We visited Flying Fish during the Pumpkin Festival weekend. Even with the crowds and hectic parking situation, our party of 10 was seated right away. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful, which made the experience even better.
We ordered a variety of dishes — calamari, fish and chips, clam chowder (both in a bread bowl and in a regular bowl), and the seafood cioppino. Everything was delicious! My favorites were the fish and chips and the calamari. Portions were great, the food came out fresh, and the flavors were spot on.
Overall, a fantastic spot for seafood in Half Moon Bay. We’ll definitely be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Tasha Bastardo
We frequent Half Moon Bay often. We came to the restaurant with our family of 8. It happens to be the HMB Art and Pumpkin Festival. So we waited 2 hours in traffic just to get here. When we arrived at the restaurant the hostess wouldn't allow me to use the restroom even though my family was coming from the parking lot. The dining area inside was closed and dining was only outside. My family started walking towards the restaurant from the parking lot and she allowed me to finally use the restroom. They had a limited menu due to the festival. They served my children their lemonade in Corona beer glasses. They brought our food in to-go containers even though we were dining at the restaurant on the patio. I did not even receive the drink I ordered which was water. The hostess or server if there even was one did not check on us at all while we were there. Their outside patio is small. There's just no excuse for bad service. Disappointed and will never return.
Edited to add: One of my children ordered the burger with mushrooms from the menu. She halved it with my husband and they both got food poisoning. :(
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Jaime Ceja
Food was ok prices high. Ordered a bowl of Chowder to go they gave me a cup and told that was the size of a bowl….smh never again
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Maya Martín
Thank you for your service and for the food and for letting me stay for a while after eating to hang out before heading back home. I will say for the sear bass to add more seasoning to it please so there's more flavor to it. Also for sweet potato frensh fries make it more crisper please. Thank you again!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Claudia Helbert
Worst crabby cheese bread..been driving over from san leandro..it was horrible
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Howard B
I've eaten at a lotta, lotta places and this is one I would not go back to. I didn't much like mine and my wife wasn't impressed with hers. We went on a Tuesday night, sorta near closing, the place was almost empty so maybe it was an off time for them. Maybe the chef has changes since then (Aug 19th, 2025). They could've easily made the food better considering what we ordered.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
cymthia spears
Vegetarian salad was amazing and the jambalaya. The service was excellent, the waitress was so nice and attentive.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Elizabeth Nio
Was looking for lunch recommendations from ChatGPT and this restaurant came up on top for its seafood tacos and fish & chips (apparently rated #9 best in America by The Daily Meal).
We started with the clam chowder, which was decent. Then moved onto crab melt sandwich was perfectly crisp, but didn’t wow us.
We opted for 3 tacos solo ($7.50 each) to save $3 since we didn’t need the extra rice, beans, fries, or salad: Cod taco – uses the same fish as the fish & chips, so it felt redundant. Mahi Mahi taco – two generous pieces of grilled fish with mango salsa; tasty but not memorable. Coconut shrimp taco – two shrimp with mango salsa; nicely crisp but could have used a squeeze of lemon for extra zing.
Finally, the fish & chips were indeed the highlight but the portion was tiny, leaving us a little underwhelmed.
We skipped the recommended homemade devil's slide expresso pie and key lime pie since we brought our own birthday cake but since the restaurant charges a $2 per-person cake-cutting fee, we decided to have it at the beach instead.
Nothing stood out enough to make it worth going out of your way.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Jonas Bean
Really great! The food was amazing....salmon was incredible. Portions were generous. Super friendly staff. I'll be coming back every time I'm in HMB!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Yanming Huang
Do not try to get lunch on a holiday here, if you don’t want long wait to get your food (90min+) and running out of food options.
On this Labor Day, we waited more than 30 mins to get a 2 person table on the patio, and then being told will be 40 min wait for the food. Then after some wait we got told the food we ordered are not available (crab / crawfish / mahi mahi). At this point, it already felt not worth the wait at all. Eventually, it took 90min+ for us to finally get our food (The big party next to us who came later than us saw everything and said it was crazy we didn’t get our food even after they finished theirs).
The waiter helped to waive the soup, and the clam chowder was good. The patio is also pretty nice thus not one star.
Really think the management team should consider improving the holiday experience (e.g. plan for more resources for expected volume, or at least communicate the right expectation with customers before they sit or wait for a while).
Unfortunately, the service was extremely slow. We waited 1.5hrs and never received our drink order. The staff was running around but the priority seemed to be people inside the restaurant vs outdoor table area.
I understand staffing on holidays might be less but it didnt seemed well organized at all. I can't really comment on the food as we never really received anything but tortilla chips.
Atmosphere: 3
Service: 1
Nafiseh Masoumi
We arrived 1:45 pm left at 3:15 with not even getting our drink and ending up canceling our food. After complaining 3 times we only got the appetizer. If you sit outside know that you won't be served! I realized after waiting20 min in the line that the ppl who came10 min after us and sit inside had their food! Life is too shoet to be wasted for 2-3 hr in places like this!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
Joanne Chandler
The service was awful,, and the Fish and chips were the worst. We had to ask for service after 30 minute wait after being seated. There was only one other table so slow. Lots of great restaurants nearby
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Paul Cruz
I away love this place.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Halibut Fish and Chips
samantha villa
My sister and I came here to grab some lunch after visiting the beach. She ordered the burger and I ordered the clam chowder bowl. I normally don’t write reviews but on this one, I just had to. The clam chowder was very bland and almost too watery. My sisters burger had tartare sauce on it.. which was a really random combination.. not sure if it was meant to be served that way or what happened but.. it wasn’t a good pairing. Her fries were bland as well. The reason why I’m writing this review , mainly is because the price for the quality of the meals were too high. I don’t mind paying for what I order but I’d like for it to be worth it at least and what we ordered.. was definitely not worth the price at all.
We visited Flying Fish during the Pumpkin Festival weekend. Even with the crowds and hectic parking situation, our party of 10 was seated right away. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful, which made the experience even better.
We ordered a variety of dishes — calamari, fish and chips, clam chowder (both in a bread bowl and in a regular bowl), and the seafood cioppino. Everything was delicious! My favorites were the fish and chips and the calamari. Portions were great, the food came out fresh, and the flavors were spot on.
Overall, a fantastic spot for seafood in Half Moon Bay. We’ll definitely be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We frequent Half Moon Bay often. We came to the restaurant with our family of 8. It happens to be the HMB Art and Pumpkin Festival. So we waited 2 hours in traffic just to get here. When we arrived at the restaurant the hostess wouldn't allow me to use the restroom even though my family was coming from the parking lot. The dining area inside was closed and dining was only outside. My family started walking towards the restaurant from the parking lot and she allowed me to finally use the restroom. They had a limited menu due to the festival. They served my children their lemonade in Corona beer glasses. They brought our food in to-go containers even though we were dining at the restaurant on the patio. I did not even receive the drink I ordered which was water. The hostess or server if there even was one did not check on us at all while we were there. Their outside patio is small. There's just no excuse for bad service. Disappointed and will never return.
Edited to add: One of my children ordered the burger with mushrooms from the menu. She halved it with my husband and they both got food poisoning. :(
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Food was ok prices high. Ordered a bowl of Chowder to go they gave me a cup and told that was the size of a bowl….smh never again
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Thank you for your service and for the food and for letting me stay for a while after eating to hang out before heading back home. I will say for the sear bass to add more seasoning to it please so there's more flavor to it. Also for sweet potato frensh fries make it more crisper please.
Thank you again!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Worst crabby cheese bread..been driving over from san leandro..it was horrible
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
I've eaten at a lotta, lotta places and this is one I would not go back to. I didn't much like mine and my wife wasn't impressed with hers. We went on a Tuesday night, sorta near closing, the place was almost empty so maybe it was an off time for them. Maybe the chef has changes since then (Aug 19th, 2025). They could've easily made the food better considering what we ordered.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 2
Vegetarian salad was amazing and the jambalaya. The service was excellent, the waitress was so nice and attentive.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Was looking for lunch recommendations from ChatGPT and this restaurant came up on top for its seafood tacos and fish & chips (apparently rated #9 best in America by The Daily Meal).
We started with the clam chowder, which was decent. Then moved onto crab melt sandwich was perfectly crisp, but didn’t wow us.
We opted for 3 tacos solo ($7.50 each) to save $3 since we didn’t need the extra rice, beans, fries, or salad:
Cod taco – uses the same fish as the fish & chips, so it felt redundant.
Mahi Mahi taco – two generous pieces of grilled fish with mango salsa; tasty but not memorable.
Coconut shrimp taco – two shrimp with mango salsa; nicely crisp but could have used a squeeze of lemon for extra zing.
Finally, the fish & chips were indeed the highlight but the portion was tiny, leaving us a little underwhelmed.
We skipped the recommended homemade devil's slide expresso pie and key lime pie since we brought our own birthday cake but since the restaurant charges a $2 per-person cake-cutting fee, we decided to have it at the beach instead.
Nothing stood out enough to make it worth going out of your way.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 4
Really great! The food was amazing....salmon was incredible. Portions were generous. Super friendly staff. I'll be coming back every time I'm in HMB!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Do not try to get lunch on a holiday here, if you don’t want long wait to get your food (90min+) and running out of food options.
On this Labor Day, we waited more than 30 mins to get a 2 person table on the patio, and then being told will be 40 min wait for the food. Then after some wait we got told the food we ordered are not available (crab / crawfish / mahi mahi). At this point, it already felt not worth the wait at all. Eventually, it took 90min+ for us to finally get our food (The big party next to us who came later than us saw everything and said it was crazy we didn’t get our food even after they finished theirs).
The waiter helped to waive the soup, and the clam chowder was good. The patio is also pretty nice thus not one star.
Really think the management team should consider improving the holiday experience (e.g. plan for more resources for expected volume, or at least communicate the right expectation with customers before they sit or wait for a while).
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 1
Restaurantji Recommends
Unfortunately, the service was extremely slow. We waited 1.5hrs and never received our drink order. The staff was running around but the priority seemed to be people inside the restaurant vs outdoor table area.
I understand staffing on holidays might be less but it didnt seemed well organized at all. I can't really comment on the food as we never really received anything but tortilla chips.
Atmosphere: 3
Service: 1
We arrived 1:45 pm left at 3:15 with not even getting our drink and ending up canceling our food. After complaining 3 times we only got the appetizer.
If you sit outside know that you won't be served! I realized after waiting20 min in the line that the ppl who came10 min after us and sit inside had their food!
Life is too shoet to be wasted for 2-3 hr in places like this!
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 1
The service was awful,, and the Fish and chips were the worst. We had to ask for service after 30 minute wait after being seated. There was only one other table so slow. Lots of great restaurants nearby
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
I away love this place.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Halibut Fish and Chips
My sister and I came here to grab some lunch after visiting the beach. She ordered the burger and I ordered the clam chowder bowl.
I normally don’t write reviews but on this one, I just had to.
The clam chowder was very bland and almost too watery. My sisters burger had tartare sauce on it.. which was a really random combination.. not sure if it was meant to be served that way or what happened but.. it wasn’t a good pairing. Her fries were bland as well. The reason why I’m writing this review , mainly is because the price for the quality of the meals were too high. I don’t mind paying for what I order but I’d like for it to be worth it at least and what we ordered.. was definitely not worth the price at all.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
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