San Carlos Bar & Grill

Tried going to a pub a block away late on a Sunday and it was closed! Darn San Carlos people lol.
Came in to watch the football game as we were walking by after a quick Unilocal check! Success!!! Sat at the bar and watched the game. They had a good beer selection and top shelf booze, so I got a margarita on the rocks with salt. Average I would say on the margarita. Chips are a bit stale since they pump them out the second you sit down, but they had a wide selection at the salsa bar. Spicy jalapeños were available but the basic salsa lacked in flavor. I ordered some guacamole which was mmmm good!
We ordered the Shrimp and Lobster Ceviche which was average.
Overall, customer service was above average, food average, ambiance, above average. Three stars.

The food is ok. but if your going to charge Town prices for a steak it better be as good. I ordered a Ribeye medium-​rare, I got well done and the server would not do anything about it. The ambiance is sports bar, at best!
Service not great if there are more than 10 people in the restaurant.
Tired of trying, not going back.

It is now the San Carlops Bar & Grill, new name, same owners; just now Mexican & American with more steak & seafood choices. Everything is just as I remember it. I loved everyone cheering on the Wariers last night, especially when they won. The chips & salsa are as fresh, crisp, & flavorful as I remember it. The lobster & artichoke burreto was pretty good with black beans, rice, small pieces of lobster, whole artichokes, & a fresh tortilla. Round it off with a Doseques Negro Modello & you will not be disappointed. It was wonderful to talk to Wendy & I cannot believe their son is bar tending as I knew the kids a little growing up over the years. Our waitress & waiter were wonderful, leaving nothing to chance & not intrusive but not forgetting about us either. I look forward to comming back & trying more burretos & more of the seafood & steak dishes. Keep up the good work guys.

Never disappointing eating here. I have tried just about everything on the menu and I have to say the fillet burrito is my favorite! Also the Crab is packed with such amazing flavor! All of the staff here are great and extremely friendly. One of the best places to eat in town :)

New signage caught our attention but the food speaks for itself. coming back for sure.

Our first visit here was quite a few months ago but we enjoyed both the service and the food so we returned last week. Now I was in the mood for a steak but thought another great lobster quesadilla sounded good (I can have steak anytime, right?) and my husband remembered that he liked the food, too.
We were acknowledged as soon as we came in and were motioned to take a seat anywhere. Our server arrived at our table with menus as soon as we sat down. Drink orders taken and by the time she returned with them we were ready to order.
My husband chose a crab burrito. But for me, there it was, a listing for a New York Prime Steak. Perfect.
I wish I had taken photos. The crab burrito was good sized and stuffed with crab — thankfully I got a taste. My steak was perfectly seasoned and charbroiled almost right… I had ordered my steak medium rare but it was just a tad underdone. But I had cut into it and was already enjoying it when our server noticed and asked if I wanted it cooked for a couple more minutes.
And when it came back it was perfect. Did I mention that this steak was HUGE and thick and tasted incredible? No way could I finish it… in fact, remembered to write this review since I brought the left over steak for my lunch today at work. Couldn’t wait and snagged a slice early. Yum — still great flavor and tenderness.
I rarely write reviews. A restaurant has to be extremely good (or bad) for me to think someone might like to read my opinion.
But we like this place a lot. Granted, we haven’t visited when it has been extremely busy and we plan it that way (late afternoon, early evening meal). But we have received great service and excellent food so we’ll be coming back again, soon!

This is our new go to place! Want Mexican food? It’s good. How about fresh fish? Caesar with crab, didn’t not disappoint. Friendly wait staff, yep. We tried the steak sandwich tonight and shared shrimp tacos and would have them both again. Try this place out!

Hope it doesn’t crowd up, but they’re too good to ignore. This restaurant is not to be missed. Fantastic seafood and terrific service!

Left a lengthy review of my families experience on here. Nothing too bad other than the incredibly rude owner and unprofessional (but nice) staff. Figured I would update it with their response instead.
Wow… definitely not the response I was expecting… Just supports my decision to not go back to this place. Also didn’t want to throw anyone under the bus before specifically but the one person who mentioned the owner was an A**hole was one of their staff… doesn’t surprise me then this is their attitude. Here’s what they sent back (they sent it as a compliment, not sure why but am thinking it doesn’t show up directly on their Unilocal/​my review)
THEIR RESPONSE:
Christina K.
Redwood City, CA
0 friends
2 reviews
Just a Note5/​3/​2016
For your review of: San Carlos Bar & Grill
Sorry that I apologized to you, I clearly mistook you for a decent person who deserves an apology for such bad service. You don’t. The owner was rude to you, the staff, you know the ones that irritated you so much by apologizing, did nothing wrong. Yet you felt the need to take the time out of your day just to waste talking about how our clothes were unacceptable but our attitudes were too nice? Obviously you are used to attracting this sort of negativity, because there’s no way that’s the first unnecessarily rude Unilocal review you have ever left. According to your previous Unilocal reviews (i.e. Pizza Primo, Jones Masonry, Espresso Lane, and EVEN STARBUCKS lol), no one seems to make you happy so my friend, I suggest you cuddle up on the couch, get yourself a gorge Forman grill and good
Cookbook, or maybe hire a chef you can boss around, and quit acting like an entitled jerk. Good luck finding a restaurant that meets your standards Sir Ryan.

They cater at my office a few times a month. The BEST taco /​fajita bar to feed a crowd on the Peninsula!!!

The best margaritas & ceviche in Town
I had Filet & Lobster with spinach salad & twice baked potato. Awesome !!
My lady Bridgit had grilled scallops & salmon. She was very happy.

I will NEVER step foot in this business or bother wasting money here because I am sick and tired of their arrogant & distasteful owner. I am a regular at San Carlos restaurants, so unfortunately I have encountered this man several times when parking in the PUBLIC parking between Laurel & San Carlos. Every single time I have parked in one of the spaces near his restaurant, he has mean mugged me or walked up to my car to make sure I didn’t cross the yellow line into his space. Today, he walked up to my car and RAMMED his garbage can into the front of my car… I repeat, he took a big black garbage can and HIT my car with it WHILE I WAS STILL SITTING IN THE DRIVERS SEAT. I cannot believe that an owner/​manager would act so unprofessional and unwelcoming… like I said, I will never support this disgusting man’s business. If his goal is to scare people off, it’s working. He has NO right to act like he owns a public parking lot.

This was very good and the menu has a bit of everything. One of us had a perfectly charred steak cooked to perfection, and the twice baked potato was excellent. Another got the combo shrimp and steak fajita and it came with fat, large shrimp on top. My husband had steak fajitas which he enjoyed, but fajitas come with a LOT of peppers and onions and no cheese. I had the lobster and steak quesadilla and it was delicious, but a little bland. I added their salsa verde from the condiment bar and it was a perfect combo. Really tasty. The spinach salad was very good, tart and vinegary with a bit of a kick, not the standard sweetish vinaigrette. Service was VERY slow. They use an iPad ordering system which goes through their network. Turns out their network went down so we sat around for a very long time waiting for food, in an almost empty restaurant. Someone should have noticed. Their salsas are a bit bland, but very fresh. I actually liked the mild salsa, simple with fresh tomatoes and not a lot of added spices but it isn’t what you would expect from a salsa. The salsa verde was very good and medium to mild and didn’t taste homemade to me. But I liked it. Their spicy salsa was not so spicy. We arrived on a Tuesday night, fairly late to avoid a wait for the table, and waited a long time for dinner. The margaritas were good, my hot tea was fine, although I asked for sugar and it never arrived and was not served with lemon. All in all service could have been better but the food was very good. We will be back. The tv’s over the bar are kept low and tuned to the latest sports event, so that is a plus in my book. Doesn’t interfere with dinner conversation but I can keep track of the scores.

4-​Star rating? Gotta be friends and family writing these review as this place is horrible — mediocre service, overpriced and flavorless food.
The menu is whacky; steak, seafood, burgers, a full page dedicated to quesadillas and a few other Mexican dishes. The décor screams Asian influence but no Asian inspired dishes… The lack of continuity and direction was the first red flag.
Teenage server with zero hustle and zero personality. Son of the owner (s)? Probably, but better suited for back of the house — washing dishes or valeting cars… Probably a better fit.
We ordered a 24 oz Ribeye, Sea Bass and a Cheeseburger; all three with Caesar salads. The salads came out first — huge pieces of lettuce, lightly dressed and no croutons. We ask the kid, «oh, we only have croutons sometimes.» Huh? I’ve never had a Caesar salad without croutons… Weird, but ok.
The Sea Bass came out next and was basically flavorless. The twice-​baked potato was pretty good but the fish, the star of the show, left a lot to be desired (especially for $ 30 bucks).
The Cheeseburger came next but no cheese. Sent it back. Overall, decent burger… My 6-​year old enjoyed it.
The 24oz Ribeye was a fatty mess. I know ribeye steaks are marbled but this was 50% fat and rare (not medium). The kicker, zero seasoning. Decent char but otherwise flavorless. I only ate 6 – 7 bites before asking for the check. $ 39 bucks down the drain.
Meanwhile, waited for drinks (all night). I ordered a second beer and it took forever. I basically drank it for desert as everybody was done eating.
Had to flag the server down consistently.
Had to chase down the owner/​manager to get the check and pay the tab. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
The place was packed… So surprising. So many better places to eat on Laurel Street. My Unilocal app rarely lets me down but it did this time. Never again.

Did not like. I came here last night with my husband and best friend and we had to wait FOREVER for drinks. I’m talking 25+ minutes. That’s ridiculous when it’s just a few sodas. Then an additional 25+ minutes just to order! If you’re starving then go somewhere else in San Carlos. The food was alright, but my friend did get sick off the quesadilla and is still sick this morning. On another note, why are the Christmas decorations still up?

Went there last Night. Food was soooo good and fresh. My husband had the lobster artichoke quesadilla and I had the steak burrito. We can’t wait to go back. The big item seemed to be the salad with salmon. People raved about it. Think I Will try it next week when we go back.
Even though they were pretty busy. They were attentive and friendly. Even thank us for giving them a try. Can’t beat that just an old fashion thank you goes a long way.

Great watering hole, excellent fish, steak and taco plates! We’ve been coming here for several years. Wendy makes the best margaritas both spicy or not.

I went here tonight and decided to order the Steak Sandwich.
I felt that it was plain. When I got my sandwich all I got was the steak
on a hamburger roll, nothing else! (except for the fries on the side). I understand
there is a condiment area where you can dress your burgers or sandwiches,
but still the presentation was lacking.
Before I went here tonight I checked out their website and the food looked
great! Far different from reality! Almost like false advertising.
Will I go back? Probably not.

I’m going to give my normal review style: food, environment, price, overall. I am actually taking the time to Unilocal this place because tonight was the worst service/​food I’ve ever had from them and I hope the owner and managers can get this fixed.
FOOD: You begin with being served the basic bowl of chips & have a salsa bar down past the bar, you get to make your own salsa, I approve, and they’re always pretty good. Sweet mild salsa, but I like the options and spicy mixed is good.
We ordered a Shrimp&lobster ceviche, along with my normal steak and lobster burrito (black beans, no salsa & add sour cream) & the bf got the filet mignon quesadilla. It took over 40minutes to get the ceviche! (Apparently the kitchen messed up? But we never were told) besides that, it was eh, ok. Not what I’m used to from here, VERY DRY. I’ve had better from them before, guessing it’s an off night.
Now, my «main» courses, I had to get TO-​GO! I ordered at 7:40 & then at 8:15 the bf & I had to leave (I’ll include later in my Overall)
Filet quesadilla — it was good, probably because it was a quick snack as it was so small and had a few pieces of meat. And since we were starving waiting, it was finished within a few minutes in the car ride home. Not worth it. Seriously what is wrong with this place on Friday?!
Now here’s my HUGE problem, the steak and lobster burrito. I refused to eat it after I got home and cut it open. This was a bean and sour cream, some cheese, about 8 pieces of meat and NO LOBSTER burrito. I almost cried. I consistently get this and know that this is NOT what I ordered.
So I cannot recommend these items as of my most recent experience.
ENVIRONMENT :
Friday night, 7:30pm in San Carlos, everything is usually busy. This place was quite busy. More than I’ve seen it in a long time actually, there was one younger man working, obviously stressed out because he needed more help, then another younger man I saw helping out after about 30minutes. Plus the woman whom everyone has talked about before and is great, the service is not entirely to blame, however I work in the industry and there should be more support for this place on a busy night. Also, the kitchen I’m guessing is a problem, that needs to get fixed. I don’t like the experience I received from here and I’m sure new customers will feel the same.
PRICE :
Not worth it!!! $ 75 for having to get take out. And waiting for 40minutes for ceviche. Ughh I’m mad at myself for paying what We did. If the service and food was up to par, then I’d have no problem with this price, but it was NOT good food or service or experience.
OVERALL :
I can say I probably will never go back here, especially if I’m the one paying the bill at the end of the «service».
Let me include I am NOT a new customer, I have came here multiple times with OK service & food, nothing to say bad about. Until tonight. Either their Friday service had a huge problem tonite or they have just gone downhill like so many other places.
We ordered our drinks at 7:43 & food at 7:48.
My second round of drinks at 8:05 & the check because we told the server we had to leave in 15minutes as my bf had to go to work! I got my margarita in about 3 minutes. Our server didn’t home back until 8:15 and I had to ask for our food TO GO and he then informed us the kitchen messed up our ceviche.
I am going to say I’m angry at myself for not immediately returning my food once I got home to eat, but it’s too inconvenient, and I ended up having to order delivery from a local pizza place because of how bad my NO LOBSTER and 8-​pieces of «steak» (dime sized, if that!) «burrito» was. Not that it tastes terrible, but I can not support a place that we paid $ 14+ for this tortilla and black bean/​sour cream/​cheese burrito.
Oh and also, they didn’t provide additional chips for the ceviche, so when I got home, that was fun eating dry ceviche with a few broken tortilla chips I grabbed before we left.
I am disappointed and feel taken advantage of as a repeat customer and will make sure to speak to the management if I ever go back.

Where do I begin… to think that I only found this place because La Victoria was busy on doordash makes me wonder what else I’m missing out on. I can’t attest to the actual store front but the food I know all about.
ON POINT! I had the filet mignon burrito and my husband had the steak quesadilla. My burrito was AMAZING! The flavor, the tenderness of the steak, absolute perfection.
But most importantly our food was actually hot, like steaming hot, I’m sure this was part our dasher and part the restaurant, but it was such a pleasant surprise. Can’t wait to order from this place again, SO GOOD!
PS– we definitely had the la Vic orange sauce on hand though, some sort of spicy sauce or salsa would be a great addition to the already amazing food.

Excellent food and cheerful service. Ceviche special appetizer, broiled sea bass entrée were outstanding, as was the marguerita. Features a make your own salsa bar, fun.
Two minor flaws in case management reads this. The place is very bright giving a cafeteria feel… dimming by 20% or so would improve the atmosphere, as would adding some low background music (BTW, 2 nice screens at the bar showing sports, but with sound low or off were appreciated by the diners at the tables – i.e. you can watch if you want)
I will go back soon!

3.5* this place has pretty darn good service. I’ve watched and Wendy (the petite Hawaiian lady) does a great job attending to customers needs, even going and beyond. Addresses customers by name. You don’t usually get this at a moderately priced mexican joint.
Salsas are usually pretty good. The mild is a little in on the sweet side for me, but not terrible. Pico is super fresh. Cevices are usually good as too is the ahimsa poke.
Drinks are reasonably priced for the area and so too is the food. TVs and bar seem cool too.
If I could change one thing, it would be to do a better job assembling consistently the burritos. As they usually come, most of the meats are overcooked (not juicy) and the tortillas are wrapped so loosely that a knife and fork is mandatory except for the greatest of slobs. Also, ingredients aren’t evenly spread through the burrito, usually at one end or the other. A Mexican Grill should be able to do this.

My friend and I came to this for dinner in Friday night. We were looking for a place where we would get stated quickly without reservations. We ordered the filet mignon burrito, steak tacos and chicken fajitas. The filet mignon burger was by far the best thing we had. It had the perfect amount of beans, cheese, and meat. The steak tacos were pretty good as well. We were kind of disappointed with the chicken fajitas because they came out on just a plate. We were expecting them to come out on a sizzling platter. So they were okay but not pipping hot. The rice underneath the chicken was a bit cold. They were ok regardless. We did like the salsa bar and the spicy salsa they had was good on the burrito.
This place had all the games on as well. So its a good spot if you want to watch sports while you eat.

I just ate their Ceviche (Shrimp & Lobster) & a fish taco. So fresh & delicious! LOVED IT! My fiancé‘ had the Chicken fajita & the meat was so tender with a lot of fresh veggies. He loved it too I highly recommend them. You need to try their yummy food.

I love Wendy and Mitchell’s place. I have been going to their restaurants since the 90’s. They have always have had great food, excellent service and sports fan friendly restaurants. San Carlos Bar and Grill is no exception. I love this place.

Came in for a late dinner. Really enjoyed the shrimp and lobster ceviche and the steak and shrimp fajitas. Great service. Like the atmosphere. Customers at the bar. Giants playing on the 2 big flat screens. Nice owners. Good vibe.

Love this place because the food is good, it’s affordable, and it’s typically easier to park around here than other laurel and San Carlos places.
We typically get the steak fajitas, plus tacos and it’s plenty to feed my family and have leftovers for the next day.
The owners are very sweet and always make us feel welcome.

Good thing they changed their name — the ceviche was definitely the weakest point of this average meal.
Imagine a friendly if slightly confused modern Mexican restaurant with aspirations to be a seafood restaurant in the hull of an old bar. Welcome to San Carlos Bar & Grill (or whatever its name is now)…
Meal was just OK, but priced well. Ceviche was tough and flavorless, guacamole seemed like it was out of a can (mixed it with some salsa and it was better), chips were not very salty. Caesar salad was boring and average. Nachos were just OK (forgot to order with no beans for the kids). Salmon entrée was really great as was my sea bass. Kids quesadillas were fine.
Definitely will try again but order much more carefully. Go for the fish and skip the apps.

Reasonably priced, fresh food with super friendly service. This is a family-​run place where the owner prepares the food — my favorite type of business!
I called at 4:45p before they even opened to place my takeout order of steak fajitas, chicken fajitas and Baja fish tacos. The fried fish in my tacos was a bit dry but still good; I will have to ask other people about their fajitas. The mild salsa was a tad sweeter than I expected but tasted fresh. The guacamole was fresh and tasty.
They had my takeout order ready before the time they promised which was nice because I was in a hurry. The food was well packaged and they gave me free tasty tortilla chips. They had a salsa bar with a bunch of other fixings — nice variety. They didn’t give me a hard time about paying with credit card.
The interior of the restaurant is clean and new. Casual but nice. I would go here for a casual date. The dining room is small and features a long, high countered bar.
The bathroom is large handicap accessible & unisex (there is only one) and includes both a toilet and a urinal. There is no division within the bathroom so only one person at a time can use it.
I will likely try coming here for dine-​in. The people here are so nice & it’s a cute unpretentious place near downtown San Carlos to enjoy a bite.

An awesome place to have lunch or dinner while watching a great game. Had lobster and artichoke quesudilla and it was great. But the highlight of the night for me was the Bone in Ribeye Steak w/​2 sides of ur liking. Highly recommend the Ribeye steak and for the price? Excellent! Service was excellent too.

So we just moved into our new home in Belmont today (from SoCal) and I wanted to find a cool, intimate place to eat tonight for the family. BAM, this place not only met the mark, it exceeded our expectations! Prices for Mexican fare, reasonable, if not down right «cheap» but OMG YUM! I didn’t get to taste it but I saw their steak on a plate of a customer at the bar, asked him if it was as good as it looked and he promptly responded YES! Those prices were a bit more expensive but still fair.
The shrimp and lobster quesadilla was melt in your mouth and my chicken burrito (try with white beans) was phenomenal.
Did I mention they have a homemade salsa bar? Their spicy is really tasty with a nice heat that builds rather than bites you right away (our kind of salsa)
The owners (husband and wife) are working and very personable — yea, we will be back again and again.

LOVED this place. If you didn’t know to look for it, you might miss it driving by on El Camino, but my roommate and I had Unilocaled it beforehand and decided to give it a try since it had good ratings.
The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the ambience. They had two tvs at the bar showing the baseball game, but it wasn’t loud and rowdy like it would be at a regular sports bar. The bar itself was nice and big as well as clean, which was wonderful because I had enough room for my food and drinks as well as to put my purse up on the counter.
They have a full bar as well as a decent selection of draft and beer on tap, can’t complain there. They also give you a complimentary plate of nachos and they have a self service salsa bar where you can mix and match the condiments you want — awesome. I ordered the shrimp tacos for my dinner and my roommate got the lobster and steak quesadilla. Both dishes were extremely well priced and the quality was great. On top of that, the staff was extremely friendly and receptive.
The other plus about this place is that it is good for just about anybody and any occasion. There were families there that were celebrating Mother’s Day, friends that were just catching up, I even saw one guy at the bar doing homework! This would also be a decent place to have date night.
A must try!

Introduced my girlfriend to ceviche the other weekend and she was hooked.
Wanting to continue with the cravings, we came across Ceviche Bar & Grill. This place is very non descript when you’re trying to find it at night. But that might just be because we don’t venture around San Carlos much in the evenings.
For a Saturday night this place was really calm. I liked that a lot. The waiter was nice, very polite and constantly refreshed our drinks and chips. It wasn’t till the end that I noticed there was a salsa bar and I wished he had mentioned it, but I’ll let it pass.
As for the food. This place has delicious ceviche. As one would suspect from a place that’s called Ceviche Bar & Grill. We ordered the shrimp ceviche as an appetizer and the steak fajiatas and shrimp tacos for entrees. Like already stated the shrimp ceviche was awesome, I noticed they had other options (fish, lobsters, etc.) and we’ll definitely be coming back for them.
Both the tacos and fajitas were fantastic. The fajitas came in a large portion. Nicely seasoned and cooked steak, along with beans, rice, and onions. My stomach grumbles just thinking about it.
As for the shrimp tacos, I can’t say much. My girlfriend ate them before I could take a break from my fajitas. So they MUST’ve been delicious.