Riva Fish House

Great views,happy hour drinks and appetizers great. Entrees fall short. Crab sandwich was off, not the freshest. Seafood too spicey.

Gorgeous scenery overlooking the ocean. Definitely recommend the crab and shrimp sandwiches. First time trying a italian soda, I had a blackberry one! Everything was extremely tasty!

The back of dining area has the best seats, the view is so nice!! My husband and I got a couple seafood plates, he actually ended up not like the calamari at all. I got our waitress to change it out with another type of seafood no problem. Plus, you get a mini bottle of champagne for your mimosa, that’s a win!

I'm not a seafood kinda girl but I'm glad the Riva was the one that popped my seafood cherry because my goodness everything was delicious. Their calamari was amazing. And the customer service was great. I will be going back every year. Thank you Riva Fish House for my seafood experience

Great restaurant 👍. Best Calamari in Santa Cruz!. Oysters were good too but we would preffer that ones in San Francisco. Great view. We went twice and sat at bar, perfect for us. The bartender, Manuel, was very pleasant. He gave us a good service. We definitely would come back here!.

Chowder was spot.on and the salmon was cooked perfectly so that you could eat the skin with it. Vegetables were also cooked pefectly. Very friendly service and really enjoyed the meal. Thanks

Chopino was def large portion.. also full of seafood. Highly recommend it

My daughter and I had the lunch clam chowder in the bread bowl, fish and chips and the crab sandwich with Swiss cheese. It was too much food for us, still all was delicious. The IPA ("friendly joe"? maybe) was good too.

It was pretty good, calamari was on point. Crab was served cold, we asked to heat it up. Good customer service.

The view was beautiful but the quality of the food was not. Over cooked, bland, and overpriced for what you’re getting. Despite being located by the sea, the seafood sourced does not taste very fresh. Also, we ordered a medium burger but it came burnt and well done. The food lacked so much flavor. The oysters lacked the taste of oysters and didn’t taste that fresh either. The clam chowder did not taste like clam chowder; the flavor was overwhelmed by bay leaves (there were multiple in my bowl) and I could hardly taste the flavor of clam in it because of it. As for the penne, the plating was poor, there was a completely random fried zucchini on it and the shrimp was overcooked, giving it an awful texture. The service here was also poor. The waitress came around to ask if the food was alright and we told her the burger came out wrong. She said “my apologies” and walked away. Moreover, it took forever to get any server’s attention. A very disappointing lunch..

We have just been there and had a marvelous experience. The food was delicious, service was very attentive and friendly and prices were reasonable. Large portions and nice views as well.Easy to find parking (along the pier).Don’t miss this place when you are in the area.

Awesome place! Nice people and great food! Calamari is very good and the portions are good for the price! Complimentary bread with butter very nice and you can sit by windows with a view of the ocean. Definitely coming back!

Food is just OK, but the location is spectacular and the service good. Great place to meet for a meal. Get the simpler fare, like the fish tacos or fish and chips.

It was my first time to Santa Cruz. My wife and I went to Rivas hoping for fresh seafood. Overall we had a good experience with good service. The clam chowder was decent. Not great flavor and not much in the ways of clams in the chowder, but ok. We both got clam strips because we really like clam strips. The clam strips tasted like they we fresh off a food service truck and were mostly bread. But again over it was a decent experience and decent value for the cost. But if you are wanting fresh and delicious seafood, my experience was a little lacking.

Loved the of the ocean from inside the restaurant and I loved the art on the walls inside. I had the salmon which was cooked perfectly and quite tasty. Food was on par with the other places on the boardwalk. Ended my time with some delicious gelato they serve up front. The staff was friendly and the place was clean. Parking is not free on the boardwalk.