Mariana Lighthouse soft opening today

After almost a year of renovation and waiting for the perfect time to open amidst the pandemic, the Mariana Lighthouse chose today for its soft opening. (BEA CABRERA)

One night last week, many people saw a hint of what the new Mariana Lighthouse Saipan on Navy Hill will look like when the bright lights around it were being tested. Today, the community will get the chance to experience the full glory of the renovated lighthouse when it opens its doors for a soft opening.

According to Bibong Corp. financial controller John Park, guests should expect three outlets open—the café, restaurant and pub, and the barbecue patio for dinner.

“So whatever they feel like eating or drinking, people have options, relax and enjoy the visit… They should expect a great scenery, simple but meaningful food and drinks, collect memories and for those who knew and saw the lighthouse before the renovations, get ready to be surprised,” he said.

“Of all the attractions originally planned for the Mariana Lighthouse, the only thing missing for now is the ‘Wish Lock’ area at the second floor,” he added.

The café is open from 10am to 9pm and is adorned by Zen-wall bricks, visible pipes, dark and neutrals colors, and space and freedom to have that conversation with a friend over coffee, close a deal during business meeting, or a place to catch up on your reading. People can expect a relaxed atmosphere. Specialty drinks awaits: carbonated ade with syrup or fresh fruit drinks, parfait, and fresh tea. They also have sea salt latte which can give a little different taste from the ordinary specialty coffees.

The restaurant is located in the middle allowing light natural through the big windows and open for brunch and lunch from 10am to 2pm. At brunch, they serve salmon benedict, seared scallops, and jamon croqueta. For lunch, savor their potato & shrimp, port & chicken skewers, don katsu, local favorite loco moco, chicken sliders. and pasta dishes in bolognese and carbonara. For dinner, gambas al ajillo, buffalo wings, dak-gangjeong (Korean food), potato & shrimp, fried okra, 4-cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, french fries, strawberry waldorf salad, and focaccia are on the menu.

From 5pm to 12am, the restaurant opens its pub and enjoy cocktails, your favorite whiskey or wine.

For barbecue dinner that starts at 5:30pm to 9:30pm at the patio outside of the lighthouse and they have beef finger, baby ribs, sausages, corn, and onion.

“We have already completed hiring people for now and we are confident that we have hired the right people to join the Mariana Lighthouse team. However, we still need to operate to see if there are any deficiencies in terms of manpower and that is the primary reason for doing soft opening before the grand opening,” Park said.

“We have been receiving a lot of inquiries and reservation, but we have decided not to take any reservation for the first week of the soft opening since we need to observe how many people are coming and how we are handling them. We probably need to work on it and try various approaches to see which one is most suitable for our business, so the first week might seem to be a little unorganized and unprofessional, but we believe it is unavoidable in order to improve,” he added.

Park said that they plan to soft open for two weeks in preparation for the Mariana Lighthouse grand opening on March 26. “We have cleaned and fixed the lighthouse that has long been abandoned. We know that everyone is going through hard time due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we are hoping that this place can be a one of the place on the island where you can come, hang out, and get healing vibes. Please come and enjoy the scenery, food, and drinks.”

“Prior to opening, our executives had a mixture of emotions. We are getting anxious at some moments, but getting excited when things work out. When you start something new, it always happens. You don’t feel like you are ready until it starts and so we ask the community to come and enjoy the scenery, food, drinks, and see Saipan’s iconic lighthouse come to life once again,” Park added.

For more inquires, call (670) 322-3353 of go to FaceBook “Mariana Lighthouse Saipan.”