Failing to apologize or make a refund, the Shelter Island restaurant hit with a major norovirus outbreak has been served notice: It won’t host a local journalism banquet again.
The San Diego Society of Professional Journalists, which saw more than 60 people sickened in late July, has decided to find a new venue after a decade at the Bali Hai.
“As county health inspectors determined this was a foodborne illness, I spoke with Bali Hai co-owner Larry Baumann by phone and sent him a letter, asking for a full refund,” chapter president Matt Hall said Wednesday in a blog post and email to members.
Hall, of The San Diego Union-Tribune and one of the illness victims, said he stressed that the requested refund of $7,122 “would not satisfy any individual’s claim against the venue should any attendee who became sick file such a claim.”
But the club didn’t hear back by phone, email or letter, and Baumann didn’t return Hall’s followup phone call, he said in Wednesday’s note.
Baumann didn’t return a voice mail message Wednesday from Times of San Diego.
However, Hall said he received a voice message from the insurance carrier for Shelter Island Inc., representing the Bali Hai, “asking for a list of people who needed medical attention and had out-of-pocket medical expenses.”