When a food lover takes a hard look at the Tri-City restaurant scene, a glaring omission in the region is a lack of steakhouses.

[blockquote quote="A lot of people have told me it’s nice to have a steakhouse at this end of town." source="Jeff Ballard, co-owner of Fredy's Steakhouse" align="right" max_width="300px"]

Jeremy Thelin, Wayne Walton and Jeff Ballard wanted to change that.

They opened Fredy’s Steakhouse on Feb. 3 at 3617 Plaza Way in south Kennewick.

Thelin and Walton are the owners, while Ballard is the general manager.

The location marks the fourth time a restaurant has operated in that location since 2011. The three previous restaurants were Picazo 717, Fujiyama Steak House & Bar, and Mai House.

So far, the new restaurant is doing well, Ballard said.

“A lot of people have told me it’s nice to have a steakhouse at this end of town,” he said. “They’re happy with the size and flavor of our steaks.”

Thelin and Walton are Tri-Citians who once owned the Folded Pie in Richland before selling it. In the past few years, they have bought two restaurants in Spokane, Wasabi and Ginger – both Asian sushi restaurants.

“They like running restaurants, and they live here in the Tri-Cities,” Ballard said. “The location seemed to work out, especially with the planned (Fairchild Cinemas) coming near Walmart on 27th.”

Ballard, whose restaurant background has been working at country clubs and consulting on food safety, took over as general manager when Thelin and Walton bought Mai House in October.

The plan was to run it as a seafood restaurant until January to honor all restaurant gift certificates, then convert it into a steakhouse.

The closure happened Jan. 15.

“We took a look at the inventory, then made some changes,” Ballard said. “We changed every light fixture, redesigned the bar, changed the tables.”

Since the early February soft opening, Ballard has been tweaking the menu.

The restaurant will have a grand opening sometime this month.

It’s been an exciting adventure for Ballard.

“What helped me come back to the restaurant business is everything is made fresh here,” he said. “Our full-size steaks are big — 18 to 24 ounces. We sell half size of everything, especially ribeye and New York steaks. We hand-cut all steaks at one and a half inches. It’s been going well. We sold 60 pounds of ribeye last Saturday night.”

There have been some growing pains, too.

“It didn’t take us long before we knew we needed a bigger grill,” Ballard said. “We couldn’t get everything out to our customers in time because there wasn’t enough room for all of the steaks. It needs to be 30 minutes or less.”

Ballard said the bar has improved, too.

“The whole liquor display was changed with the top shelf being more expensive,” he said. “There is more bourbon and whiskey, which goes with steaks well, as well as wine.”

The restaurant’s menu has been put together by Thelin, Walton, Ballard and head chef Phouty Vongsaly.

But Fredy Martinez, a part-owner of Fredy’s and head chef at Wasabi, also has had his hand in it.

And the restaurant is named after him.

“We needed something catchy, especially as we were sitting next to Bob’s (Burgers and Brew),” Ballard said. “So we named it after Fredy. He comes down here part of the week from Spokane.”

Ballard says they have 25 employees, “but we’re looking to hire about six more.”

The restaurant opens for lunch at 11:30 a.m. and closes each night depending on customer traffic.

“We closed at 1 a.m. Friday, midnight on Saturday, and then 8 p.m. Sunday,” Ballard said. “We will never close before 8 p.m.”

He strongly suggests getting reservations for Fridays and Saturdays. Call 509-491-1304.

Ballard said the Tri-Cities is ready for a good local steakhouse.

“I don’t know why it is, but a lot of Tri-Citians have always liked chain restaurants,” Ballard said. “We’re just starting to get the word out. Commercials on TV started last Thursday, and we’ve used Facebook. But word-of-mouth has been traveling fast. Things have been going well.”

He says it’s because the people at Fredy’s have high expectations.

“Our biggest thing right now is providing good food and service,” Ballard said. “The whole dining experience has to be great.”

For more information, call 509-491-1304 or visit Facebook.