Pier 76 Fish Grill — Restaurant in Riverside

Absolutely terrible treatment from what was our favorite neighborhood restaurant. Such a disappointment. Will not be back. Have been coming here weekly for years. We are regulars. Tonight, my fiancé and I brought our young daughter in for dinner. We paid in cash with a 100 dollar bill. My fiancé has a money clip style wallet with not a lot of room and when we sat down he was bummed out that he hadn’t noticed that he had enough change to have not broke a large bill. I suggested he just go ask the cashier to change his smaller bills back for a 100 so it would fit in his wallet. The cashier took his money and went to ask the manager (who turned out to be the owner) and he came over accusing my fiancé of trying to scam him out of money refusing to give the money HE HAD JUST HANDED THE CASHIER BACK. Multiple times we both tried to tell him we are regulars, we eat here every week, he can’t keep the 100 in small bills as it was just handed to the cashier, he wouldn’t hear it. He was convinced we were trying to scam him and was going to keep the money. Told us to call the police. After we refused to be bullied, he said he would need to count the drawer then came over to our table with a receipt stating “the drawer is off by .01.” And going on and on about a scam trying to run it in our face. The entire restaurant knows what’s going on at this point. He then went back to the drawer after we asked that he review his cameras or talk to the cashier who has been trying to tell him that my fiancé gave him 100 in smaller hills to change for a 100 bill. When we were called back over, I went up due to my fiancé being angry (understandably) and was rudely told he wouldn’t speak to me. My fiancé went back over and what do you know, the drawer was over. He returned the money but the damage was done. That is no way to treat a customer, let alone a regular. I worked years in the restaurant industry for years and have never seen treatment like this. Don’t trust the customer, fine. Politely say you need to count the drawer without actually accusing them of being criminals. When you see YOUR error, comp the meal, move on and keep the customer. Simple. I’ve always wondered why the staff is always changing and now I see why. If this is the kind of behavior from the owner I have zero desire to support his business.

Update: here’s the owner with a response! Love the accountability you take for your behavior. I’ve got no problem saying that yes, the situation made us upset. Anyone would be upset if someone took their money and refused to give it back. If you don’t feel like changing currency, a simple no would have sufficed without taking our money and then trying to not return it. You could have simply handed our money back (or never taken it in the first place) and went on with your evening. I’m sure people have ripped you off and that is unfortunate, but that wasn’t the case, was it? Im sorry that’s happened to you and other local businesses, but please in the future try to not to project that onto your honest, hard working customers. As an owner of a local restaurant, you’d think you’d take the time to get to know your customers that support your business regularly and build some rapport, then maybe none of this would have transpired. That $100 you were freaking out about (when we were not trying to steal from you) lost you a lot more in revenue. We’ve supported your business for years and to get treated that way is just completely uncalled...

Are you hungry for a seafood sandwich? Today I did and of course we do the normal searching online. Well, where can I go on this beautiful 88 deg weather in Riverside to find a restaurant I haven't been to and hopefully cross my fingers to see if the food is good. I am a bit spoiled knowing what good food taste like in Hawaii so I searched away and looked up "Lobster sandwiches." Bingo, Pier 76 in Riverside popped up, its about 40 min away from my house but I planned to drive the side streets because I want to take my time and breath cleaner air than the exhaust from gridlock traffic through Moreno Valley and the 215. Finally arrived and found the road to the restaurant was blocked because of a children's festival celebration of earth day. Great music though. Walked into the restaurant and ordered from the cordial girl at the counter that had a beautiful smile. I really wanted to flirt but it would have been un-funny to the other patrons. I had already looked at the menu online and without hesitation I ordered the Lobster Roll Sandwich, f.r.i.e.s. and the broccoli salad which I had never had before but recommended by the counter girl. Sat and waited .... about 10 min and the salad arrived. Boy was that delicious.Tasty Tasty Tasty. 5 min later the fries and the lobster roll arrived on my table. I thought the sandwich couldn't taste better than the salad. I was loving munching on the leafy enjoyment when I finally took a good look at the V-shaped serving device. The thick bread folded in the V-shape like a taco with a very handsome portion of lobster topping the buttered bread. Grabbed it with both hands and flavor just oozing out. Yummy. I sat in silence. Something I do when my vision narrows and I ignore anything or anyone around me and concentrate on the bliss. Wow, so delicious. I was talking out loud in my head. wow this is really good. Now I wanted to not lose the chance to take photos before the evidence disappears so out comes my phone and snap snap video video. Now I can engulf and feel guilty later. After a while, I had to take some of it home. I can't show myself with such multiple face expressions with each bite. So walked over, grabbed the to-go boxes off the counter and neatly put the rest of my fries, sandwich and left over salad and left. All I thought about was when I would be back again. This place is so highly recommended I am afraid the next time I come back there would be a long line of people discovering this place. Again, highly recommended. I hope you have a wonderful time as I did enjoying the lobster sandwich, broccoli salad and the fries. This is my top...

My husband, toddler, and I had just finished a great bouldering sesh at the nearby Hangar 18. We were pretty hungry so we decided on finding a place to eat. My husband looked through a few places on Yelp and decided on Pier 76 based on a photo of a really delicious-looking clam bucket.

We had to park a little ways away from the restaurant since this is a busier area in Riverside. But by GOLLY is the food amazing! I would 100% come back here next time we're in the area.

Unfortunately, when we arrived, walked in, and looked at the menu, the clam bucket was nowhere to be found. The cashier was really friendly and helpful in giving suggestions. She said that the clam bucket had been removed from the menu which was a disappointment since that was the main reason we came, but we were undeterred and decided to give Pier 76 a try nonetheless.

My husband ordered the Warm Lobster Roll which was rather expensive at $30. I don't think we'll be ordering it again due to the price tag, but it was quite good. It's worth at least one try if you can afford it.

I ordered the P76 Clam Chowder bowl, a Blackened Salmon Taco, and a Crispy Fish Taco. All of it was SO GOOD! I'm salivating as I'm writing this. I order clam chowder at every restaurant I visit that happens to offer it, and this bowl was definitely top two of the best I've ever had. I've lived most of my life in Seattle which has excellent chowder, so that's a pretty high bar set.

We ordered a kid's meal that consisted of a Grilled Shrimp kabob with about four large skewered shrimp. It really had little to no taste and I figured they didn't season it since it's a kid's meal. The meal came with a fountain drink, which we shared and kept getting refills on. Their diverse selection of agua frescas and lemonade was so refreshing! They also have your standard soda fountain if you prefer that. We tried every flavor of the agua frescas and even took a final drink home to-go. The kid's meal also came with a side of fries, which were some of the best fries I've ever had! They were hot, fresh, salty, and had a great flavor to them.

I really wanted to try Pier 76's sweet potato fries as well, so we ordered some to-go.

All in all, our bill came to about $70 with tax and tip which is a little pricey but that includes the $30 Warm Lobster Roll so it would've been about $20 less had my husband ordered something else.

TLDR: Come eat here, the food and drinks...