This place has a very nice atmosphere about it.. the seafood was good maybe not the best I've had but it was good and I would'nt hesitate to go there again.. very good place to take the kids.. although I will say the waiter was rather odd?? Mr. Roboto?? which is probably why I remember this place because of the odd things taking place between the wait staff.. fun place..

Very good place. We were seated near a window and were able to see a gorgeous sunset as we ate dinner. I took my Staff there and between us we had a little bit of everything - steak, seafood, salads. Everything was good and the service was very fast and friendly. My friends and employees said they will be coming back and I agree. - I recommend getting there a half hour before Sunset and requesting a window seat in advance for a beautiful dinner.

"If love means wishing everyone a better world, I can honestly say I love just about everyone."
- Chris Aable "What is Self-Evolution?"

Bubba Gump is one of very few sit-down dining options on the Pier. Expect a noisy and touristy atmosphere, relatively high prices, and the annoying push to pay $10 for a drink which includes a tacky glass. But, you may be pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food.

We were promptly seated next to a window on the beach level, our panoramic view of the ocean interrupted by the public shower and all that implies. (Try to get a second floor seat if possible.) The music blared loudly from the speaker just over our heads; it apparently could not be turned down.

From a menu heavily focused on fried offerings, we selected an appetizer of "hush pups" and entree of steamed shellfish. The pups arrived quickly; mouth-size fried bites of traditional cornmeal batter filled with chunks of fish, bits of parmesan cheese, and snips of green onion. Great remoulade sauce! Our shared entree arrived in a battered aluminum pan filled with reasonable portions of crab, shrimp, mussels and clams and a bit of the steaming broth. The seafood was tender and well seasoned, and definitely enough for two lighter diners who'd shared an appetizer. It came with a slab of buttery garlic toast, a decent cole slaw, and standard-issue french fries. The extra side Caesar had too much of a flavorful dressing, but was crunchy and fresh.

We passed on dessert; choosing instead to enjoy a margarita, declining the upsell offer to purchase the plastic margarita shaker.

$50 wasn't bad for two sharing a meal, appetizer, salad and margarita. But, with most menu items at $15-$22 and drinks averaging $8, you could easily spend $40+ per person, and there goes the value. For that much, there are many better options to be found off the beach.

Overall, the experience was better than expected, and definitely better/cleaner than the overpriced burger-and-dog and funnel cake stands elsewhere along the pier. Bubba Gump may be, on the surface, a gimmicky theme restaurant, but the food isn't bad at all.

On 7/28/08 I took my Aunt and 11 yr. daughter there for the scenery and something a little different since she was visiting from a small town in Tx. I couldn't be more sorry. I have been to many of the Bubba chains but this was the absolute worst. My waiter phoned it in. Completely not there. As my food was severed a dirty wet used straw fell onto the table with my food the waiter just left it there. As he served another table a part of the magarita shaker fell to the floor he said he would get another, I watched he didn't. He handed her back the same one off the floor!. Needless to say I felt my waiter couldn't be trusted with my credit card number and I had to be cash at this point. I actually spoke to an assistant mgr. waiting on a call from the mgr. it's only been a week. Unless you have a need to be treated poorly and stomach made of lead go elswhere.

Went here for breakfast on a Saturday and it was suprisely good. I got a scrabble and my boyfriend got an omelette and we both enjoyed our food. Skip the OJ though b/c it cost $3 for a small glass. Its a good place to take out of town guests and enjoy the scenery of the Santa Monica pier.

As much as I'd love to say I enjoyed this particular restaurant, I could only do so if I wanted to tell you a big bold-faced lie. Let me state right now that I'm a fan of seafood, shrimp, Tom Hanks, movies, Santa Monica, restaurants, restaurants based on movies, and segments of movies that have clever ways of utilizing cgi like those in Forest Gump. Also, I had eaten at other Bubba Gump restaurants in California and had the best experiences. I was hoping to relive a fun experience at the one in Santa Monica, but that whole effort floundered due to inattentive staff and manager, sloppiness, and the continuous testing of my patience.
It was my girlfriend's birthday and so I chose to treat her and her two relatives out to dinner at Bubba Gump in Santa Monica. First off, the waiting time was ridiculous. Now, I understand that one has to expect to wait a while to get a table at a place like Bubba Gump, but what really made me wonder about the wait was the amount of empty tables and booths that were available when my party and I were finally called in. Plus, it didn't look like they really had a shortage of waiters since I saw several of them standing around and talking to each other. When we were seated, we noticed the table hadn't been cleaned. There were still bits of debris left over from the previous diner. Thinking that I didn't want to let that ruin this special night, I brushed off the surface with my arm. When it came to service, I had to almost call out a search party equipped with bullhorns in order to find or flag down our waitress. That little cute attention sign they allow you to display on that bucket did nothing. I kept telling myself that maybe the waitress was swamped with a ton of customers on the other side. But she proved me wrong when she attended a group of people next to us who came 30 minutes after us. Not only did she take their orders and chit-chat with them about anything under the sun, but she served them their food before us.

The food is terrible. My boyfriend and I went and got two shrimp dishes (figured this was the way to go since it is supposed to be their specialty) and drinks. The shrimp was over-cooked (chewy) and far from fresh. We couldn?t eat any of our dinners. This is probably the first time ever we left drinks but even the drinks were bad! The server was nice enough but we were a bit surprised that she said nothing when she took our dinners away and clearly saw that we ate nothing. She didn?t ask if there was a problem. I guess some people go here with their kids for fun. Maybe most of their business comes from tourists (it?s a very touristy area) because it can?t be from repeat customers.

Food was good, wait staff was entertaining, and atmosphere was unique. A must if you're a Forrest Gump fan. I went on a Saturday night the first weekend it opened and it was very busy. The waiter was slow. They might provided better service now that they have been open for a while.

Typical chain restaurant. But the service was really good. I liked that you got to play trivia games with the waiters. A lot of time went into keeping the dining experience entertaining. From the signs for wheter or not you want your waiter to come and the light up glass with my drink that I got to take home. The food was okay, cocoanut and scampi pretty tasty.

We were there during baseball playoffs so the bar area was loud. However, the sun setting over the water totally made up for that. Everyone enjoyed their meals and the prices were reasonable. Yummy seafood!