In 2026, Pismo Beach lost one cliffside dining room and gained another. In mid-May, the old Spyglass Inn space at 2703 Spyglass Drive reopened as Westerly Shell Beach. In September, Ventana Grill at 2575 Price St. stopped serving under a court order. Ventana is expected to stay closed for at least 14 months. That means an ocean-view dinner in Shell Beach now centers on the Spyglass Drive and Shell Beach Road corner, along with the hotel dining rooms at Dolphin Bay and The Cliffs, likely into late 2027.
That change shapes the practical questions too: where to take visiting family for chowder, where to book a birthday dinner, and how to time the drive around Highway 101 construction, which includes bridge work at the Spyglass Drive underpass.
The Price Street dining room that went dark
For years, Ventana Grill's balcony gave diners what The Tribune described as "a panoramic, unobstructed view of the Pacific Ocean." A San Luis Obispo County Superior Court order changed that. KSBY reported that the closure was "not because of the food or poor attendance" but came from a legal dispute between the restaurant's owners and their landlords. Staff told The Tribune the restaurant's last day would be Sept. 12. The injunction barred anyone from occupying the building after 5 p.m. on Sept. 18.
The best clue to how long this lasts is a state filing. The Tribune obtained the WARN notice, which says 82 Ventana workers were notified on Sept. 2. About 20 of them were expected to move to other restaurants owned by The Old Custom House LLC, and the other 62 were expected to leave the company. The notice also says the closure "is expected to last no less than 14 months." Fourteen months from mid-September 2026 puts the earliest reopening around November 2027. The Tribune noted it is unclear what has to happen at the property before the restaurant can reopen.
The court's next hearing was set for 9 a.m. on Oct. 22, the day this post publishes, so its outcome isn't known as this goes live. Ventana was also a wedding venue, and KEYT reported that couples with upcoming bookings there were affected. Anyone who had a fall or winter celebration planned at 2575 Price St. is looking for a new room.
The Spyglass Inn space came back first
Westerly was already open months before Ventana closed. The Spyglass Inn Restaurant closed on Nov. 1, 2024. The large wooden sign out front was changed to Westerly's in April 2026, and the restaurant opened its dark blue doors in mid-May, according to The Tribune.
Chef Sara Woods described the concept to The Tribune this way:
"The vision was very old school chowder house, but the best version that we can make."
The menu sticks to that idea: fish and chips, a chowder Woods calls "not-your-usual," steak frites, and omelettes and scrambles in the morning. A late-night rib-eye and a full bar with craft cocktails take the room into the evening. Fish and chips was a favorite at the Spyglass Inn too. Woods told The Tribune she doesn't know the old recipe, so she isn't trying to copy it. She's trying to make her version a new favorite. She also said people who remember eating at Spyglass in the '80s and '90s have been coming in to reminisce.
Westerly matters more now because of when it serves. It's open every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Before September, a weekday lunch with an ocean view and a Saturday dinner on the bluff could happen at two different addresses. With Ventana closed, the Spyglass space covers both.
Three dining rooms with neighboring addresses
Westerly's closest neighbors are two hotel restaurants with steady daily schedules: Lido at Dolphin Bay and Marisol at The Cliffs. Their addresses run from 2703 to 2757, on Spyglass Drive and Shell Beach Road. Here are the posted hours for the three:
| Restaurant | Address | Posted hours |
|---|---|---|
| Westerly Shell Beach | 2703 Spyglass Drive | Daily breakfast 8 to 11 a.m., lunch 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., dinner 4 to 9 p.m.; weekend brunch 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
| Lido at Dolphin Bay | 2727 Shell Beach Road | Daily, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 9 p.m. |
| Marisol at The Cliffs | 2757 Shell Beach Road | Daily brunch and lunch 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner 3:30 to 9 p.m., bar until 10 p.m. |
The three schedules differ in ways that matter for planning. Lido closes between 1 and 3 p.m. Marisol switches from lunch to dinner at 3:30 p.m., and Westerly at 4 p.m. Marisol's bar is the only one of the three posting hours past 9 p.m.
The menus have seasonal touches too. Lido's official menu page lists a brunch that runs through the morning and afternoon, plus an autumn dinner menu. The Cliffs updated its dining page on Oct. 14, 2026, and it lists weekly specials, including Chef Troy's prime rib on Thursdays. Hours at all three change with the season, so check them before you go.
The drive in runs through an active work zone
The Spyglass Drive underpass near the restaurant that just reopened is also one of the Highway 101 work sites. Work on the Spyglass Drive, Mattie Road, and Wadsworth Avenue bridges started the week of July 20. Heavy metal barriers went in at the underpasses and narrowed the travel lanes, though two lanes stay open, according to the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments project page.
The schedule works in diners' favor. SLOCOG's Aug. 18 update says construction and flagging at those three underpasses can happen Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with delays of up to 10 minutes. Price Street from downtown north to Mattie Road has a separate window. That's where the retaining-wall work started on April 6, and traffic control, flagging, and parking restrictions there run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
Put the hours side by side, and a weekday dinner at any of the three restaurants falls after the underpass work window has closed. A weekday breakfast or lunch lands right in it. SLOCOG says the southbound third-lane project is expected to continue through 2028. That outlasts even the earliest possible Ventana reopening, so this timing will matter for a while.
Pismo's newest kitchen opened downtown
Bare Bones soft-opened Aug. 21 at 361 Pomeroy Ave. after a year of construction. The space has an open kitchen, a seven-seat bar, and a rotating menu, The Tribune reported. Chef and co-owner Jared Hurst runs it with his wife, Rachel Hurst, who is the restaurant's sommelier. Jared spent 15 years cooking on the Central Coast, including at Oyster Loft and Steamers of Pismo, before opening a place of his own.
According to The Tribune, the menu changes every few days, but a few favorites stay on. One is a "PB&J" toast with no peanut butter in it. The "peanut butter" is chicken liver pâté, and caramelized onions stand in for the jelly. Others include a Caesar salad with shishito pepper emulsion, pastrami bao, and house oysters. Prices run from $18 for the toast to $86 for a shareable ribeye with fried potatoes. Bare Bones is open Wednesday through Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m.
Those are the same days and hours Oyster Loft posts, Wednesday through Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. On a Monday or Tuesday night, the downtown option among these is Cracked Crab at 751 Price St., which is open daily, and it's walk-in only. Up the hill, all three of the Spyglass and Shell Beach Road dining rooms serve dinner seven nights a week.
This year left Pismo with two kinds of dinner out. The ocean-view meals are on the Spyglass and Shell Beach Road corner every night, and the newest kitchen is downtown on Pomeroy five nights a week. Price Street's cliffside dining room will stay dark until the court case and the property allow it to reopen.
If you're thinking about a home closer to these Shell Beach dining rooms, or just want to talk through how the Highway 101 work affects getting around Pismo Beach, Sara Corliss is glad to help. Schedule a Free Consultation, and we'll start with the parts of town you already know best.
