Best Waterfront Restaurants in San Clemente

Wonderful food in at iconic Dana Point Harbor. A bit noisy, but it was a crowded Friday night. Seafood bisque was rich, creamy, with bits of seafood and heat. Grilled swordfish with butter sauce was so good!

Made a 6:00 reservation but showed up early for happy hour and sat outside waterfront. I had the house margarita and my wife the house Pinot Grigio. Kids had coconut shrimp. Marg was fine, shrimp good but wine not great. Beautiful Xmas lights on the palm trees. We then proceeded upstairs to the dining room where we were seated immediately. Waiter was friendly and explained the menu. We all ended up all eating the macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi, with garlic mashed potatoes, and asparagus. The fish was among the best we have had! Highly recommend Harpoon Henry’s Seafood!

We had a large dinner party of 11 people meeting and the Chart House was wonderful about providing a round view table so that we could all talk to each other without needing to shout down the length of a long table. Some of our party ordered 3-crse meals, which is a great deal at the Chart House (choice of appetizer, choice of entree, and a mini chocolate lava cake for dessert). Others ordered different appetizers and an entree. While some ordered an entree only. Basically, a server's nightmare trying to time what to serve when to whom, and our server did an amazing job. The only downside to the entire lovely dinner was the music is cranked up too high and drowns out conversation.

A nice stop on the way to the airport. The bell desk held our luggage while we checked out the beach scene before our lunch reservation. Service and food was good. Restaurant honored a Yelp 50% off appetizer as a bonus. The brussel sprouts was a good choice. Would return if we’re back in the area.