Two mainstay restaurants along San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf for decades are now closed as part of a lease termination agreement with the city.
Pompei’s Grotto, which opened in 1946 and Lou’s Fish Shack, a wharf favorite for locals and visitors alike has been doing business on Jefferson Street since 1988.
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WATCH HEREThe restaurants stopped paying rent during the pandemic and now with more than $1 million owed to the Port of San Francisco, they cut deals to get out from under that debt.
It took decades to build their reputations and their local customer base. But it took just seconds at Tuesday’s San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting to put the final OK on a deal that will permanently close both restaurants.
The restaurants’ termination agreements now just item numbers on a long list of resolutions before the supervisors. The deal allows the restaurants to pay just a portion of more than $1 million owed in past due lease payments and interest.
NBC Bay Area reached out to owners and managers of the two restaurants Friday but did not hear back.
The restaurants said they experienced “devastating financial impacts” during the pandemic, according to a port presentation filed with the lease terminations. They join numerous restaurants and stores that have closed, citing pandemic losses and rising crime as reasons to leave the city.
A spokesman for the port said foot traffic on the Fisherman’s Wharf is near pre-pandemic levels and these openings will give others a rare opportunity to pursue business ventures along the waterfront.
Thom Jensen has more in the video above.
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