StillWater Spirits & Sounds

The deep fried shrimp is awesome. The glaze is fantastic. Highly recommend. Service is excellent and the cocktails are perfect. Great place to hang for dinner outside on the patio. Everything was wonderful. Will definitely go back!!!

We didn’t get any food, so I can’t see if it was good or bad. But the service was fine and the atmosphere was a lot of fun. The live band they had was so good that almost everybody was dancing. I think if you’re in the area on a Friday or Saturday, and you just wanna let your footloose, stop in here. I’m sure you’ll have a great time.

This bar/restaurant is very lively, it’s in a great location and the food is delicious.

Nice looking place but unfortunately the experience was spoiled by bad service. Arrived mid afternoon on a Saturday and not many customers at the time. Sat at the bar prepared to order a beer and light lunch. Took the bartender about 5 minutes to acknowledge me while making drinks right in front of me. Finally got my beer and ordered some food. Bartender acknowledged food order. 30 minutes later and still no food, I paid for my beer and left. If this is how the service is on an easy day, can you imagine it at a busy time?

Came here for their highly rated patio and good ratings and was extremely impressed with everything. Very clean, delicious drinks and huge selection to go off of. Fish and chips were the best my wife and I have ever ate and our server was absolutely amazing, very knowledgeable with drinks and the menu and gave good advice on what to try. Would definitely return here and recommend visiting for anyone who is thinking about it! I didn’t get to see the inside as I only stayed at the outside patio/bar area and the only thing that would make this better is location (there wasn’t much of a view outside).

The service was some of the best I've ever had, and the staff was friendly and helpful throughout the entire evening. The food was absolutely amazing, with every dish declaring its own unique flavor and quality. Along with the food, the live music made the atmosphere of the place just perfect. The restaurant and bar itself was a comfortable and luxurious spot that delivered a great experience. Overall, I highly recommend StillWater to anyone looking for a great night out with excellent food, drinks, service, and music. Five stars!

2 nights in a row for wedding party. First night, very confusing to find room and no service for late guests. Almost left and missed my family. Suggest big chalk boards with party name outside guest rooms. 2nd day reception. Food was plentiful and staff was on top of redistribution. Full bar for reception. No organizer for flow of activities.

The food was really good. The burrito was legendary. Went on a Sunday and it was super busy for the school of rock concert. The ice water was a little sus, several of our drinks had weird black sand like grains at the bottom of the cup. Maybe check/clean ice filter?? Not sure what the issue was with that but otherwise it’s a fun place with great food.

StillWater is a cool spot on the corner of Golden Lantern and Del Prado in Dana Point. They have a great outdoor patio, with a bar in the middle, and then a huge inside where they'll often have bands, fun line dancing nights, and even karaoke. I was really impressed by the quality of the food. From what I understand, the owner is really into organic and health conscious foods. Also, I love seeing N/A drinks and even mocktails on the menu! I had the Don't Mock Me mocktail and it was so good that I ordered 2! Their bar is really inviting and the bartenders are working hard! Our server, Antoine was hustling too! It was a busy Saturday night and we had a great time.

Stillwater = Happy Hour Heaven If you know, you know -- Stillwater is that Dana Point local gem that never misses. The real MVP here? Happy hour + live music. Every. Single. Time. They've got a killer happy hour (like actually worth it -- not one of those fake "$1 off" scams), and there's always live music happening. Whether it's a chill acoustic set or full-on band vibes, it totally makes the place feel like a lil hometown concert. Pro tip: seats go FAST. Like blink and the patio's full. Definitely try to call ahead or get there early, especially if you're tryna post up for music + drinks. Honestly, the music is the main character here. Such a vibe, every time. Come for the happy hour, stay for the tunes. And maybe a lil boogie if the band's feelin' it

Large patio, good service, great Happy Hour specials and dog friendly! We've been there at 4 or later both times and the patio seems to be the place to be.

Well, I went back to this great restaurant because the manager sent me a message after my last review and said He would honor to buy me a new fire oven pizza since my last one was cold. I showed it to our waiter Chuey and he brought me a free piazza. Now that's great customer service. By the way, the pizza was excellent. Thanks to the Owner and Chuey. The atmosphere was a very soothing vibe and even though it was starting to get crowded, we were able to have a peaceful conversation on the patio. Service was excellent and I strongly recommend this establishment.

Had another fantastic time there! Decided to have dinner before the band started. A lot of choices, tough to pick. Great meal, excellent servers and I haven't even started on the band. It's amazing how the crowd reacts to The Brightsiders. Singing along to every song. That's the last Saturday of every month. Every Thursday, the band plays live for karaoke and you can play video games with the kids.

Was staying in the area and decided to have lunch here after reading some glowing reviews on Yelp. We were lucky to get parking in the tiny parking lot right in front, were immediately greeted and seated. We shared the blistered shishito peppers appetizer, which was served piping hot on a cute little iron skillet. My husband had the tri tip sandwich and I chose the spicy seafood pasta. Although my dish was not spicy to me, it was flavorful and delicious; with huge pieces of fish, shrimp, calamari and mussels. Portions are large and pricing is reasonable for the area. Service was great as well. Overall had a nice experience!

Came for a meetup group to hear some live music from the 80s cover band fast times. The band took the stage a little late due to the bar watching the Paul/Tyson fight lasting all 8 rounds. Band was great, 3 sets of 35 mminutes each with a half hour break between sets. Ordered 2 vodka Collins to drink. Server was busy bbut checked back in every 30 minutes or so. Drinks were good, prices were about what I was expecting. No cover charge to see the show so a great value imo. I'd see another show here and might come back to try dinner.

Great vibes and staff was very attentive. I got the espresso martini and my friend got the bloody mary. Food came out quick as well.

Stillwater is great. You can catch good food and some fun different groups for music etc. food is good and it's not too pricey!

Nice looking place but unfortunately the experience was spoiled by bad service. Arrived mid afternoon on a Saturday and not many customers at the time. Sat at the bar prepared to order a beer and light lunch. Took the bartender about 5 minutes to acknowledge me while making drinks right in front of me. Finally got my beer and ordered some food. Bartender acknowledged food order. 30 minutes later and still no food, I paid for my beer and left. If this is how the service is on an easy day, can you imagine it at a busy time?

What a fun evening! We decided to drop in to this place since we saw that it had live "cowboy" music every Wednesday. The band that was playing was, I believe "Jenna Bryanne". They were absolutely fantastic. The unfortunate thing was that they were a replacement for the regular band so the place was rather empty. Every song was so good, they played 3 hours straight, no breaks. What a band. As for the food, we enjoyed the special fried chicken and a burrata pizza. But the woman that waited on us made it extra special. She took care of the customers inside and outside on the patio all by herself. She smiled and was so nice the entire evening. Not sure how she did it but she deserves something special!! Considering how much she was doing, her attitude was spectacular. THANK YOU for this.

Get there by 5:30pm the latest to get parking and enjoy Happy Hour! Love the atmosphere, they are also pet friendly. The portions are good and shareable. Been here a few times and I must say the servers need to check on their tables better. Some in my group wanted to order a second drink but the server never came by.

Came by a few weeks ago and had a great experience. The staff were very friendly and the Nachos were delicious! The atmosphere was the best part. Will definitely be back soon!

This was absolutely the best . Service and food outstanding. You won't find better. Easy parking as well .

Last minute decision after amazing sushi... came to Still Water with no expectation and to my surprise had an amazing time. Walking in the patio had a great vibe, cover charge was $10 but they accepted a card not just cash. And then there was a live band! Olivia the lead singer, was amazing!!!!! Had the best time!

Everything here is lovely. Starting with location and set up! I love the options of indoor Or outside patio Sitting. It's beautiful here. Close to the ocean & marina. The service is amazing and the food is delicious, lots of options! Drinks - huge selection of beers on tap. I like how the list of cocktails on the menu is divided by the hard alcohol that is made with. So when you know you only like Lott to other occurs, you can simply look at the vodka cocktail list and same for other liquors. Live music on the weekends! Popular bands play here!! Inside & outdoors TV's show sports Absolutely perfect place. I highly recommend this wonderful place.

Yet another bar where the bartenders think they get to round down the change. If my change is $10.40, why do I only get $10 back? Repeatedly. How much extra $ are these bartenders pocketing every night?

It's very spacious. The staff were nice. I only have one complaint about them cutting off the power for the outside exactly at 8pm and not allowing any grace time to bands to wrap it up. Kinda rude

Went to Stillwater on St. Patrick's Day around 7 pm and had friends meet us at 8 pm, as it was a Monday and we all work, we could not hanging around drinking all day, but wanted to enjoy the festivities and live within walking distance of Stillwater and dined/had drinks there before and like to support local businesses. My husband and I ordered drinks and dinner right away and my meal arrived 15 after his, not great. Our friends arrived at 8 and ordered dinner and drinks and at 8:30 (close at 9) they were removing decorations behind us and throughout so when we left at 9:20 after spending $300 we couldn't even get a nice photo in front with the , etc,! What happened to being gracious until customers, especially those spending good leave!?!Went today to let the Manager know about my disappointment and he cut me off after a few minutes and said "you can go anywhere, you choose to come here"! Are you serious! I guess in the future we will spend our anywhere else! Unbelievable! FYI had to bring our own swag!

Chose Stillwater for friends and family to meet and celebrate me and my fiancés engagement. Initially emailed Joey who was fantastic and helped set aside the outdoor area we wanted as well as coordinate food and drink options. All the staff were very accommodating and attentive the whole afternoon we were there. Could not have chose a better place.

Love this place. Very playful, and party-like ambiance. The service is absolutely on point. Friendly staff & delicious food. Gorgeous IPA beer selection. The potatoes are out of this world!

Amazing food and great staff! The location is beautiful and really enjoyed everything.

Such a friendly atmosphere where everyone seems to know one another. Food is yummy and drinks are perfect!! I love having their skinny margarita and my new fav is the espresso martini/ carajillo!! Must order that drink!!

Food was great, ambience was chill, and service was on point! Will definitely try this place again. Especially when they have live music!

This place is rad. The drinks cost more than what it says on here but the vibe is great. I saw Tunnel Vision and had a blast. Such a cool vibe and so much fun.

Really excellent restaurant. The waitress was friendly, the food was great and the entertainment was amazing. The restaurant has some nice outside seating, but we were there to see the No Doubt Tribute band that night and wanted to sit inside. FYI, if you call for a reservation, make sure you get some kind of text confirmation because I called and talked to someone but never got a confirmation and they didn't have me written down. Thankfully they still hooked us up with a table. We got the Brussels, the chili, the carnitas nachos and the calamari. I wouldn't get the chili again, but the other items were all really great. The Brussels had a great sauce and the chips in the nachos were fresh and crispy. The calamari had great seasoning. The band was crazy good and was a great pick by the restaurant.

So disappointed!! We lived nearby when we frequented StillWater often and it was always great! We went tonight for an welt dinner. I had a Stillwater Salad With fried Chicken . He chicken was so tough it inedible! The rest of the food was mediocre At best My husband ad the Eafod ad Chips. It was a Jumble Of different types of fried Sadie and hard To Distinguish one From the the other! Our guest had a burger and asked Fr It medium rare With well done Fries and ended up with a Medium well with the correct fries. He sent it back and ended up With barely coked Fries Ad a Med rare Burger. It was an older louder Drunker Crowd than when we Used to frequent the restaurant!! We are officially done. Just Terrible did!!

Such a fun place to chill! Not a place to dress up but especially for guys who want to show up with shorts and Sandals right off the beach is perfect. Great live music too.

This place is terrible The size of the portion of fish dinner is for a mouse and the charge was 32 dollars . Same with the yellow tail appetizer

Love, Love, Love your outdoor bar and dining. The cocktails served up by our favorite bartender, Freddie, are delicious and prompt. The atmosphere is friendly and energetic, food quite yummy. Taco Tuesday is a blast!!

Our group of 20 homeschool moms from all parts of OC escaped our children and husbands in the pouring rain to descend on this outdoor patio on a Friday evening! The copious heating lamps and outdoor fire embedded in the long tables created a much needed ambiance for our catch-up conversations! The servers were friendly and attentive and we were able to order some drinks and appetizers before happy hour closed at 6pm. Entree portions are shareable so something to keep in mind before the sticker shock of the tomahawk or surf and turf. Parking is in the lot right after the restaurant or find residential streetside parking a block over. The bathrooms are outside and alittle sketchy, but not state park smelly. Life music at 9pm if you're willing to stay out! This mom started yawning at 8:30pm though!

Came here for a dinner after an amazing dolphin and whale watching tour at the harbor. What a great place to end the night! We ordered the spicy shrimp pasta, del Prado burger, fish and chips plates. We also had Cabernet wine. Our least favorite were the fish and chips. The spicy shrimp pasta was amazing and paired wonderfully with the red wine. Customer service was amazing! We were seated immediately and checked on often.

For one of my first experiences at still water. I have to say it was a good one. Fernando our server was very intuitive. He was very quick in drinks. Always checking in at the right time! What a absolute sweetheart! I highly recommend this place! And if your lucky like I was. Your server will be Fernando!

Great dinner on the patio. Service was excellent. Shared the tri tip sandwich and it was perfect. Prices slightly on the higher side but definitely worth it for the quality.

Freddie is the BOMB!! Makes the best drinks!! Timely. Friendly. Refills arrive before you are empty. Will specialize the drink to your liking!! So many delicious option's! I've been coming here for over 12 years before it was even Stillwater but Freddie has topped it off!! Come say hi! You'll be happy!

Fantastic customer service at the outdoor bar, thoroughly enjoyed sitting there for couple of hours for beer with friends. The selection of beer on tap was limited but we found options that we liked. The house IPA was pretty good. I took off two stars for the food. We ordered a pizza and burger. On Yelp we saw a picture of sausage and jalapeños pizza and asked if they offer it, the answer was yes. The pizza was very good but we were confused when we receive the bill. It was much more expensive than all the other pizzas on the menu with three toppings. But again it was delicious so we didn't mind it. What was disappointing was the burger. I read the menu twice and there is no mention of bacon in it... I don't eat and can't stand the flavor of bacon. The burger arrived and it tasted very much like bacon! I opened the sandwich and did not see anything, looked at the burger patty and again could not see bacon bits but it was reeking of bacon smell and flavor. Now if you are a bacon lover you will enjoy this, but if you're not you would be really turned off as I was. I asked our server and he was very nice, he said he didn't know if there was bacon mixed in the meet but as he picked up my plate he agreed there's a very strong smell of bacon coming off the burger and offered to change the plate. Unfortunately I had completely lost my appetite by then. Overall a good experience, what I noticed is most patrons are locals and very friendly towards each other. Reminded me of "Cheers". Hi

Had the best time! The Kettle One Espresso Martini machine was top shelf! Also, met some fun people and danced the night away. The ambiance was unmatched compared to other places nearby. Slayyy

Went for a date-night and was served by Maria - she was phenomenal and very attentive; we also got to see a great show by the Brightsiders!! Have been here a handful of times and will continue to frequent. The wood-fire pizza was also phenomenal! I do wish their reservations system worked better or MGMT responded to emails and the calamari was chewy.

This place is awesome! Great service, delicious food, full bar and super fun bands! I've been here a few times to have dinner and drinks and see the live bands and it's always a great time. Maria is always so friendly and helpful on service. Had an issue trying to get a reservation one time but shout out to Joey for helping me get that taken care of, and he's been super great ever since. I highly recommend this place!

It's been years since writing a review, but I felt compelled to write a review and will be forever grateful! I also copied and pasted this same review on Google. Here goes... I celebrated a combo 50th birthday and engagement party here that included 70 guests. I was worried the restaurant would have a problem accommodating that many people and would fall short in their service and food, but I give them full credit for making it an amazing, fun night that I'll never forget. I love the outdoor bar and outdoor dining with another bar and music on the inside. It was conducive to a fun, social atmosphere. I picked a night that Yachty by Nature was playing and themed the party with yacht/resort wear. Stillwater even provided captains hats on the table for free! We had a buffet style of Chilean Sea bass and Filet Mignon, with some sides. I heard over and over from my guests the whole night how delicious the food was, especially the sea bass. Joey and Javier are the managers that helped me with the planning, and they assigned us 2 servers (Lauren & Miguel) that did and excellent job at keeping the drink orders going. Javier's joyful and celebratory attitude kept things light and me at ease. Some of my guests are thinking about having future parties there, and I will definitely consider having future events there again. Thanks again Stillwater for making it my best birthday ever! My fiance and I like to go there on occasions for live music and food, so we'll see you around Javier and Lauren if you're reading this!

Bad management killed a good atmosphere... Respect the bands you hire, and don't destroy their property. Won't be returning

The staff here went above and beyond to show me a wonderful Saturday. I got to watch a great game on an extra large tv. I ordered the fish tacos, prosciutto stone fruit burrata salad, butter chocolate cake, Freddy margarita, and maple Irish coffee. All were delicious. A talented band played in the evening and there was a lively crowd on the dance floor!

Stillwater Spirits and Sounds is a definite locals fun spot. Located in Dana Point, the outdoor patio is great most of the year and indoors is spacious enough to host bands and large groups alike. As a venue they host regular music nights but be aware that they have different cover charges per night, and if there is a cover, you can use only go inside if you pay for the music event. We had fun on Labor Day when they had a reggae event but stayed outside on the patio for food and drinks so didn't pay a cover ($25) to hear the music. The food is tasty and leans California/Mexican with things like chipotle spiced nachos with carnitas as an add-on option, fish tacos with a crema sauce, bbq ribs, ceviche, and similar vibe items. Prices are standard for the area. Drinks are reasonable to even a little underpriced as of Summer 2023 such as Kim Crawford sauvignon blanc for $11/glass, Modelo on tap $6/glass. Overall, it is a great place for a group hangout and a fun enough place for a date night. We will go again,

We had a terrible experience, unfortunately at our local (former favorite) Dana Point spot, Stillwater. Covid is over, prices are up but, evidently, Stillwater can't find servers. It was so bad, our server took our orders and we never saw her again. Literally had to order our drinks at the bar. Food came out all individually for all four people. Husband's calamari AND Mac n cheese were ice cold. They remade hot, which was great. When the bill was brought, I was about to sign it and thought it seemed a bit high. Low and behold, noticed they charged twice on the two that were remade. Manager came over, told us he removed the "extras" and apologized. Given the lack of service and mess up, I felt he should have removed those from the bill totally. Bad customer experience all around. No plans to return anytime soon.

I've been going regularly for many years. They're constantly working to improve the dining/bar/music venue experience. Taco Tuesdays are our favorite but it's also an incredible live music menu later in the evening. Damien and Pedro work diligently to make sure that your food is great and that you feel welcome. If you happen to have Freddy as a bartender, you have to try his Cadillac Margarita or the Freddy's Fiesta...he's the best bartender in town!

If I could give this place 10 stars, I would!!! This is exactly what I look for on a Sunday football funday!! Ariana is by far the BEST bartender anyone could hope for. She was super sweet and accommodating and friendly! The pizza was amazing! And to top it off, my friend and I were getting hot from the sun and Armando brought over an umbrella to make us comfortable! I will gladly drive 40 minutes from Orange just to come here!!

Stopped by to get desert. They were out of the chocolate cake. Got the baked Alaska. Never getting that again.

Stillwater is one of those local favorites that everybody likes to go to even on nights when they don't have live music which was last night... It was just such a beautiful warm night in Dana Point. I decided, because I was really in the mood for nachos, to have them dairy free style. They were absolutely delicious and my friend just devoured the barbecue chicken pizza... Follow that with a couple of their Moscow mules... it's a good time. ;-)

A place for everyone and for anything. Food, Adult drinks, Sports, and live music. Just all around great place to spend a Saturday not of dinner and entertainment or a Sunday of football. Please GO and enjoy!!!