Zan L.
Yelp
Located right on the water on the west side of the PCH in Pacific Palisades. Gladstones is a nice brunch or lunch option but the biggest selling point is the view and not really the food. They also have another location down in OC. Gladstones is a more casual version of Moonshadows down the street. They have a very large parking lot attached that offers valet and self parking. However, you must check in with the attendant first and parking is $15 for self parking, which I believe is a bit expensive given that for beach parking in the exact same parking lot it's $8. I wanted to lie and say I was going to the beach instead, but figured they would watch me walk into the restaurant. Kind of odd that there are two different pricing choices, especially given that most people will stay a shorter time at the restaurant versus the beach. Inside they have a lot of seating options, both indoor and out. Inside is designed kind of strangely with huge open areas in the middle of the booths that are pushed up against the walls. It could definitely use a touchup on the inside and some modernization. Pricing is a bit expensive but that's to be expected for the location. This is not really elevated food location so that's why I don't suggest it as a dinner location, which is what we had for our visit. Our server was pretty nice, although very slow to check in on us and especially to come over and bring the menus at the start. The hostess was very polite though.
When we arrived for our 6:30PM Saturday dinner all of the outside tables were taken so we chose to sit inside. We sat at the booths on the inside right against the water, which was nice view. All of the booths are quite uncomfortable though and the cushions definitely need to be replaced. They have a very large menu filled with all sorts of seafood classics, but I decided to try their seasonal menu because one of my favorite items was on it, which was were Sand Dabs. A very classic LA and West Coast only fish dish so I could not avoid that. It was actually pretty good, although the sides could've been better. It's a very easy fish to cook so I expected it to have some great buttery flavor. I also started with a Clam Chowder Bread Bowl and thought that was very good. It could have had more clams in it, but I enjoyed it as a starter.
Overall, it was a nice meal, but could've been better. It seems like Malibu does not have a lot of great food quality options but more so places that have good scenery. Even Moonshadows, Nobu, and Duke's are surpassed food quality wise by other places more inland. Giorgio Baldi just west of the PCH for example. You come here for the view and that's the main reason.