Lucy's Retired Surfers Bar & Restaurant

3.25/5 - solid service, but kinda mehh on the fish

coworker and i came for a slightly early happy hour, and it was cool enough in the afternoon to sit out on their patio. there was some kind of filming going on across the street, so we got some nice entertainment too.

i appreciate how they openly served our chips with all 3 of their house salsa options (the mango and the roasted were more interested than the standard). my friend got a veggie quesadilla which looked filling and gooey. i had some grilled fish tacos served with a couple standard sides. i'd say the mayonnaise sauce that normally comes with the fish tasted a little too uhhh industrial, and then the fish was pretty dry. it was an odd ratio to bite into a small dry cube of fish, then into a large chunk of the red cabbage slaw on top, which also was oddly dry. overall it's not horrible, but also just can't compare to true california options.

the search for good tacos continues...

My initial review of this place was rather dismal as we had dismal service and sub-par food. I received a polite e-mail from the management and was invited back. After seeing them at the Louisiana marathon and sampling what they had, I decided to give it another shot.

It went a bit better this time. Our server was nice enough to acommodate me coming late and brought me a water in a timely manner. As for the food, a friend and I split a Catalina chicken sandwich. I though the flavors were well balanced with the chicken, the avocado, and the bread. I tried a dessert, a Jorge's Low Rider Desert Dessert, which was okay. It's nice to have fruit in a dessert, but I don't think a fried tortilla compliments it that well. I would recommend the chips and salsa; it's hard to go wrong when it's made in house.

Our server wasn't snide and he didn't keep the change. He was a nice guy.

Cold Beer & Good Burger

I went in here for quick bite on a weekday night earlier this week.  Bar crowd seemed fun, and were most likely regulars.  The bartender certainly seemed engaged with everyone at the bar and all were having fun.

Table service was fast, friendly, courteous, and responsive.  There seemed to be a conference going on at the convention center in town and a German guy walked into the bar.  When his waitress recognized that he was German, she quickly called another waitress over who spoke German.   She sat down with him, explained the menu, made him feel welcome, and took his order in German.  Impressive.

Back to the food.  The Lucy burger was excellent, accompanied by sweet-potato fries which were outstanding.  

Overall, a solid, nondescript bar with excellent staff and decent food.  if you are looking for fancy decor or non-bar food, this is not the place for you.