Recently traveled back to Pacific Grove and ate at Red House Cafe twice......back to back days…read more Service and Staff: - All staff members were kind and accommodating - Our server from the first day recognized us the second day and even said he'll see us the next day (haha) Food and Drinks: - Bloody Mary: tasty and refreshing - Lemonade: fresh, refreshing, homemade, tart. And a free refill! - Smoked salmon Benedict: I love how they make this on a croissant instead of an English muffin. This was delicious. With the side of potatoes, I was able to share this with another person - Crab cake Benedict: someone in my group got this both days because it was good - Chilaquiles: this dish was one of the specials. While flavorful, it was quite spicy and a bit overwhelming to have that spice and flavor for the whole dish - Chorizo and eggs: always a classic. Delicious, filling, and comes with a choice of corn or flour tortillas Miscellaneous: - Indoor and outdoor seating available - Stairs leading up to the indoor seating - Unisex bathroom - Good for small groups up to about 6 - Casual and average volume for how loud it is - They also have a case of pies and cakes!

Wanted to come here for breakfast but unfortunately we were a bit to late so we sat for lunch…read moreinstead. This is a cozy restaurant with a small indoor sitting room and seating outside in a covered porch area. We sat outside and really enjoyed the atmosphere. Our waitress was wonderful and she had a big beautiful smile C-: I ordered a cheeseburger "med rare" with cheddar cheese and it came with fries. The burger came nicely cooked at med rare and was actually pretty good except some of the bites I took had a heavy handed wasabi flavor. "Wasn't liking that at all" overall 2 stars for taste. Wifey ordered a portobello mushroom sandwich and a double shot of espresso coffee. Both the coffee and portobello mushroom sandwich or excellent "5 stars" overall I might come back for the portobello mushroom sandwich for lunch, but definitely not to Berger. I also would like to try the breakfast.

this place was definitely one of my bf's and my favorite meals in monterey since everything was…read moresuper yummy! we came here on a thursday morning and the place was crowded but there was no wait. also, the waitresses were so kind and attentive despite it being so busy, continuously asking us if we needed anything else or refills for water. much appreciated !!! foods: - lumpia: came out HOT and crispy! we had to cut it to let it cool down, but it was really good and crunchy and paired well with the sweet and sour sauce! it can get a bit oily, and we did see a bit of oil just pooled on the plate, so i'd probably limit to just one if you're not a big fan of oily foods. - pork belly fried rice: the pork belly was crispy and savory and paired so well with the fried rice and egg! the fried rice has bell pepper in it, which surprised me bc i'd never eaten that combo before, but i still enjoyed it! this was my bf's favorite dish and he kept talking about it the rest of the day LOL - lemon curd & blueberry pancakes: i absolutely LOVED this !! i'm usually not a big fan of sweet breakfast items, but this one was perfectly not too sweet and the lemon curd added such a nice tanginess that helped cut through the sweetness. i also loved how the pancakes were filled with blueberries and had more blueberries on top, so there was no skimping! we were surprised that we finished it all bc we usually don't eat all of our pancakes, so that really says how yummy it was hehe.

I was down in Monterey house sitting for a month so wanted to try a local spot for brunch with my…read morewife for our 10th Anniversary celebration weekend. The reviews are great. Maybe a little too great because the experience left me wondering if they were all posted by a marketing agency. The photos on the reviews are all a little too perfect imo. Conspiracies aside, the food was awful. I just don't get how this many people could share amazing post after amazing post and jive that with my in person experience. We ordered the corned beef hash. It needed salt. How?!!! Plus they basically only used beef and potato?! The menu said it had peppers and onion so when we asked, they brought some out on the side?!! Terrible. I mean it made it taste a little better but it was still not good. Then, the "lumpia" was more like an oil soggy egg roll. Too oily to even eat because literally it was dripping oil. So gross. Clearly someone not from the lumpia making culture made these. I do not recommend this place at all. Even the coffee was terrible. Only saving grace and the second star comes from the fresh squeezed orange juice. Delicious but come on ... smh ... does not save this place at all. Sorry, I really wanted to like this but this was my experience. Hopefully it was just a weird day.

Foray completely delivered, the food felt thoughtful and intentional without trying too hard. Each…read moredish was balanced and beautifully executed. You can tell the chef is pushing to become the best. Nothing was over complicated, just clean flavors done at a very high level. It's rare to leave a restaurant feeling genuinely impressed by the cooking itself, but that was the case here. Major credit to the chef, the ambition and attention to detail are obvious. We are excited to dine at Foray again!

Beautiful experience from start to finish. The ambiance is stunning. Lighting is well adjusted and…read morecustomizable to your preference. Service was prompt, professional and engaging. Every dish felt personal. We chose to dabble in the 3 course menu in hopes to maximize our experience and it delivered! Chef Michael is truly a visionary and brought us an experience we will not forget. The tide tumbled oysters with pomegranate granita is the best I've ever had. The texture and flavor were pinnacle to anything else I've had thus far. My other half does not even like oysters and was proud to be able to enjoy them, and that was just the beginning... please do yourself a favor and indulge here. You will love everything that comes to your table AND pairings are expertly done. Each pairing that we had elevated every dish to an extraordinary level. Between chef Michael's cuisine, and pairings from Jose Gutierrez you will leave completely satiated and happy.

We were looking for restaurants in Monterey where we could feed our 1-year-old well and still have…read morea great meal ourselves, and il vecchio surely delivered! They didn't have the focaccia that day, but the bread with balsamic olive oil with peppers was amazing. My favorite was the vegetarian pappardelle, as both the pasta and the tomatoes/vegetables tasted so fresh and light. We ordered the grilled chicken thigh for the baby to eat along with our food; it was healthy yet tasty. Ragu was just okay though. We were so full by the time the sorbet came out. Our server took good care of us, even though he had a bunch of tables and it was super full. I love that it still felt private in there though. Would definitely come back again.

From the outside it seems like a small and cozy restaurant. However once you are indoors it is much…read morelarger. When we visited it was very busy so I would definitely recommend getting a reservation. I loved the decor and seating. The staff was so pleasant and had good recommendations. We started with some wine I had a delicious moscato and my hubby had a Cabernet. For an appetizer we had the fried asparagus and it was so fresh and full of flavor. The breading was not overly powerful or too much. They had 3 dipping sauces. I really liked the basil one, hubby thought it was too powerful. The lemon aioli was also very good but I absolutely loved the basil one. The red one was just okay to me but hubby liked that one the most. For our entrees I had the Saffron Seafood Pasta and hubby had the Carbonara Pasta dish. For mine it tasted like the seafood was just delivered right out of the ocean. The shrimp was huge, the scallops were plentiful and there was a lot of squid. The papardelle pasta was out of this world. Briney and creamy in the best way. Hubby enjoyed his dish but one bite of mine and he had food envy. We both agreed that tomatoes in my dish weren't needed. But it didn't take away my enjoyment of the dish. For dessert hubby had the tiramisu and I had the San Pietro sundae, minus whip cream, a vanilla gelato with pistachios, caramel coated almonds and salted caramel. It was so delicious, creamy and incredibly tasty. We will definitely be back to try more delicious food.

This place cooks up local fish - like their market plate! Pretty chill for Sunday lunch. Cute…read moreplace on a cute street in Monterey. The Popovers were also quite special - we were the first when they just opened for lunch so it was super fresh and warm! Perfect. Not too greasy but light and airy. My hb got the tuna melt which he liked, noted that it's very cheesy but at the same time, not too heavy! Of course, got the Wild Fish Plate, which was petrale sole, but it was fried, which wasn't specified... I couldn't eat it so the chef renade me a version that was more steamed. Bonus points for that. And it was cooked perfectly. Absolutely delicious!!

Busy place this was, definitely recommend a reservation if coming for dinner. It seemed like a two…read moreman show but they were doing their best and still kind while doing it. They were the host, waiter, and bartenders all at the same time. Food was unique and farm to table, as they had told us. Everything seemed very fresh. Kumamoto oysters were great, popovers a bit bland but the whole fish for two was a great portion to share between two people. Excellent in flavor and in house made tater sauce was good. Cocktails were made well. Atmosphere interestingly dark, moody, but also nice with real candlelight.

Definitely worth the visit!…read more Our trip to big sur was a slow one at best, heavy traffic, a tourist meltdown, and a flat tire led us to having such an abysmal beginning to our trip. But when we arrived at Nepenthe, it all was turned around. Our server, Sam, was so thoughtful, charismatic, and knew exactly how to raise our spirits. He recommended the Shrimp BLT and Bannana cream pie. With humor, wit , and AMAZING food, we were brought back from the edge and our trip was saved. Rarely do we see staff go to such lengths to value our stay, and I will say Nepenthe does not disappoint! Food, 4/5 View 5/5 Service 15/5 Thank you Sam!!!!

Food is 2 stars Service was 4 stars…read moreAmbiance was 5++ stars. We sat "front row" on the veranda so we are biased with the 5 star rating (see pics). Got there at 11 for 11:30 opening just by chance which got us 6th on the list and as a couple we got lucky with amazing seats with the view to The Pacific Ocean. Bloody Mary was awesome. Garlic and Goat cheese appie was amazeballs. Hamburger was dreadful. Overcooked and Undersized for the bread. You can charge $30 for a burger just don't pretend it is more than it is. Just bad all around. Really a bummer given how easy it is to make a great burger. French Dip Sammie was just ok. French Vinagrette dressing on the salad was nice.

After multiple failed attempts to find somewhere to eat with our dogs in tow, we arrived at Sur at…read morethe Barnyard hungry, tired, and a little defeated. What a wonderful surprise. It was just me, my two girls, and our two dogs, and from the moment we arrived, we were met with genuinely excellent service. The staff was kind, attentive, and welcoming. The food was absolutely fantastic, fresh, flavorful, and beautifully prepared. Sometimes a meal is more than just a meal. After a long day of searching for a place that would work for our little crew, Sur felt like exactly where we were meant to end up. We left happy, full, and already looking forward to coming back. Highly recommend.

We dropped in to SUR today after hiking a bit. We hadn't been there before, and since Scratch was…read moreclosed and this place a great reviews, we decided to check it out - and I'll chalk this up to anther time Yelp did us wrong. TLDR:: Meh.. I wanted something to drink that wasn't sweet, so I tried their raspberry ice tea. They used a sugary syrup to flavor the tea, and that was a strike out. It was sweeter than a soda, so it went back and I swapped it out for a plain unsweetened ice tea. Then we tried the cheesy garlic bread, which we were really looking forward to. Welp, it came out with mozzarella cheese and a ton of corn. No butter. No garlic. We all looked at each other when we tried it. Ok, let's try their brussel sprouts. Those are hard to mess up - but sure enough, they managed to. They deep fried them to the point they were black and charred. There wasn't anything left of the brussel sprout itself, it was mostly crunchy charcoal. At this point, we all ordered something we assumed would be safe for our main. I got the sliders and a side salad. I had the salad but only of the sliders. The cheese on it was queso, like you use to dip chips, so it was ran all over the place and the burger was a grease ball. I won't even get into what everyone else had, but they had similar experiences. Overall, it was pretty disappointing. Maybe there are other things or other times where this place is better, but it was a swing and a miss for us.

From the moment I walked in, Passion Fish made me feel genuinely welcome -- "So glad to see you,…read morethank you for coming in!" Those words matter more than people realize. My server was patient, attentive and helped me navigate the menu with real care. The halibut was light and flaky, beautifully prepared, and the fish stew -- extraordinary. Top shelf from start to finish. This is what hospitality looks like.

Wow oh wow. The duck was the best thing out of the whole…read moreentire meal. The waiter was such a personable guy, cute and funny. We were treated very well and had such a lovely date. I really appreciated the soundproofing squares on the ceiling; that was a good touch. Huge wine list with also beers and cider. Anything that tickles your fancy, you can probably find here. The salmon was caught locally and it was fantastic, but my mistake was trying the duck. The duck was just absolutely fine and I could eat the whole thing.

Modern Steak House! Based on my walk around downtown Monterrey Bay this is a good spot for date…read morenight dinner. Service outstanding super friendly. Food was good, had lots of flavor. Meat seemed good quality. Ambiance was clean, modern, dim light, music was a bit loud. Glad we had our date night here!

We wanted to try something special for dinner and my husband and I splurged a little bit with…read moredinner at Montrio. I noticed the Michelin sticker for 2019 and this made me more excited to try the food. Reservation was easy and available even on a days notice. Yay for that! Our server was attentive and made sure we had a great experience. Decor is nice and you can tell it's one of the more fine dining places in the area. We started with crab cakes, move on to the pork chop and short ribs. Both were made to perfection. Dessert was a toss up but glad we had the cake. For all you pop rock lovers out there, the addition of this candy to dessert was unexpected but surprisingly good. Will definitely be back to try the other dishes.

Delicious Pizza.. I personally recommend the creamy pie. Their combo is also a favorite. The…read moreservice could be a little better as sometimes you get the person in a mood, but overall it's fast in delivery. The actual place is cool they have a bar where people hang out sometimes they have a dj.. they rent the hall in the back also.. they have games for kids I wish they were a little more reasonable in price though. But overall i highly recommend

Driving from LA to SF up the 101- needed a break and stopped in - - saw this place and the bar…read moreattached - The Watering trough -!- dive bar - which I love- good pizza. Calzones - full bar and not expensive! Totally worth the stop