Meet Eric and Alissa Hwang | Co-owner, Alissa’s Ocean View Bar and Grill

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eric and Alissa Hwang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eric & Alissa, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Back before last year, the answer to this question would have been a different story. But when we all got shut inside for months away from the people we love and the world we live in, it really felt like the places that we missed the most were our favorite restaurants. I don’t think we realized it until it was taken away from us, but going out to eat at a restaurant is one of the most vital ways in which we connect to the world and the community around us. Yes, we can almost always take care of ourselves in our home kitchens, but restaurants are where we go to feel like someone’s taking care of us. That became crystal clear to us once we were able to re-open during the pandemic. When we talked to our guests about their experiences, what we found more than anything was that people came to us because they wanted to feel safe. For us that meant following the guidelines and the regulations for COVID mitigation, but it also means making our guests actually FEEL safe, by making them feel taken care of, and making them feel like we’re creating a new normal that looks and smells and tastes and feels comforting. And that means listening to people tell us their stories about their fears and worries and reassuring people that we can find a way to move forward. I might just be a humble little restaurant owner, but I know that my guests come to my restaurant for that feeling of comfort and reassurance. And I know that my community has rallied around us to keep that sense of comfort going.

What should our readers know about your business?
When Alissa and I bought Ocean View Bar and Grill in 2017, we had no idea how difficult it was going to be to turn it into the business that we had envisioned. For the first few years, it was difficult for me to get away from my previous career in the entertainment industry, and we had a very hard time getting started in the restaurant and feeling like we were really in it together. But for a while now I’ve been able to be working solely at the restaurant and we’ve been a much stronger team together. And the more we stay in the restaurant, the more we are confident that our focus on personal connection is what sets us apart from other restaurants. Especially in the pandemic, people want to go out and see human beings being human beings, and the larger the corporate institution, the more impersonal the face. There’s service scripts and rigid sequences of service and military-level regimentation of the job roles. But not at our little family-owned, neighborhood spot. Everyone on the staff and on the floor is a part of the family and we’re all there to make you feel taken care of, just like going home to mom’s house. And right now that makes a difference more than ever.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The first place we’d visit would obviously be Alissa’s Ocean View Bar and Grill for a good dinner and some great drinks. And that’s not just because it’s my restaurant. We’ve earned a reputation as one of the best places in town to eat and get a good drink. And in our town, that’s no small feat. Downtown Montrose is a truly great little shopping district packed with independently owned shops and restaurants all supported my neighborhood loyal customers, and almost every single store has that unique, personal feel that eschews the cold corporate tone of the big mega-malls and giant food-courts, and never feels exclusionary in its uniqueness. I truly believe that Montrose is one of the best places in LA to shop and eat and drink. And again, in LA, that’s really saying a lot.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
More than anyone in the world, Alissa and I owe all the successes of our restaurant to our mothers. Both of our mothers passed away many years ago. In 2017, we named our company “Mama’s Legacy,” when we bought Ocean View Bar and Grill because we believe that our mothers would have wanted us to use all the hard-fought wisdom of our lives to take care of the people and the community we love in the way that they taught us to. With good food, good drink, and warm hospitality.

Website: www.dineov.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oceanviewbarandgrill/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ovrestaurant