Rappa’s 2.0 Harbor View Restaurant

Food excellent and so was the view. Service was good up until the waiter forgot to bring out the appetizer… Otherwise it would have been perfect.

One word: Horrible.
My BF and I went in expecting great customer service and food and got the complete opposite. Our waitress was an older lady who treated us differently right from the beginning than all of her other tables, and I’m assuming that is because we are young. We started off by ordering cocktails– save your money they were horrible and we didn’t even drink them. Then we ordered an appetizer, which we never received. Our waitress continued to check in on ALL of her tables except for us. She had brought out complimentary bread for other tables, and never to us. Our food was okay, nothing special AT ALL. Very over priced for what you get. Our overall experience was horrible. I would never go back again.

Given that this seems to be the anchor restaurant on Fishermans’s Wharf, I was not impressed. Not exactly sure what the hours are here, but we got in at around 8pm on Saturday and the place was fairly empty. Got seated fairly quickly, and that’s where exceptional service ended. It took about 20 minutes to have our order taken, and longer to get it. And the taste was… bland. Refills took a while, and so did getting the check. As I’m not a local to Monterey, or the surrounding area, I doubt that the next time I’m in town that I’ll visit this spot.

Man, I wish some restaurants would really take a look at their product. Guess, when you’re located in a heavy tourist area, you can afford to provide poor service and mediocre food. That’s what we got this week at Rappa’s. The Sand Dabs were fresh, but that was the only good thing about the dinner that my wife and I had celebrating our anniversary. Appetizer of calamari was mediocre, Gnocchi was fresh, but the cream sauce didn’t provide any flavor. The server looked like she knew what she was doing, but did not meet expectations. Come on guys! You’re in an area where expectations are high. Step up to the plate!

Brighton Schools had a great experience at Rappa’s (now the Big Fish Grill) once again. Thank you to Gerry, Armando and the rest of the crew for taking such great care of our party of 40 parents and students during a fantastic field trip to Monterey. After our visit to the Aquarium, Rappa’s was a great way to end our long day. Gerry did a super job coordinating with me, setting a delicious menu and being prepared to give my 3^rd Grade Class an amazing experience. Food was great, sunset over the water was beautiful and all the staff were terrific. See you guys next year !!

we ordered a couple margaritas as the «special» only to watch the bartender strenuously pour the pre mixed jose quervo bottle into a glass of ice. drank one and left

Highly dissapointed. We chose this place for the view and their menu. I ordered the special. Petrole sole in lobster sauce. The fish was super dry and the sauce was terrible. For $ 26.95 my expectations were not even close to being met. It took for ever to get our food and it was very slow. The waiter was friendly. My daughter and granddaughter both had pasta and said there sauce tasted like it was out a jar. I wont go back and wont reccomend. Party of 4 bill $ 130.00 food terrible!

The waiter was so rude with his broken English.
The restrooms were both very dirty. The food is very high priced for the low quality & small quantities!!!

Service here was slow for a place that was not crowded. On the plus side the views were nice. Luckily we we were not in rush. The food took a long time to come. The bread was warm and whipped butter was a nice touch.
As for the food we had the paella special which was just o.k. The fruitte de mare and cioppino were tasty.

We have been here nearly 20 mins (very slow night) and we barely received our complimentary bread. The service is terribly slow and the prices are outrageous. While the food is tasty I’m not sure it’s worth the wait and price. If you’re planning on coming here make sure yoh had no plans afterwards. I’m overall disappointed.
–p.s–
I only came here for the clam chowder in a breadbowl and they burnt my breadbowl. Wtf.

Okay, admittedly the food isn’t the greatest in the world and the $ 3 margaritas are ready mix, but I have to give them two thumbs up for their service. We had a party of 14, 8 of which were kids, and they took fantastic care of us. Great customer service.

I don’t know why all the bad reviews… Our waiter was funny and courteous, prompt, and really seemed to be enjoying his work. Bread was excellent. Margaritas were cheap AND delicious — $ 3. Draught beer selection was highly limited, unfortunately. Ordered the rib eye. The spinach had bacon in it, which someone had complained about… Personally, I thought it was delicious, and the first to disappear on my plate. The steak was also great. I didn’t try it, but I also had positive reviews from the pork chops. Price was typical for a restaurant like this, if slightly cheaper than expected for the end of a pier. Expect food pricing in the $ 15 – 30 range. (My ribeye was $ 26.) Nearby food options definitely had better reviews, but had menu prices starting at $ 35 going up to $ 69 an entrée. Perhaps they are better, but this was a much more reasonable price for an AWESOME meal. Highly recommended.

This is what I come to expect from a pier restaurant. The prices are pretty fair. I had Sand Dabs and they were good but the sauce on top was just so-​so. My daughter loved their homemade Mac and cheese.
The service was decent. The best part was the view! !! We watched two sea otters play and a sea lion.

The service was good, the waiters were friendly but my overall experience wasn’t what I expected. The food was only okay, it wasn’t worth the prices that they were. The bread is actually really good and so are the fresh oysters. Other than that I wasn’t impressed. The three meat lasagna was tasty but not for that price. If I’m going to be paying over $ 20 a dish I expect it to wow my taste buds and that was not the case unfortunately. I get that it is by the wharf and maybe that is why the prices for lobster tail or such things are a little more, but $ 45 for a lobster tail is just ridiculous to me. And then $ 60 for lobster and a small piece of steak? No thank you. The menu was not great, did not have a lot of choices and the ones that they did have were overpriced even for the area. Maybe it is better as a bar but I didn’t go there for that. If I do go back it will be for the oysters and the bread. Even my Shirley Temple wasn’t up to par. They didn’t even put a cherry in it! How could you forget such a crucial part of that well-​known beverage? It may seem petty to you if someone forgot your cherry in your Shirley Temple but I pay attention to detail and details are important if I’m going to spend $ 60+ for an unsatisfying meal.

Serious tourist trap! The price was way to high for the food served. Pre-​frozen most of it, which is strange for a restaurant on the water. Staff were like robots, but as soon as you are served they disappear forever. My husband tried to get a new coffee due to the bug floating in it and they gave him back the same glass with the same bug. They just refilled the same glass wow!
I will not be returning!

Very delicious clam chowder in a bread bowl and fish and chips! Service was slow at first, but our waiter turned out to be very friendly. The $ 2.99 happy hour margarita was definitely a $ 2.99 margarita, but hey, what more could you expect? We’d come back for sure.

Decent food for tourists. It’s one of the cheaper options along the wharf with the best view. Good happy hour prices. I ordered the blackened salmon with pineapple salsa, it was decent, salsa was meh. Came with a side salad (yum, get the house dressing) and sauteed veggies (carrots, onions, and zucchini) which were not my favorite blend ever. My co-​worker ordered the platter with fried shrimp, scallops, and fish. He was satisfied but it’s hard to mess up something fried.

Wow. I knew this was a tourist trap but the prices and food quality made my group and I feel cheated and a little sad that we didn’t stop at any of the other traps on the Monterey wharf.
We were brought in by the beautiful views and hopeful that like the other restaurants on Monterey wharf that this restaurant would have tasty (albeit overpriced) chowder and happy hour Mimosas. We wanted the full tourist experience and didn’t mind paying a little extra for the view. Q
Two in our party of five were served mimosas immediately and the other three waited fifteen minutes to be served. I rarely ask outright for our waitress but had to at this place. Our discontent continued when my friend received her bruschetta ($ 9.95) arrived with three small toasts and some tomato on top. My friend questioned the waitress on the size versus price and got a lesson in what bruschetta was (we knew that, thank you) but not as to why they were $ 3+ per piece. Our waitress was immune to the issue and seemed unconcerned that we were unhappy.
The chowder was super salty and did not come with any crackers. The burger another friend received was average at best. We had the French fried zucchini which was tasty and another friend had oysters (from Washington state, what?).
Our bill was $ 80 without tip for happy hour drinks and several appetizers. Overall, I would not recommend spending your money at this beautiful but inattentive restaurant. Save it for another overpriced place with food that is actually tasty. Go somewhere local, or if not, at least somewhere tasty.

We stopped in here for a quick drink because it’s pretty hard to pass up a sign out front that advertises $ 4 Margaritas. Turns out the margaritas are pre-​made and they just pour it into your glass (tough job for the bartender.) so they weren’t the best drinks ever, but they were cheap and got the job done. It was early evening when we were there and pretty dead… didn’t really seem like the kind of place where we’d want to try the food, so moved on after our drinks. Very pretty views right on the water.

What a great accidental dinner! We had reservations a couple doors down and were bar hopping for happy hour. Our bartender Bill was nice but suggestive of their food. We canceled our reservation and stayed. Yeah!
My Cioppino was seriously delicious and the service, ala Lucio, was fantastic!
Have I mentioned the entertainment by the sea otters? Those clever little guys entertained us for a good hour. Highly recommend you visit!

I’m between two and three stars.
This place isn’t anything special. The quality tasted rather cheap unfortunately. I was expecting more for the prices. I came here with my family after my graduation. I ordered a steak, medium. It came out well. My boyfriend also ordered a steak, I believe medium rare, it came out well also. A $ 20 steak should come out exactly how you ask (I would think). It still tasted good, but a meat eater wants their steak how they crave it! The others at the table thought their meals were just OKAY and nothing special. Maybe management should consider a more experienced chef?

end of the pier… an upper deck rooftop open to the public… harbor view from the deck… late afternoon and mostly empty… taking a local beer… fat lip ale draft… quite refreshing, but a hefty $ 5.75 pint… bit of a roasted malt with hint of caramel sweetness going down… slight aftertaste finish… taking a clam chowder in sourdough bread bowl $ 12.95…the top of the bread oiled, seasoned and made in to garlic bread… the soup decent and bread great… the bread was really good… tearing the bread apart to dip and eat… nice late afternoon snack…

My husband and I split salmon cakes, which were okay, and a paella ($ 22 lunch special). The paella had plenty of fresh seafood and had good flavor, but it was a bit soupy and salty and should have included bread or something to soak it all up.
Service started out slowly but improved.
The views were nice, though! The deck on top is open to the public.