How FB saved New Majestic Restaurant

New Majestic Restaurant is located along Plumeria Street in the heart of Garapan. (Mark Rabago)

Like all businesses on island suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, New Majestic Restaurant struggled to adjust to the normal and even when it started take-out service, sales remained lukewarm at best.

That’s when owner Sarly Li decided to try social media—Facebook specifically—to reach out to customers and drum up the sagging operations of the Chinese restaurant.

“No tourists, no business, no income. [There was also] no plane to return home. …We had a lot of fear and confusion about the future. I closed the restaurant last March 26 and reopened last April 10 and started to do take-out only,” she said.

It wasn’t an auspicious transition for Li as New Majestic Restaurant’s takeaway service started, in her own words, “badly and was very slow.” That’s when she hit on the idea of reaching out to customers via a Facebook page.

“I opened a Facebook account for New Majestic Restaurant and posted photos of the dishes every day. I also responded to the customers’ questions and slowly our take-out service improved and now we average from 15 to 20 takeaway orders a day,” she said.

Li opened New Majestic Restaurant along Coral Tree Avenue in front of Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan in 2008. She said her husband named the business thus because the words “new” and “majestic” had a nice ring to them. Three years ago, they moved to Plumeria Street, a stone’s throw away from the hotel.

Since then, New Majestic Restaurant has become known for its home-cooked Sichuan and Cantonese dishes. Li is proud that the restaurant has also become a favorite of local and tourist customers alike because of their good service and very clean premises.

As far as bestsellers go, roast duck, walnut shrimp, black pepper beef, salt and pepper squid, beef broccoli, stuffed eggplant, dried string beans, sweet and sour poke, and fried rice are on the top of the list. As a promotion, Li said they are giving away plain rice for free and on some occasions soda as well.

With the government easing COVID-19 restrictions last month, New Majestic Restaurant began dine-in service in May 16. As part of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Li distributed alcohol, face masks, and disposable gloves to her staff and increased the number of hand sanitizers inside the restaurant.

Thanks to its loyal customers, New Majestic Restaurant seems to have weathered the storm of COVID-19 and that’s more than half a month before the CNMI welcomes back tourists, which used to comprise the bulk of her business.

“Thank you to all new customers and regular customers for their support and love for the restaurant. They let me feel the warmth and comfort of my family. …We’re now in normal sales,” she said.

New Majestic Restaurant is located along Plumeria Street in the heart of Garapan. It is open from 11am to 2pm and from 4pm to 10pm every day. For reservations and for more information, call 233-8066 or message their Facebook account.