Seaside Seafood & Market — Restaurant in Seaside

My gf and I love seafood. We came here with her daughter to pick up some fried oysters and fish n chips. Granted, everyone was nice and we kinda showed up last minute to make our order instead of phoning ahead of time and then picking up, but sadly the food we received did not match the 4.3 stars out of 288 reviews. My fish were very thin bits of cod instead of good thick chunks. It felt like a hybrid of fried fish and a dorito chip but without the flavored dust or corn taste. Just crumbly, fried bread as thin as a chip with some bits of fish tucked away to one side. My fries were very soft. They were fried, for sure, but not quite long enough where they only "looked" fried. Neither pieces of my order were seasoned either. So crumbly, scarce fish with soft appearing to be fried fried that aren't seasoned just made it all the more obvious. My gfs fried oysters looked good, but then she started eating them and next thing you know, she says they left a "dank" feeling in her mouth and stomach and that they did not taste fresh. She currently isn't feeling well, only 15 minutes after eating and hoping that her drink settles her stomach. Now, no one of these would be that bad to be upset over, disappointed yes, but not upset. But I am upset because of the price for such poorly prepared food. I paid borderline 30 dollars and I have non-fresh, dank oysters, barely any fish and soft unseasoned fried looking potato sticks. I don't write reviews if at all, but I was so disappointed by this experience, I'd have to say, go somewhere else for your...

The food was ok, but we probably won’t go back. We come to the area multiple times a year and try to go to more local places and this came up on our search for clam chowder not on Fisherman’s Wharf. My husband said the chowder was so-so, but the fish and chips were fantastic. The fries were good. I had the alfredo and that was pretty delicious but the garlic bread was a huge let down, kind of tasted old and gummy. Also my daughter also got Alfredo but hers looked and tasted much different than mine, which is odd. The restaurant itself could probably fit 5-10 more tables comfortably, and because it was so sparse it kind of feels off-putting, I guess, and there was only one table that could sit our family of 6. It was also very affordable, but the menu stated they charge for water, which is odd. They also charge for use of a credit card. Food took a little longer than normal to get to us, and there was only one waitress so service was a bit slow. I watched five people walk in and leave because they didn’t want to wait to be seated. Another party got up and grabbed their own menus. So, I don’t know if we’ll go back. It’s a hard maybe. The things that weren’t good, like the garlic bread, is a big deal. But that’s the cheapest meal I think we’ve ever had in the area so maybe we’ll go back and try other things and give it another shot....

The restaurant has clearly changed hands in the last couple of years. The menu remains more or less the same, but there are differences in some of the dishes. The menu is a mix of seafood and fish with some pasta and fresh platters as well their house specialties. Their cioppino is a popular dish: a fish stew (slightly spicy) with a tomato base. Normally prepared with a lot of sauce... like soup, here it now has much less sauce but contains quite a bit of fish and seafood. I highly recommend their calamari: typically calamari in most restaurants is pretty thin...not here. Here, the calamari is quite thick and lightly battered. The thickness has to do with the local squid found in the Monterey area. As for what is usually fresh? The salmon and the sand dabs are both locally sourced and are fresh. Ask the staff when you come for other options. The staff are polite and the service is fine. Pricing is moderate for the most part. The kitchen closes...