Captain Bullwacker’s Restaurant and Patio Pub

Not sure if the name has changed, but we went on Saturday night & ate dinner while listening to a local band, Stun Gun Jones. Fish & chips & pork sliders were excellent. Lots of beers to choose from and the Amber Ale was great. Heated patio seating made for an awesome evening of fun!

Will NOT go back here. If you want to pay 12 for a frozen preformed burger then go ahead eat here. Also kids food just as bad 5 dollars for NOT fresh frys and frozen gross chicken nuggets. Im pretty sure they shop at costco. I had the bunless burger and caesar salad… got diarrhea within 4 hours of eating there. The kids drinks;half the size of and adult drink and they were 2.99. CRAZY expensive. YUCK dont go there by the way a beer is only a 1.50 more than a kids drink…

Friday and saturday nights: bands play on the patio (no cover charge).
Smoking allowed outside on patio.

We were all hungry after a long day at the aquarium… But not hungry enough to eat this food! The kids didn’t even eat the frozen dinosaur nuggets.
The place was empty and the service was like molasses.
Our server never asked «How is everything?» I think she knew NOT to ask.
At first I liked the dark pub-​like atmosphere, but then the smell and dirty carpet really got to me. They get one star for having a decent beer selection. Two thumbs down!
My Mom ordered fish and chips, it was one long greasy slab of fish and soggy fries.
My dad had a dry rubbery hamburger patty. I had a chicken sandwich and the chicken was a shrunken, flavorless and overcooked.
I can honestly say it’s the worst place I’ve eaten… EVER.
If you’re looking for more than a beer, do yourself a favor and just keep walking.

First time, calamari was delicious. near the touristy area of Cannery Alley

We used to go here all the time in 2004 – 5 and it was great. But the food isn’t as good as I remember. I’m referring to the Sterling burger with carmalized onions. The service was good, prompt, no wait and friendly.
Good selection of local beer though.

I would never go back here. The porkchop was dry and everything was under seasoned. My husband didn’t get the chutney that was supposed to come on the chop. The saving grace was that our waitress was very nice.

3.5 stars, I’d say. Stopped here while wandering through Cannery Row. I had the fish n’ chips which was quite decent. I also ordered a local beer. The beer was a bit overpriced in my opinion and the food took a while to come. But the staff was friendly enough and the feel was much more relaxed than the high-​end eateries nearby.

Good stuff. They did well with family of five. Have to admit, worried going in because it was soo busy, but they rock’d it. Staff was nice, and food was very welcoming. Honestly had a better experience than some of the other reviews.

Stopped by today while strolling through Monterey. There didn’t appear to be anyone available to seat us. We finally got the attention of a server who asked us if we would like a seat. Well yeah!
Once seated, we sat for 10 minutes and not one server acknowledged us. As we looked around we noticed at least 8 other tables where patrons did not have any food and many did not even have drinks. We walked out. As we walked out, the server that sat us glimpsed at us then looked away without so much as a care that patrons she just sat 10 minutes prior were leaving.
This place gets 0 stars if I could.

Let’s talk beer. I don’t drink, but my husband likes a nice beer. For lunch, we had a bacon burger and fries, and it was fine. But let’s talk beer.
Husband chose a nice british ale. He enjoyed it. The bill came. It said, «ale, PINT». My husband looked at the glass and said, «This is a 12 oz glass. NOT a pint.» He explained this to the server. He said, «If I’m paying for a pint, I want 4 more ounces of beer». Out came a «manager». (turns out he was the bartender). He poured out a bottle of ale (12 oz) into a glass. It came to within ½ inch of the top of the glass. «SEE» he says… this is a PINT glass. NO ASSHOLE!!! It’s a 12 oz glass. To his credit, he did give husband 10 oz of beer for free. HOWEVER, it came with a COMPLETE ASSHOLE ATTITUDE!
UPDATE:
Nice rebuttal from the manager… and good explanation of how the beer and or glasses work. Improved up to 3 stars from 1.

Edible but wouldn’t waste the time. Like everyone else, I went to the aquarium with some friends and after went to find some grub. This place wasn’t really up my alley but the group decided we would go here. We were seated quickly at about 2:45pm. When we were offered drinks the waitress actually made us wait until the clock struck 3 to take our drink orders if we wanted to get the happy hour deal. She was also very awkward and somewhat in her own world. We were told the fish and chips were the best around (obviously they wouldn’t say otherwise). I figured this would be a safe bet but when the food came out my taste bud were highly overwhelmed. Served with a side of slimy cole slaw and about 10 fries, the one piece of cod was encased in a soggy crust completely void of any flavor. The beers took awhile to come out as well.
Overall:
If you want fish and chips, go to Camelot in Pacifica.
Don’t bother with this place.
Stick with the h

For the past few years, I’ve been coming here for my usual lunch and/​or dinner stop during race weekend for MotoGP. For lunch, I usually order the Cobb and the Chowder and I sit around while waiting for my room to be ready. For dinner if I’m too tired to bother with riding anywhere, I go to Bullwackers and I usually order the Fish and Chip and Cobb and Chowder again, and it’s all usually pretty good and I usually look forward to coming back each year…
…but…
This year was dismal.
I understand that it’s a very busy weekend but the past few years have been pretty consistent. What happened this year?
The chowder was too salty and had only two pieces of clam that I could identify.
The Fish and Chips were old and flavorless and cold.
The crabcakes were disgusting and need to be taken off the menu.
The salad was good as far as the produce went, but the other ingredients were very poor.
Service was total chaos.
Sad to say but I don’t think I’ll be returning next year. Guess I’ll just stick with the Chart House.
meh.

Spent the day at the Monterrey Aquarium with the bf and after watching all the fish swim around… we were craving fish for dinner. We wandered around looking for something cheap to eat and came across this place. I didn’t expect much bc of the Unilocal rating but we decided to try it out anyway. Inside its very dark and depressing so we asked to sit outside. The back patio was very big, looked like it could be a cool party place. The waitress was very nice and took our drink orders right away. We ordered the fish and chips which were pretty good, not fantastic, but good. I personally would not come back here bc if I was in the area again I would want to try out new places. However if you are looking for somewhere not expensive this is the place to go.

Whoo hoo! Finally found some food. Ok, this place is a bit odd, but the food and drinks were good.

Bullwacker’s Restaurant & Pub — Unexpected and Amazing.
Do not judge this place by its cover!
My boyfriend and I were in Monterey not too long ago and we decided to go down to Cannery Row to go see the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Needless to say, it’s a very famous place and consequently is very crowded. And as we quickly found out, the rest of Cannery Row is too, including, to the dissatisfaction of our rumbling tummies, all of the most famous restaurants like Bubba Gump’s and Johnny Rockets. So when we set off to find the emptiest, quickest looking place in the area we ended up at Bullwacker’s Restaurant & Pub.
My first impression of the place wasn’t very good. The décor needed redoing and the place was pretty much vacant, leading me to think that the food and the service were going to be just as ugly and slow.
Fortunately, the service turned out to be quick. Someone immediately got us drinks, which was great after walking so much. And they quickly came back to take our orders, which consisted of one of the Captain’s Signature Dishes a Scampi Style Shrimp with Pasta ($ 15), an All American Burger ($ 10), and a simple appetizer of Chips and Salsa ($ 4).
The four dollar chips and salsa alone is enough to make me come back to Bullwacker’s! The chips were definitely homemade and were still warm when we got them. And the salsa was so fresh and crisp to the taste! I ate the entire bowl. I don’t think I allowed my boyfriend to have any more than 5 chips. It was that good. I didn’t even care if I was going to have room for my lunch at that point.
But when it came, in all of its delicious smelling glory, I couldn’t help but scarf down that sautéed shrimp in a mushroom, tomato, chive, garlic and white wine sauce served over angel hair pasta with garlic cheese bread and grated parmesan. The best pasta my taste buds have ever had the privilege of tasting.
I couldn’t imagine that my boyfriend’s burger could ever top my pasta but he assured me that it was great as well. The beef in particular was really rich and cooked perfectly he told me.
This place was just so unexpected! It turned out to be the highlight of my day. :)

3.5 stars
Standard bar fare with your ubiquitous burgers and fish and chips. I had the Grilled Tilapia with cilantro lime sauce, mashed potatoes and seasoned vegetables. Good portions but a little lackluster in the flavor department. My date had the Cheeseburger and Fries, which was gargantuan and heaped with crispy onions. He said it was pretty standard; nothing to write home about.
Bullwacker’s has a full-​bar with potent drinks. There is ample outdoor seating with a small outdoor stage and outdoor heating lamps, complete with a backroom bar (usually closed off during the winter nights). During the winter months, you can cozy up to their large indoor fireplace, which emanates a nice relaxing warmth.
They have live music entertainment throughout the week. Last Friday, we enjoyed the acoustic music from the Band of Ninjas (great classic rock, blues, country and 80’s and 90’s throwbacks).
Great place to relax and sing along with some live music and toss back some drinks and bar snacks.

With not having a very good experience with the restaurant/​bar across the street, we decided to eat at Captain Bullwacker’s.
We had eaten here before… probably about eight years ago. It was decent and with the service we had received ten minutes earlier, we figured we had nothing to lose.
The waitress was really nice and served our drinks quickly. I ordered a bowl of clam chowder and the prawns with mashed potatoes and veggies. My boyfriend ordered the sausage with mashed potatoes and veggies. We were both satisfied with the meals. The waitress was very attentive, refilled my soda without asking, brought a box and bill within a timely manner.
It’s a very relaxed place, good restaurant to take kids. We’ll probably visit again when we’re in Monterey.

We were so hungry that we just wanted to eat whatever looked interesting. I ordered the fish tacos and my boyfriend had the fish and chips. This place swears on their fish and chips.
When the food arrived, I immediately noticed my fish tacos only had 1 corn tortilla, which is a no-​no because the pico de gallo makes the taco wet and fall apart easily. Sure enough, after 1 bite, the taco ripped into shreds. The tacos had more wilted lettuce than fish.
As for the fish and chips, my boyfriend said he had better. At least the service made up for the mediocre food.

This place has some nostalgia behind it for my husband and I.
We were only dating maybe month and we came here to drink at the outside patio and smoke. I know right, you used to be able to smoke outside. That’s crazy!
After our recent aquarium visit my poor little hubby was starving. I wanted to go to a different, less ham & egger tourist spot but we chose here because of our past.
I was shocked by the shabbiness of the place. Definitely not what I remembered.
We chose to sit outside again. The little bar we once sat at is closed in with a window now. Kind of sad really.
We were all alone out there and it was really nice. It was a beautiful day. The air had a briskness to it but comfortable.
I was worried we would be forgotten back there all by ourselves, but no our waitress was on top of everything.
I got the Crab & Shrimp Sandwich and a side add on of a Lobster Tail. What the hell, I’m on Vacation. I’m going to splurge a little.
My husband got the Fish & Chips. Our food was surprisingly good. I was pleasantly surprised.
The Lobster was juicy and flavorful with a hint of seasoning they included. I was very happy with my splurge choice. My sandwich was really fresh. There is nothing like a perfect Crab Salad Sandwich. Mmm, Mmmm.
The only complaint I have is that they don’t have a custom drink menu. You would think a place like this would have some quirky ocean themed cocktails for people. Kind of disappointing.
Food was not disappointing in the least. Don’t mind the looks of the place, just go and enjoy the food.