After 43 years, Fish Market restaurant in Santa Clara closes permanently

Santa Clara’s venerable Fish Market restaurant — in business since 1979, until the pandemic forced a temporary closure — has shut down permanently.

The decision, which comes less than two years after the company announced that the South San Jose location on Blossom Hill Road wouldn’t survive the coronavirus era, leaves just two Fish Market restaurants in the Bay Area: Palo Alto and San Mateo.

“Despite the progress made on the fight against the COVID-19 virus, there are still many lingering effects that have frustrated our efforts to reopen our Santa Clara location,” Dwight Colton, president of the company, wrote this month in a note on the restaurant chain’s website. “With the uncertainty of the economic times and the current labor shortage, our ownership has decided that we will permanently close our Santa Clara location. We realize that this is an unexpected development and I can assure you that we have explored every option to avoid making this decision.”

He thanked longtime staffers — “We have been blessed to have had such a dedicated and loyal group of employees. … Our success is owed entirely to them” — and invited customers to enjoy their favorite fish and seafood dishes at the Peninsula locations.

Like other Fish Market locations, the Santa Clara one had a large bar area with a devoted clientele.

“Closed forever! What a disappointment,” customer “She O” wrote on Yelp after hearing the news. “Great gathering place for young and old. Consistently reliable great food and the wonderful staff many who have been there for 15 plus years. I am particularly sad about the Fish Market bar and staff. It was always a great place to watch a game, get a bite to eat, and the friendly bartenders made it the best (they always remembered what you like and how you liked it). I wish there was something we could do as a community to get it back. … Wishing Desiree, Jen, Rosanna and Jose all the best. (If  someone could share where they are now working it would be nice to be able to support them!)”

At one point, the California-based chain had as many as nine locations. According to the website, the company’s founders launched the Fish Market in Northern California in 1976, transforming a former pancake house on El Camino Real in Palo Alto into a seafood restaurant, market and oyster bar. That was followed in 1979 by the Santa Clara location, also on El Camino. The San Mateo restaurant opened in 1982. The San Jose restaurant opened 15 years after that, in 1997.

Besides the Palo Alto and San Mateo locations, two Southern California Fish Market restaurants remain open. Those are in Del Mar and San Diego. All four restaurants serve both the classics and such contemporary dishes as a Nashville Hot Halibut Sandwich, Ahi Poke Bowl and Fish & Shrimp Yellow Curry.

Details: www.thefishmarket.com