Schooners
Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa, 400 Cannery Row, Monterey (831) 372-2628, schoonersmonterey.com
Some of the best dining experiences in Monterey County are found in hotels—or in this case, outside of the hotel. Although the dishes served inside Schooners are just as compelling, you are outside in a casually elegant space listening to the waves, watching dolphins or whales splash in the bay as envious hotel guests look down from their rooms before rushing down to enjoy the setting themselves. The win-win here is that if there’s no space on the patio because you got the last table, the indoor dining room has big windows and the same great menu.