This is a find! First the view cannot be beat. The wait staff are super friendly and chill. There is something totally relaxing about sitting outside on the deck as the sun comes down. A nice choice of drinks with some local breweries. Food is surprisingly good. There is an off menu item of coconut shrimp tacos that are great. Personally I love their Baja tacos. Also, Monday nights is usually a band (there is a cover). If you have a couple of hours to spare and want to just chill come here! read more

The Sand Bar - Outside seating - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

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My wife and I came here with our friends, and the pub food offered here is very good. It's basically hot, fresh, and greasy (just the right amount!) It's a casual vibe and right near the beach in Capitola. If you like clam chowder, this place has excellent clam chowder. read more

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This is our favorite place to stop for breakfast and bloody marys. The outdoor seating has a great view of the beach/river and the service is always great! read more

The Sand Bar - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

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1st time here and glad we came! Bloody Mary's are amazing along with the food, service and view of the ocean and beach. If you are in Capitola this a must to stop, and have a drink and some food. Live music 5 nights a week read more

The Sand Bar - Restaurant and bar. - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

Stopped in for lunch - Seating is on your own. Nice options - at the bar, regular tables, high tops and outside. Fun selection of cocktails. Enjoyed the crab melt sandwich. Would definitely come back - would like to see the night life scene. read more

We tilted an umbrella because the sun was in our eyes and the owner made the waitress put it up right and had us sit with the sun in our eyes the rest of our stay. Ruined our experience when we were in the middle of enjoying ourselves. Fuck you. Should've just let us leave the umbrella tilted. read more

Fun little restaurant/bar on Esplanade in Capitola. Friday night we arrived around 7 pm for dinner and had the fish tacos. Very tasty! Stayed pretty much all night to enjoy the live music, drink & dance. Really great band (Kid Dynamite). Awesome server named Eric! He was attentive & personable. Had so much fun we decided to go back Saturday evening. The band was Meez which was not really our jam. They did have a lot of fans there, so obviously it was a great night for them, just wasn't good dance music in our opinion. Love that they have live music again so there's fun night action. Will definitely be back for good food, drinks & dancing!! read more

They are currently Open but only for take out. Ordered a shrimp tacos and they were excellent! Nice full time goes with big Succulent shrimps. Also ordered the Cadillac Margarita and let me tell you it packs a punch!! Can't wait to come back once this is all over hang out in the patio in the back! Benton totally rocks giving us music vibes and making us wanna dance on the sidewalk! read more

Just walked by and here's the menu. It's a beach front location with ocean views. There is outside tables also. read more

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Devin was an awesome server and the back patio view was amazing that day! I highly recommend checking this place out. read more

The Sand Bar - Crab cake benedict was to die for! - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

We wanted to grab a quick bite before heading to the beach. The Sand Bar has a small seating area outside facing the ocean. The view was perfect. After we walked in, we were immediately greeted and seated quickly. The menu was not extensive but it has a good selection. The food came out quickly. They tasted good and they were plentiful. I loved their fries! Everything was good value compared to restaurants we have been to recently. Our waitress was very friendly. We would definitely come back when we're in the area. read more

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Checked out this place on a warm sunny Saturday for lunch. Chose it for the variety and the view outside. Ordered the calamari burger, as it seemed different, my friend got the crab melt with no swiss cheese and substituted it for jack. Thumbs up for the pepper plant sauce that goes well with anything, including our sandos that were lacking some flavor. My friend was bummed as they put swiss cheese on her sandwich and she hates it. Fries were super duper delicious. Overall, it was okay, not the greatest food. Service was a bit slow too, had to go inside to request extra napkins and a refill on the soda. read more

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We attempted to go here on Saturday 3/15/25 evening around 930-10pm. I was with my daughter who was down from college as well as another college student and her mother. We wanted to hang out and listen to live music after dinner. Both our daughters were not 21 but thought it would be ok for them to come in as they said they were serving food as well as we had stopped by during the day and they informed us it was no problem for the girls to come inside. When we walked to the door there was a gentleman probably in his 60-70s with a grey beard working he asked for our daughters IDs we informed him they were not drinking and were just going to sit with us at a table and enjoy the live music...he immediately got rude and said "nice try go somewhere else"...he then made a comment "aren't you living at Capitola Hotel?!"...which I found odd which I assume he saw is wall across the street from that hotel to this establishment. He came across completely rude & snarky. I didn't understand why the negative comment where we were staying which we weren't living there lol we were only staying one night. We had no idea Capitola turned into 21 and older in the evening otherwise we would have not even attempted to go by here. Just was so disrespectful and unfriendly to tourists/ people on vacation. He gave the bar such a dumpy vibe would not recommend this place ever by they way were treated read more

Food was great, the atmosphere was great, and when the live music starts later the bands are so fun. Our group had a wonderful time

The food here is amazing! I highly recommend getting the Coconut prawn tacos they were delicious! The Bartender was really nice and she give us really good recommendations. read more

The Sand Bar features an indoor dining and bar area with a small outdoor patio providing views of the bright/colorful row of Capitola rentals on the ocean and the estuary that runs along the restaurant strip. We came here during busy hour around 1:00 on a Saturday afternoon and the place was packed. There definitely were not enough servers staffed. We were a bit confused walking in as there wasn't a host stand or any instructions to seat yourself, but ultimately you do just seat yourself. We chose to sit on the patio, which is somewhat close quarters and offers only a few tables and a bar style table top to sit at with ocean views. We ended up at the bar table too due to unclean or occupied patio tables. Once seated it took at least 20 minutes for someone to walk up and ask if we'd been helped, while others who sat at tables that had been opened up were not only escorted to those tables, but also offered drinks immediately. If the one lovely waitress who finally noticed we hadn't been helped had not walked over when she did, we would have been walking out in the next 5 minutes. The drinks were great, aside from the bar being out of a key ingredient for the specialty drink on the menu containing butterscotch schnapps. I ordered a bacon Bloody Mary and my husband had to order a Michelada in place of his original drink order. Both were excellent! The Bloody Mary was packed with pickled veggies, great tomato flavor, and the right amount of vodka. The Michelada came with Tajin and lime on the rim and several citrus options for decor. Unfortunately, we'd just missed breakfast as it stops getting served at 1:00. Once we ordered around 1:30, both the food and drinks came quickly and our waitress was very attentive, checking on us several times (the restaurant had also started to empty out by this point). My husband ordered a bunless burger/sandwich thing and I got the fry basket which included some really amazing calamari, prawns, fish n chips, onion rings, and great sauces for us to share. The food was excellent, aside from the onion rings being a little over fried. We realize the ideal time to come here is probably 2pm on the weekends for the best experience. Overall, once we received service it was a good experience. I would just come at a later time next time to avoid the brunch rush. Note: The menu featured on the website was not the in-house menu. Ours didn't have its own salad list and the fry basket didn't come with artichoke hearts, among other differences. read more

The sand bar was a good restaurant! I didn't have food here but I had a coconut mojito and was amazing my husband had a margarita that was not so good but overall we had a good experience. I will be back specially to have the coconut mojito. read more

Togo's was good and flavorful. The tacos came with a great salsa and chips however they only gave you like 6 chips on your plate. Really wanted more considering how good they were. Cheesesteak was pretty good It could've used more of a melting cheese on it but it was still good. Atmosphere was very laid back and chill with a nice ocean view in the back. Service was decent. Friendly staff but our waitress only came to our table twice and wasn't really around to call on. Prices were pretty decent. Not much sitting room inside. read more

The Sand Bar - Mahi Mahi Tacos - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

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Great location reasonable prices and a full bar. The boats and wildlife outside the window are a bonus.

Refused service to person with service animal after being informed of the animals status multiple times . After being seated (outside) my family and I were were never served or greeted by a server.After waiting over 10 mins we decide to leave. read more

Food: I got a strawberry margarita which was not very good, and calamari which was good when I dipped in their sweet chili sauce (it doesn't come with the calamari but it came with something else we ordered. Service: The waitress was nice but incredibly slow. We sat for 5 minutes before she came over. We both ran out of drinks repeatedly. The cook was also new and messed up our order (the waitress was nice and took that off our bill). Ambience: Its right on the ward so if you want to dine outside you can enjoy the view. Overall: I wouldn't come back here based off of the slow service and only ok food. However maybe they are better staffed during the busy season. read more

We hit this place every time on our annual trip to sea scape. Great location, amazing view and parking while it is probably a nightmare during peak summer months when we go in December its great. Reason for the 3-stars is not a dig, it's just nothing that you have here is going to be disappointing, but nothing you have here is going knock your socks off. Very solid, steady, consistent place. The staff has been accommodating, friendly and good. I can see if it got real busy, not a big place and staff could get slowed down by the volume. Drinks are good, The Bloody's are about a 7 out of 10. You won't be kicking yourself for visiting. We wouldn't go here for years if the place sucked. read more

Usual place had a wait and decided to try something new... live and learn I suppose. The service was horrible. It took forever to get someone to take our order.. never asked if we wanted refills etc... took a while for the food...Maybe it was an off day. The food was decent. They forgot my order and the folks I was with were half way done with their order by the time mine came out-- server was apologetic and gave me a discount. Calamari was tasty (although very dark brown-- either oil needed to be changed or a few minutes over done). Fries were okay. To their credit they have a treasure chest of mini trinkets for kids (crayons etc.) and they have a kids menu. Bathroom needed a wipe down (particularly the toilet, area around the toilet and its sides). Not my first choice of places to eat in the village. read more

The Sand Bar - Calamari basket - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

Good location and decent prices on tap drinks. Love the inside of the bar. Seating includes some outdoor as well as indoor. Downside to the outdoor seating is being pooped on by gulls or in my case today...pee'd on. Thank god there was an umbrella mostly covering me. But it didn't change the fact that I was literally on height alert after the hostile bird strike. Food: unknown as we orders drinks only Drinks: Sculpin IPA and Guinness on tap and both were cold and delicious. Ambiance: other than the gull issue, it's a pretty chill bar. Service: good, and friendly. read more

The Sand Bar - Guinness and a Sculpin Grapefruit IPA, beach and sun! - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

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We stopped for a breakfast in capitola, not many breakfast places in the esplanade, but we decided this place because have few good breakfast dishes. Food was okay but very simple presentation and portion, service was good. read more

Straight terrible at got steak and eggs and toast the sourdough toast was okay the eggs were terrible no seasoning and no flavor same with the steak just cooked and plopped on there read more

Delicious food! Friendly service! The prices are high, as to be expected. But the beach view with a side of tacos and margarita is worth it. Will be coming back here, this is the perfect date spot. read more

Just okay. There were items that we tried that we good, whereas others were disappointing. Clam chowder - this was just weird. One typically expects a creamy, buttery chowder, but this was anything but that. It was actually a little sour. However, it was chock full of big chunks of potato and clam. Still, I would not get this again and can't recommend it at all. Crab melt - nice combination of flavors, but the crab meat was overworked and macerated. The crab itself seemed to be a little bland but the rest of the sandwich made up for that. Calamari and chips - calamari was tender but overcooked. Still had a pretty good flavor though. Calamari sandwich - this was very well done. Again, the calamari was tender, and was breaded very nicely. Flavor was excellent. The large Anaheim pepper was a little too much though, and was a little soggy so it was removed from the sandwich. Service was fine. The clam chowder was supposed to be an appetizer but it came out after the main dishes were already on the table. So overall, this was an acceptable experience and the food was decent (except for the chowder), but I'll probably check out some other places the next time we're in town. read more

We were driving from Santa Cruz to Monterey and decided to stop in Capitola. We had our dogs with us and were unsure about where we would stop to eat. While walking around, we found the Sand Bar. What a great little place. The food was really good. The service, from Elli, was great. The prices were as expected. I would definitely stop by again the next time I am there! read more

Loved the ambiance and the service! Was recommended this really good breakfast burrito and would definitely recommend it to a friend. Seems like a whole in the wall but is actually a gem in hiding! read more

The Sand Bar - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

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After a two hour walk I looked for a place to have a lite bite.. Since I was alone I looked for a spot with outdoor seating and bar with a view. Found that and great service for my morning breakfast. read more

Friendly wait staff, nice patio facing water in the back. Old, stale coffee that sat there heated since morning, oil saturated over-fried french fries. Good Mahi-Mahi sandwich, fish and chips, and nachos. It's a mixed bag of an experience. They have a frw areas to improve. read more

We had a fabulous breakfast at the Sand Bar!! Sat out on the deck along the water. The service was superb! We had breakfast sandwiches, crab cake Benedict, and Denver omelette. Everything was excellent!! read more

Awesome food Great atmosphere and . A nice view. Open during COVId and follows safety protocols. Definitely coming back! read more

The Sand Bar - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

Great service! Food was decent -- sortof your typical bar food but they have a variety of options. The rum in the paradise cocktail tasted cheap and the strawberry part of that is more tasty than the mango. Still good pricing for this part of the state. Will likely be back! read more

The Sand Bar - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

Beautiful view, we just had drinks and left to go have dinner. Some obnoxious chick wouldn't stop rubbing up against us (personal space please)! Which is why we left, service was great! read more

The Sand Bar - I asked at the last second to make my blended drink on the rocks! That's why it looks weird - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

This place was whatever. Decent food by the water. Has a dingy beach bar vibe to it. It's confusing when you walk in cause servers look at you but don't great you right away so you awkwardly stand in front of the place for a while or risk taking a seat and being forgotten about. Food: I got the fried Baja fish tacos. Very basic dish. Literally was a tortilla, fried fish stick, Some lettuce, a bit of salsa on top, and 4 pieces of chips for $11.95. It wasn't horrible so no complaints about taste but I wished it had a bit more of anything really. Honey had the crab Benedict and it was the saddest Benedict we've seen. Just a bunch of starch and carbs on a plate. We're brunch people so we travel to different places for brunch and this was sad but again, flavors weren't horrible. It was just very basic and plain. Service: It was weird. Our server was nice and friendly but the vibe was like people who work there, didn't want to be there. The bartender was fun and lively tho. All in all, we might go back but we don't really want too. Food wasn't inedible so I recommend at least trying for yourself. Good luck! read more

The Sand Bar - Crab Benedict - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

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There's plenty of places to eat around here, but Sand Bar seemed like a good place to catch breakfast. Overall, it was decent. The outdoor patio will have you in close proximity with others, but the sunshine and beach trumps the cramped space. Service was super friendly, but was suffering in efficiency. It took our guy forever to bring water or our next drink. My fiancé and I came to realize he was also the bartender. I ordered the Denver Scramble which was everything I expected in taste. The ham was of better quality than sliced deli ham, but "3 eggs" didn't go into this. -maybe quail eggs but definitely not chicken eggs. It worked out well that I inadvertently ended up eating less though! Our food was yummy, and the service was friendly. The atmosphere is divey which was cool for us, but things came out too slow. We would have liked to have our micheladas with our meal not after. Oh, well. We may come back again if in the area but not a place to go out of our way for. read more

The Sand Bar - Denver Scramble - It was yummy, but I assure you it was not "3 eggs" as written on the menu. - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Capitola, California

Worst experience ever. The waitress was nice but she got our order wrong and was being is random food. She also charged us for three kids quesadillas when we ordered 2 and when I told her she says she charged us 3 because we had three kids (one is a 4month old that we clearly didn't order a quesadilla for) That's no excuse. My brother asked her for a receipt and she handed him a blank piece of paper. The lady behind the counter was extremely rude and told us that we sat down when there was a 20 min wait so therefore we threw them off. She had actually told us to sit where we wanted to and told the same thing to the family behind us. The restaurant was not busy at all and it had open tables. With a sign that said please sit yourself. It felt like it was just an excuse for the huge mess up on their part but it wasn't our fault. I can't imagine how they handle crowds when it's actually busy. She was also talking behind our backs when we were leaving. Very unprofessional and rude. read more

Staff is unprofessional. Check out a different bar in the village. Don't spend your money here.