Whether large chains or family-owned neighborhood joints, seafood restaurants have continued to face significant challenges throughout 2026.
Casual dining Florida chain Red Lobster closed 36 of its restaurants in different corners of the country last year as part of a wider shrinking of its footprint after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the end of 2024.
Other seafood chains, including Bahama Breeze and Joe’s Crab Shack, have also shuttered dozens of locations due to similar struggles with skyrocketing ingredient and other operating costs. For some of the larger chains, sale-leaseback real estate deals also locked them into high monthly rent payments, even amid falling traffic.
Cook’s Seafood permanently closes both California restaurant locations
For smaller family-owned restaurants, the situation is often even more dire.
Opened in 1928 by a local policeman with a dream of running a seafood restaurant, Cook’s Seafood was a Menlo Park neighborhood staple long before the suburb between San Francisco and San Jose became a hub of Silicon Valley innovation.
Bill Cook originally opened Cook’s Seafood as a counter selling fish and chips but expanded to a full-service after seeing a few years of early success.
Up until now, it operated both as a market selling fresh fish and seafood and a restaurant serving fish and chips, fresh catch of the day, and seafood classics such as lobster rolls and clam chowder.
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As reported by local media outlet Palo Alto Online, several employees at both the original location and a second one that opened in 2025 in Pleasanton, across the San Francisco Bay, received a text message saying that both locations were being shut down.
“We are sad to inform you that after 98 years, we have closed all Cook’s Seafood locations Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026,” Dan Dowler, who had been working at the restaurant as a counter clerk since 1972, reportedly received via text.
“Our family thanks you for all your years of service, and we’re sorry for saying this so late tonight. But we don’t want you to drive to work tomorrow, as the building is closed. We’ll send out more updates later today.”
Cook's Seafood
“This year has been very difficult for restaurants”: Cook’s Seafood on abrupt closures
Local residents also photographed a similar message posted on a printout in the windows of the two locations, InMenlo noted. A representative of the restaurant could not be immediately reached for comment. Calls to the two locations redirected to voicemail.
Without elaborating further, the statement issued by the Cook’s Seafood team named a “year [that] has been very difficult for restaurants” as the reason for the decision to shutter.
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The abrupt closure of a neighborhood staple hit hard for both many of Cook’s Seafood longstanding employees and members of the community with generational memories of going to the restaurant for fresh fish.
“My very frugal mother only bought seafood from Cook’s when I was growing up in Menlo Park,” resident Linda Hubbard told Palo Alto Online. “And I’ve followed in her footsteps. Always the best, it will be missed.”
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