Sandbar & Grill on the wharf holds true to its classic locals’ bar identity even in a tourist area.

A bar and restaurant on the water (quite literally) in a tourism-driven community can easily lean toward touristy kitsch or go high end. But Sandbar & Grill is as unpretentious a place as it comes, located down a staircase off of Wharf 2, with a seafood-focused menu that certainly attracts tourists looking to check that box, but a bar that draws lots of regulars.

The no-frills drink menu features classics like a Moscow Mule and Lemon Drop, but also a few twists like a pomegranate margarita or a mango mojito. Perhaps the favorite – and indeed it is Weekly readers’ favorite, per our 2022 Best Of Readers’ Poll vote – is the Bloody Mary.

Unlike some Bloody Marys, which have made sort of a challenge out of trying to fit an entire meal into the glass, this is relatively simple and light – it’s a drink, not a meal – but packed with plenty of flavor and freshness.

The recipe for the housemade Bloody Mary mix, written in black marker, is taped above the bar, right there for everyone to see – except even if you squint, it’s just out of sight. But bartender Wells Leavitt can list some of the essential ingredients from memory: a whole bottle of Dijon mustard, half a bottle of Tabasco, a quarter bottle of Pepper Plant sauce. Then Leavitt pauses: “I can’t give away the recipe,” he says.

So it turns out that just-out-of-sight placement – like everything else at Sandbar – is by design.

Sandbar & Grill is located on Wharf 2, Monterey. Open 11am-9pm daily, plus 10:30am-2pm Sunday. 373-2818, sandbarandgrillmonterey.com