Work continues at the Venetian Hot Plate.
The popular Italian restaurant hasn’t reopened since Hurricane Harvey battered Port Aransas. Owner Linda Halioua says her contractor promised to be done by February 1st.
“He talked the talk, he didn’t walk the walk,” said Halioua.
To make matters worse, this was Halioua’s second contractor. She says he came from Corpus Christi with glowing recommendations, but it didn’t take long for the excuses to start.
“One day it’s raining so they couldn’t, one day it was a flat tire; or whatever reason,” said Halioua. “I gave him the first check at the end of October, as of the middle of March I didn’t even have the roof finished.”
That’s when Halioua had enough, she fired the contractor. Once a new contractor took over, Halioua found the work she paid for wasn’t what she hoped for.
“A lot of it had to be redone,” said Halioua. “Retracted, refinished, repainted; and so that drags you even more.”
Halioua says she’s happy with her new contractor, but she gave the last one more than $60,000. She estimates by the time the Venetian Hot Plate reopens, she’ll have spent between $100,000 and $120,000 just to get back on her feet.
“I have to open,” said Halioua. “So it’s kind of slap, slap; two times, and it hurts.“
Halioua says she’s taking legal action against the contractor to try to get some of her money back.
She hopes to reopen the Venetian Hot Plate sometime next week.
