Sandpiper Restaurant & Cafe

I came here 2 years ago and would’ve given it 5 stars at that point. We enjoyed good wine and very fresh tasting food, particularly a wonderful mozzarella and tomato salad…
However, I visited there today and the menu has changed drastically for the worse… Perhaps to bring in more local business… they now serve breakfast until 2pm. Odd for a seafood place… but I appreciate that it is not all seafood.
They have a less expensive all ages menu… which isn’t impressive and they nickel and dime for every add on adding $ 2, $ 6 and $ 9 per add on!
We ordered house made chips and salsa. They did not taste house made and there was a long hair in the salsa. It was groess. We should have sent it back but it got flung onto the floor out of disgust and who knows where it went, we didn’t eat anymore of it.
We ordered chocolate milk and they said they only have white chocolate. Our greeter was polite but our waitress was not kind, happy or able to understand what I was saying…
I had to ask three times the difference between creamy tomatoe basil sauce and tomato basil sauce. I ordered angel hair pasta and she brought me a much thicker noodle like fettuccine or something… so it was sent back. When it was returned it had the angel hair pasta I ordered, but instead of the creamy tomatoe basil pasta with mushrooms and garlic that I ordered it was now just tomatoe basil and was sloppy thrown together as if to punish me for sending back the pasta… it was waaay to garlicky, basically inedible. There was almost no sauce. We should have got up, walked out and not paid.
They have no children’s coloring menus and aren’t very family friendly.
The rice pilaf did not have the same ingredients listed on the menu and the burger was dry and flavorless. I was so excited on our drive home down highway 1 to stop back by the sandpiper for quality food and found it was a waste of time and money. We will never be back.
The best part of the meal was the French fries. That’s sad. The view of the bay is obstructed, too.

Well this place is hit and miss for sure but never used to be that way. I used to go here quite a bit but have avoided it the past year because it seems to be more misses than hits. There are 2 «proprietors» supposedly but I have yet to meet either one. The food can be prepared very well at times but THAT is the hit and miss part. Service has never been all that great but the beer is always good… because all it requires is a fridge and bottle opener!

Do not miss this place which it is easy to do since it is opposite side from the ocean and easy to be looking that way. The bread bowl chowder is off the hook and a great price at $ 12 for the bread bowl. Beers cold chowders hot view is great! Stop on by. Lots of seating great parking in the back! Not a battle like most places. Server is fantastic she really made us feel welcome!

My family and I are picky about our chowder and this is the best clam chowder in town!!! We tried the Tides but it just couldn’t compare to this sweet nectar of the gods. The scallops and calamari were amazing too!

This place is so great. Best clam chowder and great service. It has the best homey atmosphere and great views of the marina. It’s such a treat to eat here when coming out to the beach!

We arrived with a party of 8 including 3 kids on a sunny Sunday with the tall ships in town, and were seated almost immediately on the patio. Based on some of the negative reviews, I was a little concerned — but didn’t need to be. The service was friendly, attentive, and fast. The clam chowder and crab sandwich were both really good. I was really impressed with their kids’ meal pizza and grilled cheese. Rather than the tiny servings of cafeteria-​looking food that usually make up a kids meal, they served fresh and big portions that made the kids in our party really excited. I had a cobb salad that I probably wouldn’t order again — it was only ok, and the meals the rest of our group enjoyed made me jealous. Will eat here again — and maybe opt for the bottomless brunch mimosas next time!

Pleasantly surprised with the «bad» reviews some left. Service was wonderful, quick and friendly (despite being fairly busy) The pizza, fries, grilled cheese, crab sandwich, salads, and clam chowder bowl were all good. The garlic fries weren’t too garlicky, so we may skip those next time. We were sat quickly out on the patio on a beautiful day even with our party of 8. Fresh food, would visit again when in town.

Found this wonderful restaurant on Unilocal.Would have missed it with out your help. Hard to see driving around the bend in the road. So worth stopping here!

Nice service, terrible food. Don’t do it. Thick breading on the fish&chips, burnt taste on our bacon& green beans. Overall made me feel gross after eating there only went bc of proximity and prices, wish I paid the extra to do terrapin

Had breakfast here on a Wednesday morning while on vacation. Breakfast was served pretty quickly and it tasted good. Our coffee was refilled before it was even ½ emptied. The waters checked on us several times.

Didn’t know what to expect coming here because of the bad reviews, but we had a good time. Our coffee came within a couple minutes & our food didn’t take long. Our server Erika was attentive, can’t say anything about other servers, but if you aren’t acknowledged for 30−40mins (as some reviews say) somethings wrong with the whole thing. Wouldn’t you ask for a server? Some Unilocalers like amping up a slight problem & ruining a business’s rep over little issues.

Definitely regret coming here. Wanted to give it a chance because of the mixed reviews but that was not a good decision. As other people said before, a few items I wanted to order were not available as were other items the table next to us tried to order. I got the eggs Benedict which was 17 dollars (highly overpriced) and not even that good. My boyfriend ordered a pizza, well done, and it came out crispy around the edges but soggy in the middle due to too many toppings. They need new management, or ownership, because this awesome location could bring in a lot of money if they had good food.

The only thing we enjoyed was the coffee and the view. Ordered eggs Benedict, one with crab and one with Canadian bacon. Asked for the eggs to be poached with runny middle. The eggs were actually almost hard boiled with the light yellow hard center. Hash browns were the prepackaged frozen style. The crab was ok. Not worth the calories with the overly buttered hollandaise or the price. The customers at the next table upon ordering were informed that a number of items were not available (e.g. Biscuits and gravy, Salmon). They ordered and server had to come back and tell them that the item they ordered New York steak was also unavailable

Read reviews before eating here!!! Restaurant had 3 others tables (75%empty) and still took 5 min to seat us. We then had to wait 30 min before being asked «have you been helped»? The waitress served the table next to us multiple times without even ackowledging us, or saying «I’ll be with you in a min».
When finally asked to order, we ordered 1 water, 1 Pepsi, and 1 iced tea; 4 appetizers: Garlic bread, Cajun Fried Calamari, Crab Cakes, and a cup of chowder; and 3 entrees: fried fish tacos, seafood linguini and a seafood pizza. The waitress returned a few minutes later affirming what we ordered «because she forgot her notepad», and missed half of our items.
She brought the drinks, but forgot the iced tea. The chowder came out quickly, and was fairly good, but messy all over the rim of the bowl. When the entrees came, she brought the garlic bread. We had to ask where the other apps (calamari and crab cakes) were, and she said «oh yes, they’ll be right out». She brought them, obviously AFTER our entrées, one at a time. She clearly forgot to put their order in at all.
Now for the food.
1. Garlic Bread– the entire surface was covered in FRESH garlic, which we had to scrape off in order to make it edible.
2. Cajun Calamari– no cajun spice to be found, rubbery texture, sauce was mainly mayonnaise.
3. Crab Cakes– 4 silver dollar sized cakes, mostly breading.
4. Fried Fish Tacos– the fish was the size of a CHICKEN BREAST, super oily, and smothered in pico and cheese, sitting flat on corn tortillas. Very confusing.
5. Seafood Pizza– for $ 21 (!!!) I got a 10″ pizza with no flavor, missing the avocado, soggy in the middle. I had asked to sub bacon for the clams, which happened, and it’s the only thing I picked off and ate LOL
6. Seafood Linguini with Lemon Cream Sauce– the sauce had NO lemon flavor, we squeezed our garnish in to add flavor. All five clams were unopened.
As we were experiencing this, two gentleman were seated next to us. Given our situation, we decided to time their acknowledgment as well. It was over 40 mins, and after she brought our late appetizers, we simultaneously suggested she take their drink orders as the guy tried to flag her down. He said «it’s been 40 minutes since you sat us.» Her response? «Oh.»
As we choked down some of our food, we decided to ask for a manager. We asked a young male waiter for management, and he said «we don’t have a manager, just a leader server Axel. I’ll get him.» Eventually, our original waitress returned to our table and just stared at us. I asked «are you the ‘leader’?» She said «No, we don’t have one». Uh… ok. So we told her our complaints. She was not very apologetic, but after awkwardly waiting for her response, she said she would take off some items, and give us a discount. What was originally an $ 80+ bill, turned in to a $ 26 bill. Thanks, I guess?
No manager??? The waitress and two other male servers we saw all looked under the age of 25. We will NOT be returning.

First off, when we walked in for breakfast we were told we could be seated but it would be 15 to 20 minutes before we could be served. There were plenty of empty tables, so we sat down. Someone came by about 5 minutes later and took our drink order, two orange juices, and brought them to us. But, they weren’t kidding about the wait. It took another 20 minutes for someone to come take our order. 20 minutes! The problem for me with this is, if there are tables available, how hard is it for someone to put our order in. Were they trying not to stress out the cook? Did a server call in sick? It looked to me like they had a full staff of servers. The staff I saw while we were waiting to have our order taken were kind of just loping around, unhurried, taking their time, with no «sense of purpose» in their pace.
Then, while we’re sitting there drinking our orange juice waiting for our food, our absent minded waiter actually came up to us and asked us if everything was ok! We looked at him like, «Seriously, Dude? We don’t even have our food yet…» We laughed about that one!!!
Finally, about 30 minutes after placing our order, we got our food. Nowhere on the planet does it fake 30 minutes to cook breakfast. They just brought the plates out to us, set them down on our table and walked away. I had to get up a few minutes later and go ask for a side of ketchup because no one came back, and there wasn’t any on our table. My wife’s bacon was undercooked and super greasy, my poached eggs on my Cowboy Benedict were overcooked, and the sausage gravy and country potatoes were the greasiest I’ve ever had.
When we were nearly done, the waiter finally came back and asked us how everything was. Again we looked at him like, «Really? We’re almost done and now you’re asking us if we need anything?» We didn’t say much. I figured he’d find out how everything was when he saw his 10% tip! Oh, and did I mention the flies? The dining room is infested with flies! Nothing like trying to enjoy a meal with flies landing on your head, and buzzing around your face, and your food.
Then to top it all off, on our way out, not one staff member acknowledged us or said a word, like «Have a nice day!», or «Thanks for coming!» The hostess just stood there and watched us walk out the door.
Poor all the way around, pretty much…

I just had a great experience dinning at the Sandpiper for lunch. The food was good and the service was awesome.
In my opinion the restaurant is managed very well and I will be returning!
Thank you Sandpiper and I will see you soon.

Service started slow, but our waiter really stepped up and did a great job. Thanks Manual!
Food was really good. Sea God was fresh and clam chowder was awesome.
I’d come again.

Stopped here to grab some lunch. Nice, spacious interior, great ambiance. They’ve got outdoor and indoor seating.
DELICIOUS seafood! We got the fried calamari appetizer, the halibut over hash brown, and the fresh grilled salmon.
The fried calamari is probably up there with some of the best calamari I’ve ever had. The batter is light and crispy, not greasy, tasty and it was pretty much perfect. Make sure you squeeze the lemon over it for the best flavor.
The halibut fish was cooked really well. The sauce they have it in is light, a bit creamy. It could be a bit more flavorful. I thought that it would be breaded in hash brown, however the fish was on a bed of fried hash brown. I didn’t really like the hash brown with the fish though. I think it brings down the quality a bit. The green veggies that it came with was a nice addition.
The fresh grilled salmon was good but a tiny bit overcooked. I think the sauce it was cooked in was delicious. Definitely stronger than the sauce that the halibut was cooked with. It was a little fruity and tasted different and refreshing.
Service was good. Took quite a while to get the food, however the quality of the food was awesome. Super fresh seafood and very affordable prices. Probably one of the top 2 places we’ve eaten at in this area so I’d definitely recommend this place!

The divers egg benny is to dive for! We visited the Sand Piper on a Sunday, had our party of 9 seated no less than 10 mins after we checked in. (great showmanship of customer service and management! A++)
Our party arrived at 11:30 or so and the entire menu was open (breakfast to whole Dungeness crab) and everything looked great! I’ve been here before and have grown a slightly obsessive craving for the Divers egg Benedict every time I’m in Bodega Bay. I prefer the crab (Dungeness, of course). Go to this place! You will not be disappointed by either food nor service!
Tip well & prosper~

On all of my trips to Bodega Bay I have never stopped here. We had been camping for 3 nights and the final morning it was windy and we didn’t feel like cooking. We had some friends who went the day before and they recommended it.
When we got there our group was seated and the views were beautiful. You could see the inner harbor. There were a few items missing from the menu, but the options available were still enough to give us some different choices. My wife had the huevos rancheros and I had the divers special. At the end of the meal, both of out plates were empty. Our daughter even ate some and she is picky.
We will be back, what a great way to end a weekend trip in Bodega.