DANVILLE, CALIFORNIA – You wouldn’t necessarily expect to find excellent seafood in a landlocked suburban town that doesn’t even have a lake.
But–perhaps incongruously–that’s exactly what you’ll find at Tides Restaurant in Danville, California.
Tides is relatively new, having opened at 512 Railroad Ave back in 2023. I stopped by to try it out on a busy Saturday evening.
The Ambiance
Tides is one of the many restaurants in the East Bay that’s hard to judge from its exterior. In front of Tides, there is a small courtyard with a few tables, and you can see the logo for the restaurant mounted on its façade.
Beyond that, though, it’s hard to tell that this is an upscale and very trendy seafood place–it kind of blends in with the rest of downtown.
As you step inside, however, the vibe becomes immediately clear. The interior has a sleek, contemporary art deco feel, with lots of gold, geometric designs, and a hunter green color scheme.
The atmosphere is extremely lively, although not overly loud. Tides has tall ceilings, and that helps keep it from feeling claustrophobic and deafening, as some East Bay restaurants do on a Saturday night.
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The Food
The menu at Tides features a wide variety of seafood items, many of which use locally caught fish.
Tides doesn’t have one specific cuisine—instead, it combines California flavors with seafood dishes from a variety of different culinary backgrounds.
On our visit, my wife and I shared a tuna poke appetizer with taro chips.
Drawing from Hawaiian cuisine, it had extremely fresh fish with a subtle and delicious sesame glaze. The appetizer was plenty large for the two of us to share, which can be a rarity when you’re ordering raw tuna.
One of the coolest parts of Tides, though, was the cocktail menu. Tides presents all their drink options on an interactive tablet where you can see photos and descriptions of each choice.
Mainly, that’s because Tides has an extremely extensive wine list. True wine connoisseurs love to scroll through endless options and see all the tasting notes and other details before making a choice.
But the same technology makes it very easy to select interesting cocktails—and at Tides, there are many good options in that category.
I ordered an Ol’Smokey, which is one of the most creative Old Fashioneds I’ve ever had.
A waiter brings the drink to your table and then places hardwood chips in a little strainer above the glass. They hit those wood chips with a blowtorch, wafting hardwood smoke right into the drink.
With a quick flourish, they scoop the strainer and chips out of the way and cover the drink with a wooden lid, trapping the smoke briefly inside. There, it infuses the drink with a smoky flavor, which quickly wafts away as you remove the lid to taste it.
The bourbon in a traditional Old Fashioned already has a smoky flavor, and adding actual wood smoke brings that out while also making for a very creative tableside experience.
My wife ordered the tropical Mai Tai (Mai Tides), which was also excellent. Served in a festive glass, it had a creamy swirl of honey-passion fruit foam that added an extra burst of flavor to the drink. Especially paired with the poke, it made for a great start to the meal.
For my main dish, I tried the black cod. Served with a miso glaze that complemented the dense, oily fish, it was beautifully prepared and paired with furikake white rice.
Again, Tides draws on a lot of traditions here. Our appetizer was Hawaiian, but this dish was clearly inspired by the flavors of Japan.
I added French-style mashed potatoes that were completely smooth and clearly piped onto the plate from a pastry bag, creating a decadent design.
The rest of the menu at Tides leans into the seafood concept, with other dishes like lobster tail, several grilled fish plates, and a less expensive fish and chips if you don’t feel like spending $30-plus on your entrée. The “turf” side of surf and turf is well-represented, too, with steak, short ribs, and a chicken breast roulade.
I finished my meal with a crème brûlée that was perfectly sized—plenty of the delicious custard with warm caramelized sugar on top, but not so much that it felt overwhelming to eat.
The Verdict
Overall, dining at Tides was a great experience. Normally, you expect great seafood in places like Hawaii, or even spots locally in the Bay Area that are closer to the water.
Finding a great seafood restaurant way out in the suburbs—where the hills are brown in the summer and there’s very little rain, much less an ocean—is much more surprising.
The understated exterior of Tides further disguises the fine dining feel inside. I’d be tempted to call it a hidden gem, except that the place was packed with people!
If you’re craving delicious seafood—or you just want to have one of the coolest cocktail experiences I’ve found in the East Bay—head to Tides in Danville.
Address: 312 Railroad Ave Suite A, Danville, CA 94526, Website: https://www.tidesdanville.com/
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