Cove Azul Bar & Grill

Best food in Gualala. Addicting French fries. Salmon grilled perfectly. I spent a couple weeks in the area and tried a number of restaurants. Cove Azul turned out to be my go to restaurant for lunch. Cooper gives it five wags.

What a cool place to stop and have a meal and something to wash it down! Their fish and chips is delicious! They have REAL French fries too. Just wish there were more than a handful. Nice light batter, not too greasy and the fries were just sooooo darn good. Service was spot on too! They also have great outdoor seating with views of the ocean. You can't beat it! Its on the second floor so you get a really good vantage point. Worth a stop in just for a beer and view alone. The food is just a big bonus!

I would definitely visit again. Location is great, service was nice. Ordering Shrimp Louie was probably not the best idea. There was just nothing remarkable about it, although that dish leaves so many options to be a bit creative. Next time I‘ll order oysters, sandwich or a burger.

Good food. I had Azul burger. Wife had prawn sandwich and clam chowder. Both very good. Nice views. Service was a little lacking, may have just been our waiter. Host was prompt and welcoming

Wow! What a find! I’m visiting Gualala and wanted a nice dinner after a long day of travel. The server was so friendly and accommodating I placed an order for a soup- clam chowder which was perfect- and a salad but changed my mind about the salad and asked if I could switch- no problem and boy was I not disappointed! It was a massive bed of spinach with feta cheese, fresh crispy bacon all chopped up and walnuts- the dressing was avocado honey mustard I think - anyway it was just delicious and exactly what I wanted. As for the atmosphere , well you can’t get any better than a view of the pacific! Dining room was cozy and nice clean decor. I’ll be back here for sure because the menu items looked amazing- pasta, fish, and other interesting dishes. Yum!

Very atmosphered place with good food and bar with billiard! Bar was opened even after hours and serving with perfect cold beer. Food just regular, tasty for this price and portions are huge. Staff is friendly and everything was quick. We ordered a greek salad with fish and chips. All is fresh, fish is tasty and only minus just for fries. Recommending!

Delicious food, great service. Awesome view. Would highly recommend.

After a walk at Gualala park, we were hungry and remembered the Cove Azul made a great burger, so we came in for a late lunch. We had the spicy burger. It was spicy and very juicy. Several napkins were required. The French fries were house made. While they could have ben crispier, they were good. The service was fast and efficient. There's a nice view of the ocean from the dining room.

Get the calamari. Don't question it, just do it. Thank me later. Also, atmosphere is fun and fits the semi-casual vibe of the coast. But get the calamari.

The food is amazing here, you will leave happy and satisfied! We ate at the bar, and the bartender was so friendly, helpful, and made great recommendations. Cute upstairs bar and restaurant!

What a great experience! Everyone was so friendly, and the food was both delicious and affordable. The views from up on the hill overlooking the ocean were absolutely gorgeous. Great beers too! Fish and chips were just $13, and $43 for all the food you see in the pic--so worth it. Can't wait to go back!

After a 4 mile hike and not eating until 3pm, the tri tip sandwich gave me life. Super lean, awesome flavor , and the calamari was bomb. Service was great, views of the river and ocean , beer on tap, and the list goes on. My wife got a burger and my daughter got chicken tenders and fries. Thank you cove Azul! See you next time

The view is outstanding (Bonus: whale viewing deck above the restaurant). The food was just okay but wildly expensive, the bathrooms are in disrepair, and the service was not good. This is the only restaurant open on days (Monday and Tuesday) when most others are closed, so we went here twice during our week in Gualala. The first time was not great, but we gave it a second chance and the second time was not great. We tried most restaurants in town and found this one to be the most overpriced and the least welcoming. We tried four seafood dishes and all were just okay. The best of the four was the blackened red snapper. It's a casual dining experience in a beautiful location which works for us. However, the service was just not good. We had the same server twice and she was not friendly and inattentive. We don't require much, but maybe we needed another drink or more water. We still tipped well both times as servers don't get a living wage regardless of the customer's experience. This is true in the Midwest where I'm from - but maybe different in CA. **There were two other servers I noticed who seemed much friendlier and welcoming. The bathroom toilet paper was a roll on the back of the seat and the paper towel holder was held together with duct tape. For a restaurant charging $26/plate, they could make more of an effort to improve the environment.

First time here, and came because my friend recommended it! We sat outside because we had our dogs, and the view is beautiful! It overlooks the water, and you get to breathe in the fresh air. Service was great, and our waiter got a bowl of water for our dogs. We had fried calamari, fish and chips, and the burger with clam chowder. I loved how the calamari were big strips, so you get a lot of the meat. The batter was super crispy and tasty. The same batter is used for the fish and chips, and it was delicious! Again, it was crispy and had just the right amount of salt. The fish itself was soft and melted in my mouth. My hubby doesn't like fish, but he said this was good because he didn't get that fishy taste. Definitely better than the fish and chips I got in bodega bay. Be ready for grease though! The batter is kind of greasy. Clam chowder was great too! Overall a great place to grab a bit and enjoy the view. Would totally come back!

I don't get the bad reviews. My wife and went here. The calamari was great. The crab louie was great (and huge). I liked our servers. The place was rocking. Super fun vibe. Coming from San Francisco, it was extremely affordable.

One table left, a "4 top" and I was a solo diner, nobody else waiting. I was told "we need to save the bigger tables for bigger parties ".... Definitely won't be back... I guess local $ don't spend the same as tourist $. Only giving 1 star because 0 isn't an option

Really good spot. Food was great, even if the kitchen mis-read my wife's order, it was still a good meal. Try and keep better stock of your non-alcholic beers!

My wife and I went into Cove Azul on 8-8-24 or near that date. Only 2 people at a table in the place. Nobody else seated in the place. We got our menus and then waited about 15 minutes for someone to take our order. Nobody showed and I figured I would give them 2 more minutes. After that we got up and left. I can't figure out why any manager/owner would let that happen. Especially when there are two people seated willing to spend $50.00+ on lunch. Never waisting my time there again.

They give you a lot of food for the price and everything tasted fine! It has a very homestyle taste almost like someone's grandma making this. So don't expect like fine dining or stellar service. They very much have an attitude of eat here or not, we don't care.

Hodge-podge menu that has everything from seafood, to pasta and burgers. Came by at 4:30pm on a weeknight, ordered a drink at the bar and sat on their deck overlooking the Pacific. Their kitchen is closed between 2pm-5pm, so we waited 30 min before we could order. Got the Caesar salad with salmon, seafood platter and dungeness crab sandwich with fries. The grilled salmon made the Caesar salad! The seafood platter was OK, but a little greasy and heavy on the breading for me. The dungeness crab sandwich came on a brioche bun, and was rich and satisfying. Portions are large enough to share, my partner and I split 2 entrees and and appetizer and definitely had leftovers. Great for the gorgeous view, accessible menu options for picky eaters (or those looking for seafood), a little pricey for the quality but the deliver on quantity.

Food was very good. The portions were very generous. The staff was friendly and it was fairly crowded for a Tuesday night.

Wife and I stopped here during our trip up the coast. The view was nice on the patio and the service was fairly good overall. The food however was..well..let's just say the chef might need some assistance. We ordered fried fish tacos which were basically inedible - soggy, limp, and totally covered in salsa. The salsa contributed to making the fish even more soggy, so it really was not something I would imagine anyone enjoying. The French fries were quite good, but also a bit too oily. My veggie pasta order was creative and a good portion size, but also very oily. I have to say that I did like the pasta and was happy with my food, so overall I would say just be careful on what you order. Also the menu was really all over the place (lacking any specific style) so I think it might help the chef if it was simplified. With more consistent food this place could be quite nice, as the service, view, and creative menu were all good, but it just wasn't quite there on our visit.

The place was busy and quite noisy but the food was good. Their version of chicken cordon bleu was very tasty.

Great service on a busy Tuesday evening. The seafood platter was yum and yummer. Adding a few more characters so this will post :-)

The service was slow and the food was okay. Unfortunately, it was the only place opened on Monday in Gualala. The skinny waitress with a long black hair dress in needs to learn to provide the same level of service to all customers. Two stars for other waitresses in following up customer needs.

Great pit stop for food!! The service was great, and their clam chowder is amazing! May be one of the best I've ever had. The fish tacos were good, fries are okay. The seafood linguini was good but a bit toooo creamy for my taste. I couldn't finish the pasta but the seafood itself was good. If you're lucky to get a window table, you get a great view with your food.

Great food with a great view and reasonably priced. Best Greek salad I've had in decades and my dad loves the BLT's. Fresh and flavorful.

So happy we ate here! The Sea Bass Veracruz dish was so flavorful. I thought about it for days afterwards and even tried to recreate it at home. I dream of when I can visit Gualala and eat here again.

My mom and I came here for dinner last night and the food didn't seem very fresh, the lettuce and veggies in the salad were old and wilted and the dressing tasted off, I ended up getting sick from it.. Don't get me wrong the service was great and they're very nice people, it's just that the food didn't taste fresh..

Great restaurant with delicious and reasonably priced food. Great views! Service was a little slow but we were glad about it. Talking and looking out at the rugged ocean on a stormy day made it a non-issue for us. We all had the fish and chips and they were delicious! Cooked to perfection, not greasy. They did it well.

Super quaint little restaurant on the second floor of the Cypress Village shopping plaza. As a big city gal, this kind of small independently owned establishment excites me and I will be the first to support any and all I come across and like. As there is a no dog policy in the restaurant and I had just driven into town with my dog, I ordered the Stuffed Salmon entree with this amazing creamy tomato sauce and Steamed Mussels appetizer for takeout. I was one of the first people to arrive at the restaurant right when it opened at 5 PM, so the wait for my order was fairly short, under 15-20 minutes. First off, all of the seafood was prepared piping hot when it was handed to me. Upon getting to my Airbnb, I was happily surprised by the large size of the mussels and the generous serving of about 7-8 mussels for $9.50 (for that price, I'd expect 4-5 mussels at 60% of these sizes in SF). The salmon was baked to perfection, the sauce blended very well with both the crab stuffing and the fish itself. I thought crab on salmon would be overkill, but this homey dish did it for me. Also for $26 for this amazing entree, you get two choices for sides (I picked garlic mashed potatoes and lentil soup). I would definitely come back, their lunch menu looked quite delicious too (especially the pasta and sandwiches) - a customer walking out also highly recommended their salads. Lastly, I would try dine in because the far side of the restaurant has a DIRECT view of the ocean and I got to watch a beautiful sunset from the balcony as I waited for my food.

Great service. Had the ahi tuna sandwich and steak sandwiches, along with beer and a margarita. Dog friendly for outside dining - and ocean view!

This place was great! Only did some appetizers and drinks . Coconut shrimp and mussels were awesome . We will be back !

Great place to eat!!!! We come here every time we're in town. Let me add this; everything throughout the years I've ever ordered has always been superb, delicious.. The next time you're in town stop in and eat, you will have no regrets.. #CaesarSalad #ClamChowder#FishandChips#Fish lTacos

This restaurant is outstanding and the best in the area for quality and value. We have been eating here for years and it is extremely consistent. The calamari appetizer is exquisite - melts in your mouth. Don't miss the Spicy Burger - perfectly cooked with a massive patty and wonderful flavor. Pastas are also top notch. Service can be variable depending on how busy they are and how new the staff are so just be patient. Add in amazing views of Gualala and the Pacific Ocean and a sunny pet-friendly patio and you have it all. Beer and wine are great but the bartender doesn't do well with some cocktails so be careful. We had an awful pisco sour there. You can pay a lot more for less at Vue, St Orres or the Lodge. Or you can pay a little bit less for lot lower quality at any of the mexican places. Trink's, across the road is ok but can not compete for menu selection or even burger quality.

We had take-out from here a couple of times while we stayed at local Airbnb and the food was great! I loved every item I ordered. We definitely recommend Cove Azul Bar & Grill if you are nearby.

I was so excited to go here but unfortunately didn't get to love it like I was hoping to! Service was ok, ran around like it was super busy when it wasn't which was kind of different but ok not a bad thing! We sat by the window which had a wonderful view, but there were so many dead spiders with lots of cobwebs on the window....inside!! It grossed me out to the point where I almost left but decided to move to the other seat! The food was good! The French fries were delicious! The mixed fried seafood was pretty good but my husband wasn't too happy that they only gave us one of each item other than shrimp! Not a good sharing plate!? We like to share!! The clam chowder was pretty good, hubby liked it! The other people there seemed to enjoy themselves sitting outside which I would have loved to do but it was a little too cold for me! The other thing I didn't care for was their choice of dishware! Normally I don't care about that too much but I remember not liking how it felt/sounded when my fork hit the plate!? Super weird!!

Amazing location and ambience. We stopped by for dinner and service was great and dinner was amazing! My bf got a steak and it was gorgeous and delicious and I got the medallion pork chops and they melted in my mouth! Best dinner ever!

This was one of the only places open on Tuesday so we didn't have much of a choice. The Fish and chips, Cesar salad and chocolate cake were very good. Fries were amazing actually. I was pretty high though lol. But (big but) stay clear of anything "fancy". I ordered crab cakes which had good flavor but was mostly bread crumbs and mushy. My sister ordered a ribeye steak and we're pretty sure it was cooked from frozen. Was thin and seemed almost steamed with ornamental grill marks. Strange texture and shouldn't be on the menu if that's standard. We had a lot of fun though and it's a comfortable restaurant for a large family. Waitress was stellar- efficient and good at her job and not chatty.

For starters the bloody Marie was to Spicy to drink . The bread was nothing to talk about . The fish was greasy and to much batter . The fry's also greasy My wife had what she called a not so good crab sandwich more like a crab burger ground to a paste and fried. The food was probably 2 star couple that with terrible service and you get one star . No water refills. No offer for more cocktails that makes no sense on a profitability standpoint. The napkin and only one looked like it came out of a fast food napkin dispenser. Waited way to long with nothing to drink to get the table cleared . Then to long to be asked for dessert and a check. The other waiter he seemed to have it together well our waitress did not . I am a very generous tipper I didn't tip ! First time well I don't remember when . I guess location in a tourist spot is enough. We won't go back .

An absolute gem! Food was delicious so we decided to stay and drink at the bar. Had so much fun shooting pool and hanging with the locals. Wait staff and even the owner were fantastic!

I invite Gordon Ramsey to visit this place. It has so much potential but keeps missing the mark the few times I've come. The view is stunning. The food is mediocre. The whole restaurant needs a deep cleaning, including the bathrooms. The service is ok. The menu needs to be completely restructured. Not sure the connection to Cove Azul - there's a lot of seafood on the menu but I'm not sure how much of it is local. The vegetarian menu has a lot of pasta but no veggie burger offered with the other burgers. Again -- the menu is all over the place. The fries were not great. They tasted like they had been reheated. :( But - after driving all day, hungry, food is food, right?

Great service! Food was pretty decent and very reasonably priced, which was very surprising since we were in a very small town. We ordered the cioppino, buttered pasta, chicken wings, Caesar salad, and fish and chips. The seafood in the cioppino was very fresh. The wings were delicious. My son said the flavoring was perfect and wished we had ordered more. He got them plain and I like how they used the smaller wings versus the huge ones. Caesar salad would be a pass for us since I didn't care for the dressing. It was a little off. My husband said the fish and chips were fresh, but not spectacular.

I have eaten here multiple times in the last 6 months for lunch. It has been fantastic everytime. Service and food have been excellent. Highly recommend.

Called in my order and paid with credit card when we got to the restaurant during shelter in place. We've been burned by small town food before so when we stopped in at Cove Azul Bar & Grill, expectations were not high. We were definitely wrong and pleasantly surprised. Their most memorable dish was the Salmon Fish & Chips which was tasty, juicy, with NO fishy taste I usually associate with salmon. I didn't like the Veracruz Sea Bass as much, though I will say this is my first time having it so I'm not sure if it's just the dish itself I didn't like (rather than their preparation). Something about cheese and bay shrimp that didn't quite gel for me. We really liked the Crab Cake Sandwich, good flavor. The Caesar Salad was just ok but the Salmon we added to the dish was excellent, flavorful and well cooked.

I walked in and immediately felt super comfortable and welcomed. I ordered a glass of wine then looked at the menu. I'm telling you, the artichoke pasta with prawns was amazing!!! It's sometimes awkward to be by yourself, seriously not an issue and the food!! Just OMG! Highly recommended!

What a wonderful experience! The perfect seaside view, combined with the locally handcrafted art on every wall made for a great environment. Additionally, the variety of food offered was surprising, and everything tasted great. But the best quality about this place, is the quick and friendly service. It's worth your stop.

This place has gone downhill. The only thing nice is the view. The food is stale and greasy but I was hungry and ate some of it. Big mistake. It gave me diarrhea for two days. It's dirty looking. Not recommended

We were driving up to Mendocino from SF and we were about to go to another restaurant per recommendation. We ended up here as the other one was closed and we did not regret! It was a little busy when we arrived for lunch and we were seated quickly. Food was served in a quite efficient manner although there were one staff to serve and seat customers. To my surprise, food was amazing here! We ordered seafood platter and the shrimp louie. Portion were huge and the batter that the restaurant used for the seafood platter was amazing. Not greasy, very crunchy and I think it is the best fish and chips that I have in my life so far

It's a struggle finding somewhere to eat during Covid especially up on this NorCal coast so I was pretty excited that this place had a nice little doggie friendly patio outside. We were greeted warmly and had our choice of lunch or dinner menu items as we arrived right before 4. Our waiter was great, attentive and even brought water for our dog! We decided to order from the dinner menu so we could try a cup of the chowder which was creamy, fresh ands delicious! I decided to go out of my box and ordered the Sea Bass Veracruz...omg..... This fish was the freshest white flaky fish then topped with a very mild salsa, shrimp, Swiss cheese and some kalamata olives....I know it sounds weird but dude, this worked! I also had a side of jasmine rice and fresh roasted veggies. All the flavors blended together so well, such an amazing dish! I only ate half so I could have the rest for leftovers the next day. My husband had the seafood linguine and was in heaven... they were very generous with the seafood in the pasta and again it was all so fresh. We were stuffed! Must have been all that French bread with the clam chowder! I don't understand the 1stars on here, this was some great food and I would definitely return. The view of the ocean was a bonus!

We arrived at 3:45 and tge sign said the dining room closed at 4, so we thought we would end up getting food to go. What a nice surprise they were so kind to let us stay and fine. Great service. Food was prepared well abs quickly. . I had fish and chips with fries, others had salmon fish and chips and stuffed prawn sandwich. We each enjoyed our dairy. Fish was fresh and the batter was amazing! Fries were also tasty. Additionally they offered a military discount which as a veteran family is greatly appreciated. This is my favorite foodie spot in town !

Absolutely awesome service was great food was great view was spectacular got the crab and shrimp sandwich it's was sooo good wife got the veggie pasta she loved it got some bloodys the dill was nice but if you don't like dill ask to omit ...I love dill wife would have omit it

Great food (we had the fish and chips, and the cioppino). Both were cooked just right and the seafood was fresh. Large portions! Fresh bread before meal and nice garlic bread with th ciopinno. Average service but they were busy so its undertstandable. Very bad martini! Stick to beer and wine here. Decent selection of those. Nice patio dining, we had it to ourselves (the indoor dining was full-- with limited capacity due to COVID). Ocean view was pleasant (across the street and over the parking lot but still very nice).

Great patio service for the pup. Some of the best fish & chips. Crab Louis was great ‐ great dressing! - when everywhere else didn't have crab. We always stop here during our week at Sea Ranch and never disappointed.

A fun local spot to grab a drink and some down to earth food. My boyfriend and I enjoy hitting up their bar that has a pool table in the middle of it and nice view of the ocean. If it's not super crowded we enjoy playing a round but if there are people sitting you might have to ask them to move during a shot of pool. Last trip in we had the chicken pesto sandwich (substituted cheddar cheese for Swiss) with a side of clam chowder and the fish and chips. The sandwich was a nice lunchtime treat with good components and flavor. The clam chowder was a great consistency and taste. We also enjoyed the fish which had a light batter and were flaky.

Extremely cordial and attentive staff. Fun bar with a popular pool table. The menu has something for everyone.

What a great find! Friendly service, locals having a great time and solid prices. Ordered: Fish and Chips! - it was great! Clam chowder - ordered a cup, wish it were a bowl Burger - probably could've done without Definitely coming back next one we're in the area