Gilberts On the Wharf

This place is the pits. Not only were the food servers very slow, they took our orders wrong. Uncannily, they bring you the wrong food. The food is so-so. Kinda bland and definitely not worth the price. Avoid at all costs! more

It was very disappointing to hear from my parents, that what should've been a wonderful weekend spent with their grandchildren included a very unsatisfactory customer service on Gilbert's part. Our family has been coming to Gilberts for years, and for the past several years, my parents have done a weekend trip to Monterey with their grandchildren which included a stop at Gilberts. Without fail! However, my parents were very distraught that their server Erika, on Saturday Aug 25 '07 did not even bother to exert ANY kind of customer service to them. Who took their drinks? An apologetic busgirl. Who followed up on their order? No one. Who followed up if they had drinks? No one. And Erika had the audacity to tell my parents that it was a busy night? There is absolutely no reason for that excuse and it is even more appalling that their wait staff would even say that to the guests. I am hoping that Erika's unprofessional behavior does not put a cloud on Gilberts, however, based on a very poor experience that my parents encountered over the weekend, it will definitely be a note to remember when recommending places to eat at Monterey. As a customer, I would sincerely hope that the management would take an extra effort in educating their wait staff in regards to customer service. To say that we will not be having a meal at Gilberts again is definitely an understatement! more

Gilbert's offers a combination of ice cream / gelato / frozen yoghurt shop with Wharf-side entrance, and a restaurant/bar facing the Monterey Bay. Generally a place offering the clam chowder outside might seem like desperate for customers, but in case of Gilbert's it's just a case of advertising really good fresh seafood. The menu offers a good variety of fresh seafood items, with some items market as restaurant's specialty. The atmosphere is quite casual and friendly, the appetizers are good, and the entree items are generally not on the expensive side, between $15 and $35. They have a pretty good wine selection, featuring some local wines from Monterey area. The fresh clam chowder is worth trying out, as this is the cafe specialty, as well as hot crab bake - a concoction of crab meat, shrimp and other seafood served hot on the sourdough. During the night time the view from the windows offers quite a nice picture of Monterey lights. more