Well decorated restaurant on the very touristy Monterey pier. Food is good, Sand Dabs excellent and fresh. They have a regular every night menu and an up-charge special seafood menu where they add at least $20 an entree. My only objection is when they overcharge...for dinner entree’s. It is not necessary to charge $50 for a fish entree and even more for steaks. The service is decent with a friendly waiter. It is a bit gross to display menu items fully cooked on a table on the pier as you enter the restaurant. When ordinary Americans are suffering the ravages of inflation, I feel restaurants should make sure they have a few entree’s at reasonable prices! I told this to the owner he was not apologetic and defended his exorbitant prices. The bottom line is the owner can charge whatever he wants and as customers you are free to find a similar less expensive restaurant.More

The wharf experience is not our cup-of-tea, but we were hungry and decided to drop in because the restaurant clearly advertised "no children or strollers". Ah - wonderful. It's clear this place has been around forever. Yay for a full bar with bartenders who know...what they are doing. Yay for the sound dampening materials which allow for conversation. Yay for the window seats where our out-of-town guests could ogle the sea lions. Yay to the servers who are attentive and professional. As to the food; it's good Italian comfort food. Nothing exceptional, but generous portions with solid sauces and good ingredients. Our favorite appetizers were the fried calamari (delicate breading and properly fried), the grilled artichoke ($14 - large artichokes halved, and grilled). I had the Linguini Isabella with bay shrimp, chopped clams and scallops in a garlic and cream sauce over a bed of linguini. It was good, but not $34 good (yes seafood is expensive, and they didn't skimp, but still). On our second visit (to bring our guests) I had Seafood Puttanesca consisting of penne pasta with salmon, shrimp, scallops, tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies and fresh herbs. The amount of seafood was great, but again I'm not sure it was $39 great). We are glad we went, but this wasn't a cheap meal.More

We loved our food and cocktails here. The clam bake was so so good, best chowder I’ve ever had…. and I’ve tried a lot in my travels on the east and west coast. The seafood salad was excellent also.

Great place. I love that they have older, experienced waiters. They know what you want before you do. Clam chowder - one of the best I’ve had. I got the seafood pasta - clams, lobster, pasta, about $50 and more than I could eat. Wife...had Sea Bass which she loved. Sat upstairs by the window and watched the seals play in the bay. Fun, enjoyable experience. We walked around, other restaurants were nearly empty. They definitely have the good reputation.More

Old school wharf restaurant - Perfect experience! Our waiter was great (Pablo) and we were seated by the window with a view of the water and the sea lions. Clam chowder was classic and delicious, grilled and marinated local artichoke was outstanding and my husband...thoroughly enjoyed his fish special entree as I savored the prawn cocktail. Big band music in the background plus a red rose upon leaving - felt special and pampered.More

We enjoyed this restaurant so much we went twice! Wait staff was pleasant and efficient. The food was wonderful! The first night, I had the seafood risotto and my wife had the sea bass. Both were wonderful. We had key lime pie and NY cheesecake...for dessert. Both were delicious. The second night we shared the Cioppino, which was out only negative. While it was delicious, at the $53 price, we had one clam and zero mussels, and the scallops were very tiny. Really good, but not great value. We also shared a beat and goat cheese salad which was delicious. Had the tiramisu for dessert...delicious! We would definitely recommend this place. Absolutely great food and service!More

Get the clam chowder bread bowl at the stand outside of the seated dining room. We had that the first night on the wharf and it was yummy. Decided to check out the actual dining room the next night and it was a different story....Seemed to be quite the tourist trap. Huge portions, mid to low quality food, luxury prices. We only ordered entrees which as a restaurant worker I would almost never do if the place hadn’t immediately announced itself as a trap in the way it had. My partner had the grilled scallops which were inconsistent. The sautéed vegetables were the best thing on the plate. I had the linguini with clams which was decent, although the clams were not presented in shells and were chewy. I’m not for sure, but I think they were canned. Came out to about an $100 tab with the two entrees, soda and tip. I think you can do better on the wharf for less. Get the clam chowder on the stand next to the host station and post up on the wharf like we did the night before. Second night was a bummer experience.More

The best Clam Choweder in the WORLD. So deliciouse and so was the Sourdough bowl. Visiting from Bay Area do not expect to fing The Best Clam Chowder out of Bay Area but WOW! they have it.

Want a surprise! Go here for dinner! We had the Alaskan Halibut w/macadamia nut and Goat cheese and beets w/chicken. Plus, try the Monterey clam chowder! Great wine selection. Key Lime Pie was better then what we get in Key West FL! The staff was...very friendly and our waiter of superb! Veteran friendly, too!!More

After a disappointing seafood meal in Cambria, we decided to take a day trip up to Monterey for a truly awesome lunch. Once again, we chose our favorite restaurant, The Old Fisherman's Grotto, located on the wharf. It was Father's Day weekend and the place...was packed, necessitating a long wait. When we finally got inside, we were seated in a comfortable upstairs booth. My sidekick Cookielee ordered her favorite large bread bowl full of their award winning Chowder. I chose chowder, tasty fried calamari, and an order of scallops with onion risotto. We absolutely love this restaurant. After lunch, we enjoyed the annual hot rod show. We'll be back soon for some more great chowder.More

Beautiful restaurant and views. Romantic a large portions. Cioppino was amazing and enough for two. Keen- bartender and Tara our waitress were wonderful. Will stop here any time we go through Monterey

After hiking all day we enjoyed an afternoon on the pier and decided to eat a late lunch at Fisherman’s Grotto. We had a short wait and then were seated at one of the front open view tables. We had delicious Espresso martinis, Aperol Spritz,...Cosmopolitan martini. The food was just as good - chowder, salad with salmon (amazing!!) seafood special and lobster ravioli. Great portion sizes. Wonderful attentive service. Hope to get back some day!More