Moss Beach Distillery — Restaurant in Pacifica

It's been years since I dined here and I had forgotten all about it, but I was just watching a show called "Most Terrifying Places" (Season 1, Episode 5) where they mentioned The Moss Beach Distillery. I was reminded of my own personal experience with The Blue Lady, so I thought I should share it here.

The food, drinks & service were great, and the views of the ocean through the large windows are simply spectacular. The restaurant is a bit of an upscale dining experience, with fine furniture and dining ware, but not at all snooty. All of the staff were very friendly, and they were even tolerant & understanding of some children who had gotten bored with their meals and begun restlessly exploring the space. The restaurant has a wonderful ambiance - warm & welcoming - and is a well lit space during the day.

When we were first seated we were told about the legend of the lovely lady who has haunted the place since she was murdered on the beach below, but I never in a million years imagined that I would have my own supernatural experience during my brief time there.

We were eating dinner when I excused myself to use the women's restroom that is downstairs (the lower level is apparently where a lot of staff have ghostly run-ins). The door to the multi-stall room was propped open and there was one of those yellow 'Wet Floor' signs standing near the entrance. While I was in a stall I heard another person come out of one, wash her hands and exit, leaving me in the restroom alone. I finished up and washed my own hands, then as I was walking towards the door to leave... the now folded flat 'Wet Floor' sign came skidding quickly across the tile floor past me, forcefully hitting the wall on the far side of the room, which was quite a distance from the door! It was as though someone had kicked it hard on purpose, so I immediately ran out into the hallway to confront whomever had done it. But there was no one there!

Only then did I get spooked, with chills & goosebumps spreading over my body. All the hairs on my body stood up as I slowly walked back across the bathroom and picked the yellow sign up to carry it back to the entrance. I inspected it - there was nothing unusual about the sign itself and the floor wasn't actually wet anymore, but I still placed the folding sign upright where it had been just outside the restroom. I sorta stood there at the door for a few minutes, waiting to see if someone would pop out and say, "Gotcha!" I even half expected the sign to go flying across the room again, but when nothing happened and no one appeared I returned to my table.

I told the rest of my party what had just happened, but I don't know if any of them really took me seriously. It was the middle of the day and nothing seemed scary or out of sorts to them, even in this knowingly haunted place, so why would they? When I explained to our server what I had just experienced in the restroom she said that she wasn't surprised at all, and then she told us about some of the spooky stuff that she had also seen while working there. I personally can not imagine being a staff member there for long - I was only on site for a couple of hours and already had something unexplainable happen to me!

Anyway, The Moss Beach Distillery is well worth a visit, ghost or not. I suppose that if you are particularly sensitive to spirits or easily frightened you might be leary of visiting... Normally I would say that the chances of seeing any sign of a ghost in a space like this is probably really low and you shouldn't let it prevent you from dining there. But I saw something unusual (and slightly threatening) during my one and only trip there, so you never...

This is our second excellent experience at Moss Beach Distillery. Our server, Susan, was very personable and engaging. Making us feel like we were being welcomed into someone’s home. The atmosphere for us is always intriguing because of The Blue Lady; we believe and still want to see her or hear her 🤗 ….but anyway we are intrigued by the history behind this place, the old room where the bar is has so much charm and then of course the view of the Rocky Coast line is spectacular. We ask for a window seat and make a reservation and have been fortunate both times. ALL the staff on phone & in person are friendly. Good team work happening between servers & wait staff. The food: we split the mandarin/beet salad.. delish. I have had the chicken marsala both times. One of my first responses is how often do you get vegetables as a side with your main course and really really like them?!… well this chef does them to perfection… plenty crispiness (not overcooked) very tasty seasonings. I don’t know what he does, but they’re fantastic. I ate them all. The chicken marsala, VERY tender chicken- YUM-on the marsala sauce w/plenty of mushrooms and mash potatoes And the food was actually REAL HOT (temp) 👍👍👍 and big portions!! My husband enjoyed the linguine with seafood tremendously. We’re going back tonight for another go round! 2nd night: This time I had the Coast sliders, 1-albacore, 1 crab cake and a salmon/bacon on really tasty brioche slider buns This chef picks the perfect pairings/condiments for these pieces of fish, each one is a perfect compliment to the fish. The condiments they put with the albacore: thin, cucumber and pickled ginger, crabcake has a sesame slaw beneath it but…… that’s all I’m gonna say just to wet your appetite, go read the menu, well wishes on choosing what to order. I think I might just have to order something different each time we visit. My husband lapped up the steamers/clams. Wine & margaritas were great. Hospitality was again personal and delightful. Everyone is so hospitable, including the owner. Thank for extending such hospitality....

A Fisherman's Wharf style restaurant 25 minutes away from Daly City...that is not a good thing.

Moss Beach Distillery has an amazing view and an interesting "spooky" story, that's why you would go here. The food on the other hand not so much.

Drink: Mai Tai-Pass on this one, tasted confused. Though it was a lot of booze so half a star for that (just kidding).

Appetizers: Prawn Cocktail, the prawns did not have much flavor and were pretty stiff. The cocktail sauce was missing the horseradish that was mentioned on the menu. It needed the horseradish badly.

Garlic Fries, these were OK, not great but not terrible. Though the garlic was closer to burned than what you are normally used too.

Clam Chowder, it was a call out on Check Please Bay Area why I do not know. It was missing seasoning and was closer to doctored up Campbell's than good homemade clam chowder. You want a great chowder that is unique? go to Hog Island.

Mains: Seafood Platter is what I had, holy moly where do I start? First the calamari was warm not hot but also overcooked. The Prawn again had zero flavor and over cooked. And the fish...nothing to be said about that other than do not order them. The whole dish struck me as items that were par fried then re-fried. The tartar sauce was nothing to write home about.

Desert: The warm apple crisp (ala mode is another $3.00 dollars FYI) was interesting, it had a croissant as the base and was toasted in a ton of butter. So matching both of these amazing things together made something pretty good.

Service: Waitress was nice, terse but nice.

Overall Moss Beach Distillery suffers from all view type restaurants. The view is amazing but the food is never normally worth it.

I normally end a review by whether Id go back on someone else's dime, my own dime or never again. So if you were to try to take me to Moss Beach, I would say the following "How about we go to that Taco Bell in Pacifica with that killer...