Restaurant Review: Passionfish in Pacific Grove. Voted as one of the best in Monterey, the restaurant uses sustainable ingredients and serves amazing food.
Hi Everyone,
It’s Mr. JOC here and hope your summer’s going well so far. As some of you may know, my family’s favorite escape for a quick weekend is the Monterey/Carmel area. It’s just a short drive (1.5 hr) from San Francisco so I highly recommend taking a side trip there if you are visiting the bay area. There are many excellent restaurant choices in the region, and one of the most popular restaurants is Passionfish in Pacific Grove.
Due to its popularity, Passionfish is often completely booked so I recommend using OpenTable to book a reservation if you are thinking about going. I’ve dined at Passionfish about 10 years ago after scuba diving in Monterey with friends and remembered it as a fantastic meal. I was really excited to go back with Nami and the children.
Passionfish is renowned for a few things:
- A leader in using sustainable ingredients and seafood.
- Voted best restaurant in the county in 2011 and 2012 (Monterey Weekly).
- Award-winning wine list that sells the wine at retail price.
- Great food!
Dishes to Try at Passionfish
We started with a few appetizers for our meal. The sea scallop appetizer was served with a unique caper-raisin-walnut relish on top of an artichoke risotto cake. The scallop was flavorful and juicy, however, the panko-crusted shell on the risotto cake was a bit thick and heavy. We wished the risotto cake had a lighter thinner crust, then it’ll be perfect.
The next dish was the smoked trout ceviche and it was a bit spicy but I really enjoyed it. The soft texture of the fish contrasted well with the crunchy tostaditas, and smoked trout leaves a hint of smokiness on your palate. The last appetizer we had was the asparagus fries served with sesame aioli and it was fabulous. The thin layer of panko shell wrapped the asparagus perfectly and the asparagus was not overcooked. My family all loved this dish.
For the salad, we had the Dungeness crab & avocado salad with spicy ginger vinaigrette. The ginger and the spicy flavor from the dressing provided a very distinct taste from the creamy avocado and crab mixture. It was a really refreshing salad and delicious. Since we had a big lunch that day and didn’t want large entree servings, our helpful server recommended that we get the duck confit in the children’s portion instead. It was a great recommendation and I am glad we tried it, the meat was rich, tender, and moist coated in a tangy sweet sauce.
The last dish we had was the basil stuffed rainbow trout. The trout was flavorful with the essence of basil and just the right amount of salt. I loved how the fish was not over flavored so we could taste the natural goodness of the fish itself.
After dining at Passionfish with my family, we could see why it’s one of the most popular restaurants in the area for so long. I loved how each dish had contrasting textures or flavors that bring out the natural goodness of the ingredients, without overpowering them. If you are in the area and looking for a great dinner spot, I highly recommend Passionfish.
Full Disclosure: Just One Cookbook was not compensated by Passionfish and all opinions are my own. The price and menu at Passhionfish were based on my visit in March 2014.
Look at that basil stuffed trout! The fish looks like an omelette! What an excellent technique they used. I hope the basil isn’t too overpowering, though 🙂
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
The food is beautifully presented. I would definitely order the confit duck. Is that a children’s portion? It looks very generous xx
Hello Mr JOC, such a nice restaurant, everything looks so good…I will make sure to stop by when in the area…great photos.
Hope you all are having a great week 😀
Thanks for sharing, Mr. JOC. I’ll definitely check out Passionfish on my next visit to Monterey.
Thank you for reading the review, Candice!
The food looks amazing!!
I seriously did a double take on those gorgeous scallops and that salad!
I’m going to bookmark this place. I really plan to go back to SF because I have family there. Thanks for sharing this info. Have a great vacation, Nami !
A while ago when I was attending a seminar in Monterey, my husband and I went to Pasionfish for a wonderful dinner, one that we consider to one of the best we ever had. Each course was exceptional. Wish we didn’t live 6 1/2 hours away.
Hi Sandy! There are so many good restaurants in Carmel and Monterey area and we always feel like it’s not enough time/days to discover new places. Hope you get to visit this restaurant again! Thank you so much for your comment! 🙂
Everything sounds so good! I like spicy, so that trout ceviche has my number. Sounds like a fun time in such a pretty part of the world (love that area!). Good review — thanks.
Really great photos! Mr JOC writes a great review too….. can u tell me how to convince my husband to write more reviews for me too? 😀
I’m excited to see this review of a restaurant in Pacific Grove! Close enough for us to try sometime 🙂 It’s pretty astounding that they sell wine at retail. Most restaurants charge at least double or more. The food looks just beautiful and I love that they accommodated you with the smaller portion. That is my favorite way to eat when we go out…lots of little tastes. Thank you for the review! We will keep it on our travel list for the next time we’re in the area.
The trout does look very well grilled and deliciously flavoured, this restaurant sounds like it should be a regular 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
We had dinner at the Passion Fish almost 10 years ago and it is still a great memory. The food was creative and tasteful. The service was super, my daughter was treated like a princess and she ate that up for sure.
Happy to know its still there and we will include it in our next jaunt down to the peninsula. Thanks Nami.
Hi Alan! It’s still amazing! I hope you get to visit again and enjoy their amazing dishes! Thank you for your comment! 🙂
I love these pictures. I live on the other side of the country and am awaiting the hardcover book from Nami , soon I hope. If I should never make it to Monterey area, I am so happy to see these wonderful shots of these divine dinners and your comments. Thanks a million!!!
Hi LP! Thank you so much for your kind words and interest on my (hardcover) cookbook. I wish I have more time so I can work on cookbook while I maintain this blog and be a full-time mom! 😀 Thank you for your support and love! xo 🙂
Thanks for stepping in Mr. JOC. Fine job.
The risotto cake sounds delicious. I’m a big fan of arancini so I can see making these in the future, even without the scallop on top. The asparagus fries are also tempting even if 2 fried dishes might be overdoing it. The grilled whole stuffed rainbow trout however is my favourite part of the meal. I wonder what drink might be appropriate … wine or a beer?