FireFish Grill — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

Out of all the places in the surrounding area why did I choose Firefish Grill?

Reason #1: Transparent kitchen. As a restaurant industry professional, I am very particular about where I choose to dine out. You would be surprised at the number of kitchens that don’t follow industry standards in terms of health and food safety. I usually opt to make a home cooked meal rather than dine at an establishment that I wouldn’t feel comfortable eating at. However, when I was walking the pier, after spending hours in the surrounding areas(Scott’s Valley, Felton, Davenport, Boardwalk), the first thing I noticed about this restaurant was the transparent kitchen. All of the kitchen staff were well groomed, with a clean appearance, and seemed to be in good spirits. No sour attitudes or scowling faces which to me, speaks volumes about their workplace environment and the services they offer. They were lazer focused and kept a clean kitchen, even with the distraction of receiving attention from potential guests waking by.

Reason #2 :The menu I typically like to read menus before committing to dining in. Although Firefish has competitors in close proximity, it was the only restaurant that I noticed offering specialty high ticket items. I wanted Lobster, I wanted Cioppino, I wanted Steak. That’s what I wanted, and while reviewing menus at other restaurants, I felt like this was the best choice for an elevated dining experience.

Reason #3 Welcoming Staff The first time I walked by, I was still interested in viewing other restaurant menus to ensure I would make the best choice for the evening. As I walked past the front door at Firefish, I looked inside to see a man at the host stand with a who gave me a smile and a nod. I didn’t experience that an any other restaurant I viewed that day. In fact, it seemed like most other establishments could care less if I decided to bring them business.

These are the reasons I chose FireFish. Now a list of reasons why I’m happy with my choice.

Reason #1: Service Our waiter for the evening was Gabriel. He was well groomed, polite, personable and professional. He patiently waited on us to decide what we were going to enjoy for the evening and made excellent pairing recommendations for the dishes that we chose. He even showed gratitude stating that he enjoyed being our server and that we were great guests. That comment left us both feeling appreciated, and is a testament to how much a guest can make a difference in someone’s day. Of all the times I have dined out, I have never experienced someone making me feel as valued as Gabriel did. In addition to his service, his colleagues were very sharp. The food runner was so polite, prompt and patient. The busser was always on standby ready to clear empty dish-wear out of our way and the manager even came by to ensure our table was cleared at times. I was very impressed by everyone’s effort to take the initiative to ensure guest satisfaction.

Reason #2 The Food The dishes were beautifully presented. They were prepared with extreme care and everything from the flavors to the garnishes were executed perfectly. Compliments to the chefs!

Final Note: Keep in mind that I ordered specialty menu items.In my humble opinion, it best to visit an establishment like FireFish if you are willing and ready to have no reservations regarding spending money. Places like this are built for guests to enjoy a somewhat elevated dining experience. The service and dishes offered are true to price and well worth it. Thank you to everyone who made Tuesday April 8, 2025 a night to remember.

With...

Based on our experience with the front of the house, it would be a 1 star review, but the food was pretty good and our waitress was excellent.

We came here with family and friends for an early dinner on July 3, admittedly a busy weekend. We were told something like a 30-45 minute wait for a window seat for a party of 7. We were fine with that. We waited, got some drinks, walked around the pier a bit with our kids.

45 minutes later, we're told it'll be longer. Another 15 minutes, we're told it will be longer. We're offered a table that isn't a window seat, and we'd have to be seated at 2 separate tables. We've waited this long, we tell them we'll wait a little bit longer for the window seat.

Meanwhile, we watch them push the 2 separate tables together for another party. That option wasn't offered to us.

We can see the tables where they're talking about seating us, and they're in the same spot as the other tables, not window seats. We kind of figure whatever at this point, let's just get seated, but certain members of our party are quite flustered by these events.

We see the empty table sitting there for another 15 minutes, and we finally ask about it and if we're ready to be seated. We are eventually led over there and my wife mentions that we're short a chair while the hostess rudely retorts, "Well, pull up a chair!"

Well, that really didn't sit well with a member of our party and she wanted to talk to the manager. The person in our party didn't really seem to know what they wanted out of the confrontation and was just very flustered, so after watching them duke it out for a couple of minutes I went to step in.

It sounds like the male manager made some concessions once, I, a man stepped in. After chatting it came to light that he would not make those same offers to the female in the group. I let her site down while I talked with him. He outright lied about several details of our evening, and I calmly explained several of our complaints. He offered "some free appetizers" and we got what felt like a half-hearted apology. I think that was enough to settle down members of our party and we forged forward with dinner after that.

I don't know if we'd been flagged as "the trouble group" at this point, but after that, everything else went pretty smoothly. I'd rate the evening a 3-4 star experience after we were seated and with our waitress. She was super kind and responsive.

The food came out at a reasonable speed, everything tasted decent, but we definitely had a soured experience and it was hard to truly enjoy the evening at this point, but we tried to put it behind us and enjoy our meal. We got 2 pretty small appetizers that were comped as they offered. It didn't really feel like much of a consolation at that point though.

Overall, I was super disappointed with the experience. I was initially excited to eat there after watching their cooking staff through the open window panes to the kitchen. They seemed to like their work and the food looked good. Unfortunately the front staff ruined the experience for us with what had to be something like a 90 minute wait to get seated. During my wait I also came to find out that the bar staff was friendly, and they seemed to be surprised at our long wait as well.

One last note, toward the end of our meal, there was an extremely large party of at least a dozen or more that got seated right behind us at the window. We did not see them waiting at all while we were waiting. So that kind of added insult to injury after all we...

After the first half of visiting the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and riding most of the rides on a wonderful sunny and pleasantly cool Saturday morning that included the heart pounding ride on the celebrated 100 year anniversary of the Giant Dipper...make that twice...my son and I decided to walk the wharf to find lunch. As usual, it was either bar and grill or seafood for me. There were also Italian along the wharf, but we've already had Italian the evening before (didn't go well, look for my review on that!). Mexican food was also an option, but we always do Mexican food back home. So we walked past a few seafood restaurants, and I finally decided on the Firefish Grill for a lot of reasons including the fact that from the outside, the white facade and small neon lights featuring seafoods just reeks of a traditional maritime fish grotto restaurant. A really classic old fashion seafood joint visual with an upscale but not stuffy vibe. The place had just enough street appeal to set it aside from the others.

My son and I were greeted with a pleasant host from whom I always request the table I like, and in this case a table next to the window, which she happily complied. The window seats look directly out to the Monterey Bay and Pacific Ocean, a very pleasant backdrop for an ocean town lunch. The restaurant wasn't very busy during this early lunch hour and it only got a little busier through our meal. But that's more a reflection on the mindset of America today after the Pandemic and other challenges that followed, than the restaurant itself. Other restaurants along the Wharf looked like thay had similarly average patronage. Nonetheless, we were greeted with a very perky waitress who obviously loved her job and did it well far and beyond your average waitresses today. And in this day and age of customer service as an afterthought, a good waitress/waiter makes all the difference. I always forget to get the names of the host and waitresses so I can't properly give them a shoutout, but shoutouts to the host and waitresses!

I had my usual Fish and Chips and a Margarita, my son had a Cheeseburger, and we both shared a side of Fried Calamari. Very basic, very standard seafood (and burger in this case), but they were all delicious! The prices were fare, especially for a tourist wharf like this. Our waitress came to check on us at various times as well as other tables under her watch. There was another waitress whom I called over to take a picture of my son and me and our meal. She was more than glad to oblige, and in addition, she also pointed out the bright background of the ocean behind us and tried to adjust my phone to give better lighting and composition. She did well.

Firefish Grill is definitely a place to relax and eat while you are in town enjoying the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and other venues in Santa Cruz. The restaurant is on the Wharf which at this time can be considered an escape from the crowds at the Boardwalk. But the great thing about Firefish Grill is it's very affordable in the bigger picture of the location, the host and waitresses aka customer service are exceptional. .....and oh, the food ain't too shabby either! ...