Best Team Dinner Restaurants in Monterey (2026)
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The Monterey team-dinner table for 2026 is The Sardine Factory, the Cannery Row landmark with five dining rooms. Editorial runners-up: Schooners, Whaling Station, Chart House, Old Fisherman's Grotto, Montrio.
Five rooms, a glass conservatory, and a brick wine cellar that can swallow a party of twenty: The Sardine Factory has hosted Cannery Row's big nights since 1968. Thirty Monterey tables sit in our directory, and six handle a team.
Six Monterey Tables for a Team Dinner
Five distinct rooms run off the entrance, from a glass conservatory to a brick wine cellar lined with bottles. Ted Balestreri and Bert Cutino founded The Sardine Factory on Cannery Row at 701 Wave Street in 1968, and the abalone bisque that was poured at Reagan's 1981 inauguration is still the order. Dinner runs $60 to $110 a head. Built for big nights, it is the definitive Monterey group landmark; book the Conservatory or the Wine Cellar for a team.
The heated terrace sits right over the bay, sea lions barking somewhere below the rail. Schooners reopened as a Coastal Kitchen in January 2024 inside the Monterey Plaza Hotel at 400 Cannery Row, where executive chef James Waller's wood-fired Angry Prawns and a proper cioppino headline. Dinner runs $40 to $80 a person. The terrace seats a team of a dozen with the most democratic menu on the Row; book the rail for sunset.
A Caesar is built tableside while silver trays of Prime cuts come out for inspection. The Whaling Station has run above Cannery Row at 763 Wave Street since 1969, Monterey County's steakhouse of record, where the filet mignon is $72 and the dry-aged USDA Prime is the reason to come. Dinner with wine runs $90 to $150 a head. With a long wine list and private parking, it is the classic team power-dinner; reserve the back room.
Due-west windows catch the sunset straight over the water, the room built right on the rocks. Chart House works seafood and prime steaks at 444 Cannery Row, where a tableside-carved prime rib and a long-running salad bar anchor a 'Chart Your Course' prix-fixe at $60 a head. Private dining seats up to 30. The wide menu solves a group's mixed appetites, and the sunset gives the night a built-in occasion; book the private room for a team.
The chowder comes in a bread bowl and the wharf creaks underfoot just outside. Old Fisherman's Grotto has sat at 39 Fisherman's Wharf since 1950, three generations of the Shake family pouring an award-winning Monterey-style clam chowder and cracking whole Dungeness crab. Dinner stays under $60 a person. The shareable seafood and the relaxed wharf energy make it the easy, accessible team table; book a long table by the windows.
A converted 1910 firehouse, two levels, an upstairs bar over the dining room. Montrio runs in downtown Monterey at 414 Calle Principal, where the Baker's Bacon Chop over griddled mac-and-cheese remains the signature under chef Justin Robarge and Coastal Roots Hospitality. Dinner runs $50 to $80 a head. The small-plates format is made for a table that wants to graze and share, and the private rooms hold a team of a dozen; book upstairs.
How to Book
The Sardine Factory, Whaling Station and Chart House all keep private or semi-private rooms, so book a week out for a weekend team table and ask which room fits your headcount. Schooners, Old Fisherman's Grotto and Montrio take groups with a few days' notice.
For a sunset over the water, book Schooners' terrace or Chart House early. For a private room, The Sardine Factory's Conservatory and Montrio's upstairs both seat a dozen comfortably; tell them the headcount when you call.
Frequently Asked Questions
The editorial pick for 2026 is The Sardine Factory on Cannery Row, a 1968 landmark with five distinct rooms including a glass conservatory and a brick wine cellar that seat a large party. For a waterfront table, Schooners' heated terrace at the Monterey Plaza Hotel handles a team of a dozen.
The Sardine Factory handles large groups best, with five rooms and a wine cellar built for private parties. Chart House Monterey seats up to 30 in private dining, and Montrio's converted firehouse holds a team across two levels with upstairs private rooms, making all three reliable for a sizable team dinner.
Plan on $60 to $110 a head at The Sardine Factory and $90 to $150 with wine at the Whaling Station. Schooners runs $40 to $80, Chart House $50 to $100 with a $60 prix-fixe option, and Montrio $50 to $80. Old Fisherman's Grotto is the most affordable, under $60 a person.
The Sardine Factory offers five rooms including a private wine cellar, and Chart House Monterey seats up to 30 in private dining. Montrio's upstairs private rooms hold a dozen, and the Whaling Station keeps a back room for groups. All four take team bookings with about a week's notice for weekends.
Schooners sits right over the bay on a heated terrace at the Monterey Plaza Hotel, the best waterfront team table on Cannery Row. Chart House Monterey is the other due-west option, built on the rocks with sunset windows, while Old Fisherman's Grotto puts a long table over Fisherman's Wharf.