Paradise Cove Beach

Paradise Cove Beach Hours
Open 7 Days a Week, Sunrise to Sunset
This is on the webpage — do not be set up as my husband and I were.
The parking guard does his job ferociously — cones are not removed until 7 am; we all know the sunrise is prior to 7 am when management was notified there was little compassion — I had awakened at 4 am to get to the beach on time for sunrise. The parking lot was EMPTY — I was 20 minutes ahead of 7 am there was no grace.
If want sunrise shots; park on Pacific Coast highway
Restaurant opens at 8am
Parking lot at 7 am
Food it tasty — too busy to really care about someone who wanted a nature shot before breakfast.

I’ve been here before on a nice sunny day and the food was OK, nothing memorable. We had reservations here for Christmas dinner, yes, it’s opened for X-​mas day. It wasn’t my choice, but my guests in town picked it.
Don’t go to Paradise Cove at night (anytime of the year), but especially in the winter, even in the LA winter. It’s dark, cold, dreary. They let the windows opened, some doors are opened as well. Super cold, jackets on type of cold.
The host dude was kinda rough, took us to a table that we wanted to switch, it was near an opened window and the restaurant was mostly empty. He was difficult about it.
The service was slow and not the most attentive one, even if they were a lot of servers, they were mostly hanging out with each other.
The tortilla soup is just OK. The trio of tacos is a decent sized platter with rice, guac, beans, sour cream, pretty good. I enjoyed my steak sandwich (loved the cheese sourdough they used) and their fries. The prices are too high for the quality of food– basic dinner food. A Mai Tai (not the best I’ve ever had) was over $ 14 and they don’t price it in their menus.
$ 6 parking with validation.

The place to drink legally on the beach! Here you can bring your own beer and wine and enjoy on the beach. There’s a café on premises for food and snacking as well.
There’s a cost of $ 40 to park; however, if you spend a minimum of $ 30 in the café, parking is only $ 6. It’s better to get some food in your belly and get the validated parking. A friend and I split a platter that was $ 30, so the minimum is per table, not each person. The food was pretty good.
The specialty cocktails are expensive. I got the cocktail that comes in a pineapple and it was weak! I asked for another shot to go into the drink and I was charged another $ 5. So, the drink was at least $ 20, and still not too strong. They sell wine by the bottle and have bags to carry the wine to the beach and keep it cool. I split the price of a bottle of wine with my friend, which made it reasonable.
The beach itself was clean. There were families and groups of friends, individuals, couples… suitable for everyone! The vibe was pretty laid back, no rowdy beach goers even though there’s beer and wine in the mix. There are also lounge chairs on the beach farther back from the shore.
I definitely recommend bringing your own beer and wine! Either pack snacks or eat before coming or eat in the café! Just keep in mind parking is $ 40 unless you eat in the café.

The food at the café is extremely overpriced but still delicious. You have to eat here in order to park at the lot to avoid the $ 30 charge to park at the beach.
I have ahi tuna salad which was fresh and delicious. I love the fresh ginger, the sauce and crunch. From what I remember it was around $ 20. The nachos with the beef were extremely delicious. I had the drink in the watermelon and it was very sweet and strong. It is extremely generous that they give you this gigantic piece of cake which is seven layers of chocolatey goodness for a birthday.
I like how we ate outdoors under umbrellas and had a great view of the beach.

3 stars.
I personally love this beach and would’ve given it 4 stars but with how high parking prices are and my most recent staff interaction, I couldn’t do so.
For the boozers, this is a private beach so you can bring beer, wine, and champagne. Make sure not to bring any strong alcohol because security will check it with some type of device. The douche that checked my soju (rice wine) first said that if the alcohol content is too high then we can either place it back in our car or leave. When we said we’ll go put it back in the car he said all of a sudden «You have to pour it out, you can’t put it back in your car.» WTF. I even went to another security guard and he verified that I have the right to place it back into my car and the douche yelled «I’m his boss, what I say goes!» I was pissed! First off, soju is not hard alcohol and I made a really good soju + watermelon + honey mix :/​What an asshole, power trippin’ over nothing!
Anywho, there is a restaurant and convenient store which adds a nice touch to the beach. You can park in the lot (if it isn’t full already) for $ 6 if you stay less than 4 hours and have a minimum purchase of $ 30 at the restaurant or convenient store. Otherwise, it will cost you $ 40 to park in the lot without a minimum. Most of the time the lot is full, so make sure you get there early! There is also tons of parking on PCH but that gets packed as well and isn’t ideal of you have a heavy cooler.
Besides the douche and parking, this is a great beach to hang out with friends!