Sip Cocktails and Down Seafood at Santa Monica’s New Poolside Hangout

Santa Monica’s Viceroy hotel has a new ground floor dining option to go along with its $21 million makeover. Sugar Palm, now open for brunch, dinner, and cafe service, will operate as a restaurant, lounge, and bar space all rolled into one, with indoor-outdoor appeal and a breezy coastal California attitude.

Chef Jason Francisco, who has previously worked at restaurants from the Raymond in Pasadena to Cut and Eataly, is on to oversee the menu, which runs in the evenings from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. There will be a particular focus on seafood — sourced mostly from Glendale’s Fish King — like Peruvian scallops done ceviche style, and charred Spanish octopus, alongside Jidori roasted chicken, hanger steak, and more. Daytime breakfast/brunch, including options like a lunch burger, avocado toast, and duck confit chilaquiles will also e available daily starting at 6:30 a.m.; this is a hotel after all.

The redone restaurant space, previously home to Cast, will still feature prominent lounge seating near the pool as well as cabanas, an outdoor bar, and group seating over evening fire pits, with more light blonde wood tables and tan and cream-accented seating inside. Sugar Palm is now open at the Viceroy Santa Monica at 1819 Ocean Avenue, with daily hours from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and again from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. The opening menus are below.

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