Pierside in Pismo Beach: A Review

I went to Pierside early April 2010 after enjoying a nice walk on the Pismo Pier with my family. We were vacationing in nearby Morro Bay but like to visit Pismo because they have a beautiful beach and the pier is really neat to walk on.

There are a lot of bad reviews on Pierside so if you go there, know in advance that it's very simple, a no frills restaurant to grab some food and/or have an alcoholic beverage (we did the first but not the latter because I don't drink that often and had my kids with me).

I remembered eating here when I was a kid though I don't know if it was called something else them. It was definitely not the way I remembered it (which could mean that it was indeed a different restaurant twenty something odd years ago).

When we first walked in, my impression wasn't that good. It basically looks like someone threw some chairs and tables in and said "Hey we have a restaurant!" We were hungry and wanted to be close to the beach so we stayed.

There is some seating at the front of the restaurant, at the side of the restaurant across from the bar, upstairs and outside. We were seated at the side across from the bar (which luckily there weren't that many people having drinks as I don't like to expose my kids to that kind of behavior if people are acting up). We would have sat outside but it was really windy that day. If you sit outside, you have a view of the ocean.

I ordered coconut shrimp ($12.95), my partner ordered a Pierside burger ($7.95) and my kids ordered chicken strips and fries ($4.75 each). My shrimp was so/so. It wasn't bad but it wasn't impressive either. The kids fare was also the same, just ok. My partner's burger did impress us though. First of all, it was HUGE and arrived with a knife sticking out of the middle of it. It also had a nice flavor so if you like burgers, want to eat at the beach, go here.

Two things about our experience made me not happy. First was our service. We had a waitress and she seemed very unfriendly and hardly ever refilled our drinks. The second was the women's bathroom. When we went in, my child and I were almost overcome by the smell. It literally smelled like death. I had to look in the other stall to make sure that nothing wasn't rotting away inside. We hurried as fast as we could but their bathroom alone was an experience that I never wish to repeat again. The bathroom seemed clean... but the smell... And no, it didn't seen like someone had just gotten sick in there. It was a weird horrendous smell.

I give Pierside 3 out of 5 stars. It's nothing spectacular, the service isn't that great, the bathroom sucked but some of the food was actually ok. You just need to know not to expect something fancy or even average when you go.

To get an idea of what else they serve, you can look at a menu here. Pierside is located at 175 Pomeroy Ave Ste 1 Pismo Beach, CA 93449 and their number is (805) 773-4411. They do not take reservations.