I've never written a review on Yelp before, but I'm making an account just to write about how horrible our experience was eating at this restaurant. DO NOT go here for brunch even if the location looks appealing. I can't speak to lunch/ dinner, but I had possibly the worst breakfast food ever served to me. The California omelette had no taste, seasoning, and was nauseating at every bite. I poured half a bottle of tobacco sauce to be able to bear it. Their side of boiled potatoes they served with it was surprisingly worse- no flavor, no roasting, no salt, felt raw to the bite. The side of fruit was served interspersed with the warm potatoes and nothing is worst than biting into a heated grape. I ordered the mocha and it came out room temperature. No water was served to us until halfway through our meal. I'm impressed at how this business still manages to operate especially with the high prices they charge. Trust me, go somewhere else! read more

The waffle cone ice cream and shaved ice was good. Service was pretty good. I liked how they didn't touch the cone with their bare hands.

Food has a good price, but the quality is terrible. I feel that this food is good if you don't want to spend a lot of money in food, and don't have options. This food is not good at all. The quality of the meats also is terrible. Customer Service is ok. read more

Killer fish and chips. Unbeatable view. What more could one ask for? The concern was this might be super touristy. Undeterred, we pressed on and had one of the most satisfying meals imaginable! The menu is huge. There is crab, seafood, finned fish, oysters, mussels. Chicken, burgers, and salads are also featured. Lots of beers, too. The Dungeness crab was sweet and buttery. Every bite was perfect lusciousness. The fish and chips are deservedly the most popular item on the menu. We got cod but for $9 more, one can have halibut. I'm sure it's delicious but could not have been any tastier than the cod. The fish was expertly fried: crunchy batter and moist tender fish. The batter did not overpower the fish, which demonstrated they know how to cook fish they are proud to serve. The fries were crispy and just the right size-smallish and not too thick. The creamy coleslaw was a refreshing accompaniment. The homemade tartar sauce was a happy treat, meaning it did not include sweet pickle. The tarter sauce was a welcome complement to the fish. In a perfect world, the server would have known exactly where the oysters came from. Virginia was the answer and there are spectacular oysters in VA. However, and this is a small quibble, knowing the exact location may have prompted our party to order them. Admittedly, some need to know this info but the sheer volume of oysters sold here should be enough for 99% of the world to order them. Having a textbook perfect oceanfront lunch would have been enough but sitting on the pier watching the surfers and swimmers in the jewel-toned water took our memorable meal to the next level. This is one seemingly touristy spot that any local would be glad to regularly patronize. There are creative daily specials from 4-7 and thus would be a fun place to watch Monday Night Football. read more

Great fish and chips and the sourdough bread was amazing! Ginger is a great server and the ambience on the deck was beautiful. I would definitely dine here again! Thank you read more

Monster scoops of ice cream. While just the soft serve machine type for $2.24 what's not to like. read more

Fisherman's Galley - American Near Me - Clemente, California

I chose this place for our 50th anniversary. We drove up from San Diego. We arrived Tuesday @ 4:30 and waited in line. Even though there were X's to stand on during COVID, no one followed distancing and people in line were not wearing masks. There was no way to get away from these inconsiderate people. We requested a table with a view, instead after waiting for over an hour as they kept taking people behind us in line, we ended up with a table with no view in the sun, and we noticed that the people who were behind us in line had been seated at better tables. We ordered drinks and food and made the best of it. This was so disappointing. We had planned on returning the following day, but due to the rude treatment by the hostesses, did not return. read more

OMG, this was the worst fish and chips experience ever, the taste was awful the food tasted bitter and worst part, one of my friend's wife she ordered a chicken tender strips the food was completely uncooked and raw inside. And when we asked the workers in the shop that who's the supervisor here so we could show them the quality of the food, they just replied oh I'm sorry we can see that the food is uncooked and they said we don't have any supervisor and we cannot do anything for you, completely unacceptable and very rude. read more

Great views but the food was horrible service so so...this place has so much potential

For some odd reason you can not order chips and salsa. They have them both but will not serve them together. I even asked the server and she had no solution other that ordering two full meals that included chips in 1 and salsa in the other. Big time fail. Wet left and spent money elsewhere. read more

After getting woken up at 11AM by a "I'll be there in an hour" phone call, I must say I was not in the best of moods to go eat a deep fried lunch. However, seeing how excited the BF was to show me the darn San Clemente Pier was reason enough to put on my Friday morning best. We got to the pier at around noon on a Friday and the parking lot was already a bit hectic. I couldn't believe huge monster-truck sized vehicles were trying to squeeze in, what was clearly, spots designed for cars of compact size. The restaurant itself! It was very cute and had lots of outside seating. Plastic chairs, but who can ask for more when I'm sure the ocean air would eat away at everything else. Food - Clam Chowder in a bread bowl: The clam chowder was good. I like mine thick and a little salty. There weren't as many clams as one would hope for, but I let it go. The bread bowl, on the other hand, was not all that. I think I'm just used to the hard, crusty, sourdough bread from San Francisco... This loaf seemed like just that, a loaf of white bread from Safeway. Fish & Chips: He got this one. I was pleasantly surprised by the freshness of the fish. I'm usually not a big fan of this dish, but it really wasn't bad at all. The fish was devoured, but many fries were still left on the plate... I think it was because they give you about 2 fistfuls of the stuff. Overall: The food was pretty OK, the view was beautiful, and I really want to come back for their Sunset Hour (happy hour) and get my $1 oyster on. read more

This review is for the restaurant side of the pier. The south (or left hand side of the pier). The view was obviously amazing! My experience here was 180 degrees from the oyster bar! The service was awesome! Our waitress (Leela) was awesome! Her bright attitude and nature really started our morning off right. We went for some early morning BLODDY MARYS. They were great! Good selection of liquors: WELL, TITOS, PEPPER STOLI etc. They came with great olives and a pickle. I ordered mine spicey and it was perfect. Leela asked if we wanted to eat and we weren't sure so she brought us some complimentary muffins. Great experience. The waitress we had over on the bar side of the restaurant needs to read a page from Leela's book and figure out how to serve customers. read more

Came here on a Friday night and was able to get a seat on the patio pretty quickly. Overall, the best part about this place is the seating and the view. The food was good but not great for the price. Our server was friendly and did well considering how busy the place was. Here is what we ordered: 1. "Jumbo" Shrimp cocktail: these were the smallest jumbo shrimp I have ever seen. They were just okay. Six for $16.95 didn't seem like a great value. 2. Ceviche: their version of ceviche was served with tortilla chips. The ceviche itself had very little flavor and came out in a little serving dish with huge chunks. Would have been much better if they cut it up a little more and had served freshly made chips. 3. Oysters Rockefeller - These were the tastiest thing we ordered but were just okay in comparison to the many other places I've ordered this dish. 4. Wedge Salad - this was your standard wedge but was the best part about everything we ordered. In conclusion, $85.00 for three appetizers, a small salad and two beers seems a bit steep. You are definitely paying for the view at this spot. read more

***RUDE AND UNFRIENDLY TO THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED/BLIND COMMUNITY*** I am visually impaired person and visited the shack with a group of other visually impaired/ blind people about a month ago. We walked up to the shack and some of us had our white canes( a cane used to help us visually impaired/blind people see). We kindly asked the worker if he/she can read us the menu. She then huffed and sarcastically said "all of it". We replied "yes, we are visually impaired and we can not read the menu". After waiting a minute, she still refused to read it to us. We had to ask her if they had an item. When we recieved our food, we asked for some napkins and the server replied "They are over there". He never once helped us find them. Later on a few of us went back for some snow cones. We asked if he/she can tell us the flavors they have. And he/she said it is on the menu. We told her once again that we can not read the menu, we are visually impaired/blind can you please read us the flavors. She rudly replied "it is up on the menu, so read it. HOW RUDE IS THAT. If you have some kind of diasability, I recommend not going there. I will never go back. read more

Order the bread bowl came out hard as a sea shell. Defiantly will never order clam chowder from this place again. Very disappointing. For $9 what a waiste of money. Get your food quality up!!!! This is OC !!! read more

The service was excellent. But the hamburger was not good at all. And the French fries had a heavy taste of seafood. The chicken wings were okay, that's all I ate. Probably wouldn't go back. If you like seafood I'm sure it would be a good place..... I don't lol read more

I had a bite or two of my girlfriend's veggie burger. I was pleasantly surprised. For those of you who don't know, this is the snack bar type place right on the beach next to the pier. I believe it is owned and operated by the same people that run the bar and the restaurant on the pier. When we ordered, I was expecting a microwaved grocery store veggie patty on a bun. After waiting about 5 minutes, we got a nicely grilled veggie patty on a bun with good looking and tasting lettuce, tomato, and onion. The patty itself was nothing special, but they took the time and effort to make it the the best they could for a snack bar. I wouldn't go out of my way to eat here, but if I was on the beach and hungry, I would not hesitate to grab a snack here. read more

My son took our family of 4 out to celebrate Mother's Day tonight, a day after to avoid crowds, and we all were anticipating a usually great meal. I had the full Maine lobster, my sons ordered the shared big meal of crab, with all the trimmings and my husband ordered a seafood kabob of prawns fish and scallop. The place was crowded at 7pm and we were seated in a fly filled outer corner near the building which we understood and accepted. The clam buckets were fine, how can you screw that up. We expected the nearly $50 per head shellfish to be done perfectly as this is a pier based seafood restaurant. I was stunned at how tough, stringy and chewy the lobster was and even though the waitress stumblingly insisted that the melted yellow oil was clarified butter, I'd bet the price of the meal it wasn't. I was doubting my own tastebuds so I asked to try the crab and couldn't believe how dried out the claw meat was. It was as if the crab had been frozen for too long, if any time frozen is acceptable. The lobster was claimed to be fresh and if it was Maine lobster I wondered why it had no flavor other than saltiness. The same saltiness you find from frozen crap. If my son hadn't spent a fortune for the meal as a loving gesture for me I'd have complained and insisted on some compensation for another time where they'd make the meal worth the price. I will never feel the same about this place and believe they're cutting back on product by using cheaper sources, butter flavored oil and whatever else... I will not be returning to this restaurant. We took 4 boxes home only because we paid for it. Maybe I can make crab salad or something to make it palatable. The price was a sacrifice for my son and I am disappointed this restaurant apparently feels they did their job by serving a lame excuse for dinner with very poor quality crab and lobster, taking nearly $300 of very hard earned money for it. This place is riding on its laurels and has gone to cut corner cheapness that ruined my formerly great feelings and memories of past experiences. It was a half assed meal and the food served was insulting and arrogant. My son tipped 30% too as he has a conscience about those in the service industry. I couldn't bear to cast any complaints on this beautiful gesture. What a terrible position to be in to let this go without notice for his sake. That's why I'm writing this here as my first report on a dining experience. read more

The shrimp cocktails are to die for! Moreover, so is the scenery. Arrive a little early so that you can get a good seat along the patio border. Especially arrive early to view the classic sunsets! Try the opposite side of the restaurant and order the Sea Bass! read more

The restaurant has a great view and good service. The bartender didn't know how to make an apple martini or they could have been using cheap vodka bc it tasted disgusting after 3 tries. Their food, not great and they are a seafood joint and I ordered the scallops. They were a little over cooked and tasteless. Considering the small menu that they have I hope something tastes good on it. Their Boston calm chowder, not great, it's too sweet for me to consider it a savory soup. All I enjoyed was watching the waves coming up the shore. I would not go back. read more

Come here all the time. Primarily for the view. This is a popular watering hole for the locals and the tourists. Food is good but expensive. Sunset us busy time and you have to hover for a table. Be assertive or you will be standing a long time. read more

Always a great place with a view of the coastline. Best calamari I've had in ages. Great service and good prices.

I GOT FOOD POISONING AT THIS RESTAURANT. Do NOT eat the fish or the coleslaw . I and my friend got very very ill and call the management to make sure that they checked the mayo or fish and got put on hold for 20 minutes and then finally got a manager that denied my claim . He took my credit card number and name and said he would call back after looking at a tape. I know he was in denial and never offered anything but " I am sorry " BEWARE this restaurant might give you food poisoning . I had the runs for 6 to 7 hours and so did she and we both ate the fish and coleslaw. I have been going here for years and so have my friends but they must be under new management because the food was more lethal than getting Montazooma's revenge on stree food in Mexico . BEWARE DO NOT EAT HERE . BEWARE TOURISTS AND LOCALS ALIKE I will call the health department next. read more

There is nothing to not like about this restaurant. Great view, good prices & good food. I always go to the bar side which is the seating to the right. We have always had great service and never had anything but the best quality of food. The oyster shooters are a must! read more

Hands down best view in all of San Clemente! I try to eat here every time I'm down in San Clemente because the view is just stunning! The food is pretty darn good too and the happy hour is pretty good prices. The service is pretty good... not amazing but good. The ambiance is just so nice, a mix of tourist and locals and during the summer it's packed and hard to find a seat. This is across from the Fisherman's restaurant and is a good cheaper alternative as they have a limited menu compared to the restaurant but still enough options to eat a full meal there. We bring all our friends and family who visit there and they just fall in love with the area! read more

First, you need to realize that the formal restaurant, the informal bar on the pier, and the really informal walk up window next to the train tracks all have similar names. So any misplaced Yelp reviews are probably referring to one of the other restaurants. But this review is for the walk up window that used to be a snack shack. The pizza is actually pretty good, but the bottled beer prices are too high, given the atmosphere and location. (You're basically ordering from a snack shack and sitting at wobbly plastic tables.). The plexiglass surrounding the seating area cuts off the wind, so it does get pretty warm sitting there if the sun is out during the summer. Chicken fingers were good also. read more

Well.. it's not how I remembered it as a kid, let me tell you! The "clam bucket" Was flavorless and wow, I've never seen smaller clams in my life! Bread costs extra (in case you want to dip it in the clam water). Ahi sandwich was super dry, same with the fish and chips, shrimp cocktail was also flavorless and expensive! The Service pretty much sucked, especially for a $250 bill! The view is nice but that's about it!! read more

The view is amazing for sure. Which is why the prices are a bit high for what you get. The food is decent but I wouldn't classify it as amazing. Customer service can be good but of course it depends on the person you are assigned. Some are awesome and some just plain ignore and treat you as if they have something better to do and you are bothering them. So for us, going to experience the sunsets and view of the ocean while getting something affordable as in an appetizer can be worth it. You just have to get lucky with the server you receive. read more

Another successful day in the sun! Tried the Poke for the first time.... Excellent!! Service was very good too.

We live in San Clemente and walk to Fisherman's several times a month for a sunset drink and bite to eat. Food is fine, the view is great. The reason for this review is to let others know that they allow smoking at the tables in the plexiglass enclosed deck. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK YOUR SEATING AREA BEFORE YOU SIT DOWN. The vile smell will ruin your ambiance if you're sitting close to it. Management says the city allows it and it's been this way for 20 years. read more

Fries were good! Burger was fairly tasteless, but the toppings were fresh and made up for the tasteless meat. I won't order a burger again, however. I would opt for something different. Fish and chips were cooked perfectly served with good tarter sauce. read more

Moldy bread on hotdog. Service took 20 minutes to get a hotdog and precooked pizza. Terrible.

Yummy! I visited this restaurant with my husband and uncle (a longtime San Clemente resident) for lunch. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to enjoy the views of the pier and the beach. Although all the beachside tables were taken (the weather brought everyone out for lunch), we still had a great time and a tasty meal. I ordered the seafood salad which was delicious! Lots and lots of seafood, including an oyster on the half-shell, mussell, bay shrimp, larger shrimp, crab meat, and a piece of mahi-mahi. Yummmm! My husband had the fish and chips and a bowl of clam chowder, both of which he said were really tasty. We all had bloody marys which were also delicious. Our waitress was also really nice, friendly and attentive. I noticed quite a few people remark about this restaurant being a "tourist spot," but with the location you have to expect that visitors are going to want to experience the views and soak up the sun. My uncle has lived in San Clemente for thirty years and likes the restaurant, so that should tell you something. I recommend Fisherman's Galley to all San Clemente visitors or residents! Yummy! read more

Not very good , the food it ok , menu never changes , worries than the other fisherman next door . Would not go back aside from the view

great fish & chips. Love the outside seating. Fish tacos are good too. prices are reasonable. Can't go wrong here.