'Same taste, same everything.' Former Dockside Restaurant owner opens new place in Dennis

Zane Razzaq, Cape Cod Times
·1 min read

DENNIS — A new seafood restaurant meant to continue the legacy of a former popular waterfront Hyannis restaurant has now opened in town.

Moonfish is at 369 Main St. in West Dennis, which formerly housed the Chinese restaurant Royal Palace. The new restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner year-round.

"It's the same me, but now I'm in Dennis," said owner Velma Mitchell, who previously ran the popular Dockside Restaurant on School Street in Hyannis. "The name may have changed, but it's the same taste, same everything."

Moonfish has opened up at 369 Main Street in West Dennis with owner Velma Mitchell, who previously ran the popular Dockside Restaurant on School Street in Hyannis.
Moonfish has opened up at 369 Main Street in West Dennis with owner Velma Mitchell, who previously ran the popular Dockside Restaurant on School Street in Hyannis.

The restaurant has 45 tables and 17 dinner and 11 breakfast options. On the menu: Lazy Man's Lobster (lobster claw and knuckle meat broiled with lobster sauce and topped with seafood stuffing) and Moonfish poke bowl (cucumber, carrots, avocado, red cabbage, edamame, rice and tomatoes, drizzled with spicy seafood sauce), according to the restaurant website.

Dockside property owner Stuart Bornstein had wanted to redevelop the restaurant with luxury apartments overlooking Hyannis Harbor, but the Barnstable Planning Board ultimately halted the proposal and rejected a regulatory agreement between the town and the developer in March.

In April, the Dockside was demolished to make way for a boat storage facility.

Mitchell said she had been renting that space and the experience gave her "more strength" to pursue owning her next restaurant.

Trustees of the Royal Palace Realty Trust — Kam L. Peck, Gordon Fong, and Douglas Fong — sold the building to Mitchell's Cafe Corporation for $850,000 last year, according to a deed registered with the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds.

"I'll be at this location for a while," said Mitchell. "I won't be worrying about, 'Is someone going to throw me out?'"

Zane Razzaq writes about housing and real estate. Reach her at zrazzaq@capecodonline.com. Follow her on X @zanerazz.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Moonfish restaurant opens in West Dennis, in former Royal Palace