Paradise Cove Beach Cafe

(310) 457-2503

28128 Pacific Coast Hwy (Paradise Cove Road)
Malibu, CA 90265 34.0244 -118.7856

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Neighborhood: Central Malibu

paradisecovemalibu.com/beachc…

Years in business

Established in 1963

Hours:

Mon-Fri 8am-10pm

Sat-Sun 7am-10pm

Price:

$$

Last updated 8.16.11

Category:

Bars & Pubs, Restaurants

Payment Methods:

American Express, Discover, Visa, MasterCard

Bar & Pub Special Features:

Bar Menu, Water View

Restaurant Special Features:

Family-Friendly Dining, Celeb Hangout, Waterfront Dining, View Dining, Lunch Spot, Breakfast, Brunch, Outdoor Dining, Hidden Find, Online Reservations, Group Dining, Dine At The Bar, Bar Scene

General Info:

Open 7 Days

Cuisine:

Traditional American, Seafood

Bar & Club Special Features:

Specialty Cocktails, Outdoor Seating, Romantic Nightlife, All Ages

What People Are Saying About Paradise Cove Beach Cafe

Featured Review

Contributor

Contributor

In Short – This secluded spot is the quintessential beach bar and restaurant. Sarong-wearing locals drink Coronas from icy buckets two feet from the water, while barefoot diners snag seats in the sand after ordering food and drinks. Large groups and families wait for tables overlooking the Pacific at the full-service restaurant inside. Sesame-encrusted ahi tuna steak sandwich is a lunch favorite, while seafood dinners include iced platters filled with poached shrimp, shucked oysters and king crab legs.

Editor's Tips

Where to Sit:
The beach bar--which is really just chairs in the sand--is one of the most popular spots on the coast.
Parking:
Parking is $3 for four hours with validation, but you need to spend at least $20 on food and/or drinks. Otherwise, the parking fee alone is $20.
When to Go:
In keeping with the venue's long history as a set for TV shows like "Gidget" and films such as "Beach Blanket Bingo," movies are still occasionally shot at the private, secluded location.
ambiance
80.86000442504883% positive
  1. Why pay for the view of the beach when you can have great seafood at Neptune's Net or Malibu Seafood and then walk over to the beach?
  2. The food is quality, the fish is fresh and uniquley presented whether pistachio or parmesean encrusted, and the location is lovely.
  3. Great views, good food, service with horrible attitude!
  4. The food was good--loved the barbecue shrimp and the oreo dessert, service was great and you can't beat the view.
  5. Great food, gorgeous views, poor service
  6. location worthy of any beautiful summer afternoon.
  7. Until then, we enjoyed the ocean view.
  8. The location is wonderful, overlooking the sea.
  9. The $25 parking shocked us.
  10. Great atmosphere and view
  11. mean the location is great, again on the beach.
  12. The food was awsome, the staff was great, and the view was extraordinary.
  13. Best view, Excellent Cocktails, cold blooded hostess
  14. Apparently, the parking sign is misleading too, they post with big letters $3.00 for 3hrs and with small illegible letters with validation or $25 without.
  15. We will not recommend this restaurant, unless you just want to see a lot of Porsches in the parking lot.
  16. Great location, lots of food!
  17. am so glad that we stepped into such a wonderful atmosphere and restaurant and i will reasure you you will be hearing and seeing us soon.
  18. Food, service, and atmosphere has always been great in the past, but lately it seems like the food quality has gone down a bit.
  19. Such an incredible location with such awful experiences.
  20. Enjoy the mellow ocean views while you munch on fresh organic goodies from the fabulous salad bar (which includes caprese, mussels, dolmas, and mixed seafood ceviche).
  21. love taking out of town visitors to this place because of the great location and the food is very good as well.
  22. The view is great but I wouldn't go back.
  23. Diners during dinnertime cannot see the magnificent views of the beach and sea, and the food is not the draw.
  24. The beach location is excellent!
  25. Also, the view of the Pacific is great!
  26. Boring, bad food; Great views
  27. (too bad given great location)
  28. The food was great and you can't beat the location.
  29. My suggestion, skip the restaurant, get the take out & a beer or glass of wine, grab one of the recliners on the sand and enjoy the view, because that is the only good part about this place.
  30. yes, fantastic view!
  31. It used to be great, now it's just a tourist trap with bad food, bad service and a good view.
  32. The food is good, not necessarily stand out, but definitely consistent and worth what you pay, especially for the view and such.
  33. 3-hr parking is free with restaurant validation, which gives ample time to enjoy the private beach.
  34. With all these negatives what’s left; having to walk in like a naughty child with your paid receipt to get a stamp to leave the parking lot with only a $3 charge vs $25 without validation.
  35. Beat the Blues with this stunning Beach view
  36. Granted the view is lovely, however the servers are just plain rude and unfriendly.
  37. guess this would be a good place to go for a limited time early supper during the week, when you can enjoy the view.
dessert
100.0% positive
  1. The food was good--loved the barbecue shrimp and the oreo dessert, service was great and you can't beat the view.
  2. This is a great place, I love their cake.
  3. As for food I have great memorys of the desert tray.
  4. We took a good friend for his birthday last time, and not only did the waiter gather the entire restaurant in a rendition of "Happy Birthday" but they gave him the biggest slice of an 8-inch high chocolate cake for free, which fed 4 of us for dessert, PLU
  5. The calamari, crispy skin salmon, crab cakes, fish tacos.
drinks
72.22000122070312% positive
  1. We were very pleased with the "strong drinks," as well as with the friendly service.
  2. If you don't mind a crowded place with long waits and 7.00 dollar drinks don't bother you either, this is a great place to eat at.
  3. cafe right on top of the ocean, beautiful scenery, good appetizers and drinks but the fish I had that day was okay.
  4. Enjoy the mellow ocean views while you munch on fresh organic goodies from the fabulous salad bar (which includes caprese, mussels, dolmas, and mixed seafood ceviche).
  5. My suggestion, skip the restaurant, get the take out & a beer or glass of wine, grab one of the recliners on the sand and enjoy the view, because that is the only good part about this place.
  6. Spend a day @ the beach then have a great food and drinks with friends.
  7. Bad bar.
  8. Drinks are embarrassingly bad - no explanation for why the Mojito was the worst I've ever had (even worse than one I ordered in Mykonos at a dive bar) 3.
  9. The food is great, drinks are amazing (mojito's), and the beach is nice and clea.
  10. This place is an excellent place to enjoy the beach, drink a bloody mary and waste away the day.
  11. Food arrives cold; salad bar is often emptied and not replenished.
  12. In fact all their drinks were tasteless.
  13. Before we had finished our second drink our delightful plastic lobster pager flashed to life.
  14. At $19 the salad bar should be passed over unless you like bland, boring and unimaginative offerings, at this price you'd expect more protein and some vibrant specials.
  15. Maybe things have changed since they took away the outside seating (that's right, no more drinks or service outside until further notice, and the inside is pretty bleak), but if this joint is L.A.'s best beach bar, then this town is in worse shape than an
  16. It's increadibly beautiful and the drinks are great.
  17. The drinks werent bad but to wait for an hour to get one was rediculous.
  18. Still it's always a nice place to relax, watch the sunset, and have a drink on the sand with friends.
food quality
75.39999961853027% positive
  1. The food was awsome, the staff was great, and the view was extraordinary.
  2. The crab-stuffed tomato is quite good, much like your Aunt Sally might have made in the 50's.
  3. Diners during dinnertime cannot see the magnificent views of the beach and sea, and the food is not the draw.
  4. great spot to take the family on a weekend afternoon and enjoy a nice meal and then head out to the beach.
  5. we have been here numerous times last few months and have always liked the food and service.
  6. Nothing special food and bad service
  7. We had such a great experience from the hostess, server and especially our food.
  8. Great Location, slow service, bland food
  9. We started off with the calimari appetizer which in the past was one of our favorites, a huge martini glass filled with calimari and french fries, this time the appetizer arrived greasy and cold.
  10. Food was awful and the waiter was rude and charged extra food item on menu.
  11. Why pay for the view of the beach when you can have great seafood at Neptune's Net or Malibu Seafood and then walk over to the beach?
  12. At $19 the salad bar should be passed over unless you like bland, boring and unimaginative offerings, at this price you'd expect more protein and some vibrant specials.
  13. It used to be great, now it's just a tourist trap with bad food, bad service and a good view.
  14. Solid food in an amazing setting
  15. Great food, gorgeous views, poor service
  16. Great location, lots of food!
  17. Food, service, and atmosphere has always been great in the past, but lately it seems like the food quality has gone down a bit.
  18. Oh and the food wasn't great either.
  19. The food used to be generous if not haute cuisine so if you knew the menu you would leave full and having enjoyed a basically pleasant meal, no longer.
  20. is v. fresh, and huge portions.
  21. seafood is fresh.
  22. You get one large prawn, sliced in half, coated with coconut, & served on individual skewers to make it look like 2 shrimps on this huge platter of fries, too much fried squid, and few pieces of insipidly fried fish.
  23. seafood (cold sampler!)
  24. The food is good, not necessarily stand out, but definitely consistent and worth what you pay, especially for the view and such.
  25. Menu promises a full lobster with pasta in a "tasty tomato sauce" -- what I got was a bad plate of pasta (sause was $%&^) with one (that's 1) lobster claw that I had to break open myself (after wiping sauce off so that it didn't splatter)?
  26. By the time we got it my boyfriends food was luke warm.
  27. The steak and chicken dishes were great.
  28. love taking out of town visitors to this place because of the great location and the food is very good as well.
  29. am so pleased because the food was exquisite and it was such a plesant experience that i hope my fiance' and i will be going soon.
  30. My cousin and his friend were polite and they both had to add half a glass of ice water each to their soups and it was still salty and became lukewarm.
  31. The food was good--loved the barbecue shrimp and the oreo dessert, service was great and you can't beat the view.
  32. Lots of good food in a perfect setting.
  33. Nothing tasted very fresh considering the hype that they establish in the menu.
  34. We were able to order breakfast but the food was horrible.
  35. The food was great and you can't beat the location.
  36. Please beware: waiter charged extra food item on receipt on purpose, bad service, bad attitude, bad management and bad food.
  37. As for food I have great memorys of the desert tray.
  38. Spend a day @ the beach then have a great food and drinks with friends.
  39. definitely recommend this place for a nice meal right on the beach.
  40. For that kind of money we could have enjoyed a truly memorable meal at Geoffrey's.
  41. Paid $25 to park and then later got sick (cramping) after eating the seafood fish tacos.
  42. Fresh seafood is the.
  43. The calamari, crispy skin salmon, crab cakes, fish tacos.
  44. mediocre food
  45. The food also was very good but maybe the portions were a bit too large.
  46. Paradise Cove use to have excellent food.
  47. It is a busy,hectic enviornment, but the food is great.
  48. He loved his huge cheeseburger and fries plus his giant coke; our waitress was so very friendly and came to our table numerous times to see if we wanted anything more even though there were a lot of people for lunch that day.
  49. my family had the maine lobster pasta which was VERY good it was delicious.
  50. The food is quality, the fish is fresh and uniquley presented whether pistachio or parmesean encrusted, and the location is lovely.
  51. Enjoy the mellow ocean views while you munch on fresh organic goodies from the fabulous salad bar (which includes caprese, mussels, dolmas, and mixed seafood ceviche).
  52. The shrimp and King crab were delicious.
  53. You can order your food to go and sit on the beach and enjoy instead of waiting for a table inside.
  54. Food arrives cold; salad bar is often emptied and not replenished.
  55. We had a party of three and all our dishes were great!
  56. The food is great, drinks are amazing (mojito's), and the beach is nice and clea.
  57. Boring, bad food; Great views
  58. the clam chowder i thought was excellent right up there with gladstones.
  59. Great views, good food, service with horrible attitude!
  60. Being a resident of Malibu I've frequented the Beach Cafe probably a dozen times a year over the past several years witnessing a slow decline in the quality of food and an increase in the prices.
  61. ... terrible eggs and dreadful pancakes.
  62. cafe right on top of the ocean, beautiful scenery, good appetizers and drinks but the fish I had that day was okay.
menu variety
50.0% positive
  1. Though it is a kind of chaotic and sloppy spot and the menu offers a very small choice.
  2. Nothing tasted very fresh considering the hype that they establish in the menu.
  3. Food was awful and the waiter was rude and charged extra food item on menu.
  4. The food used to be generous if not haute cuisine so if you knew the menu you would leave full and having enjoyed a basically pleasant meal, no longer.
overall
100.0% positive
  1. the best restaurant in town
  2. guess this would be a good place to go for a limited time early supper during the week, when you can enjoy the view.
  3. My suggestion, skip the restaurant, get the take out & a beer or glass of wine, grab one of the recliners on the sand and enjoy the view, because that is the only good part about this place.
  4. little pricy, but that is expected for King Crab in a nice restaurant.
  5. This is a great place, I love their cake.
  6. Still it's always a nice place to relax, watch the sunset, and have a drink on the sand with friends.
  7. It's a great place to go and relax.
  8. This is also a great breakfast place--the earlier the better.
  9. If you don't mind a crowded place with long waits and 7.00 dollar drinks don't bother you either, this is a great place to eat at.
  10. It's right on the beach and it has a nice beach feel within the restaurant.
return potential
100.0% positive
  1. The view is great but I wouldn't go back.
service
56.19999885559082% positive
  1. The service is terrible and their attitude is as if they don't want to be there.
  2. Great food, gorgeous views, poor service
  3. Great Location, slow service, bland food
  4. we have been here numerous times last few months and have always liked the food and service.
  5. Families monopolize the beach with rude people literally walking over or on each other to get from one place to another.
  6. Please beware: waiter charged extra food item on receipt on purpose, bad service, bad attitude, bad management and bad food.
  7. It used to be great, now it's just a tourist trap with bad food, bad service and a good view.
  8. Food, service, and atmosphere has always been great in the past, but lately it seems like the food quality has gone down a bit.
  9. The food was good--loved the barbecue shrimp and the oreo dessert, service was great and you can't beat the view.
  10. Maybe things have changed since they took away the outside seating (that's right, no more drinks or service outside until further notice, and the inside is pretty bleak), but if this joint is L.A.'s best beach bar, then this town is in worse shape than an
  11. Then, we asked for separate checks for the 3 families -- instead it came a one big check (so the waiter could add 18% tip automatically.)
  12. The food was awsome, the staff was great, and the view was extraordinary.
  13. Great views, good food, service with horrible attitude!
  14. love this place during the week when there are few people and the jazz is good.
  15. Granted the view is lovely, however the servers are just plain rude and unfriendly.
  16. The wait staff was rude to me and my guests because two of the waitresses were having a little territorial tiff over our table and they never seemed to get over it.
  17. horrible service and poor management
  18. Just as we finished the first round a delightful waitress came by and asked if we wanted another round.
  19. He loved his huge cheeseburger and fries plus his giant coke; our waitress was so very friendly and came to our table numerous times to see if we wanted anything more even though there were a lot of people for lunch that day.
  20. Best view, Excellent Cocktails, cold blooded hostess
  21. The old restaurant staff is mostly gone and since it is still an industry heavy clientele most of the new staff waiters and waitresses are actually just pretty actors simply biding their time to be discovered by a visiting director or movie star.
  22. Food was awful and the waiter was rude and charged extra food item on menu.
  23. Finally one nice waitress
  24. With the slow service, it leaves little time to enjoy the beach.
  25. Food is always excellent, service is laid back and friendly.
  26. We had people around us asking us to move so they can fit their huge group of people on a table that was too close to ours.
  27. We were very pleased with the "strong drinks," as well as with the friendly service.
  28. Very bad service
  29. Poor staff with unpleasant attitudes.
  30. We had such a great experience from the hostess, server and especially our food.
  31. Hostess is rude - call to make a reservation and you're told there's an hour wait; yet when you show up, half the tables are empty and you get seated right away?
  32. The service was just horrible!
  33. Nothing special food and bad service
  34. We took a good friend for his birthday last time, and not only did the waiter gather the entire restaurant in a rendition of "Happy Birthday" but they gave him the biggest slice of an 8-inch high chocolate cake for free, which fed 4 of us for dessert, PLU
  35. The service was terrible.
  36. And "friendly Bob" the owner -- ignores all complaints.
  37. We called to get a little more info and the gentleman that answered the phone was rude and unhelpful.
  38. You'd think that they'd have good service because they're so busy, but no.
  39. I've been here before when the service has been great, but over the last couple visits it's just become too inconsistent to take guests when showing off LA with pride.
value
75.0% positive
  1. If you don't mind a crowded place with long waits and 7.00 dollar drinks don't bother you either, this is a great place to eat at.
  2. Beware, the portions are HUGE.
  3. We had people around us asking us to move so they can fit their huge group of people on a table that was too close to ours.
  4. At $19 the salad bar should be passed over unless you like bland, boring and unimaginative offerings, at this price you'd expect more protein and some vibrant specials.
  5. Being a resident of Malibu I've frequented the Beach Cafe probably a dozen times a year over the past several years witnessing a slow decline in the quality of food and an increase in the prices.
  6. He loved his huge cheeseburger and fries plus his giant coke; our waitress was so very friendly and came to our table numerous times to see if we wanted anything more even though there were a lot of people for lunch that day.
  7. The place is pricey but its worth it!
  8. The legendary Mojo was horrible, tasted like cheap rum.
  9. We started off with the calimari appetizer which in the past was one of our favorites, a huge martini glass filled with calimari and french fries, this time the appetizer arrived greasy and cold.
  10. The food is good, not necessarily stand out, but definitely consistent and worth what you pay, especially for the view and such.
  11. is v. fresh, and huge portions.
  12. For that kind of money we could have enjoyed a truly memorable meal at Geoffrey's.
  13. You get one large prawn, sliced in half, coated with coconut, & served on individual skewers to make it look like 2 shrimps on this huge platter of fries, too much fried squid, and few pieces of insipidly fried fish.
  14. The food used to be generous if not haute cuisine so if you knew the menu you would leave full and having enjoyed a basically pleasant meal, no longer.
  15. As always we had the hot and the cold sampler which although not quite as good as I remember is still good value for money.
  16. The food also was very good but maybe the portions were a bit too large.
wait time
30.0% positive
  1. Being a resident of Malibu I've frequented the Beach Cafe probably a dozen times a year over the past several years witnessing a slow decline in the quality of food and an increase in the prices.
  2. With the slow service, it leaves little time to enjoy the beach.
  3. Great Location, slow service, bland food
  4. If you don't mind a crowded place with long waits and 7.00 dollar drinks don't bother you either, this is a great place to eat at.
  5. Service is pretty slow, since the girls are overworked and it seems the restaurant is consistently full.
1 Star Rating: Poor

01/02/12

Ripoff!

by Dick h

Haven't been here in several years. Used to love it but no more! Drinks over priced and under sized. Minus the ice I'd be surprised if the cocktails are 8 ounces. No prices on the bar menu (becoming all too typical in LA!), but my credit card receipt for 4 drinks was $46!!!! Wait staff inattentive and hurried us. They broke our group into 2 tables. One table had seats on only 1 side so we couldn't talk to each other. Got separate checks for the 2 tables, but they still tacked on 18% tip because total group was over 8 people!!!!! Final insult: Charged us $25 per car for parking because we stayed more than 4 hours!!!!!! This was after dropping almost $400 on food and drink. If you split before the 4 hour limit you pay "only" $3. On the positive side, the food was actually good. Would have been better with smaller portions and half the price. For people with more money than sense.

1 Star Rating: Poor

08/02/11

Big rip off, Malibu!

by Luiga

Beautiful setting.That being said, buyer beware! I ordered the fried coconut macadamia shrimp which was described on the menu as coming with potato, hot french bread and vegetables. The potato was baked in a bread shell, so I guess that was their version of bread. The potato was huge but came with a miserly serving of sour cream and butter, no butter on table. There were 2 small wilted, bad looking lettuce leaves, which I am assuming are what they refer to as vegetables.

The parking is the most screwed up thing about it, other than the mediocre food. It says 3 dollars with validation- if you go over four hours you are charged 25 bucks, no exceptions.I was ten minutes over and they would not validate again for another meal and were very unpleasant. I tried to leave 20 minutes sooner but a van was parked so close I could not open my car doors, same on both sides. i also explained that to them. So if you go, keep an eye on the clock, and order something cheap. The entree was 27 bucks. Pretty much a rip off unless you just want 4 hours on beach- order one drink and forget the food.

1 Star Rating: Poor

07/30/11

IS THIS THE WORST RESTAURANT IN MALIBU?

by LABeachgal

READ THE REVIEWS, I WISH I HAD.

Admittedly it was a Saturday, and although we did make a reservation, it wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference. We bagged the last space in the top cap park near the stinking septic tanks (I assume thats what they were) and walked down to the restaurant.

Great decor, good vibe, unreal view.

The staff at the check in were surprisingly a little rude and we were told it would be 20 minutes for our table... (possibly not the greatest thing when you have two small kids with you but dealable with ) half an hour later we were sat at a fantastic table with unbelievable view, what a shame our server was utterly miserable, non communicative, rude and idle. I'll refer to her as "The Misery".

The food was unbelievably greasy and this is possibly the only restaurant in LA where my kids didn't eat the fries. The guacamole was bland and utterly tasteless, the calamari was greasy, the caesar salad was passable (just). Our caesar salad and guacamole arrived, to be followed by the sharing appetizer calamari 40 minutes later, we mentioned this to "The misery" and she rudely barked it would be out.

"The misery" parked the cheque on our table before I had time to order any ice cream for the kids or asked if I wanted a coffee, another glass of wine etc and she was really annoyed when I asked her to explain what there was for the kids to eat for dessert. I ordered them an ice cream each. "The misery" re-parked the cheque on the table and said"Did I want Change". I never dont tip, but my goodness this woman was so rude. I did leave her $4, a dreadful tip but the view was great.

We left on the golf buggy beach shuttle (great idea) back to the car park with the stink of the septic tanks being carried along by the sea breeze. The grease mixed with the stink and the rudeness really made my husband and I both remark that we would never, ever, ever be back, and then the parking attendant topped the experience off, he was unbelievable rude and wouldnt even look at my husband as he handed the ticket and barked "$3".

The bottom line is this place doesn't need to be better than it is. The staff dont need to be charming, The food doesnt need to be great, they have a fabulous location on the beach and they know it, but it would be amazing if they picked it up and had some pride in their service and dropped the contempt for their patrons, for they after all keep the place open.

5 Star Rating: Highly Recommended

11/10/10

love, love, love!

by Tiffbaker

Can drink on the beach! Food is yummy!!! Just don't stay past five hours or you pay lots for parking!

1 Star Rating: Poor

10/10/10

My first time there and definitely the last time

by yogevor

The beach is OK however the restaurant is overprice and food is terrible. This is just the beginning of the story, the parking lot charge 25$!! unless you get validation from the restaurant, in that case you only need to pay 3$. But guess what... if you're a minute above 4 hours and you still need to pay 25$ for parking. So make sure you come with a lot of cash since this place will rip you off.

The Details on Paradise Cove Beach Cafe

Place Categories:

  • bad service
  • great boyfriends food
  • love scenic place
  • great beach view
  • enjoy private beach
  • great malibu beach dining experience
  • not recommend restaurant
  • great beach location
  • great dollar drinks
  • great spot
  • huge cheeseburger
  • great atmosphere
  • unpleasant attitude
  • fresh seafood
  • worst experiences
  • nice waitress
  • tasteless drinks
  • pricey place
  • recommend oysters
  • rude blooded hostess
  • bad management
  • chaotic menu
  • bad food
  • nice meal
  • unfriendly servers

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