Iconic Tacoma waterfront restaurant closed by COVID-19 won’t reopen this year
Johnny’s Dock has not closed permanently, but the owners have yet to decide how or when to reopen.
“This is a Tacoma icon,” said co-owner Steve Novotny, “and so when COVID hit, it just made everything so difficult. Now we don’t want to do any false starts.
“That place will rise again. I just can’t tell you it’s gonna rise in 2020 or early 2021.”
After weeks of phone calls and emails, Novotny confirmed to The New Tribune that the restaurant is unlikely to reopen during the pandemic.
“We’ve gotta run high volume, and there’s just no way we can do that right now,” he said.
Located on the Thea Foss Waterway, Johnny’s has been dormant since a March 16 post announcing the decision to not offer takeout. A sign on the door at 1900 East D St., across from the Museum of Glass, reminds potential thieves that all alcohol has been removed from the premises.
Takeout might have kept guests engaged, “but at the end of the day, it’s just really difficult to even get it to break even,” Novotny told The News Tribune in a July 20 phone call.
In the early stages of the pandemic, business started lagging as office workers deserted their posts and event traffic disappeared.
“We just felt like, we’ll just be chasing our tail,” he said. “It kinda came down to: it just wasn’t gonna be profitable, and that was kinda the bottom line.”
At 10,000 square feet, Johnny’s is also a massive restaurant, he added, and a destination.
Closing in March cost the business thousands in lost food and alcohol. Ultimately, the ownership group determined the risks associated with operating such a large space with no available vaccine was not worth it — neither to the development’s future nor the staff’s health.
Novotny bought Johnny’s Dock in 2018 with fellow property developers Roy Kissler, Ken Rody, Adam Raygor, Mike Rozumny and Neil Holden. They invested $1 million into updating the space and the menu, with the long-term vision of building a condominium or hotel with an events center on-site — ideally high enough in the sky to boast views of Mount Rainier, Commencement Bay and the Tacoma skyline.
Former owners John Crabill and Dave Bingham had owned it since 1986 when they bought out Crabill’s grandfather and the restaurant’s namesake, Johnny Meaker. (Meaker was, of course, the man behind Johnny’s Seasoning Salt.)
With his wife Anita, Crabill still owns Johnny’s at Fife, which has been closed throughout the pandemic. A voice recording on the restaurant phone says they will not be serving takeout.
“Well see you when we see you,” it says.
As for Johnny’s Dock, Novotny insisted the restaurant would not fold precisely because of the coronavirus. They own the property and the surrounding marina, which is open, and thus have the luxury of waiting it out.
“There’s so many unknowns. We just have to be methodical about this,” he said.
Still, he would not say outright when the restaurant would reopen, or whether it would be the Johnny’s Dock Tacomans remember. Asked if he was being purposefully cryptic, he said no.
“We’re closed right now. When we get through COVID, we’re going to reassess,” he replied, adding that his business partners’ goal was to not just save Johnny’s but build upon its legacy. “The people that own Johnny’s probably love Johnny’s more than everybody else knows.”
How feverishly people return to restaurants and how liable businesses will be if positive cases are traced back to them will factor into their planning.
For now, Johnny’s has not shuttered as other waterfront restaurants in Tacoma recently have. C.I. Shenanigans closed on Ruston Way, and Steamer’s Seafood Cafe at Titlow Beach will close at the end of the year.
Neither parent company pinned the blame on the business effects of the coronavirus, instead pointing to leasing decisions.
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This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 5:15 AM.