Olde Port Inn

7 guests in our party and not one was impressed by the food. Definitely not worth the price for what we got.

Ol Port is such an enigma. It’s been there forever but I get the distinct feeling the place is run more for the convenience of the manager than the customer. I always get the idea that I’m disturbing them. I was there just yesterday. No bar tender but when one finally showed up she spent more time at the computer than she did taking care of the customer. Just poor management. Everyone has their role so there’s no shared service. The water boy can’t bring you a beer the other waiters can’t wait on you but they will get your waiter. Just so average. This place has the potential of being a really great place if it had a spirit de corps, good management and adequate English speaking staff.
Oh yes the food is good, but the service is just abysmal. Sorry Olde Port. I don’t enjoy trashing you but someone needs to tell you. Become Great! Spend some money and send your staff to a good training week end.

Olde Port has been around since the early seventies, and it looks it. That said, how else would you expect a restaurant on the end of a pier to look? The inside is cleaned up, and they still have the grills lined up next to the bar. It’s fun to sit at the bar and watch the cooks do their thing. The cocktails were great and the food was good. The staff was so nice – they were really busy but they took the time to be courteous, and even friendly.

Amazing Views & Wonderful Staff. We enjoyed a relaxing, delicious dinner last night at the Olde Port Inn. The setting couldn’t be better. We chose to sit in the enclosed patio, and the expansive ocean view was so captivating that I honestly couldn’t describe the inside décor (which I notice some past reviewers dinged). (By the way, the gigantic windows were spotlessly clean.). On our way out I noticed the beautiful view from the cove side of the restaurant, so no matter where you sit, it’s good.
For dinner we had cod with pilaf and veggies, as well as Chicken Marsala with mushrooms. Although the restaurant is known for its seafood, the Chicken Marsala was also expertly prepared. I noticed a couple of steak offerings, so there really is something for everyone. Happily for us, the Olde Port Inn has an excellent wine list.
Finally, every single staff member was friendly and professional. We were completely cared for by our wait person, Brandi, and the manager stopped by as well. As we left even the bartenders and bus people thanked us for dining there. The atmosphere was great. We’d parked at the bottom of pier, and our stroll back to our car was a perfect cap to a wonderful evening.

All around three stars for lunch. The best thing about this place is its location on the water. Views from the dining room are pretty, and most tables are equipped with a looking glass of the water under the pier which would have been awesome but there wasn’t much to sea*
The highlight of the meal probably was the complimentary warm sourdough rolls which were fluffy and delicious with lots of melted butter.
My boyfriend and I shared a bowl of their very 3 star clam chowder (nothing bad about it, but nothing spectacular either) and I almost ordered a whole dungeoness crab ($ 30) for myself but I thought that would be shellfish* and settled on their half crab sandwich instead ($ 15). The half sandwich had plenty of crab meat, but it also featured the saddest mealy tomato I’ve ever eaten between two slices of slightly soggy sourdough, in hindsight I should have ordered the crab salad or stuck with the whole crab.
Overall if you’re in the area to soak up as much ocean as you can, and you don’t mind a 3 star experience Olde Port Inn ain’t all bad, but it’s probably not the cream of the crop either.
*Pun intended

Top notch doesn’t even begin to describe this place. The service from Roxandra was amazing, food was fantastic and views are incomparable. This is a MUST visit!

What a find! So glad we walked to the end of the pier as we explored the area. It’s in a cool, old, historic covered part of the pier that used to be an inn. The view is fantastic! It’s really charming inside. The kids loved that each table has a cutout that looks down to the ocean. The rolls were warm and delicious (lots of fresh butter too). I had the warm Greek salad with scallops and it was really good. Quite a filling meal. My daughter had the fish taco and it was yummy. My husband had the clam chowder in a bowl and it was great how they grilled the bread tops and he said it was really good. Service was awesome — quick and super friendly. I think we might come back for dinner :)

The View was awesome. Food integrity and service could be better.

When I see some of these reviews, I think some of you should look in the mirror because you will find many faults. My wife and I came here last week on Good Friday, and had a fabulous time. The new owners since 2014; husband & wife team; Dave & Roxandra are amazing. We made reservations from the Hampton hotel; recommended. Dave and his lovely wife have started the renovation process on this place, and are upgrading their menu without deleting the classics. The new windows to see the panaramic view was one of the highlights; along with the glass bottom tables to see the ocean. However, the tables are a little uncomfortable, but you are sitting there for the view. As far as the food goes, they had amazing items as well. I saw a few reviews in the clam chowder that shot it down. They must of changed their recipe because it tastes homemade to me. I don’t like my clam chowder real creamy anyway, therefore, I thought it was perfect. This place is worth the scenic drive off the freeway about 5 miles at the end of the pier. Here is what we had, and how I rate this place over all:
Cioppino — 5 stars — My wife loves this dish, but I am not a big fan. However, she was so impressed that she insisted on me trying. .. I had it, and was amazed with the freshness, and the flavor of the sauce. Cioppino fans know that the sauce makes or breaks this dish. It was one of the best Ciopoino’s my wife ever had.
Seafood platter — 3.5 stars — this dish could use some sprucing up. However, you get a variety, and it does have baby clams versus the big ones. The downfall to this dish was the bland cod fish; one of pieces was dried out, and the clams were just okay. Everything else was great including the awesome thick silver dollar sized scallops. I told our server; owner Roxandra it needs adjusting. The owners what nothing more, and are very advantageous to make this place a great success. Therefore, it will happen.
Clam chowder — 4 stars — The clam chowder was excellent with lots of clams. However, I thought it was very pricey for the amount you receive.
Ambience — 5 stars — Like I stated above in my outline. The drive to this place, and the character is amazing. This place has historic values. This is one of the bonuses of this place.
Friendliness and helpfulness of staff — 5 stars — The staff; especially the owners go out of their way to make sure you are happy and comfortable.
Overall — 4 stars — Dave & Roxandra; new owners since 2014 have made major strides to inprove this place. With continued rennovation, and upgrading of menu items, this place is destined to be a 5 star restaurant. If you have gone before 2014, give it another try. You won’t be disappointed. Try the amazing Cioppino why you are there.

Delicious! Started out with steamers & drinks, then ordered cioppino and chicken marsala which were both excellent! Perfect atmosphere– glass bottom under tables so you can see ocean!

Just Not The Same — unfortunately, the inn has suffered since it was sold. After a great day at the beach, we rode with our friends to the Inn to have a drink and appetizer. We were welcomed (ignored actually) by a very stressed out /​unhappy wait staff. There was a sign at the counter that mentioned a two hour table maximum, just adding to a very unwelcoming vibe. I finally asked a bartender if we could sit at a high top in the bar area. We sat for ten more minutes when I returned to the bar and asked if I could order drinks. The bartender was nice enough to help us. Bottom line — place is filthy, drinks were so so, but the calamari steak strips were really good. Two stars only for the amazing setting. We’ve lived here since 1990; the past ownership took far more pride in this iconic setting. Won’t be back — ever.

This place receives 3 stars for location and views. 0 stars for the Clam Chowder. It isn’t creamy, tasty nor fresh. It doesn’t taste fresh because it’s made from canned clams that are very chewy and no fresh clam juice. This is confirmed by their chef. We asked him directly.
We asked for our money back.
Would I return to try something else? Not sure.

Let me start off by saying they have no corkage fee (for at least your first couple bottles of wine). This is always a huge attraction for me and earns 1 star. Thank you Olde Port Inn!
The restaurant has a bit of a dated feel but I really liked their blue chairs — they were very comfortable. They do have some glass panels and mirrors set up so you can see what is swimming around in the water under you while you eat.
They did give us lots of hot, fresh sourdough rolls — I love bread!
We had the bowl of clam chowder, the Caesar salad, and the Fisherman’s Special. The food was pretty good but the prices were high for what you got. Maybe I would have felt like it was a better value if we had been there while the sun was still up.

Typical pier quality restaurant aka a major tourist trap with terrible service and food that has been fried to bits and pieces.
I don’t know where to begin with how many things are wrong this restaurant. It took over 5 minutes for us to get water. The interiors of the restaurant were depressingly dirty and outdated, didn’t have any vintage charm.
The only thing redeeming about this place is the calamari strip appetizer dish. It’s pleasantly chewy and not too overfried. But everything else was inedible. Burger was overcooked to oblivion. Fries tasted like they came out of the freezer bag. Seafood was moderately fresh but had no flavor.
The place was $$$ in price but tasted no better than food from the fair. Unbelievably disappointing, in a terrible place, on an old dingy pier.

Glass tables that let you see down into the water! Very cool, saw school of fish and friendly kayakers (they looked up and waved). Also saw the colorful mussels along the pier posts.
The location is great because its fun to walk (or drive!) along the pier — passing by gift shops, fishermen, and hungry pelicans/​seagulls/​sealions. Also gives some great views towards the ocean.
The place serves casual seafood, with daily specials to feature their catches of the day. The boyfriend got combo platter while I settled on a sole sandwich. The fish was fresh, but the taste was bland, so we both used up our ketchup and dill sauces.
Gets a bit hot on the inside, and getting into the bathroom requires a key on a kitchen utencil.
Also, our waitress had recommended against the crab on the menu, since she had complaints from earlier before. Honesty gets bonus points.

If you reach Avila Beach, you’re almost but not quite there. If you drive past the RVs and cars parked like sardines along the roadway, you’re getting closer. If you spot the wooden pier covered with anglers, strollers, families, and cyclists, you’re getting warmer. If you walk out onto the pier, past the Port San Luis loading docks and boatyards, past the fish cleaning station and pick-​your-​own crab and oyster seller, above the kayakers and standing paddleboarders and working fishing boats and sailing vessels, you’ll see it: the Olde Port Inn, weather wood and salted glass, swinging doors and simple 4-​seater tables, beer on tap and local wines by the bottle: that’s your lunchtime destination. That’s where the breaded sole, the rock fish tacos, and the $ 25 bowls of cioppino are to be found.
Our lunch was more of a pre-​dinner for four, so a bottle of Tangent Albariño ($ 34) made sense. So, too, the fish sandwich special and fish taco appetizer with avocado. But the standout here was the cioppino, mainly because the kitchen didn’t screw things up but overseasoning with dried herbs. Shrimp, squid, rock cod, and scallops, served in a tomato seafood stew with onions, leeks, and chopped parsley, no hunks of garlic bread or claws of crab to disturb the dish. The clean, white peach aromatics of the wine and the tomato and leek broth in which the fresh seafood had simmered, they made the perfect mid-​September Sunday meal. You don’t need mussels or salmon or heaps of picked crab, you don’t need creams and butters and sauces, you just need fruits of the vine, and frutta del mare, and then you pay your tab, tip 20, pick up some albacore tuna steaks ($ 8/​lb., cut to order) before you leave the pier for the grill at home, and shazaam! prestochango, you’ve just made your weekend day trip to Avila Beach all that much better. Piers like this that are as historic as they are well loved, they remind you that not all beachdwellers are millionaires, that not all foods need Michelin stars, and that sunshine, waves, and wine belong rightly to us all. The Olde Port Inns of the world will, we hope, make sure that these things remain true.

We recently had a family dinner here and enjoyed our evening. I think there might be a discrepancy between the he menu online and in house, or we made a mistake. That’s entirely possible.
We had a super star waitress. She was joking with everyone about her accent. We asked her about what we though we could order and she told us they could make that happen. We were more than welcome to add prawns to the filet.
I had a Manhattan to drink and found it a little bit stronger than the average one.
For dinner I had the filet without the added prawns. It has a smokey chard flavor. I think the mushrooms on the side really made it sing. The juice from them poured all over the steak and just took it to a whole other level.
The veggies were delicious. I’m normally not a big vegetable side eater at restaurants because the «variety» is the same three things and they are overcooked. Not here. My whole family ate all our vegetables. They had a lovely lemony flavor to them and it truly was a nice variety.
The pilaf was tasty as well.
My brother said this place used to have glass floors to see the ocean. We sat inside but now the tables have a glass view to the ocean below. They’ve added some mirrors so you can really get a good look without leaning all over your table.
The meal was pricy but worth it.
Driving on the pier to park was a fun but a little scary experience. Definitely something you don’t get to do everyday!

Had a wonderful romantic dinner with my husband. We enjoyed a beautiful view of the harbor. Sea lions, otters, Dolphins and birds at play. They offer glass top tables that look down into the water beneath the pier.
The giant prawn cocktail starter was some of the freshest and best tasting shrimp I’ve ever had.
Service was attentive. It was an early evening dinner on a Friday, so it wasn’t extremely busy.
They are good about sharing plates if you don’t have a huge appetite. Their portions are tremendous. Too full for dessert, but our table neighbors were oohing and ahhing over a toffee cheesecake and Crème Brûlée.

We hadn’t been back here since 10 years ago. I could of remember it being a little more welcoming back then. Everyone was nice and professional. But perhaps a bit too robotic as everyone went about their dutiful ways. Our order was taken as any other place would but without any input from the waitress. Everyone made sure to promptly take our plates and to quickly refill our glasses with water without having to ask. This I appreciated and applaud.
It was a nice place but nothing fantastic. It wasn’t gear towards serving a family. I guess we can’t fault them for that because it seems to carry more ambience for two romantic couple than a visiting family from out of town.
The food was not deserving of the price they charged. The salmon was dry and void of any taste. Our dinner meal was in the mid $ 130 and I gladly tip our waitress an additional 20% for her time and professionalism; she wasn’t the cook.
But to be complete, you must deliver on both experiences. A consumer is paying you for a life long lasting experience. Good service without good product or a good product without good service, is not a for me.
Okay to average establishment with below average food.
Will not return any time soon.
Cheers.

About 50 of my coworkers were booked to have a dinner party here. It’s located at the end of a long pier, and definitely worth walking to take some pictures, see the sea lions and boats, and even check out a fresh seafood stand on the way.
The restaurant looks very old, but it has this cool glass-​lined floor so you can see the water below. Our menu of the evening included a 3-​course dinner with two drinks per person.
Drinks: Blue Moon on tap followed by an authentic Mojito.
Apps: The mini crab cake was all crab and virtually no filler. Seasoned well and the sauce paired well.
Salad: Mixed green salad — the dressing had a nice spicy kick which I liked.
Entrée: An amazing seafood cippino — two large prawns, scallops, and generous portions of fish. The broth was spicy and tomatoey– very nice. My dish didn’t have enough calamari but the large fish pieces made up for it.
Dessert — A very good white pistachio gelato. It is harder than expected but flavors very good and I liked the pistachio chunks.
Definitely one if the highlights of my business trip. Good company, real good food, and very good ambiance. Even the walk back down the pier back to our buses helped a bit with digestion from all that great food and drinks!