Best Brunch Spots in Huntington Beach

Brunch in Huntington Beach splits neatly into two categories: places you go for the view, and places you go for the food. After fifteen years of Sunday mornings here, I've learned it's worth knowing which is which before you commit to a forty-minute wait.

For the ocean view

If you have guests in town, the bluff-top patios at Pacific City are the easy answer. You get the full sweep of coastline from the pier down toward Newport, and there's enough space that a nine-person group isn't a crisis. Get there before 9:30 on a summer weekend or plan to walk Main Street for half an hour first.

The upstairs patios along PCH are the other view play. Ask for a rail table — the difference between the rail and the interior is the entire reason you're paying for the location.

For the food

The best breakfast burrito in the city is not downtown. It's in a strip center off Warner, wrapped in foil, and it costs less than a cocktail. Locals know. This is the trade-off you make: no view, no reservations, no ambiance, just an extremely good burrito eaten in your car with the windows down.

Downtown's small independent cafes are where I take clients after a morning of showings. Espresso is taken seriously, the pastry case turns over fast, and you can hold an actual conversation.

Beat the wait

• Go early. Anything after 10am on Saturday or Sunday means a wait. 8:30 is a different city.
• Go Friday. Weekday brunch in Huntington Beach is one of the underrated perks of living here.
• Park once. Use the Main Street structure, then walk. Circling the numbered streets in July is a losing game.

Where I'd send a first-time visitor

Start with a coffee downtown, walk out on the Huntington Beach Pier, then sit down for a proper late brunch on a bluff patio when the marine layer burns off around eleven. It's the most Surf City morning you can put together, and it costs about the same as a mediocre meal inland.

The best brunch in Huntington Beach usually involves sand on your feet and no reservation at all.

If you're visiting neighborhoods while you're here, Downtown Huntington Beach is the pocket most people fall for first — and it's walkable to nearly everything on this list.