Dining Oceanside: Lighthouse Oyster Bar & Grill
OCEANSIDE, CA — There are many restaurants along the coast where you can find gorgeous ocean views, but the search for the perfect sunset dining experience gets harder if you add exceptionally good food, drinks and service to your list of requirements. The choices become even more limited if you are looking for a unique family-owned location that feels comfortable whether you just walked off the beach or arrived in a limo.
Fortunately, Oceansiders know there is a place that satisfies every whim on a food lover's list. The family-owned Lighthouse Oyster Bar & Grill at the Oceanside Harbor offers an eclectic menu of Fresh Seafood, Surf and Turf, Pasta and Tacos. Even the Appetizer, Salad and Dessert menus are equally impressive with a wide variety of delectables to please even serious foodies, including one of the only places around that serve the classic favorite, Oysters Rockefeller.
The Patch sat down with Luis Lopez Jr, General Manager of the Lighthouse Oyster Bar and Grill, to get the inside dish on how their popular local restaurant survived the pandemic and their plans for the future.
I hadn't realized that this is your twelfth year in business here at the Oceanside Harbor. Can you tell us how you got started?
"Yeah, it's crazy. 12 years old already. It's just gone by in a flash. So my father was the executive chef of the Beach House in Cardiff for over 25 years and I pretty much grew up in that building and it was literally a second home. My dad worked 12 hours a day, so the only time I got to hang out with him was at work. So, I'm in their learning to shuck oysters and do all that at 14 and it was really cool.
At the time my dad and his partner were raising Thoroughbred horses and they decided to open a restaurant together with my dad as Executive Chef and since that worked out great for all of us, now we are looking to expand and open another location."
So are you looking to go north or south or inland? I guess you are drawn to be on the coast.
"Yeah, with our cuisine the coast makes more sense, right. We definitely entertained San Clemente or Dana Point. Something that's not too far, but not right in our backyard. So we've even looked at Temecula, which could be pretty cool.
We've been shopping, but it's been tough. With COVID and where the market is right now we really wanna progress and grow, but it's just been challenging."
COVID was a tough time, especially for restaurants. Can you share how you managed to keep going during a global pandemic?
"At the beginning of COVID, my dad and I talked about it, a lot of the restaurants were shutting down because of the uncertainty. But I said if we don't stay open, we're not gonna stay relevant, and so we did and people knew we were here. People knew they could go to the Lighthouse and sit on the patio and maintain six feet distance and feel safe outdoors and enjoy a good meal. That ended up really working out because we created even more regulars.
Yes, it was a gamble, but I think it was a good one, and good for our community because we needed things to do."
So you probably didn't get to celebrate your 10th anniversary the way you wanted?
"No we didn't, but thankfully our community is so supportive that our business was really only bad for like a month during COVID. We were really lucky and blessed to have two big open-air patios, so the city never gave us any problem, especially down here in the Harbor because we're more out of the way than downtown or up the 101. Even the weather, it was two years of beautiful weather all year round so again we're really blessed because we made it through. Again I only thank the community and the city for that because if it weren't for them, who knows what we'd of done."
Okay, so you got through COVID, and you're looking for a new location. What are your plans here in Oceanside?
"We just did some remodeling, all of our floors are brand new and we got our decks redone and we gave a little love back to the building.
We also released a new line of sauces called Papa Louie's including a Horseradish Cocktail Sauce and Orange Marmalade, which goes great on anything. Both use the same sauce recipes that we make fresh in-house every day."
"But for this year I think we are mainly focused on bringing people back and providing an exceptional experience. I really want to bring that focus back on our customer service. That feeling-at-home environment which a lot of places don't have.
I try to tell my staff to treat it like a country club where when our regulars sit down, you already know what they're drinking. Just take it out and people enjoy that. Like I enjoy that when I go to my favorite spots and there's no better feeling. You feel at home.
That's definitely what we're trying to focus on this year, creating that experience again for people that have been stuck at home for a couple of years. Bring back that feeling like, hey, everything's back to good and enjoy it. Enjoy this. I mean, there's no better view."
If someone is visiting you for the first time what do you recommend they try?
"When tourists come in, they ask, hey, what should we do, what should we have? I always lean them towards the appetizers. Get three and share them, that way you can try a little bit of everything and then go next door and try something different."
Your appetizer menu is quite impressive with everything from sauteed mushrooms to Oysters Rockefeller.
"Yes, we try to keep that old-school Oyster Bar vibe. Our exhibition-style kitchen allows our guests to interact directly with our culinary team and watch “the show” from their seat.
My dad learned all the good stuff working from some of the top restaurants back in the day and we definitely try to keep that alive."
If you haven't enjoyed the sunset view and excellent victuals at the Lighthouse in a while, why not head on down for Happy Hour and celebrate their dozen-year anniversary with a dozen oysters.
Contact Info:
Lighthouse Oyster Bar & Grill
262 Harbor Drive South #201
Oceanside, CA 92054
(760) 433-1900
This article originally appeared on the Oceanside-Camp Pendleton Patch
