Old Tony’s

Walking Into 1963

The approach tells you everything. Old Tony’s sits mid-pier, a two-story relic that survived the 1988 fire that destroyed most of the wooden Redondo Beach Pier. The building looks exactly as it did when Tony Sr. expanded it in the early 1960s. Glass fishing floats glow in the windows. Fishnets drape from the ceilings. The sliding glass windows still work.

This isn’t retro styling or calculated vintage chic. The restaurant simply never changed. The same tiered dining room ensures every table gets an ocean view. The same spiral staircase, lined with photos of celebrities who dined here over seven decades, leads to the circular bar Tony built in 1963. Even the menus feel familiar, heavy on fried seafood and classics like lobster thermidor.

The Food Question

Here’s the truth: people don’t come to Old Tony’s for innovative cooking. The menu leans on standards like calamari, fish and chips, halibut, crab cakes, and clam chowder. Some dishes earn praise, particularly the salmon chowder and anything simply prepared. Others draw complaints about being dated or inconsistent.

The reality sits somewhere in the middle. This is old-school pier dining where the seafood is fresh but the preparations haven’t evolved much since 1952. Portions tend to be generous. Prices fall in the moderate range for beachfront seafood, typically $30-50 per person. The cheese garlic bread gets mentioned often. So do the onion rings.

If you approach it as a place to eat while watching the Pacific, you’ll likely enjoy your meal. If you’re chasing the best seafood in LA, you’ll leave disappointed.

The Bar Experience

The upstairs Top o’ Tony’s bar is where this place earns its legend. The circular design provides 360-degree views sweeping from the Palos Verdes Peninsula to Santa Monica. Waves crash directly below. Sunset here is worth the climb.

The Mai Tai comes in its signature glass, which you keep. Same with the Fire Chief. Both pack enough rum to make the drink prices feel reasonable. The glasses pile up in LA homes as proof of past visits. Live music plays nightly (7pm most nights, 8pm on weekends), ranging from acoustic sets to local bands.

The bar serves a limited menu, so most people order drinks and appetizers while soaking in the views and the scene. The crowd skews older but includes pier-goers of all ages. Service is generally friendly, though it can slow when the place fills up.

Practical Realities

Old Tony’s doesn’t take reservations except for large parties (8-24 people, Monday through Thursday only). Everyone else waits for a table. Weekend waits can stretch long, particularly around sunset. Arrive early or prepare to hang at the bar.

The restaurant is wheelchair accessible to most areas, but getting to the restrooms requires navigating stairs. Parking costs $2 per hour in the pier structure, and Old Tony’s doesn’t validate. Street parking exists nearby but fills quickly.

Kids are welcome. The place offers a basic kids menu. Service animals only are permitted. The atmosphere stays casual, with moderate noise levels that rise when live music plays.

Why It Matters

Old Tony’s matters because places like this keep disappearing. Pier restaurants that survived from the 1950s are rare. Ones still run by the founding family are rarer. Ones that look and feel like they did 60 years ago basically don’t exist.

Tony Sr. chose this spot because he wanted diners to watch waves crash against the pier pilings. That’s still what you get. The food may not wow you. The decor might feel dated. But sitting in those sliding window seats with a Mai Tai while the Pacific pounds below delivers exactly what pier dining used to be before everything got renovated and modernized and designed to death.

For better or worse, Old Tony’s refuses to change. If that sounds appealing, you’ll understand why locals and tourists keep climbing those stairs with celebrity photos to drink rum drinks in a fishnet-covered room where time stopped around 1963.