Santa Monica hospitality veterans Greg and Yunnie Morena are taking their pier pedigree up the hill to Ocean Avenue. The couple behind The Albright on the Santa Monica Pier is rolling out a new seafood concept, West Side Oyster Club, which is set to take over the storefront at 1355 Ocean Ave with a planned mid-June opening. The roughly 80-seat spot will lean fast casual and to-go friendly, pairing a full raw bar with boardwalk staples like lobster rolls, fish 'n' chips, and clam-chowder bread bowls aimed at both locals and the tourist flow.
According to What Now, the West Side Oyster Club menu is slated to feature a hero lobster roll, seasonal farmers’ market salads, seafood towers, fried oyster po'boys, and a raw bar stocked with West and East Coast shellfish. The outlet also reports a splurge-ready $115 Grand Cru caviar and projected hours of Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. "Santa Monica raised us, and we've been giving it back for nearly 50 years," Greg Morena said in the release cited by the site.
Local roots
The new restaurant is very much a hometown play. Yunnie Morena's family planted their flag in the local seafood trade back in 1977, when her parents opened SM Pier Seafood on the Santa Monica Pier. She and Greg now run The Albright on the pier, a modern evolution of that legacy. The Albright highlights the couple's focus on sustainable sourcing and updated pier classics, an approach they say is guiding West Side Oyster Club as well. The through line helps the new spot feel less like a random concept and more like a neighborhood offshoot of a long-running pier institution.
Design and the space
Los Angeles-based Studio Alvarez is overseeing the redesign of the Ocean Avenue space, keeping some elements from its predecessor, Blue Plate Oysterette, while layering in painted and natural wood details, large-scale art, and an exterior mirrored menu installation. What Now notes that the color palette will lean white, blue, and yellow, with design touches nodding to West Coast surf and skate culture. The team is positioning the room as a kind of casual luxury, familiar yet refreshed for a new generation of Ocean Avenue diners.
Business filings
Bizprofile data shows that West Side Oyster Club LLC was formed in February 2026, with Greg Morena listed as the registered agent, aligning with the group’s stated mid-June opening timeline. The public business registry entry lists a principal address in Santa Monica and appears in California state records, adding a bureaucratic stamp to the project’s press materials and soon-to-launch online presence.
From Blue Plate to a new oyster club
The 1355 Ocean Ave address already has a long history with seafood. Blue Plate Oysterette has long been linked with the space, a track record that helps explain why another raw-bar-focused concept is sliding into the same footprint. Blue Plate Oysterette’s own location information and directory listings connect it to the Ocean Avenue address, underscoring the spot’s built-in appeal for shellfish-heavy menus. West Side Oyster Club seems to be angling for a more polished, updated version of that tried-and-true seaside formula.
For now, West Side Oyster Club’s online presence is a “Launching Soon” landing page with an email sign-up, confirming the branding and contact details while keeping the exact opening date just out of reach. The West Side Oyster Club site offers a simple way to join the mailing list and watch for a firm debut announcement. We will update readers once a ribbon-cutting, reservations or other public-facing details are officially locked in.
