Since Willard Hicks opened July 10, business has been brisk. The restaurant, located on Monterey Road just south of Third Street, fills up quickly. Right before the restaurant opens at 4pm, servers, bartenders and managers busy themselves with their preparatory duties. Shortly after 4pm, almost all the tables and bar stools are full.
“It’s been very, very, busy so far, which has been awesome,” owner Molly Adams said. “The town has been so welcoming.”
Willard Hicks is the first of four new restaurants owned by Adams in downtown Morgan Hill. Adams is unsure when the other three—Tac-Oh, Opa!, and Mo’s—will open. They are under construction in the same plaza where Willard Hicks is found.
To serve a full house, Willard Hicks needs a football team-size crew of servers, bartenders, hosts and cooks. Shortly after the doors opened Friday, July 27 at 4 pm, they had 10 servers, four bartenders, nine line cooks, hosts and dishwashers along with management staff—more than 30 employees at work.
That Adams got started in the restaurant business for her is a happy coincidence. Born in Lake Jackson, Texas, Adams was a tech worker in Silicon Valley before she decided, following a spinal surgery in 2010, to become a restaurateur. The move was in part an attempt to replace the hustle of the tech industry with a labor of love.
With Willard Hicks, Adams now owns Bay Area 11 restaurants, plus a nightclub, Avery, with her husband Marcus Adams.
“We had an amazing developer (Imwalle Properties), and we had zero problems; it was like a dream,” Adams said. “They are great guys, and we trusted their vision that our concept would be a great fit here.”
Adams, who said that she had no trouble securing permits from the city, bet heavily on continued business growth in Morgan Hill. Judging by how quickly Willard Hicks fills up, it seems that the people of Morgan Hill are enthusiastic about her brand.
It took about four months to put the final touches on the restaurant after the building was finished. The other very real challenge during those four months was paying rent while bringing in no income.
“That is one of the not-so-fun parts,” Adams said.
After they finished the construction, got the last permit and ordered the last bar stool, it all comes down to the food. With longtime Executive Chef Jonathan Toste, the original chef at Willard Hicks in Campbell, what comes out on the table is, to Adams, “a labor of love.”
“People like to call us a steakhouse, and that is a big part, but I like to call us a chophouse,” Adams said. “We certainly have a focus on steaks, but we have more than that—chicken, fish, we have a bone-in pork chop that is amazing. We have great salads, with or without protein.”
Still, the menu continues to evolve, which may include some favorites from Adams’s Texan roots.
“We have dishes that I grew up with coming back, like fried okra,” Adams said. “We’re constantly pulling together what we love and working with our executive chef to do his magic uniquely and interestingly.”
The menu is diverse, but steak lovers should not be disappointed. All steaks are certified hand-cut, angus beef grilled on a wood burning grill. The 18-oz. bone-in ribeye, $42, 14-oz. New York strip, $40, and the 8-oz. filet mignon, $38, are served with a choice of sauces and a side.
With a capacity of 120 people inside and about 50 outdoors on a vast, comfortable patio, managing the restaurant needs a talented management team to keep things running smoothly. Adams stands proud when she says 50 percent of the company’s leadership are women and a significant proportion of her management team, including Willard Hicks manager Ben Raney—who started as a server—are homegrown talents.
There’s one thing at Willard Hicks that most other restaurants may not consider: a fully functional built-in DJ turntables. Marcus Adams is a professional DJ and promoter. Molly and Marcus met through his work as a DJ, and their shared love of music has endured.
“That’s his love, and it’s how we met,” Adams said.
She also has some love for Morgan Hill.
“When I came for a visit, I saw a really adorable, quaint and charming downtown and city, and it’s obvious that there’s growth here,” Adams said.
Adams does not plan to add a lunch menu at Willard Hicks.
“We have plans for other things,” Adams said. “It’s important to me that we do the things we already do well consistently.”
Willard Hicks, at 17270 Monterey Road in downtown Morgan Hill, opens every day at 4pm, closes at 10pm Sundays through Thursday, and stays open until 11pm on Friday and Saturday.
