Great food great service and live music Excellent experience We will definitely return to try more fresh fish from local sources read more

Wild Fish - Sable soup and mussels - Seafood Near Me - Pacific Grove, California

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I've always liked the wild fish though it is quite expensive. The menu is innovative, but sometimes I just want something simple. Case in point: their aïoli has quite a kick to it and lots of jalapeño peppers. I'd love to see a homemade tartar sauce next time. The fish tacos, too, as opposed to the usual three were fried lightly, but served with a very spicy aïoli Again, I like my tartar sauce. I think it's a bit of an overkill with the jalapeño. Something that was a little distressing, was our waiter . While the service was OK, his insistence on standing next to our table while we are engrossed in conversation was distracting and interrupted the flow of the conversation. He did it again and I was a bit curt with him. I think service staff should be able to 'read the table' and never interrupt especially to ask if everything is all right need to anticipate the guests. I posted this on social media wondering if maybe I was just too harsh with the server, however, the responses I received agreed with me. Do not interrupt your customers conversation. read more

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The place is cute with charm and nice jazz music playing all day long. The servers are friendly and efficient. That said the food was disappointing. The seafood chowder was not really a chowder but more of a fish soup. It didn't really have any flavor or much ingredients besides chunks of boiled fish. The fish tacos had decent chunks of cod which were tender, but under seasoned and there wasn't much beside an aioli glaze to provide flavor. The calamari was actually good with a generous helping of squid that was nicely prepared. Perhaps it was a bit too salty but the rest of the food was kinda flavorless (so it was an interesting contrast). Anyway I don't think this place was as good as the reviews would indicate. read more

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This restaurant used to be one of my favorite restaurants until my last experience. My friends from Seattle came to visit me in Monterey. I brought them here for dinner. The server introduced their new Thai chef's cuisine as special- which I tried last week with my daughter- turned out not impressive at all. I don't think the restaurant should push their trial food to the customers. The restaurant should choose the best food and had them on menu instead of a quick introduction by server. We ordered a steamer, a ceviche, a soup for appetizer and a black cod, a bouillabaisse for main course. The server brought two steamers to the table and told us one was steamer and the other was bouillabaisse. We doubted, because they are exactly the same! Definitely not bouillabaisse as this is twice of the price of the steamer. But the server insisted and then left. We waited until he came back and asked him to tell the difference of the two dishes on the table. He then said he will ask the chef. Later he brought another bowl saying this now was bouillabaisse, which was a little different, a bigger size. And not the one I saw before. He even didn't apologize for his mistake. Then came the other main course. The black cod. It was just a tail part of the code, thin and small. The tomatoes in the dish were even cold. We ate it. But then I saw the customer beside us also ordered black cod. His was totally different, two big cod fillets seared golden all sides, looking much better than ours. (He looked like a regular customer of the restaurant. I saw he talked with the owner and the band . ) I asked for the owner and showed her the picture I took earlier ( I had a habit to take pictures of dishes) . She was nice and talked to chef , explained to me the reason(although I didn't believe what chef said, because if the food was not good it shouldn't be brought up to the table to serve the customers at such a pricy restaurant) and told us they would take the charge of this dish out from our bill. I really didn't like the experience this time, being tricked by the server and being treated differently from other customers. The chef was not responsible, either. If you are not their regular customer, maybe, you won't get good service or even good food. This difference will destroy your whole dinner experience. read more

Great food and people I had the muscles and they were wonderful. I really enjoy the food in this restaurant and it is a wonderful place to hear. Good music on a weekend. read more

Completely awful from start to finish. Slow service in a busy rescan be understandable but slow service in a slow restaurant can not. Food, incredibly, incredibly average to low in perceived value and even worse in flavor. Way better places to go than here and all within walking distance. read more

Farm to table fresh fish with a menus that is always changing with the seasons. Wild Fish is a true gym in Pacific Grove. The staff is super nice and the owners Calvin and Liz are great people. Oh and they have a Jazz band on the weekend! We have been to Wild Fish multiple times, some have been perfect and amazing but on a busy weekend for some reasons things are just not up to par. Example: my fish has not been cooked 100%, meals do not come out at the same time and items we have ordered have been forgotten. If you are planning to go on a weekday then 5 stars you will likely get but on a busy weekend and being a local, I would pass hence why I give 4 stars vs 5. read more

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We came to Lover point park. I searched Google for the best restaurant near me, so it came out to me ? Wild fish Restaurant We ordered the fish chowder, fish tacos, Bouillabaisse seafood. The fish tacos were okay but the portion size was small Bouillabaisse with fish filet, clam, shrimp and mussels but the mussels weren't fresh when I bites it was terrible taste. Please make sure seafood is fresh for the plate you charged 42.00. The service wasn't bad . This place on the Lighthouse Avenue so ..no view of the sea .. have candles on table ! Pricey no problem but if the seafood please make sure it is fresh. I don't want to complain but I need to feedback so hopefully it will be better.., read more

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This was not our first visit to Wild Fish. In fact, we had been there several times in the Fall of '24 and had fine meals. We opted to go early to avoid crowding. After quite tasty cocktails, dinner was a HUGE disappoinment! We started with their calamari appetizer. This serving was half the size of the basket we enjoyed last year. My husband chose the clam chowder which was chowder but clam in name only. Tasted like potato soup with maybe a drizzle of clam juice. Oh well. I had the Sablefish Collar appetizer as my main and it was really scrumptious, as was the salad with melon. My husband's halibut was OK, but too dry. For dessert we opted for their house-made apple crumble served in its own iron skillet. It arrived lukewarm and the "crumble" was soggy, pasty, flavorless fine breadcrumbs like might be used to bread fried shrimp. Service was spotty bordering on negligent. We'll not go back. read more

We have been dining at Wild Fish pretty much since they opened, and our experience has always been good. Several weeks ago, we brought friends there for a dinner on a Sunday night. First, we noticed it was very warm in the restaurant, uncomfortably warm. After we ordered, later we were advised they were out of the item two of us had ordered. When our food came out, my dish (filet of sole) was dry and tasteless. The others were similarly not impressed with their dishes. The worst part was this: We ordered Focaccia bread, which was hard and stale. We have ordered this before at this restaurant and it was always warm and fresh. My wife and I were embarrassed bringing our friends there. We noticed the owners were not there this time, and that may explain the terrible experience we had that night. read more

Food was disappointing as it had such promise from reading the menu description. The steamed mussels were tiny and flavorless. Fish N Chips were just okay as batter didn't have much seasoning and not as light as expected. read more

We loved Wildfish! Great service. Friendly staff. Good portions. Delicious fish. The perfect combo for our evening out. We ordered their focaccia bread but soon realized it came with two of our orders already so we took it home. It's delicious! read more

Wild Fish - Steamers comes with bread - Seafood Near Me - Pacific Grove, California

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I am SO not a fan of leaving negative reviews but they really got me messed up at this place :'( My partner and I made a reservation for our anniversary, when we got to the restaurant it was clear they had not reserved a table for us, host made it clear they didn't care about our reservation. They proceeded to sit us in the completely empty back room of the restaurant. My understanding is that when one makes a reservation they reserve a table for you, and most likely a pretty good location for a table, not for example next to the bathroom or in an empty back room. They then proceeded to ignore us for about 7 minutes. We didn't get a greeting or anything from our server. When she came by she immediately asked us for our order, tho we had 7 minutes we were still figuring out our game plan, we asked for water, and she looked visibly annoyed. She then completely forgot about our waters, and took another long ass while to come back and we had to ask for water again. By that point we already were on the brink of walking out, but we didn't. Food: got the focaccia, and it was SO stale! Really not good at all, and barely a focaccia, the structure of the bread was all wrong way too dense. And they served an ungodly amount of whipped butter with it that tasted not good either, like cheap butter that was left out too long, YUCK! Salad was PHENOMENAL, such a gorgeous salad, light and refreshing, sweet and savory, if only just a bit too bitter. Entrees: we both got fish obvi, partner got the whole fish and I got the fish with the crème fraiche caviar on it. Both our dishes came with potatoes, his were perfect and fluffy and crispy, and mine were super undercooked and hard, raw! My entree had way too many elements, way too much going on, ended up eating maybe half of it. Partners whole fish was too much fish, it was tacky honestly. Like most places in pacific grove and Monterey, I feel like they're playing at being upscale but the food always just falls flat for me. Dessert was pretty damn good tho I was surprised the chocolate cake was so rich and melt in your mouth good. Really underwhelming for such a special occasion :( read more

Wild Fish - Chocolate cake with coffee ice cream - Seafood Near Me - Pacific Grove, California

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My wife and I escaped to the Monterey Peninsula for an overnight, and chose the Wild Fish in Pacific Grove for dinner. A few years back we had dined at the now shuttered Wild Fish in Mendocino, and had been blown away by the food. Sadly the PG restaurant did not even come close. The service was exceptional and outdoor seating a delight, but the meal, well meh. Oysters on the 1/2 shell were wonderful, but hard to mess those up. My wife's seafood chowder was mostly vegetables, her petrale sole main tasty but very small portion, and my bouillabaisse a huge disappointment. Frightfully small serving and bland. Even the sourdough bread was stale and flavorless. With all the exceptional choices in this neck of the woods Wild Fish didn't seem to be trying. $260 for 2, including tip should wow us. It did not. read more

Highly recommend the fish and chips. The battered fish came out hot, fresh and crispy. My boyfriend is not gluten free but he thought it was delicious too! It was perfectly satisfying, did not feel like a heavy meal even though it was a large portion. The staff were incredibly nice and accommodating for gluten free, plus our waiter actually said most of the menu is gf. read more

Tommy and I drove up to Pacific Grove to check out some antique shops, and ended up finding Wild Fish restaurant right after they closed for lunch at 2 PM. I checked out their menu and saw they offered a vegan entree that sounded really nice. They didn't open back up for dinner until 5PM. We went to the Monterey Aquarium and drove back to Pacific Grove about 4 PM. I shopped a few more stores and finally at 5 PM went and opened the door to an amazing restaurant experience, The owners, Liz and Kelvin Jacobs, were as awesome as the food. Loved hearing about their move from near Ft. Bragg, CA where they had a restaurant, to Pacific Grove after visiting the Monterey Jazz Festival. Liz is from New Orleans, and Kelvin is from England. The restaurant is cute, and we loved the chandelier near the front door that reminded us of Chihuly. They commissioned a new art glass artist to make it. Beautiful My vegan dish was inspired, and Tommy's rock cod was as good, according to him. Next time we're in the area, we'll stay in Pacific Grove, and dine at Wild Fish again. https://www.wild-fish.com read more

Wild Fish - My vegan dish which included squash, mushrooms, beans, and a delicious broth. Also Tommy's rock cod entree. - Seafood Near Me - Pacific Grove, California

The food is always delicious at Wild Fish. Fresh daily fish, calamari is the best around and the potatoes- OMG. Service is lovely and Ambiance is perfect for a fairly quiet dinner with friends or a date night. read more

Business dinner. Excellent outdoor parking. Wonderfully attentive service. Prompt to fill water glass, asked if we need extra drinks and plates which requires paying attention. This was greatly appreciated so we can enjoy our meal and discussion without interruption by looking for help. The meal itself was wonderfully prepared (ahi tuna), presented and was delicious. Oysters were fresh and very enjoyable - great balance of sea and natural oyster flavor. Good variety in dessert options - bread pudding, chocolate cake, cheesecake and sorbet. Prices seemed fair and in line with expectations. Will definitely continue to come back! (This was the 3rd visit for this Yelper). read more

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It's a cute little restaurant tucked on a busy Monterey street, but was quite empty on a Thursday afternoon. The service was excellent. We made reservations for 12:30 and arrived at noon, but they seated us right away. For entrees I got the shrimp boil, which was excellent. The broth was especially good. I also tried a bit of the poke and the fish burger, which were both good, although I was more partial to the poke. read more

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Had the Bouillabaisse, it was fantastic! Service was great will definitely be returning.

The guy with a British accent who wouldn't give me his name was so rude, I would never eat here even if you paid me. I booked this restaurant in error. He wouldn't give me the chance to explain the error, called me a liar, hung up on me then proceeded to charge me $100 late fee without giving me the chance to explain why and the situation. I guess they need the money more than I do. With this type of hospitality, I wouldn't be surprised if this restaurant closes soon. AVOID! read more

Nice steamed mussels with foccacia, and my husband's gourmet "fish sticks" were great. He liked the lentil soup and Albarino wine; I liked the lemon tart (with Buddha's hand citrus) I had for dessert. I would have ordered them to hold the tonka bean scraping garnish if I had known what it was (it was only a tiny amount on whipped cream) but I would have been afraid of it if I had known (looked it up later). read more

The food selection was excellent. We met a friend and his family for dinner. Despite the fact that we brought our own wine, the food ended up at $50 pp. A bit pricey for the location but decent food. Service was a bit lax hopefully they do better next time. The AHI tuna was definitely the best of the show. read more

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Great meal! Fish tacos, sable fish collars and popovers !!! Loved the wine selection and the staff! Service with the heart! read more

Wild Fish - Seafood Near Me - Pacific Grove, California

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Omg I need this place in my life! Amazing, fresh, and delicious food. Loved the experience from making the reservations to giggling with delight after having dessert. Attentive service and gracious manager (owner?) We sat outside under the tent and there was live music that night. The charming quartet made dinner so fun. This place beats the tourist spots by far. read more

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Fantastic is an understatement! We arrived early for our reservation and got seated right away, had a great seat at the window, felt very private! The food was outstanding, the service was outstanding! Cocktails were top notch. I told my husband I will be dreaming and craving the oysters. Will be back very soon! Bringing my mom in next:)! read more

Wild Fish - Seafood Near Me - Pacific Grove, California

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An excellent restaurant! Service was attentive, and dishes were fresh, well portioned, and attractive.

Came here a few days ago. Food was ok, but definitely nothing to write home about. The prices are very expensive. I always compare my seafood to Monterey Fish House, and this place cannot compare to the delicious and i expensive food of that place. Won't be back. read more

Service excellent. Atmosphere just right! Food ok. Beet salad -cooked beets with squash and covered with apple butter and pomegranate seeds? Odd, not a salad. Popovers v doughy! Calamari excellent. Presentation of everything excellent! Wine list limited to local wines . A mistake we think. Many excellent Calif wineries! The dessert was also v good Creme Brûlée. We would return ! But would choose differently! Live music at 6:30 read more

TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT. Would give it a no star if I could. Made a special trip from San Francisco to try this place and made reservation online and even received confirmation. But when we arrived the place was dark in spite of our reservation and hours posted on the website. Called but no answer. Fortunately we ran into the landlord & he asked someone from the kitchen to come out. Person said they were closed for the day. No posting on the door & nothing on their website to state that they would be closed, so why take reservations? We even received a follow up to confirm reservation the day before. Several other people came by looking to dine there and also left unhappy. So be warned, they apparently care little for their customers. read more

Came by for lunch the other day and it was a decent experience. Made a reservation via Yelp and my table was ready upon arrival. Both indoor and outdoor dining were available with an option for covered outdoor dining. Wild Fish appears to be an organic farm to table restaurant. Staff wore masks sometimes. Started off with the fried calamari and it was decent. The calamari was lightly fried over a bed of grilled peppers, aioli, and topped with some raw green onions. There were a few prices of calamari stuck together though. The fish and chips were mediocre at best. The batter was extremely thick despite using fresh and flaky fish. The potato wedges were delicious though. Service throughout the meal was cordial. ~$60/head after tax and gratuity for lunch. read more

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Kelvin, the long-time owner, and his staff always make us feel welcome! We enjoyed the steamer clams appetizer, the halibut and sablefish entrees, and the strawberry rhubard crisp for dessert...everything was prepared to perfection and we can't wait to return! read more

Over priced and over rated. Service was average. Ambiance was nice , but you had to sit in the bar section to get the happy hour special s.lm a local and have dined at every seafood restaurant around t own .This place has along way to go. read more

Wild Fish is a delightful restaurant with a large interior space as well as a nice outdoor dining area. This review is a bit dated, but still stands true. The hubby and I spend time in central California each year and love Monterey and Pacific Grove. We drove by Wild Fish one night and knew we had to eat there while we were visiting. We sat outside where there was a cool breeze, the cafe lights were strung and the heaters were lit and going. It created such a romantic ambiance. We decided to share a bowl of the smoked fish chowder which was unctuous, creamy and had chunks of potato, leek, onions, pieces of delicate sablefish and topped with bits of chive. It's like nothing I've ever had and was delicious. For dinner, I'm a sucker for sea bass so I ordered the special which was sea bass from San Diego (SD represent!) that was nestled inside a parchment pouch with vegetables and steamed. It was served with a rich sauce on the side and a risotto that looked like regular white rice cooked in broth but was so much more. Looks can be deceiving and glad they were. My husband ordered the crispy skin salmon from Monterey which was served with a zucchini and corn succotash. The vegetables were fresh, fish perfectly cooked and seasoned. Thanks Wild Fish for using fresh, organic ingredients and sustainable seafood. read more

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Summary: Alright, albeit fresh, ocean eats Details: * Fresh seafood dishes that were hit or miss * Highlights included their smoked fish chowder and heirloom tomato salad * Mussels were decent, half roasted cod (shown on the menu as the whole fish, but available in a half portion) was dry * Live music was far too loud, and we weren't told there was a per person service charge for this at any point, until we saw the bill Accessibility: Outdoor seating is accessible, while the indoors appeared (from the outside, at least) to be a bit tight on space Comment Clarifications: * We visited several months back * Half-weight*/smaller roasted cod (waitress told us there was a smaller portion size available since we were concerned we wouldn't be able to finish it all) * We made reservations ahead of time (with no mention of the service charge), were immediately seated (with no mention of the service charge), and no one was looking around as we were focused on catching up with each other, only seeing the signs towards the end of the meal read more

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Wild Fish is a great restaurant and one of the best in Pacific Grove. The food is fresh, local and delish. However, the prices are very high. The server neglected to tell hubby that the small bowl of mushroom soup was $22 or that they had just been harvested that day. That was a shocker, all in all! We had some wines by the glass, all very good, but also a little pricey. Make this a special occasion restaurant or if traveling through PG, then dole out a large sum of cash to check out Wild Fish. read more

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Great food, fantastic cocktails, awesome staff & ambiance. We loved what they did with the bar area.

Excellent quality food. Restaurant closely resembles a typical Parisian bistro. Servers are all top notch professionals. Interesting wine list. A bit pricey. Bambie had the seafood stew. The liquid was white fish broth based, no red tomatoes. My sablefish was super moist silky smooth. Serving portions are on the smallish side. Servers and the owners checked-in with us to ask about our happiness with the meal. We assured them that all was delicious and made us happy. 4 glasses of wine, one soup (Evening special smoked mushroom, unique. Shockingly priced at $22). One salad, the aforementioned stew and fish, one dessert. $197 before tax and tip. $240 out the door. Not an everyday affordable meal. Special occasion worthy. I'd return after saving up enough discretionary cash. read more

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If I were of the moneyed class in the Central Coast, I'd have a weekly standing table at Wild Fish. It feels like the classic & comfy neighborhood joint you're a regular at, but with very high-level food. We came here a little later (8pm) on a Thursday night pre-Labor Day weekend and had the entire front patio to ourselves. The service was warm and attentive, and the mussels steamers was hands down one of the greatest shellfish dishes of my life. The briny freshness of the mussels and the burst of citrus in the broth was crazy addictive. I'd make the drive back up to Pacific Grove just for this dish alone. Wish we had enough room for the sticky toffee pudding, but alas it's a great reason to return. This is the restaurant you're hoping for when planning that romantic Monterey weekend getway. read more

Wild Fish - Mussels steamers were mindblowing - Seafood Near Me - Pacific Grove, California

We have been coming to Wild Fish every few months for the past 3 years. Their fish and chips WERE the best. We felt like a splurge today and we were horribly disappointed. It was disclosed that the chef left. The cevice was old fish and the fish and chips were soggy. They used to be amazingly crispy. Just disappointed. Our server was nice. Feeling sad. We're local and used to recommend this place all the time but unless they go back to the old fish and chips we won't be back. read more