‘Johnny’s Resurrection’: Tacoma waterfront restaurant returns with Indian flavors

Quiet for more than five years, Johnny’s Dock reopens under new ownership Wednesday on Tacoma’s Thea Foss Waterway — new menu, same sights.

The restaurant, located since 1977 off D Street on the eastern side of the water strip that separates Dock Street from the Tideflats, looks very similar to the moment in March 2020 when operations suddenly stopped. The then-proprietors — also the property developers, a team led by Roy Kissler and Ken Rody — had remodeled the 1970s-era building in 2018, updating the exterior and interior, including floor-to-ceiling glass doors that open fully to the spacious deck. The color scheme of gray and light-blue banquettes, white tablecloths on most tables and dark-wood captain’s stools around the bar blends with the often overcast skies and steely blue waters that surround it.

Only now, Gurwinder “Gary” Purewal and business partner Poojadeep Purewal will offer a menu that marries Indian cuisine with classic seafood and bar-and-grill favorites.

“We liked the location,” said Gary Purewal in an early June phone call. “We’re going to revive the restaurant.”

Johnny Meaker, also behind Johnny’s Seasoning Salt, opened the first Johnny’s Dock in 1954 at nearby Pier 3 at the Port of Tacoma. The restaurant was rebuilt after a fire in 1961, but Meaker and his wife Beulah, known as Bea, moved it to its current home 16 years later. A second Johnny’s in Fife opened in 1968; Meaker’s grandson ran the business there from 1986-2020, when it closed permanently due to the pandemic.

Meanwhile on Thea Foss, the Kissler and Rody group bought the property in 2018 but closed the restaurant also in 2020. A deal to sell the whole lot fell through between then and a year or so ago, according to Kissler, at which point they decided to lease the restaurant.

The Purewals started working on the space and menu in March. The restaurant has been serving friends and family and anyone who happened to walk in — and some did Tuesday afternoon, including a group from a Dock Street apartment building — since last Saturday. The official opening is Wednesday, June 25 at noon. A DJ will play on the deck, said Purewal.

Appetizers begin with samosas and pakoras, served with spicy and refreshing mint chutney and a tamarind sauce sweetened with jaggery, a cane sugar native to India. Proteins — aloo, paneer, chicken, lamb, goat and shrimp — can be had as butter masala, korma, biryani and more. Platters include tandoori chicken, malai chicken and kebabs seared with herbs and garam masala.

The Purewals have been in the restaurant business for 25 years, from franchises to pizzerias and full-service with Indian cuisine; they currently operate two such restaurants in Seattle and one in Oak Harbor. A few of their cooks have joined them to get Johnny’s Dock off the ground, while Eric Kilgore, a longtime chef at hotels and golf clubs in the area, is consulting on the classic side of the menu.

“This is sort of a shout-out to Johnny’s,” Kilgore said Tuesday.

Those staples range from a bowl of cioppino to shrimp scampi, as well as coho with butter-poached fingerling potatoes and pattypan squash. Other “Dock favorites” include clam chowder, shrimp cocktail and fish and chips. Some seafood dishes also embrace Indian spices, such as a mussels steamed in a masala tomato and onion broth or calamari fried in spiced chickpea batter.

At the bar, Dez Zavala is shaking up specialties like a dirty chai martini featuring vodka infused with the restaurant’s own chai tea and the Johnny’s Resurrection, a triple-rum number with pineapple and orange juices. A Tacoma native, she started bartending at the long-gone Defiant Goldfish near Point Defiance Park more than 20 years ago. To lead the bar now at Johnny’s Dock feels like a full Tacoma circle.

“It was a Tacoma staple, and it will continue to be,” she said.

JOHNNY’S DOCK SEAFOOD & GRILL

▪ 1900 E. D St., Tacoma, 206-452-6695, johnnysdocks.com

▪ Expected hours starting June 25: Daily 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (bar service only 3-4 p.m. for kitchen break)

▪ Menu: mix of Indian and Northwest seafood mainstays, plus full bar; most apps $9-$18 and mains $20-$29

▪ Seating: bar and lounge (21+), all-ages main dining room with mezzanine and window tables plus outdoor deck

Reporter’s Note, 7/7/2025: This story was updated to add a current phone number and website for the restaurant.

This story was originally published June 25, 2025 at 6:00 AM.