Tognazzini’s Dockside Too

Tognazzini’s Dockside Too is the most Morro Bay spot in Morro Bay: an all-outdoor fish market and patio on the working end of the Embarcadero, beside the North T-pier, where the seafood comes off the family’s own boat, and the live music comes with lunch, every day. The Tognazzini family opened it in April 2009 as the casual counterpart to their Dockside Restaurant next door, and Captain Mark Tognazzini, more than fifty years in the local fishing industry and four decades running the F/V Bonnie Marietta, still supplies the counter directly from the boat.

The routine is half the charm. Order at the counter, find a table on the dock, and listen for your name over the guitar. Fish and chips, barbecued oysters, chowder, tacos, and whatever the fleet landed run alongside a full fresh fish case for taking home. The patio is famously dog-friendly, with leash tie-downs at the tables, and the between-song entertainment is the harbor itself: working boats offloading, gulls negotiating, and otters lounging close enough to steal the show.

Live music runs daily, with an 11:00 AM lunch set and a 3:00-to-close afternoon set, and a rotating cast of Central Coast players makes this patio the town’s default soundtrack. Hours run 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM Sunday through Thursday and 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Friday and Saturday, an hour earlier in winter.

Today’s set, and everything else on the waterfront, is on the Morro Bay events calendar.