Cafe Fina

Lovely vibe, friendly people, delicious healthy food & a wonderful peaceful view. What more could I ask for from the best restaurant on the wharf? Dominic went out of his way to make us feel welcome & Roxanne gave us a gift of their own calendar. My sand dabs were the greatest & my friend raved about the wedge with an abundance of creamy blue cheese/​balsamic dressing. Their wood fired pizza ovens make the most delicious artisan pizzas. The servings are so large, we had to get to-​go boxes. I was impressed with the warm Italian bread with fresh herb & garlic butter. Our kind waiter, Edgar, attended to us very well. We will be back for more.

I do not enjoy the sleazy New York City diamond district lifestyle where a bunch of people stand outside in front of their establishments trying to lure you into their place.
Paula Burke from the Hilton Garden Inn said that her two best recommendations for restaurants on the wharf were Domenico’s & Café Fina. I thought I’d give the wharf one more shot before dismissing the area and I’m so happy that we did.
The least annoying of all the outside restaurant luring agents was the man/​owner in front of Domineco’s. He was actually very pleasant but still unusual set up. But the young woman in front of Café Fina was the lowest keyed person — just smiled at the passerby’s.
I can honestly say that this was the most phenomenal Italian restaurant experience thus far for us. This place has also been visited by Joe Dimaggio, Brooke Shields, Paul Newman, & Bill Murray (there were many others but those are all that I can remember).
SERVICE — 5 Stars, ON SITE OWNER — 5 Stars, FOOD — 5 Stars. Thank you Maizy, thank you Roxanne, thank you servers & cooks, & thank you Dominic! We will definitely return as well as recommend!

Café Fina has a nice warm atmosphere! The bread was not too impressive. The clam chowder was extremely thick, and quite tasty. The fish and chips platter was lacking fish, only 2 small pieces were on the plate. The chicken Picata was absolutely delicious! Our waiter was very attentive and friendly.

Such an awesome experience. We came to celebrate my husbands birthday. He ordered the paella. It was outstanding. I ordered the rib eye steak. I have to say, it was the best rib eye I’ve ever had and I have been to the high end steak houses. For dessert we had the Cream puffs, cannoli and Crème brûlée. They were all great, but the cannoli and cream puffs were outstanding Our server was Roxanne. She made the night even more enjoyable. She is very helpful, attentive, genuinely friendly person. If you’re going to visit Fisherman Wharf, it’s by far the best place to eat.

We couldn’t even start it was so bad.
I made reservations 1 day in advance.
I had started for 4:30 PM, but I wasn’t sure if this was reasonable since my wife was working on Valentine’s Day. The Proprioter suggested 5:30 PM but if we arrived earlier he would try to work something out. We arrived ~5:00 and could not be seated, so now we are on our original reservation time of 5:30. We come back at 5:30 PM the host checks with the Proprioter, we are now pushed back to 6:00 PM. This ended our experience for Café Fina.
Not a so Fina place (No Class).
We walked to Benihana walked in the Lounge and started to order our drinks and meal before 6PM.

I’ve been here many times and the service and food was great however tonight was really disappointing. I was alone, just got off work and was craving their fish and chips. Well guess what? I see a huge party in front of me and ask the host if it’s ok for me to be seated first (since they had several standalone tables) he says «no. We don’t have anything fast here, you want fast? Go across the way. «
Uh…ok. Well I guess you just turned away a pretty loyal customer.

Had an amazing time & meal here! If you’re visiting fisherman’s wharf, I highly recommend this restaurant– it’s not one of those touristy spots. The restaurant was not as busy so they accommodated our request to sit on the second floor and let us sit next to the window overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
The seafood was fresh and delicious. Mussels will NEVER be the same for me. I dream about the pot of mussels drowned in a tasty tomato broth all the time. I’ll definitely visit Monterey again just so I can dine here.

Two nights ago, Sat., we went here for the first time.
We had made a reservation for 20 of us a few days prior and the owner was super nice on the phone.
We went on a boat there at the wharf to scatter the ashes of our dad, so our group of family and close friends were thankful for the upstairs room which we practically had to ourselves.
We came off the boat half an hour before our reservation, but they had our tables ready and we were able to go right in.
I would like to boast about the excellent service by Roxanne, the waitress, and Jacob, her helper. We never had to ask for water or anything; Jacob was very attentive. Roxanne was extremely nice, kind and respectful. She wasn’t fake nice, but sincere, which made us feel comfortable.
We were able to visit as long as we wanted. My sister had ordered some appetizers ahead of time and as soon as we were all seated, here they came. :-)
The food was very good and the portions large. I had the Vegetable Paella and it was delicious.
We were impressed and very satisfied with our choice of restaurant for this emotional day. Thank you, Café Fina!

Awful food. Recommended by the hotel concierge and they will definitely hear about the terrible food. The calamari tasting like the fry basket and rubbery texture. The only good part of the meal was the wedge salad, since the lettuce was fresh. The seafood paella rice was OK but the dish had 2 shrimp and 6 muscles which again were overcooked. The wait staff was very pleasant.

Pretty mediocre touristy food. Nothing was awful but nothing was really good either. If you’re looking for a clam chowder bowl definitely go to the ones outside. My soup was slimy and not made with the fluffy sourdough I’ve come to associate with Monterey.
On the positive side the servers were friendly and quick. Also the place was not crowded compared to some of the other restaurants on the wharf which was nice for my big and kinda loud family.

We have been coming to Monterey Wharf since 1979. Domenicos has been a tradition. Café Fina and Domenicos are owned by the same brothers. There were a few disappointments over the years BUT this visit was excellent. Both eating and drinking experiences were delicious. Ask for Robert at Domenicos and Roxanne at Café Fina.

Homemade pasta excellent service. The seafood paella was generous and included crab. Delicious.

Typical challenge… Traveling with a group, and complete a hale watching cruise. It is early afternoon, with only an hour before the bus departs to the Bay Area. Where can we enjoy lunch?
One great option was on the other pier in Monterey. To much time to walk. Another choice had a long table wait, yet a 4-​star rating. Decisions, decisions…
We decided on dining here with he hope they were underrated. Excellent choice. My partner had a Margarita Pizza he rated a lifetime best. I enjoyed an order of Wild Salmon that was perfect. It was preceded by a PeterB Belly Up Blonde Ale (5% ABV, 15 IBU) that was perfectly light, and delicious.
The wait staff was sensitive to the fact we had a time challenge, and brought the check right away. The only regret was having to pass on the opportunity of dessert.

Beautiful view. Food is an abomination. Really nasty. The service even the wine is pretty good. Barghetto makes their house wines.
If you cook well or even better have cooked in a restaurant wait til you eat here. I almost went back to fight the chef. He insulted Italian people with that food. I will not punch and hit him. I will use the Unilocal app. But seriously — save your money.

So upon visiting Monterey, I know I’m going to be treating myself to a seafood dinner or two. I checked the Food Network’s list of featured restaurants, and saw that Rachel Ray visited this place on the show «$ 40 a day.» So why not I think, and make my way down Monterey’s Fisherman’s Wharf, and fight my way through the masses of tourists. When there, I’m promptly seated, and proceed to order their Cioppino ($ 28.95), and their calamari ($ 10.95) as my appetizer.
To provide proper context, I’m in my casual walk-​around tourist clothes, which is nothing more than shorts, a t-​shirt, and sandals. Not fancy at all in other words. Most other people in here were dressed a bit nicer than I was, and I began to notice that the better you’re dressed, the better the service was for you. For example, I had already been seated, and ordered my food, when the couple next to me sat down and then eventually ordered. They were an older couple, dressed very nicely, and it was very apparent they were well off. They were showered with attention, and even received their food well before I had, which left me a bit irritated.
Fast forward to the food. The calamari as an appetizer was pretty good, though a bit on the smaller side, and definitely not enough to share. Then the Cioppino… at $ 28.95 I’m expecting greatness… what I received was far from it. It tasted fishy, it lacked the actual «fish”(as in very small portions), and really wasn’t very good at all bordering on bad.
I left this place hungry and ended paying like $ 10 or so more for burger or something on the way home. Tourist Trap — I don’t recommend.

Our 3^rd visit in last 5 years, we had a delightful lunch here. It was pretty hot by Monterey standards, so beer was a mandate. 2 icy Stellas and we were digging into our menus. Thanks to our very sweet and efficient server Nadia, we found what we wanted and she was more than happy to veganize some items for me.
We’ve had the pasta dishes previously, so this time was soup, salads and pizza.
Upstairs seating is a bit quieter. I heard the table next to us ask for separate checks and it was denied. I believe they solved their issue by giving 3 credit cards to the server.
Afterwards we strolled the wharf and worked off some calories.
Enjoy.

The food was great! Everything we had, pizza, clam chowder, halibut, cioppino
The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was because the owner came over to the table next to us and talked to them but totally ignored us! Maybe cuz we weren’t locals? IDK… but would have loved to have exchanged a few words with him… anyway like I mentioned if your on the wharf look no further, this is the place to eat!

I am only giving this place two stars because their clam chowder was good and the view was awesome, but the main dishes were disgusting.
I had the fish tacos and my boyfriend had the shrimp scampi. My tacos had canned jalapeños poured on top of it and major grease soaking up the tortilla and the fish. I couldn’t even pick up the taco because it was so greasy. I picked at it with my fork and at the same time I was feeling like I wanted to walk out. The plate also had a random green salad on it which was odd because fish tacos should be served with rice and beans. Please take a look at my photo to see how bad this dish was.
My boyfriends fish scampi had shrimp that was obviously frozen previously so it was super rubbery and didn’t taste fresh. The noodles were also soggy because they didn’t drain the water properly before they placed it on the plate. A disappointment.
If your gonna come to this place only get the clam chowder.

I don’t recommend this place.
The food did look good though.
Let me start by saying that the staff were courteous & respectful.
The owner was not he was very rude & disrespectful.
We were called from the hostess of this restaurant that they were dog friendly, as we were deciding where to eat. We’ve never eaten here before so we decided to try it out.
The owner saw that my wife had a sandwich that she had bought out side because she doesn’t like seafood, or Italian, but I do. I was ready to order & order from there doggie menu for our dog, plus she was going to get there French fries.
The owner rudely told us that we could not bring outside food. He said the tables were for customers only even thought the waiter was bring us our drinks already & was about to take our orders.
We tried telling the owner about our orders, but he walked away.
The waiter came back with our drink & said that they were going to charge us $ 8 for her to sit there, even though we were ordering anyways.
What if my wife only had her drinks & fries would that had been okay? or not ate at all like some people do while others in there group eat.
We got up & left instead.
We went to his competitor restaurant, who had no problem with the situation.

Lots of different choices on the Wharf, and I was lured in by the roasted Gilroy Garlic Appetizer. I was shown a seat by the window, and had a gorgeous view of the water. The app was tantalizing, a large head of Gilroy Garlic, several slices of toasted baguette, small bits of goat cheese, some olives and roasted red pepper. I devoured it. I also ordered a margarita pizza. That was Ok. It wasn’t the best, but I’ve had worse too.
The service was delightful.