Vancouver restaurant DuckTales Kitchen closes, cites difficulty overcoming COVID challenge

The Vancouver restaurant DuckTales Kitchen closed its doors for the last time Tuesday.

“We have put forth our best efforts since COVID began,” owner Steve Waddle wrote on the restaurant’s website. “We have weathered and met many challenges through this ordeal. However, we have finally succumbed to all the negative forces we have been facing, and we see no other options but to close.”

The restaurant, which was at 612 N. Devine Road in Vancouver, opened in 2009.

On Aug. 26, the restaurant changed its hours because of staffing shortages and even had to close the Friday and Saturday before Waddle made the announcement to close for good Tuesday.

A 2012 review of the restaurant in The Columbian described DuckTales Kitchen as “very low key, and the service is friendly and attentive.”

Seven years later, a review in 2019 pointed to the “welcoming neighborhood restaurant” serving homestyle comfort food made from scratch.

“The family-style establishment offers a quaint dining experience outside the bustle of city streets lined with various consumer attractions,” read the 2019 review.

DuckTales Kitchen was part of the longtime Waddle dining dynasty. The Vancouver restaurant was started by Steve Waddle, the grandson of Gene Waddle, who opened Waddle’s Drive-In and Coffee Shop at Jantzen Beach in Oregon in 1945.

In his closure announcement, Waddle thanked his staff and customers.

“The staff we have left has been nothing short of awesome. We are like a family,” Waddle wrote. “A big thank you to all of our beloved customers and especially ‘the neighborhood’ for supporting us so loyally through these rough times.

“This has been a dream come true for me and I have no regrets,” he wrote. “It is my hope that our legacy is a positive one, and we will be warmly thought of as something special in this little corner of Vancouver.”

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