us running and up to par, thank you, we love you!
To Juju and Hailey specifically, thank you for keeping this place alive while so much of our attention was swallowed by the legal fight. Thank you for the food. Thank you for the drinks. Thank you for the way you handled the customers, shortages, operations, emergencies, long days and general restaurant insanity while we were dealing with hearings, evidence and filings. None of this would have been possible without your hard work and dedication, and we will always be grateful for both of you. We love you!
Thank you to Chef Mareo for the endless hard work and amazing food specials, thank you especially to our families for putting up with all of it and supporting us through everything. We love you and you truly kept us going!
Thank you to the golfers, homeowners and community members who remained loyal, kind, and true. You helped us more than you probably realize. We love the bonds we’ve made!
And most of all, thank you to our customers, patrons, vendors, regulars and friends. Thank you for filling the dining room, keeping us going, sitting at our bar, bringing your families, recommending us to visitors, voting for us and helping make us Best of the Basin. Thank you for defending us when rumors started, and for turning a rural, roadside, restaurant & bar into a community we genuinely loved being part of. We have genuinely loved serving y’all!
We don’t know exactly what comes next, but we are looking for a new home for Potholes Bar & Grill, although we should probably find a new name first… lol.
If anyone knows of a restaurant, tavern, clubhouse, kitchen, event space, partnership, property or other opportunity that might be a fit, please reach out. In the meantime, we’ll continue our ministry and helping the community with whatever resources we have left for as long as we can. No doubt, there is still a legal fight ahead, but that isn’t what we want to remember about this place.
We want to remember the packed summer nights, golfers wandering in after a round, boats and campers outside, strangers who shared stories, regulars whose orders we already knew, meals quietly sent home with people who needed them, spoiling our favorites (you know who you are), the sunsets, and a lot of people who walked through our doors as customers and eventually became friends.
So yeah, thank you for every meal, every drink, every laugh, every memory and every bit of support you gave us. When all is said and done, we would do it all again, and we think that’s worth something.
Hopefully, this is only goodbye to this location, and not goodbye to us operating in the community.
We suspect you’ll be seeing us around though so we will only say…
Goodbye Until Next Time!
With all of our love & gratitude,
The Potholes Bar & Grill
Alexzander, Robert, Juju, & Hailey 💙
