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One Year Later, Saylor's Sill Sails
Chris Rooney
Sausalito Marin Scope

One year ago this week, Saylor’s Landing closed its doors. After a contentious battle with the landlord, one that defied resolution, the restaurant’s owners and staff endured a hasty one-day evacuation. The restaurant’s closing came as a shock. Open one day, closed the next.

In many cases, when a restaurant goes under, it’s accepted as inevitable. People open restaurants with inspiration and expectation, but the industry is among the hardest to find success. The profit margin is thin. Any odd quirk can undermine even the most enticing enterprise. A disadvantageous location or lack of parking can kill even the best of restaurants.

Recently, Sausalito has seen the Cork and Cat ’n’ Fiddle restaurants cease operations. While both of those establishments certainly had their fans, when Saylor’s vanished, it caused a community-wide reaction. A shrine was set up at the restaurant’s deck, the type of which is usually only found along the roadside marking a tragic fatal auto accident.

Saylor’s was a member of the family. People mourned its demise.

Proprietor Sean Saylor sensed that the legal battle over the restaurant’s lease might turn sour, so about a year ago he opened Saylor’s South of the Border, a second restaurant that offered primarily Mexican and South American cuisine. It was a safety net of sorts.

And while the new restaurant was well received, it wasn’t the landmark destination favored by the locals. The new spot, located on Bridgeway, Sausalito’s main artery, attracted tourists and visitors more than locals. The “regulars” still favored the original Saylor’s Landing.

So, with the landmark closed and the new restaurant just getting its feet wet, there were some concerns about how things would turn out. At a time when gas prices were soaring, there was a war in Iraq and the real estate industry was crumbling, plenty of locals were still keeping an eye on the Saylor’s saga.

This type of concern from residents was rooted in not only Saylor’s cuisine, but the family’s place in the community. This weekend, Saylor will once again be at the hospitality tent at the Saualito Arts Festival, feeding the artists and sponsors. And not getting paid. That’s six years of feeding 600 people a day, and not making a dime.

So, a year after the Saylor’s Landing demise, Sean Saylor said he’s settled with the landlord and now they’re just looking forward. The two restaurants have merged into Saylor’s Restaurant and Bar, bringing forward the most popular menu items from the original destination and continuing a selection of “South of the Border” items.

On top of that, after a year’s absence, a beloved personality is returning. Bartender Guillermo Moran spent a year in Las Vegas after his wife was transferred there for her career. Guillermo was a mainstay behind Saylor’s bar, and he’s returning in September. It makes the one-year mark almost like a starting point. The dust has settled. Things are back to normal.

“Things are going great. We’re getting a lot of the faithful customers from Saylor’s Landing and they seem to be warming up to this place,” Saylor said. It’s quite different. The feel of it is different. It’s not the old salty waterfront place they were accustomed to.”

While the location on Bridgeway has a different layout, thanks to the upstairs Cabo Wabo Room (for entertainment, banquets and restaurant overflow), the restaurant still seats as many patrons as Saylor’s Landing.

A family business, Saylor’s Landing opened in February of 1999. Saylor said his first job, when he was 15 years old, was as a dishwasher and “that’s still my favorite job to this day.”

The restaurant (Saylor's Landing), which replaced another longtime favorite called Gate 5, was off the beaten path, not located in the heart of the tourists’ domain, so the customers were often locals — and loyal.

How did you decide which favorite dishes from Saylor’s to keep on the menu?

We kept the most popular dishes that were asked for by our customers who have visited both places. We’re still kind of tweaking the menu as we go, so we can make as many people happy as possible.