Pierside Kitchen and Bar

The location and view is great. I just don’t like dinning at a place that lets dogs sit on the table.

My husband and I enjoyed a nice dinner here and returned the next night for a nightcap and listened to live music. Definitely feels like there are locals who support this establishment regularly but got some extra attention during the night cap. The brownie bread pudding is highly recommended.

This review is based strictly on Taco Tuesday. I have only enjoyed their food on Tuesdays for tacos & delicious homemade guacamole & salsa. Fun atmosphere, amazing views, tasty tacos, delightful service, overall a great time at a great price!

Stopped here for a late dinner and drink w/​the BF on a Friday night. Live music, wonderful view, friendly staff, and I can not say enough about the short ribs! Soooo good!!! Definitely coming back often!

This food was amazing!!! We got food to share… bacon wrapped dates, brussel sprouts, and the lamb burger!!! We went into a good coma after because we didn’t want to stop eating it! Also, the labneh on the burger and the lightness of the bun made it all come together! The server was also amazing, even for being as busy as he was! We will definitely ask for Trevor again!!! :)

Have an awesome brunch on the weekends. Smaller portions but perfect for a brunch and mimosas. Right by the water so great views and atmosphere. Best day is taco Tuesday! Drink specials and amazing street tacos. Would highly recommend going for tacos and margs with a great view!

We had a perfect lunch here sitting on the patio out front while enjoying the sun and ocean views. It wasn’t super busy and our server, Chad, let us linger so we never felt rushed. The drinks were fantastic, the food was excellent, and Chad was gracious and so friendly! This place is wonderful and I’m looking forward to returning.

Crab balls were too salty and not good. Fish n Chips were excellent. Filet was melt in your mouth. Staff was very friendly, although the bus service was better than the actual waiter… Go figure. Waiter was not bad though. Great view. We sat outside and enjoyed it very much. We will be back

It is great to see an establishment become successful in this location, it has seen several attempts over the last few years. First visit tonight on a long weekend Friday and it was packed at the time of our 7:30 reservation.
Every table has a nice ocean and pier view.
First thing one notices it is very loud, requiring significantly raised volume levels for conversation. There is live entertainment as well, which only adds to the din.
Quaint «pub» décor/​atmosphere, lots of choices of both draught and bottled beers, decent wine list, full bar.
Hostess and servers we encountered were friendly and accomodating, we were made to feel welcome.
Extensive menu options, very creative appetizer choices, entrees range from burgers to seafood and filet mignon, prices are reasonable. Table next to ours had the filet and it was a very generous cut.
I decided on the Pier Burger, my wife had the Farmer’s Market salad with grilled shrimp.
Beef patty in the burger was dwarfed by the enormous bun, meat was not seasoned, someone neglected to add the bleu cheese topping I asked for. Fries were exceptional however, but burger was disappointing.
Salad was dominated by kale, which gave it an overall texture and bitterness quality, not particularly enjoyable, my wife left the majority of it untouched.
Perhaps we ordered the wrong things, hard to say, but if a burger and salad had execution issues, it leaves a question in one’s mind.

A charming little oceanfront spot in San Clemente! I’ve been here once for dinner and twice for brunch. They always have a great beer list and the atmosphere is really laid back and chill. For dinner, the bacon dates are amazing! I even started doing a balsamic reduction on top when I make them at home because of this place. The chowder fries are also delicious, but I came with a group of people and they were devoured within seconds, so unfortunately I only had a few. The Pierside burger is cooked really well and their french fries are so friggin good.
For brunch, I recommend doing bottomless – they are very attentive. There is a 2 hour limit, but we were more than sufficiently good by that point. We got the Short Rib Benedict to start, although it was yummy I wish the english muffin had been toasted a bit more and that there was more short rib and chimichurri sauce. After we finished the benedict, we then ordered the nutella french toast so we could have it as a kind of dessert. We were wise to do so, as it is veryyyy sweet but also delectable. The cinnamon whipped cream added just the right amount of spice to the dish. I’d definitely recommend sharing, though.
The second time I came for brunch I got the chorizo scramble as a burrito, but asked them to put french fries inside, like a california burrito. They kindly obliged, as well as added more french fries on the side! Although it was delicious, I think I’d stick to the regular burrito because the french fries aren’t crisp enough to stand against the scramble. But their french fries are so good on the side as they were meant to be eaten.
I can’t wait to come back again!

Nice spot with a great view! I had the breakfast burrito, yummy! Good vibes great place to relax and eat. Service was great too!

The food here is on par with some of the best restaurants in San Clemente (Nicks, Vine).
Taco Tuesday has some of the most diverse selections I have seen, and they are all great dishes. Top this off with a beach view and the best mixologists in the business, and you have a winner.
Ask the bartender to make a drink for you; my wife and I have never been disappointed.
Thanks Pierside
Brent

We came here for the bottomless mimosa on a Sunday morning. The place was packed with a great reggae band (a bit on the loud side) but we were seated within 15mins. Our server arrived quickly, took our orders and came back with our mimosa. She came back 5 minutes later to refill our mimosa with champagne only and we didn’t see her again for the next 20 mins. Tables that sat down after us have already gotten their orders.
We finally saw her close enough to flag her down and inquired about our california eggs benedict and the chorizo omelet. She said she’ll check on our order. We didn’t see her again for another 10 mins only to watch her go to two different tables with our dishes only to be rejected because it wasn’t their order. We tried to get her attention –did I say the band was loud?- but she had disappeared into the kitchen before we could reach her.
We flagged a busser and told him that we’ve been waiting for our breakfast and we think we saw our server try to bring it to the wrong tables and took it back into the kitchen. He said he’ll check the kitchen on our order and find our server.
Our server finally came to our table and we explained that we’ve been waiting over 40 mins for our breakfast and we saw her bring them to other tables only to be rejected. The first thing that came out of her mouth was «it hasn’t been 40 mins… ok, I’ll check on your order». Excuse me??? Since we’ve been there, the band played for 20mins and took a 20 min break and played again and we still haven’t gotten our meals.

Anyhoo, the server finally came back with our breakfast and it was room temperature– they definitely had been sitting around for a while. Note: my omelette was missing the spinach and bacon which was stated in the description on the menu. But we were starving so we ate the food in front of us. After we asked for our check, the manager on staff did come by and apologized for the delay as they are very busy.
Our breakfast came to over $ 60– full charge for two glasses of mimosa and room temperature and incomplete breakfast entrees.
Anyhoo, with other great restaurants in SC, it will be a very long time before we ever come back here again.

Came for the oyster special and left completely satisfied and a little tipsy! The Chardonnay that was on happy hour was just delightful with the fresh seafood. If only we lived closer!

Excellent !!!
Wonderful waitress who had perfect recommendations. Food quality was outstanding. We had the ahi nachos with super fresh ahi. The roasted salmon was the best I’ve ever had. My husband got the fish and chips which had a unique light crispy flavorful batter. The cocktails were outstanding. What a great experience and place to have a meal!!!

I wish I lived in San Clemente just so I could make this place my weekly brunch spot. For starts they have a pet friendly patio, a gorgeous view and its just $ 15 for bottomless mimosas (2hour limit). We had the bacon wrapped dates to start and they are a definite MUST. We couldn’t decide on what to get from the raw menu so we ordered the half raw platter to try it all-​which was fresh and tasty. The calamari was really good, it was unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. I wish I had the recipe for the cilantro aioli because I’d put that ish on everythang. Our waitress was awesome (can’t remember her name but– tall& strawberry blonde) and made sure we were well taken care of and our glasses were always full! Will definitely return next time we’re in San Clemente

This is a beautiful place to have brunch in San Clemente. The front of the restaurant is open and the views are amazing. Palm trees, fresh air, blue skies, the sun gleaming on the ocean surface, and drinks and food brought to your table. Ah yes, what could be better?
5 stars — Service was fantastic. A couple of friends got the bottomless mimosas, and the servers were so good about coming by to fill them. I never saw the glasses get below half full. They were like hawks, watching over our table, ready to refill the glasses with champagne. So attentive!
3.5 stars — Veggie Omelet. I added cheddar cheese to it. This added a good flavor to it, but it still didn’t help. I thought the egg scramble was bland tasting. At least the veggies were good and nice bite size chunks.
3.0 stars — Home fries, which are those cubed potatoes, was also bland. A little paprika and garlic would have added a great zing to them. I tried the salsa they served alongside it and that was just alright. One of the first times in a long time, that I had to use table salt.
5.0 stars — Bread pudding made with brownies. Yum! That’s right, with brownies! My tastebuds got excited again. This dessert is what lifted my overall ranking for this place. I kept thinking, why haven’t I seen this before in a restaurant? It was still very much like a bread pudding: soft, creamy, with a drizzle of a light sweet cream sauce. And the brownies were enhanced with a chocolate sauce drizzle. Oh, and this comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream too!
I would definitely come back here again. You’ll see me sitting at the table in the front and ordering the brownie bread pudding … all for myself.

Worthy calories
I could sum up my review for this new favorite by just saying that, but Unilocal won’t allow me: p So here goes…
We went for brunch and were amazed. So many items on the menu we wanted to try! Started with the dates (heaven in a bite sized bacon wrapped stuffed fruit), added bottomless mimosas (cheers!) I got the short rib Benedict (chef substituted roasted succotash and greens for my muffin-​yay gluten free!) and hubby had the skirt steak and eggs (perfect) Everything was so fresh and delicious, portion sizes were on spot, and the servers were friendly and helpful. We ended with the smores yummmmmmm.
We are heading back tonight for dinner! Will update once again-​excited to see what they have on tap (their microbrew selection is impressive) and try a scratch made margarita or two.

Perhaps I am spoiled with the abundance of similar restaurants by me, so my review is critical, but Pierside didn’t really impress me. Granted, I don’t go to SC that often so I don’t know how it compares to other competitors in the area, but I do see the appeal. It is located in a central spot, close enough to the pier, but far enough to distance itself a bit from the other overpriced tourist traps along the pier. They also have a craft beer menu at a fairly reasonable price, so that is a nice plus as well. It really is a cool and casual hang out spot, but with the food being mediocre, I can’t justify giving it four stars.
The food itself was okay-​not terrible, but wasn’t that great either. The crab cakes were a bit bland and honestly much to handle. I think the problem might have been the size. The crab cake was one giant crab bake, and granted, I’m no chef, but perhaps it would have cooked better if it was a couple of smaller crab cakes instead of one giant one.
My friend who got the fish and chips said it was very dry. The seafood soup was also extremely salty. Like, salty to the point where it hid the taste of the seafood. However, the manager on duty that day did come over to apologize and comped our soup, so I appreciate the gesture. Thank you for that!
I don’t know, perhaps if I try something that isn’t deep fried or loaded with salt, I might have a better experience. Just don’t know when or if I’m willing to give this another shot anytime soon.

Pierside Kitchen and Bar is a wonderful new addition to San Clemente’s growing dining scene.
San Clem is slowly and sadly becoming less of the last bastion of OC’s relaxed and casual beach cities and more like its neighbors to the north with every passing year. One benefit of the transformation is that the dining options are becoming extraordinary. Pierside Kitchen and Bar is proof of this trend and a must try for any south county culinary adventurer.
The interior is modern and fresh, yet warm. Incredible views of the pacific are had at nearly every table and the bar is long and well stocked with fine wines and an impressive craft beer selection. The staff is eager to please and well versed on the menu’s offerings; my waitress steered me towards the kitchens best options eagerly.
There are very few dishes that make me as happy as Osso Buco can bring me on a cold Spring evening and Pierside Kitchen and Bar makes an excellent Osso Buco. Fork tender slow braised beef is topped with a delicious red wine reduction sauce in a marriage of rich and savory delight. Mashed potatoes and farm fresh vegetables played sidekick with magnificent results. Add a dry and hoppy Racer 5 IPA by Bear Republic Brewing Company and you have a dinner for the ages.
As sad as it is to see the inevitable changes coming to San Clemente I will say that the restaurants are only getting better with each passing month. Pierside Kitchen and Bar is a testament to this and well deserving of any Unilocaler’s attention.