Pier 46 Seafood Co — Restaurant in California

Update: I wanted to update my review as I’ve been to this restaurant since my previous review. I did not have any issues or problems regarding bills and the food is quite good. I believe the unfortunate incident was a one-off. I want to be fair and they deserve a 5 star.

My husband and I spent 2 weeks in Paso wine country. We stayed at Piccolo and dined at the most expensive restaurants in town. We met many people at wine tasting and the locals told us about this place. So on our drive home, we stopped by to grab some lunch.

The food was ok. The raw oyster was good. But we had a very disappointing experience. They charged me something I didn’t order and did not give me refund. All I can say is these people are either too busy and forgot (not a good business practice) or they are dishonest (also not a good business practice).

I dined there on Oct 3rd and spent $70.51. A young woman helped me. I asked her about the ceviche (or poke) they had on the menu. I took a look and didn’t like it so I told her I didn’t want it. Unbeknownst to me, she charged me for it!!! I didn’t know this until my husband picked up our order. It had ceviche written on the receipt as one of the orders but we didn’t receive the food.

I went back to the register and spoke to another young woman. She confirmed they did charge me for the ceviche and asked if I wanted it. I told her I never ordered it, didn’t receive it and don’t want it.

I asked her to give me a refund then. She went to the back and came back, told me the manager wasn’t there at the moment so she couldn’t give me a refund right there and then (who runs a business like this??). But she said they would refund me in a few days.

It has been 2 weeks but I still have not received a credit on my card! I mean it’s not a big charge, it’s like $6 or $7. But if they’re dishonest with a small amount, I wonder what else they’re dishonest about! Buyer beware. Check your recipe.

Update: the owner reached out after I posted my review and refunded me the erroneous charge. So I’ve...

I ordered lobster roll, and it was VERY disappointing. A normal lobster roll contains large chunks of lobster, a roll, and little else. Not so with Pier 46's.

Pier 46's lobster roll contains very few tiny specks (Yes, they were that small!) of lobster smothered in a huge amount of finely diced salsa-type ingredients in a decent bread roll. With it comes a generous portion of fries and small garden salad of red and green leaf lettuce with shaved carrots, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. But the tomatoes were green! Who serves green tomatoes? The flavor of the salsa overtook the lobster; I couldn't taste lobster at all.

All in all, very disappointing. It contained what seemed about $3 worth of ingredients for $18 price tag. Not worth it!

And the service was equally disappointing. They clearly like repeat local customers, which they should. But they pay less attention to and are much less friendly with everyone else. Why not pay equal attention to everyone? Especially when you want to gain repeat customers. I even overheard the cook ask the cashier if I wanted butter in my lobster roll. Her exact words were: "I don't know. He didn't say. I guess so.", and she didn't bother to ask me even though I was sitting right in front of her. I never specified butter because it wasn't mentioned in the menu. I had to stand up and tell them no.

If you want to put lobster roll on the menu, make it a lobster roll. Don't serve a salsa roll with a few tiny specks of lobster and call it a lobster roll. I have definitely learned my lesson here: Their menu does not have photos, so ask for examples before ordering. For a great example, check out Old Port Lobster Shack in Redwood City CA. It contains a good portion of large chunk Maine lobster with little else inside a roll, for only 75 cents more!

My recommendation: don't buy the...

My wife and I were happy with the mostly high 5 star reviews and thought we'd try them out. We had high hopes. We happily ordered and received a number and waited at a table that was straight across from the cash register. Our order was to go. We were waiting for just over 30 minutes when we noticed people receiving their orders after we ordered. We still patiently waited and thought maybe their orders were more simplistic. After a bit, we were getting impatient, so I asked the person at the register when our order was going to be ready. He didn't know, so he asked the person handing the finished order, and she said she had called my number a while back. She called our number in OUTSIDE seating area but not inside where we were. Inside, you can't hear what's said outside since the place was noisy. She was a bit snippy and annoyed. She wasn't apologetic at all. We thought, maybe she's having a bad day or been overworked, but still, that's no excuse to treat a paying customer that way. We shruded it off the best we could and was hopeful that the food made up for it. We took the order and, while leaving, had a bite to taste test. It was cold and concluded it was deep fried in old oil. We would've returned the order, but we were pressed for time. The order was not up to low standards and totally unsatisfactory. We thought we had a place to finally get some good grub and service but received neither. We won't be back to spend our hard earned money just to ruin our lunch. We never gave anyone a hard time since we were excited to try their food. It's also not in our nature to give anyone a hard time, but we feel that our story needs to be told. If you go, we wish you luck on your roll...