Coast — Restaurant in Santa Monica

My wife, 22 month old daughter and myself decided to have my birthday dinner here. The staff greeted us and was very friendly. However, I should have known something was awry when our server greeted us and never asked for a drink order. We flagged her down 10 minutes later to put in an order for the $68 raw shellfish sampler, which included oysters, clams, crab, shrimp and 1/2 lobster tail. The app came out promptly, and we still had no drinks. We flagged down a different server who went to get ours. Mind you, there was only 2 other tables in the patio area of the restaurant. Anyway, the appetizer was plain awful. The lobster was clearly previously frozen, overcooked, tough as shoe leather and had no flavor. Maybe I am spoiled having had fresh Maine lobster in Maine often, but this was bad. The oysters should have been tossed. The poorest quality oysters I've ever seen. Even a chain restaurant would not have served them. The shrimp and clams were ok. Not the best, but ok. I ordered the salmon burger and was disappointed that it was just a bland ground salmon burger with tasteless slaw on it. No pop or thought to the meal. And the hush puppies were awful as well. For $28, the meal should have better. The lone bright spot were the drinks. That is the only reason for the 1 star. While the service improved after the initial fiasco, we just expected so much better. The bill, pre-tip, was $199. My wife was supposed to pay but I would not let her since I refused to allow that to be my birthday dinner. Not sure if being from the northeast and having access to fantastic fresh seafood, or living in Houston with so many great restaurants spoiled us, but c'mon man...a decent view (and it is only decent) is not worth what we paid.

Bottom line: The quality of the food and the experience would be fine if our bill was $100 or less, but I feel ripped off. Save your money, time and taste buds and go...

This was my second visit to this establishment and the review is regarding this visit only, as the first time I went there everything was fantastic. Unfortunately this time the story was somewhat different.

The positives: obviously the location, the atmosphere, the decor and the waiter serving us were first class.

The BIG negatives:

1. The 'fresh lemon juice' served as an accompaniment was fizzy. It was either out of a bottle or it had fermented.

2. The lettuce in the Caesar salad had brown patches. This would be acceptable in other establishments, but not in one which proclaims to be a top five star hotel, and charges accordingly.

3. Upon arrival we were told that as we didn't have a reservation, we would have to wait 20 minutes, or possibly longer, for a table to become available. A couple arrived immediately after us and were told exactly the same thing, as they did not have a reservation either. We were pleasantly surprised that after some 10 minutes we were offered a table. I enquired whether we could have the table next to the one which was offered to us, and was told that we couldn't have that because it was 'reserved'. To my surprise, the couple who had arrived after us, who also didn't have a reservation, were immediately shown to that table and sat there.

In itself this was not a big problem, but the issue I take is that I was lied to by the Maître d'hotel, which I find unprofessional. She should not have lied and had the guts to either tell me the truth, or to have offered that table to us first as we were the first in the queue (in line).

Do I recommend this place? Yes, as I believe everybody deserves a second chance. I hope that the next time I visit the Chef and the Maître d' have been offered some...

OUTDOOR SEATING: Yes, beautiful ocean front tables VEGAN OPTIONS: Several! PARKING: Valet parking at Shutter’s Hotel otherwise competitive meter parking on Ocean Avenue and surrounding area. Two hour parking structures at SM Place if you have time to walk over.

We went here on a fall evening for drinks and appetizers to celebrate a couple birthdays since there is nothing nicer than seeing the gorgeous sunset while drinking a cocktail at the beach. Shutters Hotel is right on the beach in Santa Monica and the Coast Cafe is one of their oceanfront cafes. The unobstructed view of the water is worth the high prices of the food and drink for a special occasion. We happen to be there on a Friday Night which is “pizza night” and we all shared a Margarita Pizza that had nice thin crust and was cooked in their wood-fired pizza oven. The menu had several VEGAN options, including a vegan dessert, which I really appreciated and I would most certainly come back again to try. Cocktails in fall 2025 were $22 each which is about average for a beachfront restaurant in a hotel. Our server, Jesse, was great, very friendly and checking on us constantly. We never felt rushed even though we were there for just drinks and appetizers during weekend dinner hour. There was a musician on the beach path in front of our table (see photo) playing soft tunes which added to the chill vibe and beach atmosphere of our experience. He overhead that we had some birthdays in our group (yes he was that close) and he beautifully sang Happy Birthday to each person individually which we really enjoyed. I don’t believe he is employed by the hotel and yes we gave him a well-deserved tip. All in all and...