Pacific Catch — Restaurant in Santa Monica

Whoever owns this place needs to replace their management and some wait staff. If the food wasn’t good with an enticing happy hour, I’m sure no one would come here. Service was 0. Barely greeted. Waiter had a shitty attitude from jump, seemed like he didn’t want to serve us or anyone for that matter. I had to get up and get another staff to get us refill on bar drinks and water. No one seemed to know how to actually wait and serve. Unorganized. Kitchen staff, bussers, and one host (Matthias) really the only ones doing their job properly.

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM- When it was time to pay, they brought the check no problem. I wanted to speak to the manager, but he wouldn’t speak with us. He came out and spoke with the White couple sitting next to us and they received everything free. The woman told the manager to speak with us because we experienced the same issues and I’m the one that gave her courage to speak up. He refused and wouldn’t even look our direction. Went to hide in the back. I had to make it well known that we were NOT paying for a damn thing after the blatant disrespect, that’s when the manager told the staff to take a good chunk off the bill. Why didn’t he do that from the beginning and extend an apology? He thought we were supposed to take the disrespect while he pacifies the white customers? Absolutely not. No disrespect to the couple, I’m just pointing out the typical Santa Monica behavior. It’s 2025, no one should be treated different over race/skin tones, especially paying customers.

Owners, please check in & train your management/staff properly before they ruin a good spot. Beautiful atmosphere, yummy food, good drinks, shitty experience...

I was expecting $$$ or $$$$ for such a nice, prime corner seafood restaurant across the street from Hillstone restaurant, but I was very surprised that the place was good, fun, and affordable. The 7 of us ordered many different dishes: Pupu platter and coconut shrimp for starters. I really enjoyed the small but tasty 6 oz lobster. It was perfectly cooked (nicely grilled, slightly undercooked, just the way i like!) with sides of chimichurri and warm drawn butter. The broccolini, mash potatoes, and Hawaiian bread rolls were perfect. However, my friends' miso cod and lobster rolls were "just okay." The 2 poke orders looked great and the fresh catch grilled salmon looked good.

Surprisingly the prices were really reasonable. So value for the money, especially the fresh grilled lobster ($34) and grilled salmon were excellent. And the poke bowls were filled with protein and reasonably priced.

The drinks were okay. For happy hour, they could offer pitcher of mai tai or 2 other tropical drinks for around $42.

So, I would recommend this place for a nice seafood place, not overpriced, close to the beach. Maybe the view is not as great as the ocean-facing Water-Grill. Though Water Grill is fresher, tastier and has an incredible ocean view, but at double the food prices. Both are good places, but 2 different classes of seafood...

Pacific Catch is a great chain of seafood restaurants. We love this one. We have been more than once for pick up and dine in. We love dine in.

The place is a really nice size and it is super pretty. It is kept brand new looking and the seating is very comfortable. You will love the service. They have a great menu and the staff knows everything about it. Your food comes out as ordered and perfect every time. It has a full bar with a nice wine list and great craft beers.

Everything there is good, but my favorite is their clam chowder and their pupu platter. Both are on the starter menu. The pupu platter has great deep fried coconut shrimp, chips, stick ribs, guacamole and great salmon sushi tacos.

We always order the lobster surf and turf. The skirt steak that comes with it is so tender and cooked the way you want it. The lobster is a decent size, about 6 ounces. It comes with the best mashed potatoes and grilled Hawaiian bread, which you just can't get enough of. The vegetable is a really good broccolini, which has a nice chili-miso flavor.

Everything is great...