We came in with a party of nine and it was a fairly busy night. It took 1 hour 30 min to get our first two meals. The rest of the meals came over the span of another 15 minutes. So we started eating 1 hour 45 min after we arrived. Awkwardly inattentive service and no apology for the extremely late food. We have been here many times over the years and no issues in the past. This was the first time I can ever remember not leaving a tip. I felt bad, but it truly wasn't deserved. read more

We had a variety of meals here and everything was great. Steaks, chicken strips, shepherds pie, crab cakes... service was also attentive and friendly. read more

This restaurant is beautiful! It is really too bad that the service was, rub your eyes in disbelief bad!! The waiter we had, who was conviently NOT wearing a name tag, was unbeleivably rude to the males at our table. When he was asked about why the food we had ordered didnt look at all like the description, he replied with completely innapropriate answers. It made for a very bad start to a night on the town. read more

Been here a few times, never really impressed with the food but they have some interesting martinis and a great jasmine hot toddy. That being said I brought my father here for father's day as he was visiting from out of town and not much else is open on a Sunday night. Our host was fantastic, very charming and engaging. Our server, Sarah, obviously new, didn't do too bad of a job either. My rating is 2 stars because of the food, (tough ribeye even though it was ordered med-rare; and a bouillabaisse that was made with cheap fish like ingredients and no flavor at all) and the bus boy. Honestly, this kid ruined the meal. We had brought a bottle of wine and I wasn't interested in keeping my glass full, I was just having a few sips at a time. EVERY time my wine glass was empty he would magically appear and REACH ACROSS THE TABLE to offer to take my glass. Twice I told him I would probably have a bit more so no thanks I'll keep my glass. He always reached across the table to refill water and promptly removed my dinner plate without asking AND before my father had finished eating. I was appalled and incredibly unimpressed with this level of service. It was rude, not very discreet at all, and I will not be frequenting their dust covered bar or obnoxiously loud dining room ever again. read more

First, it's the Holidays and Plaza Grill always blings the place up to make it festive. (I'm a sucker for twinkling lights!) Went with a group of eleven, service was prompt with the cocktails. Had a chance to visit, then they took our order. Several people chose the Shepherd pie and raved. I had my usual bowl of their perfectly seasoned Tomato Basil Soup, the small dinner salad ($3.95-this is NOT expensive) featuring leafy greens (no iceberg, thank you) and Crab cakes, an appetizer. The glitch was they ran out of the crab cakes. The server was attentive and took my re-order for the scallops. Took a while but came grilled & spicy. All in all, a good evening. The best part? When I checked my bill the next day, I was only charged for my soup & salad! Thank you for making it right! read more

I love PG...the menu is always changing and the staff is top notch. My mouth is watering just thinking about the bacon mac and cheese and the Ribeye. The staff is also very educated on their liquor selection and they refuse to carry mediocre wine. Love Plaza Grill read more

Had very inefficient service had to wait for our waitress to come to the table multiple times even after we told her we were ready to order, waited 20+min for our beer, we watched it sit on the bar getting warmer. When our appetizers finally arrived we had to ask for share plates, which took a while to be delivered. We also had to re ask about where our beers where. When our entries arrived after waiting forever for them, our appetizer and salad plates were still on our table. We couldn't even begin to dine because they cleared our forks with the app plates so we had to wait again to begin eating. The food was sub-par; wings poke and Brussels sprouts were best items; although i would only re-order the wings. Salads and soup were uneatable...balsamic italian dressing looked like chocolate moose; tomato basil soup tasted like unseasoned canned tomato paste. Both pasta entries were of poor quality and flavor. Shrimp scampi overcooked and sauceless (said to come with tomato basil sauce). Chicken Capresse was 4 oz of thinly sliced chicken breast 1 tomato slice; both served on pasta solely seasoned with garlic powder. Fish taco's grilled frozen mahi mahi on two soft tacos with taco fillings. Kids mac & Cheese was practically cheese-less. Poor value? Even with the "humboldt hunger" none of us ate more then half our dinners. People never even bothered to ask why we didn't even want to box it up. read more

I thought the tomato basil soup was amazing . Unfortunately, I felt our waitress was kind of rushing us out the whole time. I had my bowl and beer taken before they were empty. For a moment I thought things were changing when they politely asked my step mom if she would like her food boxed up, and proceeded to do so. But, we were finished eating at the relatively the same time, and I did not receive the same treatment, and my father and I both had boxes set next to our plates and were told, "Just letting you know we aren't trying to rush you, but here is a box whenever you need it." So, all in all, I thought the food was pretty tasty, but the service was not so great. read more

We've been here quite a few times over the last couple of decades (3-6 times a year) and usually rate them in the 4 - 5 star level. BUT tonight was the first time I was really disappointed - and it will affect my choice of restaurant well into the future. I love their stuffed pork loin chops but now they come served over a plate of soupy tomato sauced new potatoes - I have tomato allergy and was totally surprized when the waiter refused to substitute another potato - so I asked to not get any, and again, I told the waiter why, (food allergy). But it came just the same, as if there had been no discussion what so ever and the waiter put my plate down on the table last and disappeared. Finally, I had to remove the luscious loin chops to my bread plate, scrape the tomato sauce off the bottoms and eat only the chops. The servings of Lasagna my 3 friends got were about 4 bites,WAY too skimpy for pasta - but the order of Shepard's Pie looked ample and yummy. SO - they've lost a good deal of our future business. read more

Great atmosphere, delicious food, good price, great service! Has a great look inside and a welcoming staff! We were seated quickly and given water to drink. Menu is a little on the short side but I can't say the same about the food! Great flavor and admired by all my family! Fairly good price ( 10-20$ a person ) The food took a little while to come to the table, about 20 minutes. Besides that it was an overall good performance! read more

Tonight was my family's first time here and from the looks of the restaurant, it seemed to be a well-attended place. But there were several problems that made it clear we would not return here: first, the service was terrible, with our food arriving over an hour after our party of 7 ordered. We also asked for hot water which the waitress never brought. And to top it off, we told the waitress when she came to take orders from our family of 3 that we wanted a separate check, only to find out she rang all 7 of us up on one check and gave it to our host, which made for an awkward experience thereafter. read more

My experience here last night outweighs what might have been a delicious meal. This establishment exemplifies what ails Humboldt County. A product that is mostly top shelf combined with such horrid service that I won't ever return or recommend it. Made reservations for a large group (read that LARGE ticket) of folks who have all been in food service (barista to five star) and have eaten all over the world. Knowing Friday would be busy, the reservation at dinner hour (6:00 p.m.), was two hours before a theater date. The waiter was slow and inattentive. At least twenty minutes to anything more than water. More than hour to salads, and with less than twenty minutes to reach the theater, finally entres. The Blackened Cajun chicken sandwich came to the table looking like it was prepared first and waited under the heat lamp for the rest of our meals to finish. When mentioned to the waiter he made the comment "That's life. You don't always get what you think you're going to." It was the most pleasant comment he made discussing this sad looking dish. His attitude brought the manager to the table to rectify the situation. The entire group was so turned off, that we took boxes and "served" plaza people with more grace than we had received. Too many businesses here rest on reputation and consider a dissatisfied costumer an "inconvenience" instead of an opportunity to grow their business. The price of the pathetic sandwich was removed from the bill, but unless you have unlimited time and an impervious hide, there was no "service" here. Maybe this waiter was called in on an "off" day..... maybe the food was really delicious, but the service left such a bad taste in my mouth, I'll never know. read more

I've been eating here for years, but in the last few months there has been a loss of consistency. Last night our drinks, a gin & tonic and Tom Collins, both tasted the same. And if you like a "shepherd's pie" that is 50% canned corn, this is the place for you. A shame - this place has been so much better. read more

I honestly don't understand the 3 1/2 star rating--it almost gave us pause to try it! We had just finished hiking the full Lost Coast trail and were visiting my boyfriend's sister in Arcata. After seeing how busy the hotels were, we called to see if they were busy for dinner. They said they had just filled up but would make a reservation for us at 8. We arrived at 8 on the dot and had a table all ready near the fireplace. The atmosphere is TOO CUTE being inside the storehouse and the interior is all classic rustic. We ordered drinks and the scallop/pork belly appetizer and everything was great. We ended up ordering the ribeyes and they were to die for! It comes with garlic butter and fried onions, veggies, salad and twice baked potatoes as sides. For all that, our bill was only $100. The service was wonderful and we didn't have to wait too long for our food. I would definitely come back again if we're in the area for a wonderful experience. read more

Our server hands down made this visit worth it. The menu was changing the day after we visited, so they were out of a lot of things and some diners were annoyed, but he managed to stay patient and polite. The service at Plaza Grill has always been slow, but when we told him we had somewhere to be, he managed to get us out of there on time without making us feel like we were inconveniencing him. We had the chicken satay skewers appetizer and it was probably our favorite part of the meal. You can't go wrong with peanut and chili sauce! My husband ordered the Mahi Mahi tacos and they were gigantic and loaded with goodies, guac, sour cream, pickled onions etc. I had the mushroom patty burger, and our waiter brought extra dressing because he said it can get dry, and he was right the extra dressing was needed! We ordered a Strawberry Mojito and and Old Fashioned, but we received a New Fashioned. No big deal, it was an okay drink, but when we reordered a (true) Old Fashioned, it was too strong to drink. The food was good, but our waiter made our night. Thank you! We'll be back to check out the new menu soon! read more

38 minutes! That's what it took to get our entree after we ordered, with no apology or explanation. What were they doing? Oh I know, removing all of the moisture from my wife's meatloaf dinner. 3 slices of salty meatloaf that had been placed on a char-grill to heat up made them well crispy, similar to toast. Good thing we had asked for a water re-fill to help lube the loaf. Two of our party had the same experience with this dish. We were seated at our table and 20 minutes later, BINGO, would you like a drink? Yes please and some water if we may. My pasta dish seemed fresh and hot, so was the soup. No complaint about the staff, just the extremely slow service and inedible $20 meatloaf. Will NEVER go back. read more

Really love this place. Last time I went, however, I tired to order drinks well before midnight but was not aloud the "happy hour" price. Even tho the website said the happy hour goes until 12:00. I ordered with at least thirty minutes before the end of happy hour, and when I approached the bartender about it, he simply said, "take it up with my boss." Sounds sketch to me. Get with it Plaza, please. Or do I need to take-it-up-with-your-boss? read more

very nice interior, very good service, great Lagunitas draft beer. ordered fish and chips, disgusting burned french fries, burned dry fish, feel sick after eating it...didnt pay attention while eating, having fun with friends, otherwise i did returned that food.....dont order fish and chips here. rest of us was happy with food, therefore 2 stars instead of one...... read more

Ate here last night for the first time in awhile. Waited 10 mins to have our drink order taken (after finally flagging down the server), then waited 15 mins more before finally flagging her down again. The drinks arrived shortly after, with the explanation (not an apology) that they were busy (a number of open tables, and seats at the bar, so...?). Finally got our order taken, and 10 mins later I got word that they were our of the special (it was 7 pm). Food was good, but the service was not, and the server made no attempt to improve it. We saw no evidence that the two owner/managers were there, so that may have been a reason. Anyway, there are lots of other restaurants we can (and will) go to in the future. read more

I have eaten at the Plaza Grill several times and have always found the food to be excellent. The quality of service varies greatly depending on which server you get. My husband and I went tonight for a date night. We were seated immediately and given water, but it was several minutes before we saw our waiter. By this point we were ready to order our dinners, but he said he didn't have time to take our food orders yet, he had to see about another table's dessert. Our waiter disappeared for several more minutes. He came back with our drinks and asked if he could take our order "really quick". He was distracted and did not tell us of any specials or soups, etc. we quickly ordered an appetizer, 2 burgers and a side salad. At this point, our waiter left for over 20 minutes- no food, no drink refills, no checking in. He finally showed up with our main courses, no appetizer, no salad. He admitted he hadn't put in the order for our appetizer and suggested we'd probably rather go without. When we asked about the salad, it was clear he had forgotten about it, but said it "should be out in a few minutes". The burgers were excellent (they always are, especially the Humboldt Fog burger), but our experience was dampened by the poor, rushed service and the lack of drink refills throughout the meal. My husband's salad didn't come out until we were pretty much done with our meal. Our waiter then tried to clear our plates before we were finished (the salad was only a few minutes old) without offering us boxes for our leftovers or dessert, a second glass of wine, etc. He then apologized for the mistakes he had made but made no effort to do anything to improve upon our experience. I'm chalking it up to a guy having a bad day, but he handled the whole meal badly. We felt simultaneously rushed, ignored and thirsty. I probably won't be coming back here for any sort of important event or with guests. Disappointing to get such poor service at what I think of as a really good restaurant! :( read more

Food is okay. Long wait time between appetizer and actual meal. Never was brought my clam chowder or my drink. Server was at another table chatting it up with his friends. This was our first time here and glad we had a gift certificate and not wasting our money. read more

I have been to the Plaza Grill twice now. I was with a group of 20+ people both times. I found the food to be very good, the atmosphere very nice, but on both occasions the service was so slow, we all considered walking out! The first time we were quite surprised and taken back by this extremely slow service, one server for 20+ people. So the second time I observed, and clocked our service. Again, one server alotted to our large group. I sat down at 7:15, my order arrived at 8:40! I will let the facts speak for themselves. read more

We made reservations for a party of 12 at 8:30pm. 7 of us arrived on time and after waiting awhile we had to tell our server that the others weren't going to show. She was a real pro about it. We downsized our table and had a wonderful evening. I loved the clam chowder and the crab cakes! My wine was wonderful, but my sister ordered the house red and it wasn't recommendable. She ended up with another that she liked and all through our visit, the server was wonderful, accepting our special requests with grace. Refreshing experience in this day of turn 'em and burm 'em customer service! Beautiful old building. read more

We have been coming to Arcata for over 20 years and always made a point to eat a great burger at Plaza Grill. This time, we noticed many references to "no substitutions" all through the menu. The American Burger comes with American cheese. We were not allowed to substitute cheddar cheese in place of the American. This is on a burger that costs $10. The waiter was very apologetic and promised to pass our comments to the owner. Obviously good customer service isn't in their business plan. We left and don't intend to ever return. Eventually we had a fantastic burger (cheerfully made to our specs) up the street. read more

I went to Plaza Grill for the first time on Saturday evening with a group of international college students. Hearing good things I was expecting a great meal. Well it was anything but and the service was terrible. I, being a waitress myself, am pretty tolerant about things but the service here was simply atrocious. We waited a half-hour after being seated before our waitress even acknowledged our existence. All of the other wait staff saw us waiting and did nothing accept pour water for us. When it came time to order one of my friends wanted her burger rare, and our waitress kept asking her repeatedly after she literally spelled out R A R E for her if she really wanted it rare. I kid you not this went on for about a minute. Then the food came. One of the others in our group ordered the ribs and said they were truly exceptional, but most of us had burgers and were not impressed. Another friend was up sick from hers which was well done. They use FAKE processed cheese like McDonald's burgers which I think is ridiculous for an $11 burger. The fries were soggy and lacking flavor. The patty was nothing exceptional either. At the end of it all we asked the waitress if she could separate our bill. This is something I would have asked at the beginning of service had I been the server, but she seemed a bit busy in the beginning and seeing eleven people all clearly with different accents and all very young would usually clue in a server that there would be more than one check. When we asked her this she rudely replied, "We'll it's too hard to do that now. You should have told me that in the beginning." Then we asked if we could pay our individual amounts and she again was very rude and said that wasn't possible. SO some of us had to go downstairs to an ATM, pay an extra fee on top of our withdrawal for taking out cash at a bank other than our own because she wasn't going to let us pay our own amounts individually. When I and the others who needed to do this returned, we found that some of our group had payed with cards just fine, all separate. This woman frankly pissed us off that I didn't even want to leave the included 18% gratuity because she did NOT deserve it. I think it is safe to say that I will never be returning to the Plaza Grill on my own request and I will never recommend it to anyone unless they fix what a huge mess Saturday evening was. read more

My home base is Humboldt County; however, I am now spending more of my time in Silicon Valley (Mountain View, CA) returning to Humboldt for R&R. I enjoy good restaurant eating. The Plaza Grill in Arcata, CA, to me, compares to the best restaurants in the bay area. A very friendly atmosphere and a great menu to choose from ... and you KNOW it will be good no matter what you order. This is a five+ star restaurant = ))) read more

Ordered the flank steak, and it was delicious. My dad said the kobe mini burgers were dry. Good, party-like atmosphere the night we went. Loud, but not obnoxiously so. The waiter seemed nice/friendly, as did the rest of the staff from what I could tell. It is pretty pricey though. read more

Had dinner with friends on Sunday Mar 25. Service was poor. It took 1 hour 20 minutes to get our food. The service staff had an attitude and did nothing to appease our dissatisfaction. They need to give customer service a higher priority or they will be out of business. read more

I went here on a whim with a friend expecting to just get a salad or something, and ended up stuffing myself with an exceptional plate of garlic polenta, vegetables in tomato sauce, and grilled mushrooms. My friend's salmon (wild! props) was tasty, though a bit dry (maybe it wasn't fresh) and the veggies and rice pilaf could have had more shazzam. The waitress was super relaxed and friendly and brought us more bread when she saw how we were going through the basket on the table. The bread was high quality and tasted great with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. For dessert, we had an awesome flourless chocolate cake which would have been better served with ice cream or a simple fruit or hard sauce -- instead it was covered in fake whip cream and what tasted like Hershey's chocolate sauce. Still, it was winning. I loved the atmosphere here. As students, we felt like we were suddenly in some elegant place in the city. I agree with the reviewer who said there should be some jazz over the sound system (when I was there there was some fast, heavy rhythm stuff that made you feel rushed and eat faster...seriously). read more

My husband and I have been here several times in the past - I think I may have even written a good review. This time was an absolute disaster from start to finish. We had 6:30pm reservations for 8 of us. We were hoping for a nice dinner with extended family. We were seated, the waiter was pleasant and took our order. That's the good. We were served our food at 8pm. Yep we waited 1 1/2hrs! And... the place wasn't that busy! Waiter told us this was standard for them. Really? This hasn't happened before, and when they were much busier. Ok, so we had to wait a long time for our food. We'll, maybe they thought if we were hungry enough we wouldn't mind our food being cold? Or the fact that two of our dishes had raw chicken? When we told the waiter about the chicken he said "oh we've had several complaints about that but the chef said that it's just really tender. I've had it myself and it's fine". That may be true but it TASTED like RAW CHICKEN! Yeah, disgusting. Not to mention that one person after consuming it, immediately had to use the bathroom 2x for diarrhea and another one in our party started vomiting when he got home. Tender chicken or raw? Hmmmm. The last straw was the bill. They had taken $6 off the $24 meal for the chicken that we complained about. The dish was inedible! And...they charged for 3 soups that were presented by the waiter like it was part of the meal ordered, not al- a- cart. So to summarize: 1 1/2hr wait to be served, cold food, an inedible meal, raw chicken, tricked into ordering extras that we were made to believe came with the entree and I think the worst part; they just didn't care that it was such a horrible experience. The right thing would have been to take a percentage off the bill or offer a free dessert or SOMETHING that showed their good will. Instead they were rude and uncaring. They finally agreed to remove the extra charge for soup and for the meal that was bad, but they were reluctant to do that and acted like we were the ones that were in the wrong. On the way out the door the owner came out. No apologies. Instead he asked where we had had lunch and insinuated our person who was feeling ill after eating their RAW CHICKEN got it from lunch and not their RAW CHICKEN! Our total bill was over $200, which, had the meal and service been good, we wouldn't have minded paying. Oh and because we had 8 people the tip was automatic so we were forced to pay it. This was ridiculous, a rip off and made for a horrible evening. We won't be back. read more

I love steak, and this place has blown my mind with the steak I tasted. Great side dishes, great everything, I can't imagine a person being disappointed with anything, though yes,it is expensive, certainly worth it on occasion. read more

Terrific service, gorgeous setting, mediocre food. We ordered the crab cake and oysters for appetizers, which were both ridiculously priced for the quality/ serving size. My Shepard's pie tasted like it had sat in a steam table all day, and my friends Cajun Alfredo pasta was left under the heat lamps until the sauce dried into the noodles. I will not be returning to the plaza grill. read more

Absolutely outstanding! Try the pan seared scallops! And build your own burger! Great service....wonderful selection of wines....and excellent gluten free options! Can't say enough positive things about this place! read more

My wife and I went for the first time; we ordered the the brussel sprouts appetizer which my wife enjoyed (I do not like brussel sprouts at all). I enjoyed the shepherd's pie, while my wife had the salmon which she thought was very good. I ordered an "after dinner drink" called a "Plaza Cafe along with a slice of vanilla cheesecake. I recommend the drink, but skip the cheesecake - nothing special. Atmosphere is a bit noisy, server was slow, but we will go back again to see if that was just a first take. read more

We gave this place a try and we're very pleased with the cobb salad and the fish and chips. The server was excellent. The place was very noisy and it was difficult to have a conversation. read more

Great service! Waitress was very attentive. All of our meals were excellent. I ordered the Grilled Ahi, yummy!

First off, if you want cheap, this isn't it. You're paying for what you get. The food is generally very good, The menu changing every few months, so what you liked one time may not be available the next one (the reviewer who said the menu hasn't changed in 15 years apparently hasn't been there in 15 years... it changes often). My recommendation is to avoid the cheaper items on the menu. This isn't the place to go for a quick burger. Buy one of the entrees, and check out the specials. Some of them are exceptional. The salads are ok, but honestly I go for the soup every time. Not the tomato one, the other one (varies daily), but that's only because I'm not a fan of tomato soup, and the soup of the day is always excellent. The decor changes every so often, and tends to be a bit "artsy". It's moderately lit, enough to see but not glaringly bright. During colder weather there is often a fire going in the fireplace, and seats near it get pleasantly toasty. Service varies. Usually the servers are excellent, but this is a college town, and there is a lot of turnover as people get jobs while they're at school, and then leave when school ends. Sometimes, they get a loser. If your waiter isn't a good one, let the manager know. However, most of them are good. A highlight of the year is the Thanksgiving served buffet. Everything is excellent, including all the expected: turkey, ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatos, stuffing, salads, soup, and various desserts. It's a served buffet, so you don't have to worry about whether or not another customer contaminated the food. Definitely worth the price. read more

worst experience ever here in humboldt. the brio bread and oysters where good. Ordered the crab cakes and their was shell left in their and they came nuke warm if that.Ordered the filet Mignon to be cooked medium and it came undercooked, cut the steak in half and it was jelly in the middle after waiting an hour. And the clam chowder soup was not sessioned right, to much pepper and no salt. We left after i returned the steak. The only good thing about this place is the service is good. Will never go here again. Horrible atmosphere, dark, loud, hard wood chairs. I would suggest going to larripins up in trinidad or the looking glass in eureka if your looking for fine dinning and a good atmosphere read more

Very good place. Down to earth atmosphere. Dress casual, eat fancy. We ordered the Mahi Mahi tacos, tomato basil soup, grilled scallops, classic American burger. All was so good. If you're in the area, you should hit this place before you leave. read more

Nice restaurant for decent price. Waitress and host were very welcoming after a long day on the road.