Sunsets

We had these Hawaiian rice dishes that were so good! Sad to hear that they closed this location, but good to know they plan to open one up in Dana Point.

met up w cl who came up from san diego. right on the beach. service is efficient but not particularly warm. menu is american with hawaiian influence.
fried rice was my least favorite. too dry and i prefer egg to be more runny. beef sandwich was good. flavorful, tender, and sweet. tuna poke tasted fresh and had a kick. 4 stars for the sandwich.

Nom, nom, nom! I love Sunsets. Patio seating is always competitive, but well worth the wait. Dogs kinda rule the roost at this place, so I could see how that might bother some, but I love it. Sunset’s is one of the only places I eat at the Pier! Check it out.

What a cute spot! Great Happy Hour specials too!
Came for lunch one day and had a wonderful experience. Our server was sweet, helpful, and pretty. This small, intimate restaurant is located right by the pier on the east side of the street with a partial view of the ocean but still beautiful nevertheless. We got a table on the outside patio to immerse in the ocean breeze, as well as fulfill our daily requirement of Vitamin D.
I ordered the regular Poke bowl for lunch over mixed greens. The Ahi Tuna was definitely fresh, but the sauce was lacking in flavor, sesame sauce was not a very high quality blend. After lunch, we ended up just chilling for another hour, and waited until after 2pm to order more food on the happy hour menu. Got the Guac for $ 3, Edamame for $ 3, and 3 pulled pork tacos for $ 7. All 3 were very tasty. I was very tempted to get the pineaple express or Mai Tai for $ 4.
Street parking only $ 3/​hour. Nice, clean bathrooms. Great spot!

We used to come here a lot and you can’t beat the location obviously but the prices for the amount of food you’re getting don’t always add up. Weekends they have $ 4 mimosas & bloody marys so I guess that makes up for it. Overall the food is good but I probably wouldn’t make this a regular spot… Even if it is in walking distance.

Really expensive spruced up bar food. That was the first thing that came to mind when I ate here. The service wasn’t great either,
Id elaborate but I’d probably get someone fired so I’ll leave it at that. It was in a very nice location but that was about it. If you’re not from around here like myself you may get an awkward superiority vibe. I got a lot of looks and people seemed really snooty. It was definitely an expensive looking restaurant meant for the rich, so it seemed.

While visiting from the Bay Area, we met up with some friends at the pier and it got to be dinner time. We are big fans of Hawaiian food so we jump at any chance we get to have it. Lo and behold there just happened to be a place for us up the street and Sunsets exceeded our expectations.
This is a little different than more traditional Hawaiian joints. They were missing a few more common dishes like loco moco, but they had some twists on others like a burger with kalua pork on it. The cocktails were fun, watch out for the pineapple in the Pineapple Express!
There were seven of us so we tried a lot of the different foods and loved everything. The best thing of all was the fried rice complete with bacon and a fried egg on top. The poke was fantastic, and the ‘Alii burger with the kalua pork and egg on it were equally as good. We had coconut shrimp that was delicious and did I mention the fried rice? If you try nothing else here, get the fried rice! Even after all the awesome food we had, we managed to have just enough room left over for the fried cheesecake and a brownie sundae.
While it’s not traditional, it’s awesome in many other ways. We are still talking about the fried rice!

Perfect casual spot to stop for a late lunch and maybe a sunset. Food is great — I liked the wedge salad with port and the sliders are fab! The view is fantastic. Our server Melanie was a sweetie. Kind — very attentive and fun. All in all a great experience. I will come back! It’s a win-​win.

FYI– my friend, who’s fish took forever, recently said our visit there was one of his most favorable/​memorable evenings.

Grilled wedge salad with Kalhua pig
Broke da mouth (that’s a good thing :))
I seriously need to go back soon.
Nice wait staff.

I came here two weeks ago (thursday nigh) with my friend. We found a table as soon as we walked in (even though it seemed crowded). The waitress was very friendly. I asked her where their fish came from (particularly salmon) and she found out fast for me (it is North Atlantic). My friend and I ordered the jalapeño poppers and they were very yummy! Then we split two sushi rolls. The sushi was good, but nothing great. I think next time I’m going to order some of the tacos — which they have a great selection of. We went on a Thursday which is their taco night.
The location is nice — right across from the San Clemente pier. The environment is pretty fun too.

I’ve visited Sunsets at the pier on several occasions but always for dinner. My hubby and I met a few friends for a late dinner Friday night. I had the chicken sandwich and it was GREAT, juicy chicken and yummy sauce. Hubby had the Angus burger and said it was cooked perfectly but could use a bit more flavor. Friends got the chicken sandwich and tri-​tip burger, both cleared their plates. Our waitress was all smiles and attentive when she checked on us. Service was a bit slow but its probably due to the time and live music taking over. Great tunes from The Monsoons.
I’ve been for happy hour and they have good deals on sushi. Prices are reasonable on the full menu… no different than Fisherman’s across the street. I suggest trying Sunsets for a double date on a weekend. Location can’t be beat.

Love the beach, the pier, the sights, the vball and Sunsets. I’ve been there twice during the day when there were only a few patrons in the restaurant and got the full attention of the server. Which was appreciated. Because she was REALLY hot. An older sexy woman. Sorry, this is about food. Good food. I imagine when this place gets busy the food quality quickly deteriorates, but I’ve been lucky to have to not deal with that.
Sat outside on the small terrace, took in the beach, the sun and palm trees. Really all good. The prices aren’t too bad considering the location.
These places are all about coming at the right time and in the right frame of mind. I’ve been lucky on both.

We usually walk to The Fisherman, but decided to try here as we heard it was better than the Capo Beach location… The food was actually pretty good… But a dining experience goes far beyond decent food. The service from the server was borderline dreadful. The busboy Chase, was the star of the entire place, bringing us our food, drinks, taking drink orders and delivering to the table next to us while the server was MIA. When we called the bartender/​manager over to compliment the busser’s work (not even mentioning the crummy service) the manager shrugged it off as the ‘youthful enthusiasm’ of a new employee.
Damian Collins: I hope you see this and that you act on it… Come to think of it, I think I’ll make the kid a job offer.

Sunsets is far better than the previous management of this restaurant space. It used to be pretty bad.
That being said, my two experiences at Sunsets for breakfast have not been great. It took forever to get our group of 6 seated for breakfast. When we finally got seated it took another 10 minutes just to get menus. Then another 5 minutes to place a drink order. Then another 10 minutes to place an order. It took over 30 minutes for the food to finally come. So, you are looking at well over an hour to have breakfast. I thought the goal of a breakfast restaurant is to give people a good, fast experience and turn tables to make money?
As for the food itself, it was okay. Better than the chains like IHOP or Denny’s and worth the money. Nothing amazing but it fits the price.
I think there is a reason the other restaurants up the street are packed solid with lines for breakfast and you can just walk right in to Sunsets. If you don’t want to wait in line for good service, then you can brave it at Sunsets and hopefully get your food is less than an hour.

I stayed fairly close to this spot during my stay in the area and I appreciated the place. It is quite confusing when it comes to how you go in — there are two ways and they’re both confusing. The seating is not bad — we sat on the bar and dining side away from the poke bar. The area my girl and I sat at had a fantastic view of the pier and the setting sun.
The menu’s quite interesting — I would say that most of the pictures pconfuse you into posted up on Unilocal confuse you into thinking there is a wide selection of sushi and rolls. Quite the contrary. It’s much more of a Hawaiian based menu — during our visit, the sushi case was empty. You can say it’s American, but to me it’s more Island fusion.
My girl liked her bloody mary which was on happy hour for $ 5. I opted for Hop Juice IPA instead of the Longboard, which would have been more fitting for a Hawaiian style restaurant. We were saving our appetite for Fisherman’s across the street so we only ordered the ribeye sliders. The sliders came out with great presentation and extra greens on the side. Although they could have beefed up the serving of ribeye slices in the sliders, they were flavorful and reminded me of my kbbq bulgogi sliders with hawaiian bread I used to make when I was a kiddo. Our libations and appetizer were great with no complaint and the scene here was a notch better. Hence, my five stars.
Stay thirsty my friends. 8)

This place can be a very popular place for people to come and watch sports, but the thing that keeps me coming back is their Hawaiian BBQ ribs.
The dish costs about $ 20 and yes its a bit pricey, but when they brought out the dish it was SOOOO WORTH IT! It had so many juicy beef ribs that have been slow cooked to perfection piled on top of each other and smothered in a rich, sweet and maple BBQ sauce and there is a pile of coconut pilaf in the middle, but the ribs are meaty and fall off the bone! I would keep coming back for just this dish alone! But they only serve it during dinner time so make sure to come in after 5pm to try this dish! It’s definitely big enough for 2 people to share! so it’l save you the extra $ 15 – 20 bucks on another entrée that can be used towards appetizers or drinks (:
Also parking can be a bit hard as parking in the lot isn’t free, but if you come on the weekday after 6pm the lot is free! but if you’re lucky you will find the perfect street parking located right next to the san clemente beach pier (: Whats even better is if you come during sunset, you can have a great meal and watch the beautiful sunset as well.

Love my Cuz! Danny can hook up some serious drinks! I usually come in and ask him to make me anything. I have NEVER been disappointed. It is worth every penny. I give this place one star less because because the food is still growing on me. I hate to say it, but I compare it to another place in town.
I come for the drinks, awesome staff, and atmosphere. Not for the food. I believe it is getting better and better and better.
Ok friends, try it out! The food is still pretty tasty!

Amazing fish tacos !!
Great service
Cute restaurant/​hotel
Ocean view outside seating available
Highly recommend this restaurant !!

Location is 5 Star, but the food is so-​so. LOVE Sunsets for happy hour, not so much dinner. Next time, I will skip the Sushi.
Beautiful view! (
) Perfect place to grab some drinks and watch the sunset. HAPPY HOUR ON WEEKENDS is a plus! However, Mai Tai’s are not on par with others I’ve had around town (Wind n’ Sea — way better), but they are alright.
I was apprehensive about ordering sushi at a place like this, but I did, and probably wouldn’t again. The salmon sushi was great. The fusion roll we ordered next (
) was way too saucy. I do not like fusion rolls to begin with because of the spicy mayo, oyster sauce, panko crumbs, etc that they are usually loaded with — but I gave it a chance. The roll didn’t taste like sushi at all — I had one bite and didn’t touch it again.
We also ordered a healthier fusion roll (Layla roll?) that took forever to come to the table! We had it boxed up and never touched it. This roll actually looked really good (
) but I probably won’t be going to Sunsets for sushi again after the HUGE bill for what little we ordered.
I would suggest the more Hawaiian style menu options. The fried rice with egg will definitly take you back to your last Hawaiian vacation — Mmm. The «pig nachos» were recommended. An interesting twist that I enjoyed. It was a huge portion, even between 3 poeple.
The service is great, Jen is wonderful! She is pleasant and always full of recommendations. Love her! I like Sunsets and I will continue coming back to enjoy the beautiful San Clemente sunsets with friends and talk over a few cocktails… but I will probably won’t go back for sushi or dinner.