I'm in the Monterey area for about 10 days on business, so I get to eat out for lunch and dinner every day. Thought I'd post my reactions to the local restaurants.

Cafe Fina -- Apparently some people think this place is good. Maybe I just had bad luck, but this was the worst restaurant meal in terms of food quality that I've had in about 5 years. I ordered the sand dabs. They came out soppy & soggy - terrible. The portions were very tiny, and I'm not a big eater - I normally take food home. The sand dabs were supposed to come with fresh veggies. What accompanied the sand dabs was in no way fresh. There was a bit of zucchini, greasy, extremely overcooked with bland tomato sauce on top. Then there were about 5 oddly shaped pieces of some sort of white vegetable. I thought it was potato but one bite told me it wasn't. It was probably EXTREMELY overcooked jicama. So disappointing, the whole meal.

Epsilon -- Better than Cafe Fina but I wouldn't go back. I ordered a greek salad and it was fine, but they had such heavy herbs on it, it was a bit overkill. (I eat Greek quite a bit in Tarpon Springs, FL, so I do know how to appreciate good Greek food.) The service was awful, I could not get my waitress's attention and there were only a few customers in there. In the end I had to go up and ask for my bill. The wine was terrible, I couldn't finish it.

Turtle Bay -- Oh my, I am in love. This place is so wonderful - laid back, funky decor, good service, inexpensive, and OH SO GOOD. I'm staying with a local and she said this was her favorite place to eat out. I can see why. The soft tacos are great - I've had the chicken, grilled shrimp and veggie - there's also wild salmon, snapper, and more. I had a house salad - organic greens and a tangy mango vinagrette. So wonderful, I've been twice in only a few days. Don't miss their homemade salsas, including cranberry. The best thing is, it's very healthy, they list weight watchers points and the soft tacos are only 3-5 points each.

Hulas -- highly recommended, fantastic service, I was not that hungry so I had an appetizer & salad, and both were wonderful. The pineapple juice is very fresh. I was tempted by their Hula cake for dessert and it was so worth it - banana, coconut, rum, all put together in a mousse-like cake, oh my.

Passionfish -- Wow, one of my favorite restaurants ever. The decor is perfect, understated but lots of impact. Service impeccable. Food, fantastic. I had gulf shrimp in vietnamese sauce (spicy) with lemongrass slaw and rice fritters. It was all marvelous. They suggested a great wine and I don't recall the name, but it was wonderful and very reasonably priced. They had a fresh strawberry-peach-apricot cobbler which I had to have, and it was superb - light crust, fruit full of flavor.

I'll update this message with other restaurants as I try them out - I do have a whole week left!

Birder: Glad you liked Passionfish --it is one of my favorites in Pacific Grove/Carmel. One of this board's frequest posters consistently gives it a thumbs down when it is mentioned, so it is nice to see someone give it glowing review. I think a nice place for lunch is Peppers in Pacific Grove so if you haven't tried that yet, you might want to do so. Are you going to try any places in Carmel for dinner?

PASSIONFISH in Pacific Grove is outstanding.

ROBERTS WHITE HOUSE in PG also very good.

Ditto on HULAS....one of our favorite spots to go.

BAHAMA BILLYS is in the Barnyard in Carmel. Great food and atmosphere.

PEPPERS....been there too many times to count. Great owners and Mexican food.

SCHOONERS is located in the Monterey Plaza Hotel. Great place to sit on the patio and watch the otters as you eat and drink. Locals know it well.

RED HOUSE in PG....very small, but very good.

Is Bahama Billy's a chain? I ask because when I was in Birmingham a couple months ago, I went to a place for lunch that I believe was called the same thing. It had sort of a caribbean atmosphere, really open and colorful with the feeling of being outside, but with the AC - LOL. I really enjoyed my meal there, but I hadn't ever seen one before. If it is a chain, I will keep my eye out for it.

Haven't made it to Bahama Billy's, maybe for lunch when we're in Carmel next month. I'll second Schooner's and the White House for both being very good. We also like Bouchee in Carmel very much and Roy's in Pebble Beach. Want to try Sardine Factory and Tarpey's Roadhouse also this trip. ***kim***

If you make it Carmel... don't miss Casanova! I am still dreaming of a lunch I had there last November!

Kimamom, it's good to see you back!

j. correa - Regarding Bahama Billy's- no I don't believe that it is a chain. The owners are locals Billy Quon and his wife Teresa Raine who formerly owned Billy Quon's at Ryan Ranch near Monterey. Teresa was a softball superstar is neighboring Salinas during her high school years. It is a wonderful restaurant and they are great hosts. We fequently enjoy great meals at their restaurant. (I could make a meal from just the bread)

OK, here's a continuation:

London Bridge Pub: This is right on the water near Municipal Wharf No. 2. I actually ate here my first day, I was walking around and this looked like a good spot to eat and look out at the water. I had a salad and bowl of clam chowder. The salad was extremely fresh and the clam chowder was truly excellent, thick but not gloppy, and lots of clam bits. Service was casual and good.

Rosines: I needed a quick lunch downtown and this place looked decent, I liked the open seating looking out onto Alvarado St. The service was OK, nothing special. I had the roast beef dip, which was outstanding - the roll was buttery and toasted, and the roast beef was thick enough to enjoy but not to think to chew. They happily substituted a salad for the fries that normally accompanies the sandwich. Rosines has ENORMOUS cakes and pies in the display glass as you walk in, and I couldn't resist. I had a piece of the sprinkle cake, $5, enough for 3 people. It was good but I wouldn't get it again. But I would go back to Rosines.

Sea Harvest: Sea Harvest is mainly a seafood market, but they have a small restaurant area attached (they have three locations: Moss Landing, Monterey near Cannery Row, and Carmel Valley on Rt 1 just north of Pt Lobos). Sea Harvest came highly recommended to me, so after a morning of hiking about 4 miles in Pt Lobos, I left the park and went to Sea Harvest for lunch. I had the fried prawns, and got the cole slaw instead of the fries. First, the cole slaw was magnificent - with pine nuts and raisins. Mmm! Second, the prawns were enormous and OH SO FRESH. I didn't need tartar or cocktail sauce, they were so delicious. In fact, I enjoyed this meal so much, I came back the next day after hiking in Pt Lobos some more. Very inexpensive as well, less than $10 for a huge lunch.

The Cottage Restaurant: This is a small restaurant in Carmel, I stopped Saturday morning before heading to Pt Lobos. I was delighted with the food - excellent value. Two eggs (scrambled), toasted sourdough bread with fresh jam, and a full plate of fresh fruit (including berries) - for $6.50. The service was great. I would definitely go back. It's not "gourmet" but good food at a great price.

Flying Fish: OK, I may ruffle some feathers here. Flying Fish was good, but not nearly as good as Passionfish in my opinion. First, it's in a basement which some people like but I didn't particularly. Second, they bring fried wontons to your table instead of bread. I am just not that big on fried stuff (despite my order of prawns at Sea Harvest). Third, it was expensive, everything well over $20 except grilled chicken for $18. So I decided to have a salad, an appetizer, and a dessert. It was all very good but not incredible. If my friends were going and asked me to come along, of course I would. But I wouldn't go back on my own. Service was outstanding, though.

Passionfish: Yes, I went back. Actually, I went jogging on Asilomar State Park and was planning on going to Fishwife afterward. I went to Fishwife and even though they had good open tables for 2, they tried to put me in a terrible high traffic area. I asked if I could sit somewhere else and they said no. That's fine, maybe they had people with reservations coming in, but it's my choice not to sit in at a crappy table. I wasn't very impressed with the ambiance, but it did come recommended for the food, so I was sorry they couldn't give me a decent seat. So then I went off to Peppers, which I have heard many locals rave about. Unfortunately, they were closed on Tuesdays! By this time I was quite hungry, so I went to the closest restaurant I knew - Passionfish. I was a little worried because sometimes the second time around isn't as good. In this case, it was even better. Their lamb meatballs with goat cheese and onion bread pudding (MMMMMM) was all gone, so I ordered a salad and appetizer with a dessert. I had the sweet potato french fries, which were marvelous. The salad - Baked Gorgonzola with Curried Dressing and Golden Chutney - was probably the best salad I've ever had. I will always remember what it's called because I could not believe how good it was and I remembered each piece of it. It also had candied walnuts. The dessert almost topped the salad - bananas in a caramel rum lime sauce. That is the closest I've come to licking a plate in a restaurant. The wine was fabulous as well.

I've got a few more days, so I'll make at least one more post .... I wish I could back to Passionfish but I need to try the Monterey Fish House and I wanted to try Montrios, with their small bites menu.... We'll see!

Hi moneygirl! I'll also second Casanova in Carmel. We recently enjoyed a very nice meal at Bouchee in Carmel. In Carmel Valley, Wickets at the Bernardus Lodge was really good! ***kim***

Casanova in Carmel has consistently outstanding Continental food in a lovely setting.

BAHAMA BILLYS.....the bread! Outstanding! Gotta go there this weekend just for the bread! No..it is not a chain as one poster already stated.

My final installment. A friend asked to meet me at Jugem on Alvarado in Monterey. We had bento boxes - I avoid raw fish so I had tempura and chicken teriyaki. It was fantastic. Not many people in the restaurant. The service was great, and the prices were very reasonable ($9 per person?). Highly recommend.

I had to eat at the Monterey Fish House since it came so highly recommended. I went for lunch since my remaining evenings were packed. It was my most expensive meal and frankly I would not go back. That's not to say they don't serve REALLY fresh fish. They do. I wanted their prawns and they didn't have any non-fried prawns on the lunch menu, so they just made the evening prawns meal for me ($17). I asked for grilled and they came out just dripping in butter. I know, many even most people like their grilled food dripping in butter. I thought it might have a bit of butter but this was awful. I didn't feel that I had the right to ask them to redo it, so I ate them. Yes, they were VERY fresh. The sides that came with the meal were not very good - an overcooked pasta and overcooked veggies. The wine was fantastic, and since I had some extra time, I decided to try a dessert to see if they redeemed themselves. Nope. I had chocolate cake and frankly I'll bet it came out of a grocery store box.

Let me say, I didn't eat where many people would if they were in the area for vacation. That's because I was often photocopying, meeting people, interviewing people, etc. Many times my choices were dictated by someone other than me. But I did get a pretty good cross-section, I think. My absolute favorite is still Passionfish. One of my favorite restaurants in the US. They are original, creative, fresh, and actually not very expensive. I can't wait to go back. Turtle Bay is my other "DO NOT MISS" - extremely inexpensive (tacos for $2), funky & fun decor, good service, and most important, very fresh & delicious food.