Need a guitar tune up & clean up, or fixing a broken sound? This is your place. John, the guitar tech wizard, only works Thursday-Saturday, but he made it through a huge list ahead of me in just 2 days.
I don’t know much about the technicalities of guitars, but I knew my electric Ibanez sounded wrong. I brought it in to John for the axe’s first check up in nearly 10 years. It needed fretwork on 1-3, new battery for the pickups, new strings, tuning the tuners, adjusting everything, and deep cleaning the hell out of it. I literally walked out of there with a brand new guitar. It sounds so insanely good, I cannot believe what ive been missing all these years.
Best part? He said all of that would only be $80 plus tax. But he only charged me $70 John, Jim, and manor music are great people.
Let me post poster for It Can’t Happen Here.
John helped me find a nice case for a 12 string. Nailed it on the first attempt. Gave me some advice about caring for a 12 string. He also found a 12 string capo for me. This is a good location with plenty of parking
I got great personal attention. David answered a lot of my questions both on the phone and in the store for a rental saxaphone for my 9 year old nephew.
Store has new and used equipment for sale or rent. Rental equipment is much more reasonable than Serramonte music center.
The owner Sarah is all about customer service. Young staff.
This weekend I came into Manor to pick up some sheet music for inspiration. I picked up a few older books from the back of the store, and I was surprised that they charged the original cover print price (~$20 per book) on books printed in 1995.. I should have spoken up at the time, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to know if this was a mistake? !
Terrible attitude. Not helpful. Never go back again!
6. Redbox
Address: 196 San Mateo Rd, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 , El Granada , California , United States
Peaceful, relaxing, and usually not many people there at once.
Very pleased! Had my 00015m Martin string spacing widened at the bridge to suit my playing style. She went above and beyond and matched the bridge color with the guitar. Looks and sounds fabulous. And also big props to the employees that helped me out. Very friendly. Highly recommended. Fast turn around also!
I called Martin about a warranty repair issue, the martin rep asked my location and recommended I go to Schoenberg guitars and I do not regret that choice at all. The store is great, a decent variety in their collection, there are some noteworthy old martins and custom one offs. Traffic can be bad all around there, I recommend planning your repair / store trip around traffic in and out of area.
8. Berkeley Musical Instrument Exchange
Address: 2923 Adeline St, Berkeley, CA 94703 , El Granada , California , United States
Nice little family run shop, finally fell in love with a ukelele here after searching for a year.
Love my guitar. Excellent service!
Very honest and knowledgable, quality instruments and strong sense of community. Convenient access and parking for store. Get there and invest in your musical talents.
Nice little used instrument store. Really neat to see the workshop visible in the back.
9. Mavericks PaddleSports
Address: 214 Princeton Avenue at, Vassar Ave, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 , El Granada , California , United States
This is an excellent choice for instrument rentals. Couldn’t be happier. We rented a viola from them for my daughter. Excellent quality instrument, a lot of choice, reasonable prices and above all, very helpful and knowledgable staff! I recently had the pleasure to work with Connie for a violin rental and she went above and beyond. Thank you! Highly recommended.
Very friendly staff who are very knowledgeable about string instruments. They will genuinely and patiently listen to what you want and guide you towards the right choice if you’re a novice like me. Jason seems to have deep and thorough understanding of all aspects in maintaining/repairing/best practices your instrument. Abraham is an expert player who made my cello sound a way I’ll probably never be able to and helped picked the right bow for me by playing my cello with over 10+ bows. I’ll be utilizing this store and associates for all future needs. Highly recommend you do as well
They can rehair cello bow. They are very friendly and gentle. Especially Abraham gave me some great advices about cello strings. Thank you very much. I will come again when I have some troubles with my cello.
We returned our violin after three months but they refused to give the deposit back to us 🙁
Bad quality violin!!!! We rented a 1/8 violin but wanted to cancel our 3-month contract the same day we rented due to violin quality issue (black paint all over my child’s fingers with strong chemical smells on the surface of the strings and the string board, never happened on her own violins we bought before).
But the Asian female staff there refused, we ended up paying over $90 without playing for a single day!! She was also angry that we have rented another violin from elsewhere without going to them first. But we are very disappointed with the quality and do not want to bother exchanging for another one. And she kept asking for my current address and also read aloud my address from my driver’s license as if to threaten me. Horrible experience!!
The female staff also refuse to give me information of the owner and insisted that she contact the owner directly and would not give me a call if the owner refused to give me back my deposit.
13. The Starving Musician – Berkeley
Address: 2474 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94704 , El Granada , California , United States
This has always been a great store, good friendly staff, good deals on equipment.
Great local spot to get some music gear. It’s not huge but they’ve got a pretty good selection of instruments and some very helpful workers.
Friendly and conscientious staff when our online pickup order didn’t go through. Easy to get the strings we wanted.
COVID: The staff asked every customer to use hand sanitizer at the door and confirmed mask use. The staff was wearing their masks, though they weren’t always secured. There is plexi glass along the entire register offering a pretty decent shield during transactions and queries. A narrow store, but with the door open it felt ventilated.
Visited this place for the first time this weekend. Better selection of products than I anticipated. The staff was rude though. Made it seem like I was bothering them when I asked a question.
These guys are businessmen. Not as corporate as Guitar Center. Not a quaint Mom and Pop store.
Didn’t buy my gear lol
I so wanted to enjoy this place. I called them up to see if they wanted to consign my amp and they told me to come down, that the owner was keen to sell my amp, and that they close at 7pm. I get there at 6:45, lugging the 100 lb amplifier after using a car-share, and as the owner sees me walking up, he slides the bars over the doors. I explained that someone at the store just told me to come down and they close at 7. He says “Sorry store rule we stop buying at 6pm – goodbye.”
I explained a little more, that I just hauled this thing down with a rental car, and someone literally just told me to come down. He said “Sorry, we’re not interested in buying it”
No words.
Pretty solid selection – staff is unwelcoming and unhelpful. Was trying to support small business and buy here vs Amazon, but the staff didn’t seem interested in helping me or friendly in any way, and on something as simple as which drum practice pad to buy. I was hoping going in-person I could tap into some of their insight around drums & hearing protection for musicians, but there was zero reciprocating from the employee there. Even mentioned he doesn’t know drums – um, shouldn’t music store employees have basic knowledge of every common instrument so they can help customers, especially beginners who know little? Pretty disappointing for an in-person music store.
I’ll be buying online from other businesses in the future.
14. Coastside Books, Inc.
Address: 432 Main St, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 , El Granada , California , United States
Coastside Books is my go to shop for books, gifts, and the BEST greeting cards! There is a great book selection, but you can always ask Sarah to order something for you too. I always find something and often more than what I am looking for. Check out the beautiful and unique flower arrangements by the cash register too. They are almost worth a trip themselves.
Love this little book store 🙂
This quiet bookstore is well lit with a fairly good selection of books, without too many sidelines so it feels like a bookstore.
Very quaint
Cool little spot a little of everything
It’s a tiny book store, with a limited selection due to size, but the selections are good and it was a very enjoyable place to be.
Need more costumer service
Visited Coastside Bookstore on July 9, 2023 at 1:00pm. The female sales clerk acted as if I was going to steal from them. I did purchase a lovely hummingbird painted towel. After showing the towel to my girlfriend, she wanted two of them. I did not share my negative experience with my girlfriend and children. I asked my two children that appear Asian (I am dark skinned) to go and purchase two of the towels for her. Upon their return, my son shared that the salesclerk acted as if they were going to steal.
One time maybe a false impression, twice…. Half Moon Bay has many lovely stores. I would not recommend going into this one.
15. Half Moon Bay Wine & Cheese
Address: 421 Main St, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 , El Granada , California , United States
Nice place in the heart of downtown half-moon bay
They have got some really good wines for rating on the bright whites menu (I didn’t try the others)
Really nice server at the bar. Glad to be able to use my 15% off yelp coupon for tasting and cheese.
You get three 2oz portions in each flight.
Good music nice clean interior.
The lady was kind enough to let me choose my own cheese and added fig jam and crackers
Was able to ask questions and borrow a map. People were friendly.
Wonderful place. Great relaxing atmosphere. Reasonably priced menu and friendly service.
They had some great bottle in the shop. I love to stop in for a taste and purchase whenever I get into half moon bay
We’ve visited this wine tasting room for years when visiting HMB and checked it out last week. We are fans of TJ Rodgers Pinot…and keep in mind, my husband and I have a long history with semiconductor, including TJ and Cypress. We had an opportunity to attend an exclusive tasting at his home early 2000s (est) comparing the most expensive French wines to his Pinot. Super impressed by his wine processing… super tech at the time we were there.
This wine shop offers many options including TJ’s personal wines (he owns this tasting room). We’ve had a good experience over the years but was annoyed by this last visit. The attendant behind the counter was enthralled with the two gals tasting. The customers were rude and had a biting attitude. The attendant had not recognized our existence..,, until my husband I took a lot of interest in TJs wine, in particular. I was ready to leave until she said…. “Did you want to taste his wine”? I am all about customer service and ambiance and environment that invites you to experience the wine room. I told her how annoyed I was and ready to leave. She recalibrated and adjusted to our needs. We ended up purchasing two bottles of TJ’s wine but I was ready to leave and not buy anything.
Not sure who they cater to – locals or vacationers.
Great knowledge of wines, cheeses and they have awesome real Chorizo!
The location, service & selection was lovely. This little spot has a good vibe & the selection of “wine gifts” & wine are plentiful & extensive. The staff is friendly and engaging. You can buy nice little snacks & there is a small selection of charcuterie. There is even a small section to purchase spirits & bar items. The DOWN side is: READ the menu CLOSELY & LOOK at price tags on refrigerated items very CAREFULLY! The online menu does not match the current menu in house. And…. We ended up paying $150 for 2 glasses of wine, a minimal cheese plate & some extras from the sundries shop. Two 6 oz glasses of Pinot were a whopping $68!! One of the bottles of Pinot was $38 where the same glass of Pinot was $40?! One tiny 3 oz can of an Old Fashion was $8.95! Before we paid our tab or were even aware, we were approached by two fellow customers outside who were also blown away at the high price of these small cans of cocktails. We ended up having a delicious dinner & drinks for 3 at Pasta Moon, down the road that evening for just $10 more than what we paid at HMB Cheese & Wine?! We understand we are all trying to stay afloat these days as we all get back to some kind of normal, but this was crazy! I never post reviews, but wanted to make sure this didn’t happen to someone else.
Its a nice store. Very unsympathetic on the customer service end of things.
Staff was not personable. Seemed to be bothered by questions and interaction.
16. El Granada
Address: California , El Granada , California , United States
17. Peet’s Coffee
Address: 142 San Mateo Rd, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 , El Granada , California , United States
Fresh coffee and friendly customer service that lovely coffee shop.
Good Chai!
My favorite coffee
nice Peet’s. Convenient parking. Fast and friendly service. They didn’t have the coffee I wanted, so they brewed it for me. Very covid-19 compliant.
Fast service
Staff was rude and grouchy over something as simple as asking for a peppermint mocha. We were scolded that they don’t have peppermint and we should not have asked unless it was Christmas time.
Quick stop for burgers for the kids. Just wish when you ask for extra pickles, it means more than 1. What do I have to request the exact number that I want on my burger?
A great place for quick bites!
It’s mcky D’Souza
The service was nice and the food was served fast.
Como no Brasil, só que verem mais barato
dirty place and poor food. I wouldn’t want to go there again.
I have been ordering DoorDash from this McDonald’s in half moon bay for 2 years due to disability they are 4 blocks from my house they started turning off DoorDash delivery.. I spoke to DoorDash they said it’s McDonald’s who turned it off. Sad to say rudeness of employee there is horrible I will be talking to HMB City about this. Sad.
Not a nice cashier, she dont know customer service
20. La Nebbia Winery
Address: 12341 San Mateo Rd, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 , El Granada , California , United States
Fantastic little winery. On site Airbnb great wine & bocce ball.
Cute little place on the way to Half Moon Bay. Friendly service and tasty wine and snacks. Currently doing outdoor service.
We were visiting from the Midwest and discovered this little gem of a winery by accident – on bottling day. It was great fun! I brought back a case of wine. The people were friendly and helpful. Wish we could have stayed longer. We just don’t find wines like this in the Midwest. We will definitely be back on our next trip.
Came for their bottle and cork day. You bring clean empty wine bottles and they’ll fill ’em, cork ’em, and label ’em for $5 a piece. They, of course, allow you to taste the wine you are going to fill your bottles with to ensure you like it. While it isn’t the best wine I’d ever had, for $5 a bottle it is worth the price. I haven’t been to their tasting room so I can’t comment on their wines, but I was impressed with the efficiency of the bottle and cork day.
Quick stop! Nice Rose!
A cute, fun little winery on the way in to Half Moon Bay. You can’t beat the prices for wine tasting, and you even get to keep the glasses!
Thought wines would have changed with new ownership, but they haven’t. Not my taste.
The outdoor space was really lovely. It’s a nice flower garden with picnic tables, not fancy, but pretty. Indoor is small, we didn’t spend much time there. You can bring your dog which is nice. If they have water bowls they did not offer.
The woman serving wine was polite, but not particularly friendly. The food available is pre-packaged which isn’t indicated on the site. Not that that is bad, but I wish it was clear you’re just grabbing from a fridge in the store.
The reason we won’t be returning though, is the wine. Honestly, most of it wasn’t very pleasant. It ranged from decent/drinkable zin to a cab that we couldn’t take more than a sip of (honestly I think these was something wrong with it. It wasn’t that we disliked the notes; it was straight up gross like it had gone bad, which makes me wary of their products.), to disgustingly sweet. The orange dessert wine was like cough syrup. I know dessert wines are sweet, but this wasn’t a good sweet. I would prefer to drink Delsym.
Terrible! They ripped us off we got 2 tastings they said we get 5 picks should be per person yes? But no they only gave us 5 and then charged us for 2 i tried to complain but she said we got our 5?! So for 24 bucks we got 5 tastings not 10 we will never come back here again the wines not that good anyways
