FOLSOM, Calif. — Scott’s Seafood Roundhouse has operated in Folsom for 25 years, but it only spent the last four on Sutter Street in the city’s Historic District.
Suzanne Cook, the bar and grill’s president and general manager, said Scott’s Seafood celebrated its 25th anniversary on March 9. The establishment began operating at its current location at 824 Sutter St. in July 2020. Before that it was along Greenback Lane in the space now inhabited by Urban Baths Folsom.
Cook said the Historic District is the city’s social and cultural ground zero. She hopes the business is even further embedded in the community in the next 25 years.
“I hope to further weave Scott’s into the fabric of Folsom by being the ‘go-to place’ for special occasions and through active community service and support,” she said. “We moved to a far better location to be immersed in the heart of Folsom…”
How it started
The business model hasn’t changed since 1999, according to Cook.
It offers quality food for a fair price served correctly by an exceptional staff who love what they do and to a community who wants to see Scott’s succeed, she said.
In 1976, the first Scott’s Seafood Grill & Bar opened at the corner of Scott and Lombard streets in San Francisco, according to the Folsom Scott’s Seafood website. The chain opened seven locations before the Greenback Lane location became available.
Scott’s Seafood Roundhouse is a sister business but has no financial ties to the Bay Area, according to Cook.
Scott’s Seafood on the River along Riverside Boulevard in Sacramento — which opened in 2008 — used to be affiliated with its Folsom neighbor, but that partnership ended over 10 years ago, she said.
Cook’s husband, John, brought the business to Folsom in March 1999. He served as the Folsom location’s general manager from October 2021 until his death in December 2022. He was 64.
“My husband, John Cook, found our original location on Greenback and fell in love with Folsom,” Suzanne Cook told ABC10. “The community wanted a white tablecloth restaurant with food and service that compared to what they expect in San Francisco. We’re able to provide that and didn’t disappoint.”
Surviving COVID
Scott’s Seafood Roundhouse shut down its first location after 21 years in operation on March 17, 2020, just two days after the Trump Administration declared a nationwide emergency and issued a travel ban due to COVID-19.
Cook said the business was able to survive COVID because of the move.
It reopened July 18, 2020, and the city of Folsom allowed the establishment to use its upper amphitheater for patio dining, she said. The space reflected about the same number of tables as the indoors.
“It was so lovely,” Cook said.
How it’s going
Folsom has grown and changed quite a bit in the last 25 years.
From 2000 to 2020, the population increased from about 50,000 to 80,000 people.
An influx of Bay Area residents have challenged Scott’s Seafood Roundhouse even more to uphold its San Francisco sister locations’ standards, Cook said.
“The city has grown immensely in the last 25 years,” she said. “The quality and caliber of our clientele continually impresses upon us that we’re in the right place.”
