MAYVILLE - The appropriately named Watermark Restaurant, which provides Chautauqua Lake as a beautiful background, is under new ownership.
Pati Centi, owner/operator, will now run the restaurant, which offers an amazing lake view from the array of windows lining the main dining room or the chance to get closer to the lake by dining on two outdoor decks that sit right next to Chautauqua Lake.
Mrs. Centi has been working in the food service industry for more than 30 years for others and this will be her first solo restaurant ownership venture. However, she is not unfamiliar with the Watermark as she was a member of the original management team that first conceived and designed the restaurant back in 2003 and also managed the facility during its first two years of operation.
''I'm very excited to be back, it feels like I came back home,'' Mrs. Centi said. ''A lot of people who were part of the original staff seven years ago as busboys are now managers. It's definitely going to be a challenge (being owner also), I've been managing for so many years, but it feels like an old hat here.''
Mrs. Centi said being back at the Watermark and being back in the Chautauqua area is very exciting for her.
''I love when the Chautauqua Institution is in season. It brings life to the community. I'm ready for the excitement of Chautauqua,'' she said. ''We have a family-friendly atmosphere, we're very open to families. People can meet at Chautauqua, then go out on the lake and then meet up at the Watermark for dinner. Being part of a family's tradition is great.''
Mrs. Centi said even though most of the restaurant was still as it was designed seven years ago when she helped in the process, she made a few changes to make the atmosphere of the restaurant seem more personal like bring in her pictures of flowers and wooden birds that compliment the view of the lake. Also, the menu has changed.
''We rolled back the prices to what they were seven years ago,'' she said. ''We really want people to come in with their families, I'm very proud in wanting that to happen.''
The 2009 Watermark Restaurant operation will be open seven days a week from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., serving both lunch and dinner while specializing in steaks, seafood, salads, sandwiches, burgers and specialty drinks. The restaurant will features both an open outdoor deck and covered outdoor patio with a large dock on Chautauqua Lake with 38 boat slips so customers can arrive via their boat. The restaurants management team will include Tom Ferri and Matt Campion.
Mrs. Centi's career started as a teen at Friendly's back in her home town of Glenville, N.Y., and continuing with later stints at Lillian's in Saratoga, N.Y., and Thatcher's in Albany, N.Y.
Locally she has been the server and manager at several businesses including the Gristmill Restaurant; general manager of AVI Food Systems food service operation in the Cummins engine plant; assistant general manager of the Athenaeum Hotel where she served as the general manager of the Refectory; the designer and general manager of the Park Grille Restaurant on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution; general manager of the Town Club; food services manager at the State University at Fredonia; co-general manager of William & Freddie's at the Surf Club in Bemus Point.
She is a graduate of Applebee's 12-week management training program and serves as the general manager of the full-service Holiday Inn in Warren, Pa., which houses both Tootsie's Restaurant and McGraw's Lounge.
