A fixture of the Fairhope waterfront for four decades, the Yardarm Restaurant on the city’s municipal pier is changing hands, with local restaurateur Rick Gambino finalizing a purchase from longtime owner Bob Pope as Pope prepares for retirement.
Gambino, who owns Gambino’s Italian Grill in Fairhope, will take over a long-term lease with the city covering the restaurant building and its adjoining marina, following approval from the Fairhope City Council. The arrangement gives Gambino control of the 90-seat restaurant along with a 32-slip marina, one of the most recognizable dining and boating destinations along the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay.
The property had been listed for $465,000 through a Gulf Coast restaurant brokerage on the Eastern Shore. Under the terms of the city lease, the new operator pays Fairhope 3 percent of restaurant sales, with a minimum annual rent of $5,400, while keeping 75 percent of marina revenue generated at the site. The sale was expected to close by the end of January 2015.
Gambino said he understood the weight of taking over an already-established Fairhope landmark, describing plans to keep the restaurant’s identity intact while making it a fun, affordable spot known for fresh seafood. He credited the setting, perched over the water at the end of the municipal pier with sweeping views of Mobile Bay sunsets, as one of the restaurant’s biggest draws regardless of who runs the kitchen.
Pope had operated the Yardarm for most of its history, closing the restaurant for its typical four-month winter break the Saturday after Thanksgiving, a seasonal rhythm familiar to generations of Fairhope residents and visitors. The restaurant’s location on the municipal pier has made it inseparable from the identity of downtown Fairhope’s waterfront, a gathering spot for sunset watchers, boaters and diners for 40 years.
The Fairhope Municipal Pier itself remains one of Baldwin County’s most visited public spaces, drawing residents and tourists alike for its walking pier, adjacent parks and bay views. The Yardarm’s transition to new ownership comes as Fairhope’s downtown and waterfront areas have continued to see steady investment and rising visitor interest, part of a broader pattern of growth across the Eastern Shore over the preceding several years.
For longtime patrons, the ownership change marked the end of an era under Pope’s stewardship, even as Gambino signaled his intent to preserve what made the restaurant a Fairhope institution in the first place, its unmatched pier-side setting and status as a local gathering place.