Bullwacker’s

I think everybody in our party of 4 left disappointed. Wait… yes, everybody. The food was bland and just a huge miss. I couldn’t believe why the place was packed.

They serve the best fish and chips here, waitresses were great, would recommend!

NOTE… after 30+ years on cannery row they have closed (now known as Coopers Pub) Coopers has more tvs, NFL ticket package (So you can watch the game you want) and if you are a local make sure you ask… they do a discount on beers now!!!

This place had everything I was looking for. I was in town one weekend, for work, and and found myself there both evenings. The bartenders and staff were excellent and there was a decent selection of beers on tap. I recommend this establishment as I will be back myself in months to come.

I was in Montery for the MotoGP weekend. I go to Bullwackers every year. This year I observed the new owner being rude to several guests. He’s made several changes from years past for service on the patio. Drinks served on the patio are only served in plastic cups, there is no meal service on the patio (so we left and got dinner somewhere else). Also while he allows patrons to smoke cigarettes on the patio he made us put out our cigars because he said they smelled bad. I also observed him yelling at another customer for moving a table. I understand that he has rules but he doesn’t need to treat his customers so rudely — I won’t be coming back.

Visit this past Sat. ⁷⁄₂₀ — one or two stars.
Visit about a month ago — — 3 – 4 stars. The difference? Whatever stuffy manager-​type we came in contact with this past Saturday.
On both occasions, the waitstaff was PERFECTLY fine, courteous, attentive, polite, and service-​oriented.
We visited approx. 2 months ago w/​our then-​5 month old puppy, after learning that Bullwacker’s had a dog-​friendly patio area. We couldn’t have been more excited to find this place friendly, the waitress awesome, and the atmosphere great. Food was excellent, drinks were exactly to our liking. The waitress didn’t care we had our dog and 8-​yr old boy with us, she was great.
And again let me emphasize the waitress was fantastic.
This past Sat. 7/​20, we stopped in around 4, wanting to come back around 5 or 6 for dinner. Since Monterey was packed with about 10,000 bikers (!) I stopped in simply to ask if they took reservations for dinner. No biggie, just wondering.
The waitress who stopped to talk to me was perfectly helpful, and nicely answered, «no I’m sorry».
Well, the manager or owner, not sure which, decided to butt in because he heard my question (which had already been politely answered).
This tall blonde 50’s/60’s-ish blonde man, with a 6-​yr old boy haircut, said (insert stuffy English accent here) «no no no, no resahvations, not ehva.»
I said «we were just wondering since it’s Saturday, and you may get crowded in a while, if you took reservations on weekends». (fair question, right??)
«Oh no, no no, not ehva, undah no suhcumstances».
So he was a total buzzkill to an otherwise fine prior and current experience with this place. Don’t know if he is the owner, the general manager, or just the manager on duty that night, but he seriously needs to take customer service and interpersonal skills lessons from his waitresses — — they knew how to talk with people and still be polite — — he on the other hand, just came across as a pompous jackass, who didn’t care who he offended or if he got our business or not.
Well guess what — — based on that one interaction, we ended up going to the Cannery Row Brewing Company, who took us wholeheartedly and gave us excellent service from the front door until we left.

Came here on a whim because the boyfriend and I had just arrived in town and were extremely hungry. The food was… bleh. Bland, and not hot, and not very tasty. I don’t remember what he had, but I had the Parmesan Cod. I was worried about it not being cooked right, because it wasn’t as hot as I wanted it to be, but after I examined it I decided that it –looked– cooked through.
I was DEAD WRONG.
The effect was almost immediate. There is no nice way to put it, I spent the rest of that night squirting out of both ends. Yeah. I had MAJOR food poisoning. It was awful, I couldn’t eat or even drink little sips of water without being punished. I spent the remainder of our trip being sick. I was horribly ill for 4 days, and then for 2 weeks afterwards my guts were all messed up. This was last year… I’m only reviewing it now because we’re in Monterey again and I remembered my terrible experience there. I don’t want anyone else to get sick!

They get some really good live music here, but the service is inconsistent, and the drinks last time were tiny. Drink prices might be a bit lower than your average Cannery Row bar/​club, but who wants a glass full of ice with a couple teaspoons of liquor?

Fast friendly service and good prices

Fish and Chips, best in town. probably because they’ve never been out of town. Worst place ever! For $ 16 bucks i expected a lot more (food wise and quality wise). You get 1 piece of battered fish and a handful of fries. The batter came of the fish when we picked it up, and there was no crunch to it and was kind of soggy. The calamari was just as bad for $ 10. I get better calamari at the bars. Service was okay, waited awhile to be seat even though the place was empty. This place is on cannery row, so there are a lot of tourists. you’d expect it to be much better especially for what they charge.

The service was really good. But that doesn’t make up for the fact that their cooks should be fired.
I had a bread bowl, since I figured it would be hard to mess up clam chowder.
But lo and behold, they did. Tasted like it had a few cups of water dumped into it.
My Mom had ordered fish and chips and it arrived raw. Neither of us liked it nor ate it and wasted the nasty food, our time and money on this shit. So will we ever give them the benefit of the doubt and try it again? Probably not.

Spent a lovely day in Monterey and were craving fresh fish and chips and calamari.
They have a sign out front stating «Best fish and chips in town». NOT! Well that is crazy. They have NO fresh fish and they are right on the Monterey Bay. We ordered fish n chips and were served frozen Icelandic cod. Wow, this was bad!!! Then out came the calamari, and it was unedible, actually we sent it back and we have NEVER sent anything back, but it was pale, raw and gross. The best things we had that day for lunch were Bud Light and Blue Moon beer out of the bottle.
Very disappointing, later walked across the street and had a wonderful Dinner.

My family and I came here after we arrived in Monterey. The entrance was nice, and we had to go through two doors. We ordered fish ‘n chips, chicken salad, crab sandwiches, and clam chowder. If you get fish n’ chips, get them with onion rings!!! They were so crisp and thin onion slices. I hate onions, but they were like eating thin potato chips! They were yummy and not like the usual fat onion ring slices. Crab sandwich was very fresh because the ocean is just right there! Chicken salad was okay. Clam chowder was very very good! I was not that hungry and got a soup. It was just enough filling. The oyster crackers they gave with the soup are also the best ones I have ever had.
We ordered a half and half: lemonade with iced tea and my dad kept saying how good it was! I didn’t try it but he seemed pretty please with it. They gave him three refills! :O
Didn’t come for beer or alcohol so I don’t know how the service was. Overall, pretty good!

If you can imagine an old sizzler with a nautical makeover then you are picturing this restaurant perfectly. The service was friendly and attentive. I really liked the fact that the background music was classic rock; nothing like listening to Queen and Led Zeppelin while eating. My daughter ordered the clam chowder bowl and compared it to Campbell’s. According to the menu their fish and chips was the best in town so that’s what I ordered. It wasn’t bad but it definitely wasn’t the best in town. It was a little soggy but in all fairness it could have been all that malted vinegar I added to give it flavor. We won’t be dinning here again any time soon but I will keep it in the back of my mind that they serve Guinness on tap which is always a plus in my book.

I’m sorry Ken U. but I was disappointed in Bullwacker’s. I had the Castroville Stuffed Artichoke. The artichoke was not cooked enough so was inedible. As it is served cold, I couldn’t return it for further cooking. They dressed the salad with a sweet Italian dressing, which I found awful. As we were eating a woman at another table was asking her waitress for a recommendation, the stuffed artichoke or some other entrée. The waitress recommended the stuffed artichoke. I was so tempted to yell across the tables «NO.» As we were leaving she was served hers. It was served with a Louis dressing, which is more appropriate and had additional vegetables on the plate, such as cucumber slices, missing from mine. Why the inconsistency on a simple dish? I’m glad that I had a substantial breakfast that day (thank you Embassy Suites) or I would have been starving in the afternoon. The dish should also have come with crackers or bread or some sort of starch.
My husband had the hamburger which he rated as fair. For $ 10, it should be better than fair.
When next in Monterey we will go elsewhere for our lunch on aquarium day.

The food was not good — just really bland and almost all dishes seemed to look the same. We tried some different fish dishes, but the fish didn’t really have much taste — other than the sauce which again was the same for every dish :(
Also the wait staff didn’t seem to know much about their dishes that day at all.
I’d expect something much better than not-​so-​good fast-​food quality for a $ 16 fish dish — especially if you are right at the coast in Monterey.

Wandered into have a small meal. Split chicken strips appetizer and a salad with friend. Not anything to write home about. Chicken strips had no flavor and I could’ve bought better ones frozen from the grocery store.
Don’t waste your time and money eating here.

We walked by the place twice before we stopped and what a great choice we made. We ordered a few beers and fish and chips. It was really good.
Our server was good nice. Stop by and check the place out.

What a name? The name itself intrigued me a bit. Just say it three times fast and three times slow, it sounds a little dirty and silly at the same time. It sounds like a word I would make up when I was in 1^st grade and giggle about with my classmates while repeatedly saying it. Now did the name «Bullwacker’s» factor into the equation of picking which place we had for lunch? I would be lying a little bit if I said the name didn’t factor into it. From all the assortments of menus we looked at and walking up and down Cannery Row, Bun (my tasty little sweetheart, a.k.a., my girlfriend) and I decided on this place.
We were seated promptly upon entering Bullwacker’s (man I can say it a billion times). Apparently the restaurant is coined a British pub, at which it is modestly recreated. They have a fire pit and a full bar of course. What pub wouldn’t have a full bar? The overall atmosphere was easy going and very relaxed.
To start things out, we ordered the New England clam chowder in a bread bowl. I didn’t think it would be that big, but the serving they gave was pretty big. I usually like my chowder thick and full of ingredients. To me, that’s a definition of good chowder. This clam chowder had a bunch of potatoes, clams, celery, and onions. It was full of stuff in it! The soup portion of the chowder wasn’t thick enough for me though. I’m not saying it was watery, but if it was a little thicker, it would of been a lot better.

As my main dish, I ordered their «the best in town» fish and chips. I was in a British pub and they said they were «the best in town». So I took the challenge. The fish and chips came with steak fries and a long piece of solid piece of beer batter goodness. I’m used to having fish and chips come to me in pieces, but this place served it as a whole fillet of fish. It was about 8 inches long and 3 and half inches wide. The fish itself was really good. The batter was crunchy and fish was moist and tasty. The dish came with fries, which were just average fries, and nothing really special. Because I was already really full, I only got a bite of the cold slaw of which wasn’t really good.
The best part of this place is the fish portion of the «the best in town» of the fish and chips. The clam chowder was alright. Everything else was ok or could of been better. The next time we visit Monterey and journey to Cannery Row, we’ll probably eat somewhere else especially since there’s a billion places to eat there. If you’re curious about this place then give it a try. BULLWACKER’S! :)

After heading to Monterey on a birthday surprise, it was close to lunch time. My boyfriend and I looked around for places to eat. Being that I’m allergic to seafood, that put a lot of restrictions on some restaurants. The name of this place is humorous so walking past Bullwacker’s, it caught our attention. The menu looked good and there were many items that I was able to eat.
The atmosphere was nice and the servers were friendly. We were seated by the window. We decided on the clam chowder breadbowl as an appetizer. I ordered the Churchill’s Pie, while he got the Fish and Chips.
Yes, I know I said I was allergic to seafood, but I have tried clam chowder before and enjoy it. You can’t go to Monterey and not at least try it. The bread did it’s job and help all of the soup inside. However, it was a bit tough and we didn’t eat much ot it. I enjoyed the soup, especially the potatoes. It was creamy. My reaction was minimal and I diluted it out with water. It was worth the sacrifice.
The churchill pie was larger than I had anticipated. I must not have glanced at all of the ingredients because it came with cheese, another one of my allergies. I had brushed them aside and my boyfriend took the string cheese. Other than that, everything was fine. The potatoes were good and the grounded meat was tasty. It was a bit salty though. I enjoyed it. but was unable to finish it.
I don’t intend on going to Monterey often. However if in town again, I wouldn’t mind going back to this restaurant.