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After nearly eight years of expired permits, a mostly empty building and hundreds of residents online seemingly giving up hope, Cook’s Seafood might finally open its doors in Pleasanton — what exact day, however, remains a mystery.
According to public records online, the city of Pleasanton issued a permit to Cook’s Seafood on Jan. 25 for the restaurant to complete a previously expired permit from 2017 for the planned location in the Koll Center Plaza at 6654 Koll Center Pkwy.
Lisa Hatton, an administration assistant with the city, told the Weekly the new permit essentially allows the seafood restaurant to continue construction for tenant improvements.
“Nothing has been done from 2017 until 2024,” Hatton said. “They originally filed a permit for tenant improvements back in 2017. That expired and so they applied for a new permit.”
She said now that the city issued the new permit, Cook’s will have until March 11 — which is when the current permit expires — to complete the tenant improvements or to at least request for city inspections so that the city knows the restaurant is actively working on the improvements.
“As far as we know, they’re still continuing to do the tenant improvements,” Hatton said.
The Weekly has attempted to contact the owner of Cook’s Seafood for several weeks, but the restaurant has not responded to interview requests.
Hatton said the last time the city conducted an inspection at the restaurant was September, which is when the restaurant originally applied for the new permit. However, she did not have any information in regards to possible opening dates.
Once all of the tenant improvements have been completed, the city will conduct a final inspection. If it passes, the restaurant will be able to finally open its doors.
Murat Edis, manager at the Sultan’s Kebab restaurant located right next door to the planned Cook’s Seafood, told the Weekly he has seen some construction going on at the restaurant and was even able to get a sneak peek inside.
“We are still waiting for them to open,” Edis said.
He said he hasn’t really heard much chatter from residents about when the seafood restaurant will open other than a few people who, over the years, have asked him why Cook’s hasn’t opened yet.
Edis had nothing bad to say about his new neighbor — other than when he jokingly said Sultan’s Kebab doesn’t want to share a parking lot.
In fact, he said he is excited to welcome the new business because the current state of the restaurant “looks like some junkyard over there”.
“As long as they open the restaurant, it will help us,” Edis said, referring to how the new seafood restaurant will improve the aesthetics of the entire plaza.
Pleasanton resident Bob Hill shared his thoughts with the Weekly while having lunch at the Chipotle located on the other side of the Cook’s space. He said he thought the restaurant was going bankrupt and that was the reason it hadn’t opened its second location in Pleasanton — the original location is in Menlo Park.
He was even more surprised that the restaurant had been paying rent since 2017.
However, he said that if Cook’s Seafood is serious about opening the new location, it would be a great addition to the community.
“If (the restaurant) is good, then that would be good for the community,” Hill said.
He said he primarily eats a plant-based diet and the only real protein he eats is seafood so having a Cook’s in Pleasanton is something that would be beneficial to him and something he would be willing to try out.
He also said, similar to Edis, that he would prefer to see businesses thriving inside the plaza and hopes the restaurant follows through with opening because shuttered businesses are never a good look for any plaza in Pleasanton.
“You don’t want to see things close … I hope it’s true,” Hill said of Cook’s impending opening.
