Iconic Waterfront Restaurant is Closing After 32 Years — The Bold Italic — San Francisco

By Peter Lawrence Kane

San Francisco lost a couple of great things recently: 21 Club, a longtime dive bar in the Tenderloin, will close to make way for a new cocktail bar, while a proposed performing arts center in the same neighborhood was nixed this week as well. Now, there’s another casualty to add to the list.

Sinbad’s, an iconic restaurant along the Embarcadero, is about to sail on its final voyage. The 32-year-old waterfront eatery — which you probably haven’t been to since your elderly relatives demanded calamari and a view of the Bay — has received notice that it’s time to go. The Port of San Francisco, Sinbad’s landlord, is ready to demolish Pier 2 to build a new ferry terminal. (This is a done deal, and Sinbad’s already got one waiver from the original deadline, which was New Year’s Eve).

Although the restaurant’s Yelp page is a gold mine of disgruntled zingers (“it’s like dining in a funeral home, but worse,” “some places are beyond repair,” “despite ruining the evening for all, I was prepared to shut it down if another instance occurred”), Sinbad’s isn’t closing its doors because the business was failing or, as with the late Empress of China, prevailing tastes have changed. It’s because they’re a toxic presence on the Embarcadero.

According to the Examiner, Sinbad’s is a lousy tenant that at one time owed $220,000 in back rent to the Port. Sewage has also leaked into the bay at least five times in six years, most recently in January. This checkered history means that even if the owners got the reprieve they were seeking to transition to a new home, they might have a tough time finding one. Reading between the lines of the Examiner story, it seems like things have grown tense on Pier 2, with the Port asking for an “exit walk-through” to make sure the restaurant complies.

So, if you’re jonesing for Lobster Thermidor, Cherries Jubilee, and other delightfully stodgy dishes where the adjective comes after the noun, you have until March 21 to get your fix. Let’s just say this though: At least Sinbad’s isn’t shutting down because they got busted for paying employees sub-minimum wages, like some beloved vegetarian Indian spots I could mention.

[via SF Examiner; photo courtesy of Daniel Hoherd/Flickr]

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