After being announced nearly two years ago, the San Pedro Fish Market—the state’s largest seafood restaurant that has had its anchor in San Pedro since 1965—is ready to open its first location outside its home base and in the heart of Alamitos Bay by the end of the year.

Mike Ungaro’s San Pedro Fish Market, open since 1965, is the stuff of legend: the state’s largest seafood restaurant, it heaps piles of shrimp, mussels, clams, octopus, lobster, calamari, halibut, crab, and scallops for your gluttonous delight. Hell, it’s even spawned wannabe versions of its platter in Irvine (though there is no comparison to the OG version).

In fact, between it and the Crusty Crab—the other restaurant in San Pedro’s famed Ports O’ Call complex in the Port of Los Angeles—they serve 1.1M people every year.

Yes, that’s “million” with an M.

And now, Ungaro has announced that the market’s Long Beach location— along Alamitos Bay, replacing the Joe’s Crab Shack at 6550 Marina Dr.—will be open by the end of the year after setbacks that pushed its opening date in the summer of last year.

“Plans are to have a soft opening in November,” Ungaro said.

The flavor San Pedro Fish Market’s serving style—pick your seafood, tell ’em how you want it cooked, pick some toppings, and take your tray of oceanic culinary wonder to a table to indulge—is sure to garner a new set of fans that rarely, if ever, venture past the Vincent Thomas Bridge to explore San Pedro or the Port of Los Angeles. (Though that might also change given the massive overhaul of its

One of my go-to faves? Their famed tray of jumbo shrimp with potatoes, peppers, and yes, an entire loaf of fresh bread to soak up the juicy runoff. (Speaking of shrimp, a couple years back, the Market garnered social media attention unlike any other after the launch of their “World’s Largest Seafood Tray” back in June that featured more than 50 pounds of shrimp alone. Oh, and they also fry sheepshead fish to a damn perfection.)

Welcome to Long Beach, San Pedro. Our arms and bellies are open.

San Pedro Fish Market will be located at 6550 Marina Dr.

Brian Addison is a columnist and editor for the Long Beach Post. Reach him at [email protected] or on social media at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.