Family-owned Long Beach fish market stars in Amazon Prime reality series

A new reality series featuring the San Pedro Fish Market’s Long Beach location is set to premiere Tuesday on Amazon Prime Video.

“Kings of Fi$H,” which started as a web series in 2015, follows the story of the Ungaro family, who have owned and operated the Guinness World Record–winning fish market since 1956.

This season dives into how the Long Beach location, near Alamitos Bay, is helping the family train its restaurant staff while renovations continue on its San Pedro location set to open in 2025 at the West Harbor waterfront development, CEO Mike Ungaro said.

“The storyline is how can the Long Beach location help keep people working [during the construction in San Pedro],” Ungaro said.

“Kings of Fi$H” Executive Producer Tim Regan Wasmundt previously worked on shows including “Iron Chef America,” “Food Network Star” and “Bar Rescue.”

Before making the jump to Prime Video, the show’s seventh and final season of the web series covered the challenges of the Long Beach location, which opened in February 2020 before shutting down roughly six weeks later because of pandemic-related restrictions.

Mike’s oldest daughter served as a hostess in the restaurant during the pandemic before moving to New York to pursue her career.

Mike first noticed the location on East Marina Drive over two decades ago while bringing his daughter to a nearby pumpkin patch. In 2017, the family bought the restaurant property, which previously housed a Joe’s Crab Shack.

Over the next two-and-a-half years, crews added a fully renovated kitchen, a rebuilt bar and new tables.

“What we were trying to do in Long Beach was give people sort of an elevated experience, but with the same taste, the same food and the same quality,” Ungaro said.

The family hired Studio McCormack to design the interior. Prior to starting Studio McCormack, founder Rick McCormack spent over 13 years as vice president of design for the Cheesecake Factory.

Unique touches include cut-up shipping containers serving as the frame for the bathrooms.

“A lot of the decor is really aimed at giving you that feel that you’re on the L.A. waterfront, but the view is obviously the Alamitos Bay so it’s beautiful,” Ungaro said.

Several members of the Ungaro family’s fourth generation currently work at the Long Beach restaurant location, including one of Henry Ungaro’s sons who serves as a kitchen supervisor.

With an all-new kitchen system also in place, the 500-seat location in Long Beach serves as the crash course for the kitchen staff that will run the 2,000 seat San Pedro location when it is fully built.

“Long Beach is the training ground for people that want to be in a leadership position and manage these new standard operating procedures that we’re putting into place that are much more effective and efficient for a happy customer experience,” Mike Ungaro said.

The two-story restaurant at 6550 E. Marina Drive near Alamitos Bay is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Watch the trailer for “Kings of Fi$H” here. The series debuts Tuesday, Aug. 13 on Amazon Prime Video.

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