The Ritz Restaurant is coming back, this time to Mariner’s Mile

The Ritz Restaurant, which was previously housed in Newport Center, will open in a waterfront space along Mariner’s Mile in August.

The Planning Commission unanimously approved Thursday an application from GP’s Landing LLC, which manages the property at 2801 W. Coast Hwy. to authorize additional outdoor patio hours, a retractable awning to cover the patio and allow unamplified live music inside the Ritz Restaurant.

The property is also home to Billy’s at the Beach and a marina.

The commission’s vote was the last step in the process for The Ritz to complete renovations of the location previously occupied by the Chart House, an upscale seafood restaurant that shuttered last year.

The space is currently under construction to reconfigure the dining area to relocate space for a larger kitchen area. The Ritz also moved the outdoor patio so it is attached to the restaurant.

The indoor restaurant will have 187 seats and the outdoor dining patio will accommodate 44 patrons.

The commission voted to allow the Ritz to extend outdoor dining hours to include 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays to accommodate lunchtime patrons. The patio hours for the previous tenant were only allowed from 5 p.m. to midnight on Saturdays, according to the staff report.

The Ritz, famous for its red-lipped waitresses and three-martini lunches, had a long history in Newport Beach before it closed in 2014.

The Ritz first opened in Newport Beach in 1977 near the Newport Pier.

In 1982, it relocated to the more upscale Newport Center, where it remained until the site manager, the Irvine Co., declined to renew the restaurant’s lease.