Longtime Local Favorite Costa Azul Will Reopen In Bayside Coronado Location

August 31, 2019

After twenty years in business, Costa Azul bar and restaurant was forced to close last September after being unable to negotiate a new lease (the space is now Fox Restaurant Concepts' The Henry), but the longtime "Cheers of Coronado" will reopen next year in a bayfront site at the Coronado Ferry Landing.

"Costa Azul is reborn and my dream has come true," Costa Azul owner Brant Barber announced on Facebook. "My family is happy to announce that we are relocating to a gleaming new bayfront site at the Ferry Landing But with the same reasonable prices, libations, food that you’ve come to expect from 19 years in Coronado at our Mexican Grill and Cantina. Keep up to speed on our progress by joining our Facebook Page. Post your favorite Costa story and delicious food and drink you want back here while we are painting and remodeling. Thanks for your encouragement and we can’t wait to see y’all soon at the newly imagined but same hometown ambience of Costa Azul. Cheers!!"

Opened in August 1998 by husband and wife Brant & Carol Barber and Kathleen Byrne, who also own Island Pasta in Coronado, Costa Azul was essentially removed from its longtime space after owners were not offered a new lease with the building's owner, Kleege Enterprises, which bought the land on Orange Avenue between C Avenue and 10th Street in 2017 for $22 Million. The space was ultimately leased to Arizona-based Fox Restaurant Concepts, which is in the process of being purchased by The Cheesecake Factory, and is now the fourth location of the company's The Henry all-day concept. Leading up to the September 2018 closure, Brant Barber indicated he was actively looking for a new space to reopen Costa Azul.

Costa Azul will soon install within the 4,500 square-foot, indoor-outdoor waterfront space that last housed Blue Bridge Hospitality's short-lived El Roy's Tequila Bar + Kitchen (and Candela's on the Bay before that). The restaurant hopes to open by this fall with an eclectic Cal-Mex-style menu with appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, tacos, and a large variety of entrees. There will also be a full bar with margaritas, cocktails, spirits, domestic and local beer, sangria and wine.

Costa Azul will sit at 1201 First Street, Unit 115, near the Coronado Ferry Landing. For more information, follow the restaurant's Facebook Page.