After decades in the Silicon Valley tech industry and manufacturing, Mark and Samantha Ignatowicz have started work on their new dream – running a restaurant. The two are the new owners of Mizuki Hibachi and Asian Bistro. They started running the restaurant in February of 2023, after the previous owners decided to retire. Fans of the restaurant don’t need to worry, there won’t be major changes to the menu.
The Ignatowicz family hopes to improve guest and employee experience, while keeping the things that locals have loved about the restaurant since 2014.

The family first moved to Wall nine years ago. While they were living in Scotch Plains, NJ, they found themselves constantly down at the Shore to visit Mark’s brother. When they purchased a beach equipment rental business, they were finally able to move down to Wall. The family has a huge love of the shore and the beaches.

Mark and Samantha first met working out in San Francisco and Silicon Valley in the late 1990s. They were both working for the Japanese semiconductor company JSR Micro. Mark was Samantha’s boss’s boss at the time, so they would often cross paths. Mark was even at her first wedding! The two

got together years after Samantha’s divorce, and the couple got married September 8, 2007 on a yacht cruising the San Francisco Bay. Both are big football fans. Mark was running back for Northwestern during college, and their first date was to a Chargers vs. Patriots playoff game.

“The master of the ceremony of our wedding said I could walk down the aisle with Monday night football music,” Samantha said.

Mark has a bachelors of science in chemical engineering from Northwestern, and Samantha has a bachelors in chemical engineering from UC Davis. Mark has had positions as an engineer and director/VP in various semiconductor companies in Chicago, Silicon Valley, Minneapolis, Portland, and New Jersey. He’s traveled both internationally and domestically for work, supporting both chip and electronics manufacturing companies such as Intel, Motorola, Samsung, LG, and several others.

Samantha had positions as an engineer in Silicon Valley and San Diego. She also traveled internationally, supporting Intel, Motorola, ST electronics, LG, Samsung, Toshiba, and more.

She left her career once she started having kids, although she now runs the beach equipment rental business and the restaurant, in addition to volunteer work.

In 2023, the couple decided to change paths and take over Mizuki’s in Wall Township. For both of them, it was an opportunity to get out of the corporate world after 30 years. For Samantha especially, going into the food industry has been a dream.

Samantha’s goal for the restaurant is to keep what people love the same, like the dishes they offer. But she also hopes
to make it more corporate by giving full-time employees health insurance, paid time off, and end-of-year profit sharing bonuses.

“They need a life too,” Samantha said about her employees. “They work a lot. I want to give them a week off. Everybody needs a little break. I want to change the whole concept of restaurant workers being under-appreciated.”

They are also hoping to do more to improve the dine-in experience of the restaurant, by adding music, weekly specials, and an improved hibachi experience. They are also hoping to do some special fundraiser nights.

“We want to make it a more enjoyable, relaxing dining experience for them. Warm and welcoming, with good customer service,” Samantha said.

From Mark’s point of view, running a restaurant isn’t much different from the manufacturing work he was doing before.

“It’s like a manufacturing plant. You have a supply, you have raw materials, as in you buy food, then you have to prepare the food. Then you have to sell the food to customers, so there is some customer interface,” Mark said.

Samantha and Mark have appreciated the strong community support they’ve received so far. They want to express that people in town can count on them for any volunteer or fundraising help they need.

“We are here for the community, and we would like to give back,” Samantha said.

Volunteering is very important to Samantha, who is a troop leader and team mom for her girls’ Girl Scout troops and sports teams.

The couple has three kids, and each one was born in a different time zone.

Skylar (15) is the oldest and a freshman at Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST) at Sandy Hook. She was born in downtown San Francisco. She applied to MAST because of her love of the ocean and taking trips on boats

to study marine animals. She’s studious and independent. She’s also an avid lacrosse player, although she is currently recovering from ACL re-connection. Her second passion is field hockey, and third is ice hockey. She plays with the Wall High School team, as the vocational schools do not have teams of their own. She is also a senior with her Shore Region Girl Scout troop #60980 (Samantha is the troops co-leader). She

is working towards earning her gold award. Skylar also loves music and video and photo editing. She strives to be the best at everything she does.

Soleil (12) is their midwest baby, born in Edina, MN just outside of Minneapolis. She is a high honor student, the quiet and studious counterpart to Skylar’s sports and activities. In 6th grade, she made a deal with her mom that if she got onto the high honor roll, she could get a dog. She made the grade, and the family got their fourth family dog! She is currently most interested in makeup and hair, and is often playing around with all types of hair tools. She’s very good at it! She is also a girl scout in troop #61864, and Samantha is their troop leader. She also plays cello, lacrosse and field hockey with the Wall Intermediate team.

Drake (10) is their youngest, and their east coast baby born at Overlook Hospital. He’s in fifth grade, another lacrosse player, and a chatterbox like his mom. He participates in a number of activities, including sports like lacrosse and ice hockey, he plays the trumpet, viola, and piano, and he does theater. He is very interested in singing and acting.

The family has four dogs! Two English cream golden retrievers named Blitz and Gunner (8), Willow their four-year-old shih tzu, and Nala their one-year old miniature goldendoodle.

The family loves to travel, especially to warm places during the cold New Jersey winters. Samantha is from Burma (also known as Myanmar), and so the family has taken a few trips back to enjoy Burma’s beaches. They’ve also done many cross- country trips. Other trips have included vacations to Playa de Carmen, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St. Kits, West Palm Beach, Naples, and a Disney Cruise to Tortola.

For Samantha, warm vacations are a must. Before 2016, the family’s move to Wall felt temporary. She always imagined they’d move back to California. But the rest of the family wanted to stay in Wall. She was outnumbered, but when her family promised one warm get-away in the winter, they became “real Wall people,” she said.

“Our kids had made a lot of friends in Wall. They don’t want to move,” Samantha explained.

When they were living in Scotch Plains, they found themselves down in Wall almost every weekend. The beaches, the school system, the people kept bringing them back, and it was ultimately what made them want to stay.

“Be kind, enjoy life, work hard, and play harder!”the family said.