Stinson Beach Grill

After a tiring, but fun 7.3 mile Matt Davis/Steep Ravine/Dipsea Loop hike with fellow Yelpers (DYK crew), we (16 of us) walked to Stinson Beach Grill for some grub.

Before I even looked at the menu, I rushed to the bar for a mojito. It was a perfect drink after the hike -- cool, refreshing and minty. It was a decent drink, but I would have preferred more alcohol and less ice, club soda, and lime juice. For an $8 drink, it deserves at least half a glass of rum, I think :-)!

At our table of 8, we shared serveral dishes including different kinds of oysters (sampler, BBQ and wasabi). I really liked the plain oysters because I like to make my own sauce concoction (lemon with green pepper Tabasco sauce, pepper and salt) -- so good! The clam chowder soup was yummy, creamy and not too salty. I also had half of an ahi tuna sandwich with spinach and a side of fries.

I'll probably never go back here again just because of where it's located and the food was so-so, plus the service was S L O W considering it wasn't that crowded inside. Plus the waitress said that she was going to bring us back some warm bread, but she never did... oh well :-(.

I was part of the post-DYK linner (half lunch, half dinner) crowd that converged on this place. I came in to this place expecting more. By "more," I mean "higher quality" and "better service," not "more money." Let's start with the food:

- "BBQ Oysters" should bar-b-qued, not steamed and then slathered in KC Masterpiece. Gross gross gross.
- White bread is pretty nasty to begin with. Cold, stale dinner rolls are even worse. The waitress promised us some fresh stuff, but that never materialized.
- Evidently "grilled onions" really means "raw sliced red onions" at this place. Way to ruin a chicken sandwich.
- I figured it was pretty obvious I was trying to eat light(-er). I ordered the chicken & bacon club sandwich without bacon on wheat bread. I guess they wanted to make up for the calories of the bacon by slathering my bread with butter and then burning it on the nasty grill for who knows how long. Whatever they did, it was gross.

The service:
I guess there was a scuffle about the bill. We were divided up into two tables, but they put us all on one bill. It made splitting the bill somewhat of a pain. When we asked for a separate check (for our table, not per-person), she gave us a pen and asked us to circle our items and divide it up on our own.

I know, I know. This is Stinson Beach. You have maybe two restaurants to choose from. It doesn't make this place any less LAME.

First trip to Stinson Beach and I thought a hamburger sounded like the best thing in the world.

We looked at the Stinson Beach Grill and thought "that looks cute and there's even a little patio, this is so f'ing perfect."

Inside there's a "wait to be seated" sign. We wait. "I'll be right with you guys." She refills some guys drinks at the bar, small talks, puts some money in the register. Waitress goes outside, takes an order, fills up some glasses of water. "Just one minute guys." Proceeds to make another drink, goes back outside and chats more with tables. By this point is had been nearly 10 minutes and the line was decently long. Some old couple behind us was getting grouchy and I said a decently loud "FUCK THIS" (because you know, sometimes you want to be passive aggressive) and left.

Seriously, WTF was up with that. If you don't have time to seat people just have us seat ourselves. There were already napkins and menus on the table.

After reading these reviews though, I'm glad we didn't eat here.

This weekend I paid $20 + tax for 12 oysters.

I paid $6 for a glass of IPA.

I would have been ok with this had it not been for the food poisoning that attacked me with a vicousness not seen since the Conan the Barbarian movie, which was filmed back when the Governator was still Juicing on the 'roids.

That is $26 + that I would like back. Also: I do not think that I will be able to look another oyster in the idea and consider eating it.

I know Oysters are dangerous business, but still. Thanks so much Stinson Beach Grill.

UPDATE! LATER THE SAME DAY!!!!: Fuck it! I just looked at my credit card statement online and they charged me TWICE!!! They poisioned me AND they double charged me!!!! DO NOT GO HERE!!!!!

My hubby and I had been beach combing at Stinson Beach all morning, and by 2:30 pm, we were Starving! We drove up the road a ways from the beach parking lot to where all the little shops and cafes are, and found this little spot to eat.

We were seated right away, next to the wood burning stove, which was nice because it was a little chilly outside. The hostess gave us our menus in a very nice, friendly way, and told us that our waitress would be right with us. She wasn't. However, the hostess came back, asked if we'd been seen to yet, and then took our drink orders until our waitress got there about 30 seconds later. (I ordered their special Bloody Mary, and DAMN, it was GOOD. Spicy, flavorful, and standard with Kettle One, my favorite... nice.)

The waitress was nice and took our orders, and brought out our clam chowders and a basket of warm, crusty rolls right away. Delicious chowder with lots of fresh clams in it and a kind of dill flavor that I've never had before in a chowder: I like it! The rolls were yummy, too, crusty outside and warm and soft inside... perfect with our chowder!

My sandwich was the chicken and bacon on focaccia and my husband got the French dip. The fries were yummy! My sandwich was a little bit dry, probably needed some mayo or something, but my hubby's sandwich was really good. Only problem was that after the chowder and rolls, he could only eat half the sandwich. I only had the cup of soup, but was filling up quickly, anyway. I had to finish that delicious Bloody Mary, didn't I? So I didn't finish the sandwich, but since it wasn't absolutely fabulous, I didn't feel so bad.

All in all, it was a good experience, and their food is pretty darned good! Next time I'm just going for a bowl of the chowder and a couple of those Bloody Mary's and call it a day!

If I could give negative stars, I would...

We went there last saturday, one of the first amazingly wonderful summer / spring days at stinson beach left us very happy, mellow and to some degree hungry, looking for some food. Stinson Beach Grill seemed like a good choice since it was right there, they had heat lamps on the patio, and a small live jazz trio that was truly wonderful.

Unfortunately the staff was not up to the task. It started with us being in line for being seated for 20 minutes - not because there where no open tables, but just because they did not make it a priority. Once we where seated got a waiters attention to order, we thought everything was on track.

We where enjoying the music, and after a while noticed that the family next to us had bread+butter. We asked how they got it and they said they had to go and beg for it at the kitchen door. So my wife did the same and after a while came back with bread and butter. It was getting colder and no food was coming. We tried to get a waiters attention to maybe turn on the heatlamps but at that point the waiters where avoiding peoples eyes. Some guests got up and tried to put on the heatlamps themselves.

My wife was joking that this must be a do-it-yourself-kind-of-place. It got worse from there. Some more outspoken (to put it nice) people at the next table where starting to demand their food, having waited more than half an hour, using strong language, and the waiter told them to get the f*** out of his restaurant but pay up for what they got so far first.

So they started yelling and cussing at each other, pulling whatever stereotype they could, calling the waiter a nazi simply because of his bald top head - never mind the beard that gave him more of a cowboy/harley look, but I guess it gave them a simpler aim to look at him that way.

The family next to us decided to leave because the kitchen apparently forgot about the food for the children and had only prepared the adults food, and seemed to get increasingly uncomfortable with the tension.

We finally also told them that we are going to leave (waiting almost two hours by then) and the waiter seriosly wanted to charge us the $2.11 for the milk he brought in the beginning. My wife had already gotten the go ahead from the manager to leave without paying and so we did.

When we left a fireman showed up and asked about the shouting, and we told them it was the waiters yelling at rightfully unhappy customers - which he did not seem to be too surprised about.

I agree with Angie R.'s review of the staff, I have the very same impression. What a miserable place.

I think that the Stinson Beach Grill pulled their floor staff out of a halfway house. Either that or life in Stinson Beach is incredibly rough on the locals. I haven't seen such a collection of sunken cheekbones, broken blood vessels and abnormally slow reaction time in one place since I worked down at 6th and Mission.

I suppose you can surmise by now that the service we received was not good. We must have waited 15 minutes to get water, and probably close to 30 before we actually placed our order. There were several servers, busboys and assorted staff shuffling around the patio where we were sitting, and there were only a few other tables, yet we sat there, invisible. At one point a server looked at us and said "You haven't placed your order yet, have you?" then proceeded to ignore us and an entirely different server took our order a good 10 minutes later.

I guess I should have suspected something when we were put on a wait list at 2:30 p.m. when there were about 10 empty tables on the patio. Honestly though, the floor staff looked so rough that I really believe this was the best they could do.

I ordered the veggie sandwich which was not memorable at all, even after a strenuous 5 mile hike, when hunger generally would have made anything taste good. The fries were excellent, though, and they have Lagunitas IPA on tap. The atmosphere is great- you can't really go wrong with an outdoor patio in the sun on a gorgeous spring afternoon, surrounded by the Marin Headlands and breathing the fresh ocean air. If you can be Zen about the zombies who are serving you, it's a decent place to grab a beer and a bite after a hike or an afternoon at the beach.

Stinson really doesn't have a lot to choose from in the way of eateries. Normally I would ask myself where the locals go, but in this case I think I am scared to know.

After an amazing 7 mile hike, I could have been happy to sit on a rock with a can of beans and a plastic spork. A can of beans would have been cheaper, tastier, and more filling, with not much less preparation than what I got here. It was a stingy portion that tasted like air and cost too much. We also had to get the bill adjusted because 2 entrees were $7 on the menu and $9 on the bill. The server told 1 person that fries were $2 extra and another person $3, but they were $3 extra. No offense because she was nice but the kitchen did a really lazy job.

I ordered the token vegetarian entree: "grilled tofu tacos". This was 2 plain tortillas straight from a bag: each with a sad cube of tofu with not a thing done to it except brown stripes- a spoonful of canned pineapple- avocado slice- and a sprig of cilantro. No sauce. I would have made it way better myself. Suggestions: investigate the many delicious and easy ways to prepare tofu with marinade or seasoning- toast the tortilla- add salsa and guac- and think about making it 3 tacos with fries included.

The plain fries and beer were alright but the ones I got last time at the Sand Dollar across the street were bombed with herbs and raw garlic and really outshone this place. With such bland overpriced food, I wonder if they have something against vegetarians or return visitors?

Let me start my story right. I ordered the tenderloin skewers, and when I got them they were beyond rare, pretty much inedible. The waiter comes over and asks how my skewers were, I say, "They are a little rare, and I don't eat rare." He says, "Well, what are we going to do about this?", I don't really respond, as I was expecting him to offer cooking them more, but instead he says, "So how about you take them home and pop them on your grill? How does that sound?"

Did he realize what he was saying? He wanted me to take uncooked meat home, and then cook it myself. Seriously? So I ask if he can cook them some more, and so he takes it back. Five minutes later, he comes back and says, "Now should we take a picture? Look at how good those look?" I slice open my meat, and guess what, they are still rare!!! He comes back about five minutes later, and asks how they were, I say rare, and that I don't want it. Instead of offering a free dessert or to take my meal off the tab, he does nothing. Literally nothing. He brings us our check 10 minutes later and then never comes back to pick up the credit card.

Things to know when going here:
1. Do NOT get Paul as a waiter, he offered me the worst service I have had in awhile, very slow and unaccommodating. He also liked to rub my boyfriends shoulders in a way that made us both uncomfortable.
2. No free re-fills on the soda and when you order a soda, it is all ice.
3. The clam chowder is probably the only thing worth eating on the menu, the rest of the food is pretty mediocre.
4. Overpriced for the quality of the food.

I would not recommend this place to anyone, ever, go to the snack shack and get a milkshake instead. Or wait a little longer and eat elsewhere.

My gf and I came here after a January day at the beach. We were hungry, not particularly picky, and with a beagle, so we needed a place that would be okay with serving us on a patio with our dog. This place let us in with the dog, even though it's technically against the rules. This is the last nice thing I have to say about this restaurant.

The food was okay. Not spectacular, but not terrible either. Decent burgers, sandwiches, etc.

The service, on the other hand, was abysmal. My water glass went unfilled for so long that we ended up using our own water bottle to fill our water glasses. The coleslaw I asked for never arrived. And the waitress had a rather flippant attitude to us in general.

Good customer service isn't hard -- we weren't demanding anything out of the ordinary. It continues to surprise me how many places fail at it.