Wrong ‘vibe’: Sports pub closes as Boise restaurant, bar plans relaunch, ‘full refresh’
Boise’s largest brewery-owned restaurant and bar is gearing up for a new chapter — and downsizing to help make it happen.
Sockeye Alehouse, 3823 N. Garden Center Way, shuttered about one-third of its original 12,000-plus-square-foot complex Monday. It permanently closed The Turn, a golf-themed sports pub featuring a nine-hole putting course.
“We’re getting rid of that space entirely,” said Tyson Cardon, director of marketing for Boise-based Sockeye Brewing, which opened the Alehouse in 2023.
Striving to build a stronger customer relationship, Sockeye is planning a “full refresh” of the remaining operation at 36th Street and Hill Road, Cardon said. Boiseans should expect a temporary closure March 23-27 for physical updates including decor, “intensive” staff training and a total menu overhaul, he added.
New chef
Recently hired chef Rick Valenzuela — former owner of now-defunct Rick’s Press Room Grill and Bar in Meridian — has “crushed it,” Cardon said, and “put together an entirely new menu from the ground up. The food is fantastic.”
The updated cuisine — which will include options such as a chicken sandwich, smoked sockeye flatbread and Baja shrimp cocktail — will debut March 28.
Sockeye Alehouse plans to formally welcome the culinary revisions with a “2-Year Anniversary & Relaunch Celebration” on April 19. As always, the bar will offer an array of Sockeye craft beers, plus liquor, cocktails, wine and seltzer — delivered by a friendly, experienced staff.
A longtime, award-winning Idaho brand, Sockeye Brewing operates its headquarters, Sockeye Grill & Brewery, at 12542 W. Fairview Ave. After launching the sister Alehouse in a former garden center along Hill Road, Sockeye unveiled various tweaks to exploit the huge, towering space: Trying out happy hours, live music, kids allowed and not allowed inside The Turn ... .
“We’ve been down there two years, which is wild to me,” Cardon said. “It’s been a roller coaster.”
‘Realigning our priorities’
The golf bar seemed like a fun, unique idea — initially. Eventually, it became clear that The Turn “didn’t fit the vibe we were looking for, restaurant-wise,” Cardon said. A separate entity, it worked best for private events and gatherings, he said. It also created staff and service challenges that impacted Sockeye Alehouse’s restaurant and bar.
“It didn’t resonate the way we wanted it to,” he said. “... So we’re putting all our eggs in the basket on the restaurant side.”
Change is in the air. Cardon feels “pretty good about it,” he said.
“We’ve done a lot of game-planning sessions, bringing in feedback from the neighborhood — how do we make this place more friendly to the neighborhood? I think this whole relaunch ... is realigning our priorities, figuring that out.”
