Splash Café on Monterey St

I tried the cinnamon roll, lemon danish, fish and chips, and the garden salad. Everything was delicious!
We were too late to order breakfast so we each ordered a pastry and split the lunch order. The breading on the fish was lightly spiced and the fish was cooked perfectly. The chips were curly but didn’t seem to have much seasoning. The garden salad was a mixed lettuce with onion, tomatoes and cheese. The sun-​dried tomato vinaigrette was light and yummy.
Both the danish and the cinnamon roll were perfect examples of what they should be.

Best clam chowder! I’ve had this before but the restaurant I first ate this masterpiece was a third party and imported their clam chowder. I can’t believe I finally went to the original (or semi original).
You can add seafood toppings (recommended) as well as bacon, cheese, green onions, & so on… But in all honesty it taste best plain and in a bread bowl.
Recommended! (Note if you saved some left overs, when it reheats it’s not thick anymore…)

I’ve been wanting to go to Splash Café but my husband isn’t that great about making stops. Came here on a Tuesday afternoon after the lunch rush and we were able to find a parking spot behind the building. I ordered a cup of the clam chowder with calamari and chips and my husband ordered a cup of chili and fish and chips. My food was really good but the clam chowder was a tad bit salty for me and I didn’t even put crackers! My husband enjoyed his chili but didn’t like his fish and chips because the fish had its skin on. Otherwise, service was fast and the overall place was clean. I wanted to get something from the bakery but I was so full that I couldn’t make up my mind. Since my husband noticed that it wasn’t very far from the 101, we’ll probably make another stop here the next time we head up north.

Food: 3.5 stars
Delicious but too salty. Everything were too salty. I’m sure a lot of people don’t mind and thus the high ratings here. I wish there was an option for low sodium food here.
We had the clam chowder, calamari and scallop fries, and lobster roll. Both chowder and calamari were too salty. The chowder was very creamy and buttery but I was looking for more clams. I can’t see or taste the lobster in the roll. If you tell me it was shrimp roll or crab roll I’d have believed you. The bread roll was excellent though. Perfectly baked with slight crust and good flavor.
Atmosphere: 3.5 stars
Small diner type with some out side seatings. Noisy inside and crowded since its small. People in line can bump into your seats and tables. It’s typical of fast food places.
Service: ⁴⁄₅ stars
Not a full service but all the servers and cashiers were very helpful.
Expense: ⁴⁄₅ stars
Good value for the money.
Return: 3.5÷5 stars
Looking back at my review sounds like I didn’t enjoy it here but I did. Seasoning and taste were good. It was just too salty for my taste.

I came here to get the clam chowder. I felt it was a little too salty for me, but it was still good and creamy. There is a lot of parking in the back and on the street. This is a definitely try if you’re in the SLO area!

If you’re looking for good clam chowder, battered fish, sandwiches, and french fries — this is the place! It’s casual and often crowded, so get there before or after the usual lunch rush. I was craving some chicken strips when I was pregnant and this place hit the spot!
They also have an awesome looking case full of desserts and baked goods. I haven’t had any, but they looked amazing.

I had no idea they served breakfast. I stopped in and had their Bacon Burrito. My son had French Toast. The burrito wasn’t heavy or greasy like many places. It had onions, bacon, cheese and potatoes and served with salsa. Taste great! The French Toast looked excellent. I have had their Clam Chowder in a bread bowl, wow the best I ever had! Not sure why some people say it’s salty, I have never tasted salt in mine.

Great service! Delicious chowder and pretty good breakfast items.
Pastries were decent, but weren’t the greatest.

Stopped in for breakfast on my way from the bay to LA, and I couldn’t ask for a better find.
The vibe was nice and laid back, but the staff were busting their butts to make and deliver the food as fast as possible.
The breakfast was made to order and delicious.
Everyone was super friendly.
Thank yoi

Love this place! Staff is nice! Food is delicious! And the town is beautiful!
Will definitely mark this place a must visit!

Fish and chips were excellent. It came with 3 large pieces of fish, lemon, tartar sauce and a pile of fries. Price was excellent at 8.00. All the other food going out looked good, too especially the crab topped clam chowder. Water cup was janktastic– like a 4 oz. cup.
So, if the food was so good, why the 2 stars? The cleanliness and service or lack thereof. All of the servers were in Stepford/​Hungover/​Zombie mode and could care less about what was happening around them. Their vibe was almost catching. It is not ok to look a customer in the eye when they are standing at the counter and blatantly ignore them. Everyone working was slow and clearly didn’t care about their jobs. On top of that the tables were sticky and un-​bussed and the bathroom was ew. :(A thorough cleaning of the place and some serious employee «restructuring» would do this place some good.

The food, while maybe 3 stars, the lack of proper food handling makes it a 1 star. Their are 3 young ladies handling the ordering, cash and credit cards who then proceed to handle bread bowls for soup with their bare hands and no hand washing between tasks.
I observed them touching their faces, coughing, sneezing, touching their clothing, cash, credit cards, taking out trash and not one hand wash to be had.
I looked through their entire place to find the prominently placed CA food service score only to find it’s not posted.
Its unfortunate but I won’t be back.
Oops almost forgot the food. Seafood combo with scallops and shrimp. Slightly over seasoned for such delicate flavors. Fried of course but not properly drained so food was overly greasy. French fries standard store bought.
Pastries looked wonderful but I can’t bring myself to try one not knowing who sneezed, didn’t wash their hands and then handled the pretty creations.

Finally got to this place to try out the clam chowder. Not busy on a Saturday late afternoon. Both boys had the chowder bowls. They both liked the bread bowls, but they were split on the chowder. The one who didn’t like it preferred Boudins in San Francisco. I’ll accept the opinion of the one who liked it; he’s less contrary.
A small cup of soda is $ 2.00 which is crazy. But you do get free refills.

I am absolutely in love with this town. On our drive back from SF via the 101 my family was starting to get hungry around dinner time/​their closing time of 7:45ish. So I jumped on Unilocal and found this place because we were specifically looking for somewhere right off the freeway and somewhere that served seafood.
This place looked like it was known for their clam chowder bread bowl. Unfortunately we didn’t have any in SF so we decided to make our way here.
When we were ordering the cashier/​staff was friendly and helpful. I ended up getting the quart of clam chowder, the 1 pound of clams, fish & oysters and chips, salmon salad, and salmon pizza.
Clam chowder: Wow! It was absolutely delicious, although a tad salty. Other than that the flavors were magnificent.
1 pound of clams: it was interesting in that it came with a sun-​dried tomato, olive oil, and lemon sauce. It was so-​so.
Fish and oysters chips: my recommendation is to just split up your order, therefore you end up getting more for your buck. However this was my least favorite of all the dishes. The fish was too dry and the breading was too crunchy. If the fish was more wet inside but the outside was crunchy it would have been okay for me, but it wasn’t. I did really enjoy the oysters however. The oysters were awesome.
Salmon salad: just your typical salad with your choice of dressing and cooked salmon laid on top. It was good, but nothing spectacular.
Salmon pizza: I enjoyed it. There was a lot of toppings added on. The bread/​crust seemed to be flat bread of some sort.
Overall it was an amazing experience.

I was here on the morning of my last day of my trip and I was hoping to get their famous bread bowl before I go home, however, they don’t start serving the bowl until after 9 AM, so I had to settle for their breakfast burrito.
To be honest, I was preparing to be disappointed because it wasn’t what I was looking for, but unfortunately, their breakfast burrito is one of the best I ever had! It is fresh, flavorful and tasty.
Too bad I didn’t get the bread bowl, but their breakfast burrito made up for it.

So many reviews for clam chowder, I had to try it out!
Quick service. Ordered a cup to go. Was in and out within 5 minutes.
Chowder Bowl — $ 5.50 — Very thick and creamy, giggity, and full of clams. Really rich and fills you up quick. A little salty for me but still really good.

Had a cup of their terrific clam chowder, full of tender clams and potatoes and flavor! This was accompanied by a 2 item combo of calamari as well as scallops. All which were very good and flavored primarily with a sprinkle of Old Bay seafood seasoning. Curly fries were good, but not great.
Service was friendly and prompt.
And the many baked goods looked great but I abstained. :)
Would definitely recommend this place if you’re in town looking for a casual seafood lunch/​dinner.

When I first visited Splash last year it was a very nice experience. Brought my dad and my dog and we chilled out on the patio. He had fish n chips, I had the calamari and chips, and Lucky (dog) atrracted oohs and ahhs from everyone, including the staff. No complaints there. I went back recently, however and had a very different experience. The staff seemed more concerned with chit chatting amongst themselves rather than helping their customers. When I got my food the calamari was super chewy and the batter was undercooked. The wait was short, but that may have also been connected to the undercooked nature of my meal. I also had way more fries that calamari. This was very disappointing considering the great lunch I had last year.

that’s right 5 starts been coming here (pismo location) since 1997 and still taste the same!!! SLO location has a line but not as crazy as the pismo location. I get the chowder bowl and a toasted sliced loaf on the side #lifechanger

Clam Chowder bread bowl with seafood topping. All you need to know. Don’t go for atmosphere or ambiance… Just get the dang chowder in a bread bowl with the topping and go on with your life. #happiness

Best clam chowder ever. Super rich and creamy with huge chunks of seafood and potatoes! I always get it with the seafood topping, but make sure if you do get it, to mix it in the soup quickly so that the topping gets hot. If you don’t mix it, it’ll make the soup room temp pretty fast since the topping’s cold. The portion seems small, but it fills you up quick! The smallest cup size is more than enough for me. Always a must eat whenever I’m in the area.

Ordered a double cheese burger for my husband & a clam chowder bread bowl —
Didn’t seem too busy that night but the boys in the back on the grill wanted to rush the burger, it was completely raw inside, took it back and got a full refund–

This is my first time going here and I used Unilocal to find the best clam chowder… it was really great I must say, it was creamy and very thick… for a bowl its 5.50 and added a piece of bread for .50 cents sourdough that is and I asked for extra clams for 1.35…my husband had the lunch special for 7.50 which included half a sandwich and a cup of chowda… the Sandwhiches was with turkey breast, Jalepeno jack cheese, and bacon… yummy. The crazy thing though we waited 25 minutes for the food to come out, Casey the cashier was apologetic and asked if we wanted a cookie but I asked for a banana Crème pie slice and they kindly gave it to me… So in the end it was worth the wait… for the chowda and also the banana Crème pie… Staff is very friendly as well…

While in the area, this is the place to go for some awesome clam chowder! Creamy and chunky, this is the epitome of what great clam chowder should be. I had it with the clam topping and was not disappointed with the fresh delicious clams on top and in a toasted bread bowl.
There is the Pismo Beach location, but this one is less crowded (at least when I came here).
Highly recommend this place if you’re in the area!

Love Splash, they always have the most flavorful seafood and the best clam chowder I have ever had. The chowder has to be in a bread bowl in order to get the full experience. This downtown SLO location is great because it has indoor seating as well as plenty of patio seating, a very comfortable experience.
The only thing that keeps this review from receiving five stars is the customer service. Granted it is a big college town and the employees are mostly students, I always seem to get unprofessional service there. The restaurant in Pismo is completely different, with very friendly staff who always provide great service.

The short: Never disappointed with the items here!
Gosh, I love this spot so much. I came here frequently for their delicious sandwiches and pastries when I was in college, and I recently visited again, as some friends and I were heading down to LA. SLO is the perfect pit-​stop halfway between SF Bay Area and LA, and Splash is one of the perfect places in SLO to grab a bite to eat. (This branch is usually less crowded than the one in Pismo.)
Breakfasts, Sandwiches, Soups, pizzas, pastries, whatever else is there. It’s all good!
Order your food at the counter and somebody will either call your name or bring the food to you.
Sidenote: Parking is a hit-​and-​miss. Their tiny parking lot can either be empty or full and there are some, but not many options nearby to park. For more parking availability, head to the downtown location (on Higuera Street) where there’s plenty of street and garage parking.
P. S. They’re famous for their clam chowder, cooked fresh daily from local clams! I’ve even seen the Splash clam chowder at the local Costco.

Splash Café is known for their clam chowder and it didn’t disappoint. I added the fresh seafood topping for an additional cost and liked the balance of the cold seafood with the soup. We also ordered chili cheese fries and salmon tacos and both were just ok. This location was less crowded than the other one in SLO.

I can only speak on one item here, which is the clam chowder in a bread bowl. Thick, hot and creamy, just the way I like it. The entire sourdough loaf, bowl and top, were delightfully toasted and tasty; quite perfect with the soup. I shared it with a friend and we devoured the whole thing. It makes me sad to see people order bread bowls and not attempt to eat the whole thing. It’s my personal mission to eat all of every bread bowl I order, and this was no exception.
I came here with alumni from SLO after our first failed attempt at the other Splash location. Seems as if they’re quite popular around these parts! I will likely be back here again next time I’m in the area.

Bread Bowl Clam Chowder with Seafood topping was very very tasty!
They toasted the bread and liked the crunchy outside and soft inside of he bread and salty enough fresh sour dough bread
I added Seafood topping for extra and I am glad because it made the soup taste even better! So so good!
There are some Cheese, Bacon and Green Onion toppings that I want to try next time!
Other Unilocalers’ pictures don’t lie! They taste as good as they look!
Some fresh bakery looks delicious too but I could not try them because the bread bowl filled up me for my dinner!
There are nice outside seating too.
Friendly stuff!
This is one of the beast bread bowl clam chowder I have ever had!
I will come back!

My husband and I finally made s trip down to San Luis Obispo and the first thing we wanted was so seafood.
Splash Café did not disappoint, I knew right away I wanted the clam chowder bread bowl from all the pictures I saw already posted and it did not disappoint! my husband first ordered the scallops and fries but there weren’t too many scallops so he ordered the ahi tuna tacos which looked and tasted very good!

If you like our clam chowder super creamy, this is your place. After rave reviews from a coworker, I refused to leave Pismo Beach /​SLO without giving Splash Café a try. On our way back home, we were still stuffed from our big breakfast, but I still made sure we stopped here. We ordered to clam chowder bowls to-​go, one with a seafood topping.
Fast forward to when we arrived back in SF. I heated up the chowders and poured them in the bread bowls. Super filling. I was glad I ordered the extra seafood topping because I like my chowder with lots of seafood in each bite. I was not a huge fan of how thick and creamy it was, though. The bread was super soft and aside from the side that was lightly buttered and toasted, I could do without the monstrous ball of carbs.
It was definitely worth a shot and they do have something unique going on with their bread bowls and optional chowder toppings.

You can’t go here and NOT get a clam chowder bowl with shrimp and crab.
A lot less busier than it’s other store in Pismo Beach. No 2 hours line here. This also seems like a nicer restaurant as well. The only problem is the lack of parking, it is a fairly busy street.
Overall, I prefer this location over the Pismo beach once just for the shorter wait.

Tip: You can get clam chowder bread bowl and ask to keep the bread bowl and clam chowder separate.
I LOVE Clam Chowder. But this clam chowder? Nahh, I’ll pass.
When I visited my sister, I thought that this would be a good place to eat at, especially after looking at the reviews and ratings. I ordered a clam chowder bowl with seafood topping. The clam chowder was so salty and thick that I could not finish half of the chowder. My sister ordered calamari fries, and the calamari rings were really soggy.

Splish Splash, I wish I was takin a bath… in a bowl of chowder!!!
They really do have AMAZING clam chowder, everyone knows that. The bread bowl they serve it in is also delicious, and if it’s not enough they even offer a side of grilled sourdough (for an extra charge) for you to dip your chowder in. The chowder is so creamy and does not have a ‘fishy’ taste.
The shrimp and chips are also a good choice. The breading is good and crunchy and the fries are curly, but not seasoned (other than salt and pepper).
I love that they also sell fresh baked bread loaves ranging in many flavors that rotate daily, like Jalapeño Cheddar and Rosemary Focaccia. They sell a variety of bakery items as well, cupcakes, muffins, choc dipped Oreo’s etc. You can also order cakes from here… is there anything that they don’t do??? lol
I love this location and prefer it over the Pismo one ANY day. Sometimes there are long lines here, out the door even, but it is nothing compared to their Pismo location. It is also easier to get a table as they have indoor and outdoor seating.
Parking here can be a beezy, the lot is very small and a one way in kind of thing if you are entering from Monterey Street and when you exit you have to do so onto California.
The employees are all young college aged kids and usually very friendly and get the food out to you in a decent amount of time, I have never had a problem.
I would highly recommend Splash, they have something on the menu for everyone, even non-​seafood lovers

YES! A Splash Café location (in SLO) that’s not super packet with long lines out the door. Thanks for the owners of Splash Café for opening up a 2^nd location. Yes, I might be late to try the SLO location, but I am glad I did.
Being a bit hesitant hitting up the SLO location rather than the Pismo Beach location, I made the right choice.
FYI: If you’re coming up the 101 from Los Angeles the Pismo Beach location is about 15 – 20 minutes closer to you. Coming down the 101 from San Francisco/​Monterey, the SLO location is closer.
Splash Café on Monterey St. scores in my books for the less crowds and more parking spots with the same Splash Café clam chowder taste you’ve grown to love. We found parking right away in the private parking lot, I was able to walk in and order right away and the food was on our table 5 – 8 minutes later. Same great CLAM CHOWDER, same fried seafood and even an Artisan bakery as well.
Depending on which area you’re driving from, I did like the SLO location a bit more since it is less crowded.
The Pismo Beach location has a better view (of the beach) and more commercial and popular.

Do’s: get the clam chowder with the sea food topping. Best clam chowder ever. And it’s topped with crab and shrimp. SO GOOD! That’s 5 stars.
Donts: don’t get the clam chowder in a bread bowl. The bread is extra money and is gross. Just get it in a regular bowl.
Definitely do NOT get the shrimp cocktail. It was the biggest joke. $ 8.50 for 3 regular sized shrimp and a spoonful of baby shrimp. The girl wasn’t honest with us– when we asked how many shrimps are in the shrimp cocktail, she said «8−10» she did not tell us about the laughable size.
The donts cost this place 2 stars on my review. However, due to the amazing taste of the chowder with seafood topping, I would go back.