Ventana Grill, the oceanfront restaurant perched above the bluffs in Pismo Beach, has been ordered by a judge to stop operating after September 18 at 5 p.m., the result of a bitter legal fight between the restaurant's owners and the property's landlords over whether the ground beneath it is safe. Regular diners like Heather Anderson, who ate there Friday night, said she had no idea the closure was coming. “I love Ventana. I'm super bummed that it's leaving,” Anderson said.
According to KSBY, a San Luis Obispo County judge granted a preliminary injunction on August 27 that bars Ventana Grill from operating past the September 18 deadline. The restaurant's operator, The Old Custom House, Inc., leases the space from landlords doing business as Shore Cliff Hotel, and the two sides have been locked in court since the case began in August 2025. Property manager Peregrine Hospitality, which oversees the site along with other Central Coast properties including Vespera Resort, according to HotelPlanner, said in a statement that “the safety of visitors, employees, and the public is always our priority.”
The dispute briefly bounced into federal court before U.S. District Judge Serena R. Murillo remanded the case back to San Luis Obispo County Superior Court on April 24, per Justia Law records. The Old Custom House signed a 30-year lease in July 2012 to run Ventana Grill at 2575 Price Street, leaving roughly 20 years remaining on the lease when the litigation began — a fact the restaurant's owners say matters, because they claim the landlords are using geological concerns to end that long-term commitment early, according to the same court filings.
Dueling Claims Over the Bluff's Stability
Peregrine Hospitality has cited independent engineering and geology experts who found structural issues, geological concerns, and safety hazards at the property, according to the KSBY report. Court records reviewed by Justia Law show the property owners built their injunction request around geotechnical bluff stability studies from engineering firm ENGEO dated March 2025, drone aerial photographs taken in September 2025, and repair cost estimates from coastal contractor J.C. Baldwin.
Ventana Grill's owners, however, disagree with the claim that the bluff is unstable, per KSBY's reporting. The restaurant's owners have also claimed that the landlords repeatedly told them over a span of 14 months to immediately close the restaurant, according to the same report. Ventana Grill's corporate office has not responded to inquiries about the situation, and employees at the restaurant said they were not able to comment.
A Cliffside With a Long History of Erosion
The bluff beneath 2555–2575 Price Street is no stranger to instability. The site has seen up to 14 feet of historical bluff retreat, which previously required J.C. Baldwin to install 130 steel tiebacks and 15,000 square feet of shotcrete seawalls, the contractor's own project records show. Stabilization work at the property dates back to 1979, when sea cave formation began continuously undermining the bluff terrace, per the same account — a pattern of erosion that has shaped the site for decades before this legal fight ever began.
The instability isn't unique to this one parcel. Pismo Beach officials have grappled with ongoing bluff degradation along Ocean Boulevard and Price Street for years, funding emergency seawall and drainage repairs to slow the coastal retreat, as Hoodline has previously reported. Ventana Grill sits on the same oceanfront parcel as the 130-room Shore Cliff Hotel, sharing cliffside walkways and event grounds used for weddings and other gatherings, according to Eventective.
Customers Blindsided by the Sudden News
For regulars, the announcement landed with little warning. Deanna Johnson, who drove from Santa Maria to Pismo Beach, said she learned about the closure from social media rather than any official notice. “Everybody was surprised, and they wanted to know the reason why. There was no — nothing provided and the restaurant wasn't commenting,” Johnson told KSBY. Ventana Grill's website was down as of Friday, leaving customers with few answers about what comes next.
The lack of communication is notable given that the restaurant was still actively staffing up just weeks before the shutdown. The Old Custom House was seeking to hire an executive chef for Ventana Grill as late as August 3, offering up to $115,000 annually for someone to manage high-volume dinner service and scratch kitchen operations, according to a job posting reviewed on Vaia.
What Happens Next
Ventana Grill was established as the second dining concept under Custom House Restaurant Group, which grew after Compass Health Inc. acquired the original Custom House in Avila Beach in 2005 and later expanded to include Wooly's, Oyster Loft, Mr. Rick's, and Mission Pizza, according to Sysco Foodie. The restaurant group has continued expanding along the Pismo Beach bluffs even amid the litigation, launching Westerly Shell Beach in the former Spyglass Inn space earlier this year.
The legal battle over Ventana Grill remains unresolved. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for October 22, when the court will weigh whether the closure is a temporary pause for repairs or the end of Ventana Grill's 14-year run on the bluff.
