At the Pier

Great customer service. Owner was very nice and talked to us. We are from Fresno, CA and are here on business. We were down the way at Starbucks and saw this restaurant and the pictures outside and we were sold. We has the famous clam chowder and I had a the Western Bacon burger. All very good!

Went there last night around 9pm, and saw an older man putting away the patio furniture because of the rain. When we walked in I noticed two signs, one saying he was currently the only one on staff, another warning customers that if their children broke any of the displays the parents would have to pay for them, even had the prices posted. Immediately I was worried that the food would be bad, the service would be bad, or something would be bad. Both the signs told me that they didn’t have enough customers to pay for another person on staff, and that they have too many nicknacks cluttering up the space (which they kind of do). The man was quick with the service, not in a rushed manner but efficient. We sat down at a small table on the side and noticed «help your Merced community» cards, and I figured it was good to help community growth. We ordered hush puppies, fish and chips, garlic and parmesan fries, and two teas. The food was great, fish crispy and light, hush puppies crunchy outside and fluffy inside, plus we had many dips to choose from; however, the fries looked like something you would get from McDonalds they were cheap, uniform, and quick to fry. The price was ok, $ 24. All in all I enjoyed it and I plan to go back for the Salmon burger.

Zero stars, this was not even can quality. What a waste on money. I would never come here again. Cold clam chowder gross. She microwaved the bread bowl so it was rubbery

I personally love this place. However needs more staff, and employee need to be a little bit more happy about there job there. Over all food and prices are nice

The menu is perfect, any food for however you may feel. The ambiance is great, I feel at home here. The service is flawless. Will always be may favorite place in merced.

This place is quaint with a great menu. Extensive choices ranging from sandwiches, seafood, and American food. The clam chowder is so tasty and I’ve never had it with garlic on the bread, but I’ll want it from now on! The service was so friendly and there is actually a good amount of seating inside. Located in a good spot, too. Easy to walk to if you have to park a block or so away. I definitely recommend this place!

The 3 stars are for cleanliness, décor and friendliness. …as far as the food… way OVER PRICED and small portions! Would return if fries come with burger, a little more burger and less bread… kids meal chicken tender were delicious but over priced for only 4 pieces. More pastrami is needed on the pastrami burger for $ 12.00. Hope they make some adjustments because it could bring in more traffic.

Our first time eating at the pier. We ordered seafood trio, shrimp & fish tacos, cheeseburger. The food was delicious and the service was amazing. The owner was very friendly and welcoming. We had a great experience and the hours are great. Thanks again. The Chatman family

Great food great people serving you went into this place on a whim turned out to be great not only did we get great food we got to watch baggage on game show network you have not lived until you have had loaded calm chowder and tried to guess if the girl on TV was hiding the fact she was a man or embezzled from her boss lmao

We came here with the kids… kids enjoyed their meal, we did not. Food was oily and frozen bag quality.
Will not likely return.

Just spent $ 14 on the most mediocre Polish dog I’ve had the displeasure of eating. On the plus side the fountain drink was cold. As cold as the bun of the Polish.

Horrible! Over priced! Nothing special about this and the clam chowder is by far the worst chowder I have ever had! Even Denny’s is better from a bag! Wouldn’t recommend. The girls up front didn’t make it any better. I asked for a cup of chowder and an bread bowl. I get a bowl and told the girl I wanted a cup and her response as the great employee was you said a bowl and walked away! Ha yeah a bread bowl and cup. Glad I caught the extra drink she tried to add otherwise I’d be paying for my water too! Needless to say the Nasty bowl was wasted and not eaten and my friend ate hers only because she was starved (her words). I also ordered the French dip and a side of garlic fries because my daughter wanted chips and a $ 9 sandwich doesn’t come with fries, that’s an additional $ 4. Au jus was good, that’s about it. If you want a heart attack with those greasy fries that you will pay an extra 1.40 to put some garlic and way too much Parmesan cheese. As said before I wouldn’t recommend this place! Horrible service mediocre food and bad customer service!

Friendly service and menu offers many choices for kids and adults. **beer for 1 dollar** definitely recommend while in Main st Merced

The change of ownership definitely brought much needed change. Gone are the days of microwaved hotdogs and fries. I ordered the seafood trio and the shrimp was the best. Light and crispy, the tartar sauce was excellent with lots of dill. I also got the garlic fries and that was pretty good, though for $ 4 I kind of expected a little more in terms of portion. It definitely worth a visit since the change of ownership, see for yourself.

Enjoyed my son’s birthday here. Great food, Vern and Sheryl the owners are doing a nice job of providing quality food and a fun atmosphere. Merced needs more family friendly businesses like this!

Awesome clam chowder and buttery toasted bread bowls fully loaded with all their goodies. The beachy feel is fun! Staff are fast and friendly. Great place too if you have kids because the menu had something for my picky eaters (PB&J)!! End your meal with funnel cake and Italian soda. Yummy:)

This place was really good for merced before they changed ownership. I really liked their clam chowder bread bowl before, it’s no monterey but it was satisfying. After they changed ownership everything was different, I’m so disappointed now. Thanks for taking away my favorite comfort food in merced.

first let me say that all the previous reviews need to be squashed… reason being is their are new owners here and they do not offer ANYTHING at all remotely close to what used to be offered. No more daily deals, nothin… I have been to this place 4 times now and the first 3 were all last year. I really liked the selection, prices and the taste of the food. The new owners have changed everything!!! Prices have gone up, menu is drastically reduced and the quality and quantity of the food is atrocious. Also, neither of the people there working with our food wore gloves. so they handled money, food, dishes etc all bare handed. I went here today with 2 of my friends because they had never been. One of my friends and I got the loaded clam chowder bowl and my other friend got the turkey sandwich. Her sandwich looked like one of those sandwiches in a lunchable kit. Meat was definitely like the kind you get in the pouch from the grocery store and the cheese was processed american slices and the lettuce was iceburg. We could have made a better sandwich and all 3 of us eaten a big one for less than what she paid. My friend and I got the bread bowl and there was weird spice in the clam chowder that was not appetizing at all… The toasted bread part wasnt even crunchy. I also decided to get the chili cheese fries… what a joke!!! they were those tiny ones out of a bag and if you could see the serving size you would laugh… They are focusing on the wrong things here. We don’t need pretty plates and a tableside little platter to carry out silverware and napkins… what we need is good food at a good price. The sandwich came with chips and she got a drink and it was $ 10.The loaded clam chowder bread bowl and a drink came to $ 11 something and me with my bread bowl, drink and chili cheese fries was $ 16 and change. The only reason we got it for that price is we are students and got a 10% discount. Everybody else is going to pay more… My friends and I all walked main street for a little while and then we attempted to go work out but all of us were feeling like crap. The food just sat on our stomachs and we just didnt feel good at all. Im not going to say I will never go back there again but I will say that I will not go back until there are drastic changes are made… This is the absolute worst place I have been to in a loooooooooong time… I know many people feel like they need to experience things for themselves and my response is more power to ya but don’t say you werent warned…

This is a hot dog stand that would do well as a sports bar. Decent enough food, but can be a lot better with a few simple changes…
LOCATION/​DECOR. It’s located in the right spot (DOWNTOWN!!!), but doesn’t seem to have much appeal — despite the entertaining theme — other than as a place to stop at for lunch. Personally, I think if they added more TVs showing sports (not cooking shows), darken the dining area, and fill all that empty space with high tops, they might be on to something. And stay open late for all the drunk people finishing up at the bars/​clubs… Never fails in any city you go (and I’ve gotten booze up all over the world, and can tell you everyone loves hot dogs when they’re drunk)! And they have patio seating. They should be throwing crazy awesome beer specials (i.e. Bucket of 12 for $ 12 during Happy Hour).
SERVICE SPEED. It’s got to be MUCH faster. Two hot dogs and a 5+ minute wait is unsatisfactory. The owner is sweet, but this is inexcusable. (I’m trying to help here…)
FOOD. The menu is great, but the food is only okay. The one thing that’ll up the game significantly for this place: a GRILL. Toasted Buns + Grilled Dogs = WINNING! Steamed/​boiled is okay, but a cheat-​method of cooking considering what customers are having to pay.
Anyways, I hope this advice helps. It’s the kind of business that can be big, but they have to make those fixes or the place will stay empty.

Was looking for a place downtown for a friend to get dinner after 9PM since Pinnochio’s was closed. Noticed a new sign and a lit building next to J&R’s Tacos, and delighted that it was open, we walked inside. My friend asked (what seemed like the owners) what they recommended, and was told the clam chowder bowl. One of the women behind the counter continued to tell us that the top-​cutout of the bread has butter and garlic, and toasted. Having already ate dinner myself, my friend got the clam chowder and pastrami sandwich with chips and drink, while I got a $ 3.99 funnel cake and water.
My funnel cake was about the size of a CD, with a scoop of ice cream on the side, strawberry sundae things, & whipped cream. It was cute, tasted like funnel cake, but was hard, cold, and difficult to cut, let alone eat. The clam chowder tasted like regular clam chowder, the bread bowl top did indeed have butter and garlic on it. My friend said the soup could be hotter to melt the cheese and other amenities on top (I believe crab). He said the pastrami was decent, but he’s from LA so his bias on that may be a bit strong hehe.
Overall, the PROS: good location, nice people, a lot of menu choices for foods Merced people may want during summer. CONS: We came to the conclusion that «At The Pier» lived up to the expectation: slightly overpriced food at decent quality. Everyone loves funnel cake, so just serve it nice and hot like they do at the pier. It’s worth a try since there were so many other things on the menu! Looking forward to a better visit next time!