FireFish Grill, Santa Cruz CA

FireFish Grill used to be my favorite seafood spot for years before the pandemic. As a resident of San Francisco, I used to make visit to Santa Cruz at least once a month to hangout and eat at FireFish Grill.

I have friends and family from Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other places to spend the day with me in Santa Cruz and show off my food taste at FireFish Grill.

I have move back to Atlanta since the pandemic and haven't been to FireFish Grill since. Monday, November 13th was my birthday and I flew home to spend the weekend before in the Bay Area. I wanted to spend the day of my birthday in Santa Cruz and have FireFish Grill for my birthday.

Evidentially since my departure of San Francisco FireFish Grill have changed the ingredients of my favorite dish, the fish and chips. I hate to say, but I was HIGHLY disappointed. They changed the fish and the chips.

The chips tasted like some store value brand fries and the fish not as appealing. I only ate one fry and I forced myself to eat the fish so I wouldn't waste my money, but I could only eat one and a half out of the three. I would have taken a picture, but my phone went dead just as I was able to take a photo of the plate when served with it.

I have multiple pictures of my past visits at FireFish Grill and one of my old pictures are attached below with last night's photo. You can look at both pictures and immediately tell the difference in quality and presentation without me having to point out which is which. I can honestly say my only enjoyable moment was when I had two glasses of water!

Then to add additional insult to injury. I was charged extra for paying with a debit card instead of cash! Who walks around with cash nowadays? !? !? !? ! This is a growing cashless economy.

I am sorry, but FireFish has lost a long-time customer and I am afraid to say that I have also lost my favorite seafood spot.

We came all the way from Minneapolis, mn, there were five of us in one of our group and nine in our other group. We are older people and we know firefish was amazing. The manager told us they didn't have enough room for us even if we all split up. We were basically walked out of the restaurant. To be fair I think we overwhelmed the manager but it was so sad.

After almost two years, happy to have FireFish reopen! Excellent halibut tacos, prawn skewers with andulie sausage, yummy garden salad, and a new clammier clam chowder. Yum! Can also recommend the ahi salad and the FireFish Grill - skewered shrimp, halibut, salmon, and scallops with red & green peppers, onion and served on rice pilaf.

First time at this restaurant and the food was amazing. The King Crab and the scallops were delicious. Our waiter Will was very friendly and accommodating. Highly recommend.

Disappointed to stay the least beautiful view terrible service the tall girl with tattoos decided it was more worth her time to flirt with a 60 year old then to bring us drinks let alone our food we had a random server bring us our cold clam chowder in a bowl.from her bringing me a dirty water glass to just lack of any service it's sad cause the owner was so accommodating when we walked in glad the kid watching her not help felt bad to bring us out food if I could would have tipped him.if your for a romantic dinner search else where

Service is terrible, we ordered the food and it took more than 30mins just waiting for the food to be ready, there are ppl coming after us and got the food and finish it, the funny thing is there are not even a lot of customers at the same time.

Zachary was an amazing served! Super friendly and very enjoyable! With his personalized conversation made our experience unforgettable! If you get him you will enjoy the time! The food was amazing!

Our first time back since the sad fire 1.5 yrs ago. Restaurant looks great with white and blue decor. Lots of staff keeping the place clean and bringing great food and drink. We had oysters Rockefeller and steamed clams for appetizers. Two of us had the seafood special which was fillet of sole with butter caper sauce, veggies, and rice pilaf. One had the shrimp salad. Then creme Brule for dessert. All yummy! Thanks to Lance the manager and the smiling welcoming staff. The oysters are unique.be prepared for a surprise.
Dipping the bread into the steamed class broth was so delicious!
So happy to return no big crowd cause it was a Monday around 130 when we arrived.

Edit: we've just returned, since our original feast back on Christmas night of 2021. The restaurant had a fire at one point, so this was our first time back. What a visit it was!

Same amazing views, same world-class service. Our food was absolutely to die for. Mom and I had oysters to start, and the boys had garlic bread. For dinner mom had seafood pasta, I had the Seafood Rockefeller, and the boys ate from the kids menu. Everything was perfect and amazing!

Last up was a creme brulee, which we all shared.

We were so glad to be back. Firefish Grill is an absolute treasure at the Santa Cruz Wharf. Run.don't walk

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Five star food, and a well-trained staff who are kind, friendly and knowledgeable. Great for families with young kids. We just finished dining (Christmas Day night) and had the best experience ever. We highly recommend Firefish for any dining occasion.

A great atmosphere on the wharf. We had a lovely window table. Our server was great. I love their sense of humor. The food was delicious. They do offer a kids menu. -Regina

Great little spot to get something to eat. The menu has a little something for everyone. Nice view of the water.

We were exploring the warf and the smells from here (and the menu out front) were too tempting to pass up. Ashlee (with the cute earrings) was our server and I can't give her enough compliments. She was friendly, engaging, helpful and kind! I also noticed her helping other team members between serving us which as someone else in the industry is really cool to see. I had a great mocktail and my friend had the best bloody mary ever! Definitely try the prawns, they were amazing. The views were great. I can't say enough good things about my experience and meal, but Ashlee really made it awesome. Give her a huuuuge raise!