Santa Monica Pier Restaurants

The Pier is Long, the Sun is Hot - Enjoy Some Great Mexican or Seafood and Cool Drinks

The Santa Monica Pier is a very famous American landmark. Unfortunately the wooden pier is a bit worse for wear. The rides are pretty poor by today's standards but the cool thing about the pier is that at least two of the restaurants have very good, albeit expensive food and the views of the ocean bay and the mountains, to the east, are still great. They say the pier was built in 1922 and it does have a famous merry go Round for the kids to enjoy.

Once you are out on the Pier it is not exactly a short walk back to the beach so it's important to know what places on the pier are the best to eat. For our money the best two places are Marisol's, which is Mexican food at the west end of the pier, and Bubba Gump's, which is great shrimp served about any way Forrest could come up with a recipe.

So here for your use when visiting the Santa Monica Pier is our take on the various choices of where to eat on the Santa Monica Pier.

As mentioned earlier, Mariasol Cocina Mexicana is at the west end of the pier. The food is really good and they have the best views on the pier. You get total immersion of the pier and the ocean and can even hear the waves breaking under the pier while you eat. Mariasol's is open seven days a week. They serve a mean breakfast where almost everything, except steaks, is under $10 and they offer eggs Mexican style about six different ways. It is a big place and we saw 2 large and separate dining areas and a bunch of private rooms. The menu for lunch and dinner has prices from $12 - $18 not including drinks of any type. There is, of course, one or two strolling Mariachi groups but they know not to be intrusive if you just politely wave them off.

If Mexican food is not your thing and hey, since you are on a pier where people still do a good amount of fishing, you can eat at Bubba Gump's Seafood Restaurant. Now this is my favorite but that is because I am a shrimp addict. Bubba's serves simple American breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Other days they open at 10 in the morning. They can stay open until 2 a.m. but in fact close at different times depending on how busy they are.