Paradise Beach Grille

THE BUZZ ON PARADISE BEACH GRILLE

Hours: Monday - Friday  4-6pm, all night Monday

$3.00 draft beers, $4.00 well drinks, $4.50 house wine. $1.00 more for bloody marys and margaritas.

1/2 price selected appetizers and burgers.

Paradise Beach Grille Website
________________________________________________________

Jo’s Review

Paradise Beach Grille is located on the esplanade in beautiful Capitola-by-the-Sea. This lovely seaside grille has lots to offer. The inside is set up with an open air feel to it. The bar area has high tables and chairs and the dining area has some cozy booths along with tables in a slightly dark, romantic atmosphere.

Off the bar is a patio that sits on the rivers end that flows into the bay. It was a cool crisp evening with all the holiday lights just shining as Capitola always does at this time of year. It’s always fun to come down and see all the Christmas lights in the village, which is what the locals call it.

Julie and I have been on a bit of a hiatus with our happy hours lately. I think it was starting to get to our waistlines so we had to do a little more exercising before diving in again, well maybe just me. But time is a wasting and we have many happy hours to visit. Julie gets there before me and along for the fun is our friend Lara. The first great thing of the evening, free parking for the holidays, yay, always makes for a more enjoyable evening. We get a great table so we can see the bar and outside to the patio. Our handsome waiter Kyle comes right up and immediately we start grilling him about happy hour and what they have to offer, and deciding on our first drink. Julie goes for a rum and coke, Lara decides on a vodka cranberry and I go with beer for the evening. 

 

Happy hour consists of $3.00 draft beers, $4.00 well drinks and $4.50 house wines. For food they have ½ off appetizers and burgers and if you’re really feeling hungry on Monday nights, which is the night we chose because happy hour is all night that night, you can get a full rack of Gary’s ribs for the price of ½ a rack. Otherwise happy hour is Monday through Friday 4-6pm.

Well the drinks arrive as we peruse the food menu trying to decide what to get first.

Well chicken wings are a no brainer for us, doesn’t matter how they are made and these wings are bbq’ed sweet and spicy. But the burgers seem to be calling my name tonight. The description was what drew me in “Your choice of flame kissed Braveheart Angus ground beef, ground turkey or "Garden Burger"patty on a Kaiser roll”, flame kissed, oh yes I want one. I went with a bacon burger.  Julie and Lara also chose the burger but they decided on turkey burgers, Julie had the peeling curl which has Applewood smoked bacon and Gorgonzola cheese, Lara had swiss and sautéed mushrooms. 

The chicken wings arrive and we dig in.  They are a little small but very tasty, with a light blanket of cheese melted over them. The sauce is tangy and sweet with a nice spicy taste to it. We have no problem finishing them off. Onward Julie and Lara decide on a bloody Mary next which they add $1.00 more on to the drink but it sure looked worth it.  It was taller, full of lots of garnish and looking very spicy. We are laughing and eating and the happy is starting to set in.

And now for the burgers, they arrive on a platter with the cutest wire basket of fries on the side which I wasn’t expecting so that was a nice surprise.  All the necessary garnish, lettuce, tomato, onion is there to build my burger.  The meat is juicy and yummy and the bacon on mine is piled high, 3 or 4 thick strips. The fries are crispy with a lovely coating on them giving them lots of flavor as well.  We are all very happy about our burgers and it gets very quiet at the table for a big while we munch away. 

 

Julie asked our waiter if the fries were actually cooked in the baskets and he proceeds with “oh yes we have 10 little fryers and we can fry up to 10 baskets at a time”.  We are all amazed until he’s like, “no I’m just kidding you.  We got a good laugh out of that one.

So a great time was had by all at the Paradise Beach Bar & Grill. The food was very tasty, the atmosphere was warm and inviting and the service was top rate. We had a wonderful time for happy hour and I’m sure will be frequenting this establishment more often.

Jo’s rating: 4.5 shots

_____________________________________________________
 

Julie’s Review

Several friends and happy hour aficionados had recommended that J & J needed to take a trip to Capitola Village to check out the Paradise Beach Grille’s happy hour. The fact that my best friend Lora was visiting from out of town made it the perfect occasion.

Jo and I had tried to make it a few times before without success. Their happy hour is Mon-Fri 4-6, with Monday nights all night (tied to Monday night football I believe). Unfortunately they have no weekend happy hours and trying to get to Capitola Village before 6:00 p.m. is a real problem. We knew our only option was to shoot for a Monday night.

Now that I live up in the mountains, I don’t get down to Capitola Village as often as when I lived closer, but I have always loved the Village at Christmas time. I try to get down there at least once during the holiday season. 

 

The Victorians up on Depot Hill are outlined with Christmas lights and with a special full moon shining behind them it was lovely. The trees in the village are lit with miniature Christmas lights as well. It is all very charming.

One of the down sides to Capitola Village is that parking is always a problem. Josephine had told me that they had converted to a pay machine similar to the one downtown. Lora pulled in and we prayed to the parking gods who smiled down upon us and found us a spot not too far from the restaurant.

When we went to put money in the machine, it wouldn’t take it. We confirmed with someone else waiting, that the parking was free for the holidays!! Now that is the holiday spirit – ho ho ho!!!

We saw the moonlight shining on the ocean and the moon high in the sky as we walked down to the Grille. I donned my reindeer antlers and we were ready to go. Josephine was still looking for parking as Lora and I snagged the last remaining table in the bar area which was necessary since the happy hour prices are only good in the bar and cocktail area.

 

The ambience is very pleasant at Paradise Beach – they had a great upside down Christmas tree, a cute line of “Santa” ducks above the bar and the torches on the deck overlooking the ocean are reflected in the water below. There is a great view of the Venetian hotel across the way. It was cold enough outside, however, that we decided to sit inside.

Savannah, a cute young blonde woman, quickly brought us water and a menu. She told us they have live music on Tuesday and Thursdays from 6-9 and on Saturday and Sunday from 3-6 and various other specials the other nights of the weeks.

 

Kyle, our waiter came over and explained the happy hour specials. Paradise Beach Grille offers $4 wells, $4.50 wine and $3.00 drafts. The appetizers and burgers are half price during happy hour – the usual price range is $8-13, so you that’s a good savings. I asked about a bloody mary with well and he said it would be $1 extra. I ordered my standard rum and coke, Lora ordered a gin and tonic and Jo had a beer. I was quite pleased when the drinks arrived, because you could actually taste the rum in it! We like a stiff happy hour drink and the Grille did not disappoint (though our business card with our motto “Show us what you got, we’ll give you a shot” probably helped as well).

We decided to share a plate of the Paradise Chicken Wings – “sweet and spicy chicken wings tossed in homemade sauce”. I ordered the Peeling Curl Burger, “topped with Applewood smoked bacon and gorgonzola cheese”. Jo ordered the Sandy Beach Burger “topped with sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions and Swiss cheese” and Lora ordered a burger of her own creation that they were willing to make for her.

While waiting for the food, we checked out the deck, peeked around the corner at the restaurant and took a closer look at the Christmas tree. Josephine reminded me that this was the old “Edgewater” a place we used to come dancing at in the 80s. They have really updated the place – it looks great. 

The manager, Karen, came over and talked with us as well, answering any questions and asking about the blog. Paradise Beach Grille has been at this location since 1998 which was pretty shocking to me, amazing how time flies!

The chicken wings arrived and were quite artistically arranged in a star formation, smothered in sauce and sprinkled with cheese. They were the mini wings and were quite tasty, though I knew Jo was not such a fan of sweet wings. We polished them off in no time.

I decided to splurge the extra buck and try a bloody mary. It arrived with a plethora of lovely garnishes, nice and tall and spicy. Yum! It was followed shortly by our hamburgers which were all served with a little “fryer basket” of fries. I asked Kyle if they were fried in the basket and he talked about the elaborate deep fryer set up they had in the kitchen, until I realized he was pulling my leg. I had bought it hook, line and sinker – he has such an honest face, but the devilish smile should have given him away.

The burgers were delicious and although I am not a fry person per se, these were quite tasty and I polished off half my basket. The burger was big enough that I brought half home along with the fries to Bill! When do you take leftovers home from a happy hour? We were all feeling the holiday spirit by this time.

So in sum, the Paradise Beach Grille is a sweet little happy hour spot. It has great ambience with an ocean view; good burgers and drinks with a kick; attentive, friendly service; reasonable prices and an all-night happy hour on Monday. If they could just throw in a Sunday afternoon happy hour, I would make it down here more often. In the meantime – check them out, have a burger enjoy the view and tell them Julie sent you!

Julie’s rating: 4.5 shots!