Cook's Seafood has closed, and so has a Peninsula tradition. A notice posted on the door of the Pleasanton restaurant said, "We are sad to inform you that after 98 years, we are closing all locations effective October 28, 2026," the Pleasanton Weekly reported. The notice added that "this year has been very difficult for restaurants."
A Menlo Park institution
The flagship opened in Menlo Park in 1928, with a fish market and a restaurant side by side. InMenlo got a tip that the shop had closed and that employees had been told overnight. When the site stopped by during what should have been business hours, the store was shut. InMenlo also noted that a 2023 closure rumor turned out to be false.
Employees appear to have been caught by surprise. One Menlo Park worker told the Almanac, the Weekly's sister paper, that owner Roy Crumrine Jr. texted him at 3 a.m. Thursday to say not to come in because both locations had closed for good the day before.
Pleasanton's short run
Cook's first filed permits in Pleasanton in 2017 but didn't open there until May 2025. Chef Moises Bucio blamed the delay on staff changes at the Menlo Park restaurant, the COVID-19 pandemic and his own medical issues, according to the Weekly. Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce CEO Yianna Theodorou told the paper, "It really is a shame that that location is closed now after all that."