X-TA-SEA SPORTS BAR AND RESTAURANT Shekou, Shenzhen was
founded in June 2002, by Bill Doubleday, an X-Pat from Chicago,
Illinois, USA. Bill, who had already been in Shekou for 18 months
working as a Management Consultant for HueWei Telecommunications, saw a
need for a bar which could provide an escape from the classic, "Buy me
a drink", so typical of other bars in Shekou at that time.
The
name X-TA-SEA was chosen from the English word "Ecstasy". In English
the word can mean joy, happiness, delight, elation, bliss, rapture,
thrill, excitement, or pleasure. Interestingly the Chinese translation
for ecstasy is: "Heart drunk, Mind drunk, Entire body drunk." Not a bad
name for a place where people like to drink. The spelling, "X-TA-SEA"
was easy for both Chinese and Foreign people to pronounce phonetically,
and the "SEA" was appropriate with the bar being located close to the
sea.
The original bar was small with only 14 bar stools, but by
establishing the first happy hour in the area, setting lower drink
prices, and ensuring hassle free service, regular customers began to
frequent the bar. Just two months later, in August of 2002, X-TA-SEA
acquired two small adjacent bars, knocked down the walls, and put in a
high quality pool table to provide entertainment for the customers.
In
December of 2002, the fourth bar was acquired enabling a second pool
table to be placed in operation. Regular business continued to expand
even through the SARS scare in March through June of 2003. In September
of 2003, X-TA-SEA expanded again with the addition of the fifth bar.
This allowed for occasional live music and dancing, as well as darts,
and foosball.
In
July of 2004, X-TA-SEA redeveloped the outside of the bar to enhance
the appearance, and to provide a patio for outside seating. Then in
October of 2004, the sixth bar was acquired. Although each previous
expansion had included upgrades, the acquisition of the sixth bar
allowed for a complete redesign of the inside, including the addition
of a shuffle board table, a kitchen to enable our food service, and a
formal stage for performers.
Through each of the four expansion
efforts the bar remained open every night. Thanks everyone for your
patience, and your continued patronage while we strove to incorporate
your ideas with ours to help make X-TA-SEA the best bar in the area.
Like many customers have remarked, "There's a lot of good people who
come here".
The operating philosophy and comfortable environment
at X-TA-SEA are a direct result of Bill's career as a Management
Consultant. His extensive prior business traveling has exposed him to
many of the best hotels, bars, and restaurants in the world. This has
uplifted his expectations, and standards for the way things can be
done. What he has tried to do with X-TA-SEA is to make himself
comfortable. He says, "If I can make myself comfortable here, then lots
of other people will be comfortable too". So far it's working as
evidenced by the brisk daily business.
The
food at X-TA-SEA must meet Bill's standards as well. We roast US
sourced turkeys and make our own gravy. Customers say the turkey club
sandwich is the best in town, and the open faced hot turkey sandwich is
a hearty meal to please the pallet. The Buffalo wings, served with real
blue cheese dressing are outstanding, the burgers are excellent, and
customers say Bill's home made mustard should be bottled for sale in
the mass markets. We aim to please you, so don't hesitate to ask for
your special preparation or combinations. All the food is served daily
from noon till very late to satisfy those late night cravings.
Early on as more and more customers came to the bar it was interesting to see that within the first minute of conversation, "Where are you from?", was always asked. Not surprisingly, many people didn't know exactly where Kenya, or Latvia, or Peru, or Jackson Michigan were. As a tribute to the customers who visit the bar, a large world map was placed on one wall in January of 2003. This enabled each new customer to place a pin on the map to show exactly where they come from. Today there are thousands of pins representing customers from 75 countries.
