Ahead of closure, Bridge Road Bistro owner shares journey of serving others

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – The woman behind the Bridge Road Bistro, a two-decade staple restaurant in Charleston’s South Hills, said she is looking to the next chapter of her life as she closes the doors on her restaurant.

Sandy Call announced the closure of Bridge Road Bistro on Thursday night saying it’s time for her to prioritize her personal life and other efforts. She began working at the restaurant 14 years ago and has been the owner for the last seven years. The restaurant will close officially on May 4.

Call sat down with 13 News to discuss her decision and said her passion for serving others was sparked long before she began working at the Bridge Road Bistro.

She began working at a drive-in theater when she was only 16 years old. That is when she started craving the sweetness of working in the restaurant business.

“I come from a small town in St. Albans, so I started at a local restaurant by the name of River’s Edge,” Call said. “I’ve definitely had to use every tool in my toolbox to accomplish it and use every line of career that I’ve been in.”

More than a decade ago, she crossed paths with a man named Robert Wong. At the time, he was the owner of Bridge Road Bistro. After 16 interviews, she became Wong’s general manager.

“It was quite an honor to start the position here in 2010, holy moly. So, 2010, I started to be a general manager, and from then on out, I started to take advantage of the situation and learned what a gem he was not only to the community here but to West Virginia.”

More than a year later, Wong suddenly passed away, and Call eventually took the role of owner.

“It was tough, but we were like phoenixes that came out of the fire.”

Sandy Call, Bridge Road Bistro owner

“When Robert passed away, I really felt I needed to help him, and he always would sit down with me and say ‘Sandy, if anything happens to me, I need you to take care of my wife and kids and the restaurant.’ ‘Yes sir.’ I never thought this would come to fruition,” Call said.

Call said she has had to ‘navigate waters’ over the years, like natural disasters in West Virginia or the pandemic, and she said this has only made her stronger.

“If you get a chemical spill, you drive out of town and get your water, you drive out of town and get your ice. If a derecho rolls through. You don’t have power for two weeks,” Call said.

Not only did she learn to navigate all kinds of waters, but Call also learned about love through her journey in the restaurant business.

“I went to a little place called River’s Edge in St. Albans. That’s when I first saw her come through the door and I was like ‘who’s that?’ I was captivated,” Shane Higginbotham said.

They met in 1992, but shortly after, Higginbotham went into the Marine Corps to serve in infantry. After two decades, he returned to West Virginia and stumbled upon his long-lost friend. They just got married in 2023.

“I enjoy it. I love watching her and her dream come to fruition. She loves people,” Higginbotham said. “Her drive comes really not from her goals as much as her heart for people she just would not give up. She did not want to let other people down.”

The two have partnered together in running the Bridge Road Bistro, though now at a crossroads, Call said she still recalls the 16-year-old who discovered her passion for the restaurant business.

“She (her younger self) would say ‘thank you, thank you for doing what you did, and thank you for persevering through it all because I knew you had it in you. I think that she would be proud of me,” Call said.

Bridge Road Bistro will close on May 4.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOWK 13 News.