Visit The Rock Seafood & Grill in Nipomo during the lunch or dinnertime rush and you may have to get in line—a line out the door. People like what owner Daniel Rivas is serving, and it’s not just seafood. God’s message is on the menu, too.
“Right when they walk in, they see ‘The Rock, We bring the ocean to you,’” Rivas said, describing a prominent sign above his kitchen. “There’s scripture on our menu, on the front page of our menu. There’s scripture on the back page of our menu. Even when they use the restroom, there’s a tile that has scripture written on it.”
There’s Christian music playing for patrons.
Rivas, who isn’t afraid to put his religious beliefs front and center, named his restaurant, which opened in December 2010, after a Bible passage.
“The Rock stands for solid foundation,” he explained. “As the Lord says, ‘He told Peter to build a church on a rock, and it will never fall.’ Our Rock here is our church.”
The masses welcome his ministry. It occasionally takes some guests by surprise, but that doesn’t deter Rivas.
“That’s what intimidates a lot of businesses and a lot of people … the response they get from announcing their spiritual faith and their belief,” he said. “They have to realize, Jesus didn’t always hear good things when he walked. We’re not gonna hear good things all the time when we speak of Him, but in the end, it’s all gonna be good.”
Rivas, “a fisher of men,” welcomes one and all, even those who don’t have a relationship with God. He embraced religion 18 years ago, when he was 31 years old.
“I found the Lord with a tragic loss in the family and it brought me to God,” he said. “It just goes to show wherever you came from, it’s never too late.”
It’s important to Rivas to not only serve the best seafood on the Central Coast, but to “provide a ministry outreach to let people know when you put God first, everything is possible.”
“We have a women’s ministry the first Saturday of every month. We have a men’s ministry on the last Saturday of every month. We have Bible studies on Wednesday nights. We have pastoral meetings where the pastors come in and get together on every Tuesday morning of every week. I mean, I can’t even describe the blessing that it’s been.”
Pastor Gloria Beserra, of Nueva Esperanza, a bilingual church in Nipomo, leads a popular women’s Bible study group the first Saturday morning of each month at The Rock. Rivas offers them free refreshments, and last month he surprised the ladies with breakfast.
“I think it’s very unusual, because owners don’t want to offend people that come in, but this is something that he’s standing for,” Beserra said. “He’s standing for God, for who he is, and he’s trusting God in it, while he’s running the business and he’s doing very, very well.”
Added Rivas, “The word is getting out.”
He sees repeat customers from near and far.
“When they’re coming from L.A. to San Francisco, they make it a regular stop now,” he said. “We hear that every weekend from tourists traveling by saying, ‘You know, this is our regular stop, to and from, when we drive by here.’”
The lifelong fisherman offers an extensive yet inexpensive fresh seafood menu.
“We probably have one of the largest varieties of fresh fish in any restaurant on the Central Coast right now. We have nine different charbroil items—a lot of places don’t charbroil. We even just introduced shrimp enchiladas. We introduced a chili and sea bass tender. We’re introducing a soft shell crab taco—things that other people can’t get in other restaurants in this area. We’re trying to give people a seafood experience they haven’t had before at an affordable price.”
Rivas and his wife, Susan, have a loyal staff that they consider family. Rivas’ 80-year-old mother, Terry, also lends her culinary talents to The Rock every day, making the restaurant’s salsa and the shrimp enchiladas.
Customers come for the seafood and stay for the show: The Rock’s chef in the open concept kitchen.
“Watching him cook, watching him put it on the plate, watching him from beginning to end until it’s on your table and watching us have fun,” Rivas said. “We’re offering a presentation, an open book. We have nothing to hide here, and I think that’s the message.”
Rivas knows how to run a restaurant. He has been in the industry since 1987: “I come in at 4 in the morning and I leave sometimes at 9 at night, and it’s not because I have to. I enjoy it. I enjoy being with the people. I enjoy being with the customers. I feel it’s where the Lord wants me.”
Pastor Beserra is a frequent customer, bringing her parishioners in for the clam chowder bread bowl and fish tacos.
“The food is amazing, and the prices are good. I love it. I love it here. It is so special. I don’t know many people that would open their business to people on the outside to have meetings here and have gatherings with ministry,” Beserra said. “He just opens his arms to us, and I am so grateful. Dan and his wife are just amazing people. They love people, all kinds of people, all walks of life, because God has shown them his grace.”
Rivas, who is a 13-year resident of Santa Maria, plans to open another seafood restaurant in Orcutt by the end of this year. He’s still uncertain upon which rock he’ll build his next restaurant. The search for a location continues.
“We’re going at His pace. The Lord will provide a place for us, and we’re gonna go in just like we did here and set a solid foundation wherever it be,” Rivas said.
The message will be the same at both restaurants. Rivas encourages other Christian business owners to lose any fear they have and walk the walk along with him.
“I challenge other businesses to do what we’re doing and speak out loud,” he said. “I want to make that a public challenge to them. It’s not gonna hurt.“
The Rock Seafood & Grill is at 622 W. Tefft Street in Nipomo.
Sun food and wine writer Wendy Thies Sell writes the Eats column 52 weeks a year. Suggest your favorite restaurant for a future story at wthies@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 16-23, 2012.