Solomon’s owners set sail for new adventures with family in retirement
Fishmonger. Georgetta Williamson said neither she nor her husband, Michael, was planning to become a fishmonger in the late 1980s. Then an unexpectedly serendipitous turn of events followed.
The Washington couple were in their mid-30s, established in professional careers, he as a defense contractor in downtown Washington, his spouse as a local medical assistant. Michael’s livelihood, however, was compromised by a fire that leveled his business at that time.
“That’s when we decided to be fishmongers,” Georgetta said, employing a funny-sounding, semi-archaic term for “a person or store that sells fish for food.”
So they went fishing for a new vocation. The Williamsons opened a small shop on Henderson Avenue in 1989, where they sold fresh fish and filled takeout orders. Five days a week, Michael and son Chad left Washington at 5 a.m. to drive to Wholey’s in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, where they bought fish for their customers. Some days, they made that round trip twice.
A few months later, after Michael acquired three fryers from a friend, the family started cooking – literally and figuratively. They were preparing dishes on site, growing their business and steadily building a reputation in central Washington County.
That reputation began to soar after the family moved their expanding operation from Henderson to Hall Avenue in 1993 into a building Michael constructed by himself. That was where Solomon’s Seafood and Grille established its identity over three decades – as that of a restaurant with quality food, attentive staff and a cozy, friendly atmosphere.
Despite an uneasy beginning and more recent COVID closures and disruptions, Solomon’s, a salute to Georgetta’s birth family, did swimmingly during its 33-year run. That run, however, reached the finish line Aug. 31, when the couple shuttered the place. It was a grueling decision they had contemplated for awhile but decided upon three weeks earlier.
“It’s sad, but it’s time,” said Michael, a 1971 Washington High School classmate of his wife. “We thought we might do it next year, but would our health be the same?” The most challenging part of the decision, he said, was telling the 25 to 30 employees.
Michael and his wife, also recognized as George or Gigi, can now savor the vacations, leisure time and family get-togethers they sacrificed to fishmongering. Yet, in a wholly satisfying way, they now have time to reflect upon the experiences they had running a restaurant they embraced, the community support they got, the interactions they shared working alongside their children and grandchildren, and the many employees they revered.
“It has been a phenomenal family experience for us,” said Georgetta, a healthcare employee for 43 years. “Our three children (Michael, Paige and Chad) helped run the place at different times” while also working full-time jobs outside Solomon’s.
“Paige brought us into the 20th century,” George said. “We did books on a daily ledger,” Michael explained, “and Paige said, ‘Do that on a computer.’ She brought us into the computer age.”
Gigi also praised daughter-in-law Shaun Williamson, “who helped us so much. She was our first bartender” in the lounge, which Michael built in the early 2000s.
Solomon’s was a financially successful operation, one that never owed money, according to Gigi. Building and eventually opening on Hall Avenue presented money challenges, but the couple cleared those hurdles, then followed simple guidelines to erect a sturdy foundation for ramping up the business.
Their philosophy was to provide a top-flight dining experience with a wide-ranging menu, efficient service and miles of smiles for patrons sitting in the spacious dining room with seating for up to 112.
“We always tried to get the best-quality food and prepare it well,” Michael said. “You can serve 1,000 meals, but if you serve one bad one, it’s like serving 1,000 bad ones.”
The atmosphere also was key, and the owners urged staff to be courteous and friendly to guests. “Our employees were friendly, and our kids never minded working here,” Michael said. “There were always smiles on their faces, and even our grandchildren who worked here had smiles.”
Speaking of foundations, Michael is an expert. He is the consummate handyman. “I built this from scratch,” he said from inside the Hall Avenue location, the site of the former Washington Produce business. “I did all of the woodwork in the lounge,” featuring walls with appealing artwork with a nautical theme. “I originally didn’t want to build the lounge. I was afraid customers would just sit and drink.”
Like many restaurants, Solomon’s floundered at times during the pandemic, which included shutdowns mandated by Gov. Tom Wolf, restrictions and fewer customers who were wary about eating out. Georgetta estimates that Solomon’s lost $75,000 over the six weeks it was shuttered during the Christmas and Lenten seasons the first year of the outbreak.
“We did everything the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) said to do,” Georgetta said. Michael added, “we had takeout when we were closed, but it was not enough to make money. But it did keep the doors open. You can’t underestimate the hard work everyone put in. We cleaned every day.”
The Williamsons have retained a Realtor in an attempt to sell the facility, which in its final weeks was stuffed to the gills with customers. Georgetta and Michael said that following the closure announcement, Solomon’s drew large lunch and dinner crowds every day during the final three weeks. Some former employees came back to work as volunteers.
“We had good people backing us,” Michael said. “A lot of people didn’t want us to fail.”
They didn’t.