Having a ballroom

Alicia Robinson and Luis Pena

A 99-year-old Balboa resident will show off a major face-lift to the

public beginning Tuesday, but already the work is getting rave

reviews.

The new Harborside Restaurant and Grand Ballroom on Main Street

near the Fun Zone occupies the space in the Balboa Pavilion that for

32 years was the Tale of the Whale restaurant. Over the years, the

building has housed a ballroom that hosted 1930s big band greats such

as Benny Goodman and Count Basie, a bowling alley and bingo hall, and

the Newport Harbor Art Museum.

Harborside will offer diners a spectacular view of the water from

long walls of windows in its 130-seat dining room and an upstairs

ballroom with the capacity for 500 guests. Future guests got a

preview of the restaurant at a reception Sunday.

“It’s the cornerstone to the revitalization of Balboa,” Balboa

resident Bill Wren said at the reception, adding that he hopes the

entire peninsula population supports the restaurant and ballroom.

The site, which has been empty since Tale of the Whale closed two

years ago, was a gem to Dave Salisbury, who owns the Harborside and

the nearby Newport Landing along with his brother.

“This was the jewel, because having a banquet room on the water is

rare,” Salisbury said. “Being a restaurateur, I looked at this and

said, ‘This is going to be great.’”

He completely gutted most of the space, replacing the kitchen

equipment and turning what used to be a ramp to a boat dock into a

wine room with glass doors that reveal the 100 wines available to

customers in the front lobby.

The menu will feature fresh seafood, of course, as well as steaks,

clam and corn chowder and pasta dishes.

Dayna Pettit, former president of the Balboa Performing Arts

Theater Foundation, reviewed the food at Sunday’s reception with an

emphatic “two thumbs up.”

“How wonderful that little Balboa is coming back to life again,”

Pettit said.

In the nearly 100-year-old building, renovations were long

overdue, said Bob Black, co-owner of the Pavilion Co., which owns the

building.

Pavilion Co. took the opportunity to upgrade the building’s

electrical systems and bring it up to city codes, but the Victorian

look of the building was retained, he said.

“It’s a new look with some of the old flavor in it, and I think

it’s going to be a tremendous hit,” Black said.

The refurbished building is expected to be a boon for the area and

the city of Newport Beach. The city spent about $9 million to redo

the Balboa Pier, expand the parking lot and upgrade streets,

sidewalks and landscaping to invigorate the area, where no

improvements had been made for about 50 years, Mayor Tod Ridgeway

said.

“Clearly we’ve made major infrastructure improvements in the area,

and we love tenants who are following and revitalizing their

businesses because of the money we’ve spent,” said Ridgeway, who

ceremoniously cut the restaurant and ballroom’s ribbon Sunday.

A final phase of upgrades was stalled in January when property

owners voted against taxing themselves to fund a project to bury

utility lines, but the renovations have had a positive effect on the

area, Ridgeway said.

“It seems to be working, and Harborside is certainly a first or an

important part of the change that is taking place,” he said.