Old Fisherman's Wharf — Attraction in Monterey

Having experienced San Francisco, Oakland Jack London square and Bodega Bay recently, I was ready for a return to Monterey and the wharf.

It is touristy, but in relation to San Francisco and Oakland this is like night and day.

Many sites, beautiful in all respects. We visited at night, so the allure was wonderful.

One visiting in the fall and winter the climate can be cold, and the waves amazing against the shore and buildings/restaurants. The temperature this night was comfortable.

In conversations with other people on the wharf, they found the experience in Monterey wonderful more relaxing and felt safer then Oakland and San Francisco.

There are changes here from when I grew up the area, but I was surprised to see old businesses still around, with new generations taking over for parents.

We stopped at Dominico's for a drink, and then the Grotto for some appetizers, calamari and oysters and clam chowder. Excellent as always at the Shake's restaurant.

I didn't see the diving bell for tourists. I don't know if it's still there, but boating excursions and fishing excursions still exist. Very reasonable in price IMHO.

The calamari specialty shop was closed. That was to bad for us.

In all a great visit. Lots of things to see and do with the family. Bicycling, mopeds, electric bikes, the coast guard wharf with seals. The beauty of Monterey Bay. Lots of shopping for the ladies (LOL)

I will be reviewing the old fishing wharf, Pacific Grove, Carmel, cannery row and the naval postgraduate school in the...

We stopped at the wharf to visit all the rustic goodness of Monterey Bay including the heavy fog and breeze to enhance the experience. We were heading to Carmel as our endgame but stopped in to visit and see all the sights and sounds of the other fisherman's wharf. I've visited Cannery Row and the Aquarium 10 years ago but for this visit I was only there for clam chowder and popcorn shrimp. It was around 3:30 pm when we got there and parking was busy as was the walk down the wharf. I observed most people were settling down for an early dinner as a mad rush of lines developed all along the corridors to grab seafood and chowder. To my delighted convenience, there was a quick moment of no lines at Fish & Chips Cafe for chowder and popcorn shrimp which really hit the spot. Hot, crunchy goodness of fries and popcorn shrimp with hot chowder in the other hand. The stores seemed to be bustling with visitors and I observed alot of boating activity by the marina side and kayaking on the other. Not alot of seals this visit but the last visit there were quite a few. Just a few seagulls alongside the shore as well but they did huddle around the pier for scraps of delicious food. A brisk, one hour visit cost only $3.00 for parking as we embarked towards 17 mile. Considering the visit was brief, we were still able to capture all that is Monterey Bay and the all the...

This place used to be so cool. Now it's way overpriced, even for a tourist area. Crab Louie is a straight-up scam restaurant. The coffee shop is rude as hell, too. Whatever you do, dont get realed in by Crab Louie - keep walking or go back to the old fisherman's grotto. They get you to come in, offering free calamari appetizer. All I wanted was good chowder in a bread bowl. Theirs was $24 it was $15 a few feet away. But I figured i could take the calamari home for later, and the 2 together made it a better deal. The calamari appetizer was literally 3 pieces, lukewarm on one of those small plates you use for a roll. I didn't want to go in there in the first place, but I'm stupid sometimes if I'm being pressured I go against my best judgment. Horrible, anxiety inducing experience overall. They said they had a fancy dog meal for my service animal - it was literally a piece of chicken cut up and obviously raw in the middle. They said it was $7 it was 8. I only ordered it because I thought it would be nice to treat my baby to a fancy meal. I could have fed her basic chicken chunks for wayyyy cheaper that were cooked all the way through. The whole thing felt sad, desperate, scammy, and a shadow of its former self. I didn't even get to see the sea lions because I was so upset spending almost $50 bucks for this horrible experience. And I just needed to...