Why Shoreside Restaurant Santa Monica Is Worth It — And the Shocking Truths You Need to Know First

Disclosure: This post contains references to inKind, a dining rewards platform I personally use. All opinions are entirely my own. I dined at Shoreside as a paying guest and was not compensated by the restaurant for this review.

There are days in nursing when you look at the clock at 2:47 PM, realize you haven’t eaten, sat down, or blinked in approximately six hours, and decide — with the kind of calm, clinical certainty you usually reserve for medication dosages — that you deserve a really, really good dinner. This was one of those days. And Shoreside Restaurant and Bar in Santa Monica was about to become my prescription.

Discovered on inKind, the brilliant dining rewards platform that lets you earn real money back to your account just for eating at restaurants you’d already want to visit, Shoreside beckoned with the promise of coastal vibes, a warm inviting atmosphere, and — most critically for a registered nurse operating on approximately 40% battery — food that would make the whole week worth it. The 20% back to my inKind account after the meal? That was just the universe confirming I’d made the right call.

The Ambiance at Shoreside: Beautiful, Warm, and Aggressively Windy Outside

Shoreside has the kind of setting that makes you exhale the moment you walk in. It’s warm, inviting, and carries that effortless coastal energy that Santa Monica does so well. The interior is relaxed but polished — the kind of place where you feel comfortable in jeans but wouldn’t be out of place in a blazer. We were immediately charmed.

We wanted to eat outside. My husband and I had discussed it the entire drive over. Fresh air. Ocean-adjacent atmosphere. The kids swinging their feet under the table while we sipped something cold and watched the sky do its thing. We had a plan.

What we had not planned for was Santa Monica’s coastal microclimate deciding to exercise its full range of abilities that particular evening.

Friends, the wind was not playing around. This was not a gentle, romantic breeze. This was the kind of wind that sends napkins into orbit, turns menu cards into dangerous projectiles, and causes small children to reconsider their seating choices. The staff — genuinely lovely people — rose to the occasion immediately. They brought blankets. They cranked up the outdoor heaters. They did everything humanly possible to make that patio work for us. We wrapped ourselves in blankets like a family of burritos, squinted bravely into the gale for approximately seven minutes, and then silently, unanimously agreed that we were moving inside. No words were spoken. The decision simply happened.

Inside was warm, calm, and wonderful. Lesson firmly learned: before booking outdoor coastal dining in Santa Monica, check the wind forecast. Your hair, your napkins, and your children will thank you.

The Drinks at Shoreside: Two Shirley Temples That Deserve Their Own Paragraph

My kids landed on Shirley Temples, and these were genuinely beautiful. Bright, fizzy, presented with a cheerfulness that made the children feel like they were dining somewhere truly special — which they were. Grenadine, ginger ale, a maraschino cherry perched on top like a tiny ruby crown — classics executed with care. Sometimes the non-alcoholic drinks are the real stars of the table, and Shoreside delivered here without hesitation. The smiles those glasses produced were worth every penny.

The Starters: Where Shoreside Absolutely Earns Its Stripes

We began with the Roasted Garlic Hummus, and I want to be completely clear: this was not Tuesday-from-a-plastic-tub hummus. This was the real thing — silky, deeply savory, roasted to perfection, with a garlic presence that announced itself confidently without being aggressive about it. The grilled pita arrived warm with gorgeous char marks, and the seasonal vegetables were fresh, crisp, and genuinely colorful. The whole spread was beautiful. This starter set an excellent tone for the table and made everyone immediately more optimistic about the decision to be here.

Then came the Yellowtail Crudo, and this is the dish that made me audibly say “oh wow” in a restaurant — something I do not do casually. Crudo, the Italian-inspired preparation of thinly sliced raw fish seasoned simply with acid and aromatics, is a dish where freshness is everything. As Serious Eats notes, the best crudo is defined entirely by the quality of its fish and the precision of its balance. Shoreside’s version used impeccably fresh yellowtail, laid with elegant care over a bright, umami-rich ginger ponzu. Crisp Persian cucumber, jewel-toned watermelon radish, tangy pickled red onion, and a delicate heat from serrano peppers completed the picture. This dish was light, visually stunning, and tasted as fresh as something you’d find steps from the ocean — which, to be fair, is more or less where we were. If you order nothing else at Shoreside, order the crudo. It is remarkable.

The Kids’ Course at Shoreside: A Meatball Moment That Did Not Quite Land

My children — who possess the discerning palates of tiny food critics and the patience of, well, children — ordered the kids’ pasta with meatballs. Here is where I must be honest with you in the way that only a nurse who has delivered difficult news professionally can be: the kids were disappointed. The pasta was fine. The meatballs were fine. But when you are a child who has just watched your parents receive the most beautiful yellowtail crudo you’ve ever seen in your short life, “fine” doesn’t quite deliver the emotional payoff you were hoping for. They ate it. They did not celebrate it. One of my children stared at my crudo with the thousand-yard look of someone who had made a strategic error at the appetizer stage.

For families visiting with little ones, I’d suggest exploring a bit beyond the kids’ menu if your children are adventurous eaters. This kitchen is clearly capable of extraordinary things, and the kids’ pasta didn’t reflect that same level of culinary ambition. A missed opportunity, though the little ones survived and have since recovered fully.

The Main Event at Shoreside: A Ribeye That Will Make Your Soul Sing and Your Wallet Sob

Let us discuss the Coffee Spice Rubbed Ribeye. This is a 14 oz. boneless prime Harris Ranch ribeye, and if you know anything about Harris Ranch, you know you are in good hands. Harris Ranch is California beef royalty — one of the most respected producers in the state, known for cattle raised with genuine care and beef that meets USDA prime grading standards, the highest quality designation available for beef in the United States. The coffee-spice rub on this particular cut created a beautiful, dark, aromatic crust — complex and slightly smoky, with an earthiness that complemented the richly marbled interior perfectly. Honey-glazed heirloom carrots added sweetness. Roasted fingerling potatoes were golden and satisfying. Garlic herb butter melted over the top in a way that was genuinely theatrical. My husband and I split this, and at 14 oz. it was more than sufficient for two people. Wonderful, really.

The steak was, in a word, exceptional.

Now. We need to talk about the price. Pull up a chair.

I am a registered nurse. I live in Los Angeles. I understand that nothing is free and that coastal fine dining commands a premium I accept as a cost of living in one of the most spectacular and expensive cities on earth. I make peace with this regularly. What I am considerably less at peace with is arriving at a restaurant to discover that the prices published on their website bear only a passing resemblance to the prices on the actual menu in your actual hands.

The ribeye is listed at $58 on the Shoreside website. At the table, it is $90. That is a $32 difference. That is a 55% price increase on a single menu item. And this was not an isolated case — prices across the menu were uniformly higher than what appeared online, with the ribeye representing the most dramatic gap.

Menu price transparency is something that matters deeply to diners, particularly families budgeting an evening out. Consumer Reports has consistently highlighted that discrepancies between advertised and actual restaurant prices are one of the most significant sources of diner frustration — and in an era where most people research and budget a meal before they arrive, it genuinely erodes trust. Shoreside, your food is excellent and absolutely worth a premium price. Please update your website so guests can arrive informed rather than surprised. You owe your guests that courtesy, and your food deserves the honesty.

The Grand Finale at Shoreside: A Chocolate Cake That Redeemed Everything

After processing the surprise of the entrée prices, we briefly considered skipping dessert in the name of financial dignity. I am deeply, profoundly glad we did not.

The chocolate cake at Shoreside is the kind of dessert that makes you set down your fork, close your eyes for a moment, and simply be present. Rich, deeply chocolatey, impeccably plated, with a texture that walks the perfect line between dense and tender — this is not a perfunctory “we have to offer dessert” chocolate cake. This is a declaration. As a nurse who regularly advocates for the healing power of genuine pleasure and small sensory joys (and who notes with clinical satisfaction that Harvard Health has documented chocolate’s role in triggering endorphin and serotonin release), I approached this cake with the full conviction that I was making a medically sound decision. I stand by that completely. The chocolate cake was lovely in every sense of the word — and it sent us home on a high note that outlasted the wind, the price shock, and the great meatball disappointment of 2026.

The Shoreside inKind Factor: This Is How Smart Diners Eat Now

I would be doing you a disservice if I didn’t dedicate a moment to inKind, the dining platform that transformed this evening from “expensive Santa Monica dinner” into “excellent investment in my well-being.” inKind allows you to pre-load dining credit at participating restaurants and earn real money back — in our case, 20% back to our inKind account. Not a coupon. Not a promo code. Actual money returned to your account for future dining. For a family of four dining at Santa Monica prices, that 20% back is genuinely meaningful. If you’re not using inKind to fund your culinary adventures, I’d encourage you to look into it immediately. Your future dining self will be very grateful.

The Shoreside Final Verdict: Know Before You Go

Shoreside Restaurant and Bar is a genuinely good restaurant with a beautiful setting, a kitchen that produces some truly remarkable dishes, and staff who are warm, professional, and will absolutely bring you blankets when the Pacific decides to assert itself. The crudo alone is worth the visit. The ribeye is exceptional. The chocolate cake is mandatory.

But arrive informed:

• Check the wind forecast before committing to outdoor seating. Santa Monica’s coastal microclimate is breathtaking and relentless in equal measure.
• Disregard the online menu prices — they are not current. Budget generously, especially if the ribeye is calling your name. The $90 reality versus the $58 website listing is a gap the restaurant needs to close.
• Book through inKind for 20% back. It takes the edge off the bill considerably.
• For families with kids, the kids’ pasta with meatballs is available but not the kitchen’s finest moment. Adventurous young eaters might be better served exploring beyond the kids’ menu.
• Do not skip the chocolate cake. This is not a suggestion. This is clinical advice.

Overall: a lovely evening, excellent food, a crudo I am still dreaming about, a ribeye that absolutely earned its price (once I recovered from discovering what that price actually was), and a wind story we will be telling at dinner parties for the foreseeable future. Shoreside, we’ll be back — with better weather intel and a revised budget.

Shoreside Restaurant and Bar — Need to Know Details

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About the Author

Ginger Graham is a registered nurse with over 15 years of clinical experience and the founder of Culinary Passages — a lifestyle blog built on the firm belief that recovery isn’t only for patients. It is a daily, sensory practice. Ginger brings her professional background in nervous system regulation, holistic wellness, and patient advocacy to every restaurant review, travel guide, and dining discovery she writes. When she is not charting or championing her patients, she can be found dragging her wonderfully patient husband and her two opinionated children to restaurants across Southern California, photographing food with what her family describes as “an unreasonable level of focus,” and making a very compelling clinical case for why ordering dessert is, in fact, the single most medically defensible decision you can make at the end of a meal. Follow along at Culinary Passages for honest, funny, and deeply felt explorations of the places where food, travel, and genuine healing intersect.