Old Fisherman’s Grotto — Restaurant in Monterey

February 2025

Although we have consistently loved our many dining experiences at Old Fisherman's Grotto, both during lunch or dinner, today we decided to have hot tea and a dessert at 4 pm, or teatime. Significantly, the hot water was very hot - very important for a proper cup of tea and I was with someone from England. We were presented with an impressive dessert tray making it a challenging choice! I chose the generously sized chocolate cheesecake surrounded by blackberries and whipped cream which was fantastic. Not overly sweet but a perfect flavor and thick consistence - we loved it. My friend had the tiramisu which was so delicious and creamery. So, our advice is, don't skimp on dessert next time you dine at Old Fisherman's Grotto. A perfect sweet ending to your meal!

Excellent food on Monterey's Old Fisherman's Wharf. Love their giant pretzel and appetizer plate. Delicious seafood assortment and enjoy trying different dishes, including the coconut shrimp and halibut, too. Desserts are wonderful. Excellent customer service and gorgeous views of the Monterey Harbor.

New! June 2023 visit: Old Fisherman’s Grotto located on Monterey’s Old Fisherman’s Wharf overlooking the Monterey Harbor is a great restaurant to enjoy any day of the week, but we chose it for my husband’s VERY special birthday dinner. We still prefer to pick up To Go orders these days and love dining at home. I am referencing their huge online menu for descriptions to follow. We started with an amazing Pear and Gorgonzola Salad with sweet and delicious poached pears served over Salinas Valley organic mixed greens, tossed with balsamic vinaigrette, and topped with candied walnuts and crumbled Gorgonzola cheese. Yummy! My husband got a cup of the award-winning Clam Chowder which he always thoroughly enjoys! I had a few wonderful spoonfuls, too, of this creamy goodness! Then, I enjoyed the grilled artichoke which consists of the legendary Castroville artichoke marinated in balsamic vinaigrette, served with lemon dill aioli. Fabulous! For my main entrée, I had my favorite Grotto dish, Macadamia Crusted Halibut which is tender and flavorful Alaskan halibut crusted with macadamia nuts and panko breading, grilled and topped with tropical fruit salsa, and a pineapple citrus sauce. It is served with maple sweet potatoes and sauteed organic fresh broccoli and green beans. It provides a great combination of flavors! My husband ordered the petrale sole which was lightly breaded and grilled with clarified butter, topped with a lemon butter sauce. This delicious seafood dish is served with sweet corn risotto and sauteed organic vegetables. They have many great desserts that we love but tonight we had the New York Cheesecake with graham cracker crust and sour cream topping. This was a perfect birthday feast with leftovers, too! Kudos to Chef Juan Ponce of Old Fisherman’s Grotto who always delivers a consistently awesome meal! It's no wonder this is one of the most awarded, most successful restaurants in Monterey County. Very highly...

I’m from Monterey and have been recommending old fisherman’s grotto for over 30 years after moving to the SF Bay Area. I always come here when I visit Monterey but now I’m afraid I’m going to have to stop recommending them. I have recommended them to friends and coworkers and lately those who went here politely just said it was just ok, as if wasn’t the same place I recommended. My girlfriend and I went there this Friday since we took the day off and had lunch after several couples seemed a little disappointed. We made the long drive to my old home town and well they were right. The restaurant broke the cardinal rule like so many up north in the SF Bay Area that ended up closing. Raised prices and cut portions. Hit the customer on both sides. They raised prices relatively high which I will say might be because of inflation and or state required benefits but I’m just guessing because the prices went up considerably. We ordered the special, the grotto seafood pasta and one of their signature dishes which was the grilled seafood platter with veggies. 28 dollar pasta plate and a 38 dollar grilled seafood platter. When the food came we were shocked. The number three was something to stick out with the pasta. Three clams, three shrimps and a third of a salmon filet. If it was even a third of a filet, all on top of a cup of pasta. Lottery a cup of pasta. The seafood platter was even worse. It was just a taste. One scallop, 2 shrimps, a third of a standard salmon filet and some sand dabs. We were like there is no way that’s 38 dollars it was more like a 19 dollar portion. The waiter even asked if everything was ok after brining the dishes like he was wondering if the portions were going to be ok. What were we suppose to say? This is a rip off. Come on…after 30 years of going to Old Fisherman’s Grotto and recommending it to friends and coworkers in the Bay Area, I can no longer recommend this place. The taste of the food wasn’t bad but the pasta was a little bland and I had to use a ton of Parmesan cheese which also looked like it was bought in a container. The taste overall was just average versus the past visits where the food left an impression. It wasn’t uncommon for us to spend over a 140 dollars for a meal between the two of us and we always felt like it was worth it. That ship has now sailed and sadly, growing up in the Monterey Bay, this is no longer a place worth going. Heart breaker for me to have to write this review. What’s interesting is that no bread was brought or offered and the chowder tasting outside has also stopped. Cutting costs everywhere I guess. I wish you luck Old Fisherman’s Grotto. Growing up as a kid, all I heard about was the Old Fisherman’s Grotto and going there. Loved the pictures, history and the Jungle Book movie story. All good things must come to...

Came here around early dinner time and were greeted by the grand entrance as well as the servers at the front. I was surprised to see that they had two locations right across from each other.

We chose the one that looked a bit more posh, and I was pleasantly surprised when we went inside. We were taken up to the second level where we had a booth seat with a view of Old Fisherman's Wharf, where you could see seagulls and some sea lions.

Our server, Mr. Ricardo, was lovely and very attentive. We weren’t really hungry, but we were eager to try their clam chowder, as the sign outside mentioned that it had been voted one of the best for many years!

💧 Water is complimentary. 🍞 Bread Starters The bread starters were crispy on the outside and extremely soft on the inside. I liked that it was warm and came with some butter on the side for spreading. The butter was slightly salty, which whetted my appetite even more. I rate: 5/5 🌟

🍲 Clam Chowder in Bread Bowl For $25, this bowl was massive. We forgot to ask for the garlic version, which was a dollar more, but our bread bowl was really good nonetheless. The sourdough bread was tangy and chewy on the inside, hard and crispy on the outside. The bread bowl was hollowed out and filled with a thick and decadent clam chowder soup, containing clam bits, potatoes, and carrots. It was a damn good soup. I rate: 5/5 🌟

🥬 Grilled Artichoke This was our first time eating artichokes like this, so we asked our server to show us how to eat it. We were surprised that the meat of the vegetable was at the base, drizzled with balsamic vinegar, and served with a side of garlic aioli sauce. This was an interesting dish to try since we had never had artichokes before. I rate: 3/5 🌟

🦑 Fried Calamari This is a must-order for sharing. The batter on the calamari was so light and not overly thick, complementing the tenderness of the squid really well. I liked that it came with tartar and cocktail sauce on the side to change up the flavour, and a squeeze of lemon on top helped to curb the greasiness. I...