Eric Banh Fires Evan Martin in Front of Packed Ba Bar

On Saturday night, in front of a packed house, Ba Bar owner Eric Banh fired his bar manager Evan Martin, reports Seattle Weekly's Hanna Raskin. Banh tells Raskin that Martin lacked a satisfactory work ethic: "The bar staff has been crying to me and telling me Evan leaves early every night, I mean, literally, 10 p.m. They come in, set up the bar, he doesn't come in until 6 p.m. They couldn't take it anymore." When we spoke to Banh this morning, he told us that morale at the restaurant was low and that other employees were unhappy with Martin's work habits, "you can't be a manager at a restaurant working 30-35 hours a week."

As for Martin, he tells Raskin that Banh showed up drunk to the restaurant, and that Banh regularly mistreats his employees: "Somehow I made it almost eight months, until I shrugged my shoulders and smirked at him one too many times as he was throwing stuff around the bar and using profanity and calling me names and threatening me in front of a packed house." In support of his characterization of Banh as abusive, Marin cites a June 2008 incident--in which Banh was arrested for a violent confrontation with an ex-employee at Monsoon, his other restaurant on Capitol Hill.

Evan Martin began working at Ba Bar last summer, when Banh fired his initial hire for lying on his resume.

[Photo: Ba Bar/Geoff Smith]

· Bar Manager Evan Martin Out at Ba Bar [Seattle Weekly]
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