Venus Spirits Cocktails & Kitchen | Beachside — Restaurant in Capitola

I am a big fan of Venus gin, but of all things I was disappointed with their cocktails!

Ambience B It is nice, clean and modern.

Service. B We were quickly seated and were paid attention to most of the time

Cocktail. D I asked for a classic gin and tonic and had a choice of three different gins that day. Cocktail came in pretty quickly and looked great with the right amount of ice and accoutrements. However, although I could taste the Venus Gin (it was on the light side though- maybe because of happy hour?) , the tonic used was 100% totally flat. I told the waitress who immediately apologize and came back with what I thought was a new drink, but she explained that the bartender was still checking to see if the tonic canister was flat, but in the meantime, she added soda water to make it more bubbly.(????!!!!!!!). No, that is certainly not what i wanted. What made things worse is that the ice used seemed made with unfiltered water. Ice had a very pronounced tap water taste which ruined the “cocktail”. Eventually, they credited my drink, but not because it was not properly made. It was because they somehow “lost” my fish and chips order in the kitchen. ( more on that below).

Food:B We started with the roasted Brussels sprout appetizer which our server recommended. It came in very quickly and was good. My only gripe was that the brussels sprouts were much larger than you would see other restaurants which meant that some of them were not really cooked properly

After 30 minutes (!) next came to fish and chips which my wife thought was one of the best ones she’s ever had. The portions were big and a batter was very well done. They use halibut which is a premium fish. French fries were hot and crispy. The issue was that our order was initially lost in kitchen, and after 20 minutes, she came back to apologize and had to resubmit the order. Hence...

Update 9/2023

Post remodel, which has definitely improved the decor although the downside is that it’s now REALLY loud in there - hence the 3 stars for atmosphere. Have been here twice since the remodel, and overall the food is still quite good. Not sure where the hush puppies went though, serious oversight removing them. Minor quibbles would be, the ‘fish tacos’ would be more aptly described as ‘fish and chips but with kimchi and a tortilla instead of chips’. I like kimchi, but if you are going to advertise “Taco’bout it Wednesday’ fish tacos you really should not place a short square piece of deep fried fish on a bed of kimchi and a tortilla and call it a fish taco ESPECIALLY since there’s no description of the fish taco on the menu. That being said, give the price points it’s a good deal at $10, certainly more cost effective than the fish and chips version of the same price of fish.

So far so good. The cocktails are quite good as would be expected from there second outpost, although a little variable. A friend and I each had the white Negroni and one was significantly, incorrectly, sweeter than the other. Overall high marks for the food, the halibut fish and chips was really good. There was a steak dish that the cut of meat was not very good, even though it was medium rare it was really tough. But that was the only disappointment of the night. Oh yeah, what people say about the hush...

Unpredictable! We ate at Rio Del Mar Venus for the first time in early September. The food was great, calamari frito, crab cakes, fried avocado entre and halibut fish and chips. Acoustics are a bit loud, wait staff was a plus. Two weeks later and $134 later we had an abysmal food experience, the calamari plate was changed up, and crab cakes were no more. The calamari was fried with a corn meal batter that fell apart, it was spare and overcooked. The pared down appetizer was supposed to be a mix with shrimp, but the two scant pieces of shrimp were buried under the fried lemon wedges. The halibut and chips were embarrassingly over-fried, and sent to our table by a young dispatcher who tossed on the table and ran. The soup my wife ordered was unappealing, A plus, Her avocado plate was delicious a second time and her mescal margaritas top notch. The manager comped the bad appetizer but nonetheless the kitchen served up the fish overcooked in rancid oil and our waitress actually served it….and ran. Sadly disappointing…something has gone wrong in the kitchen and the restaurant. Feeling disappointed and overcharged for a bad dinner experience. Not...