Humphrey’s on the Delta

Food was alright but i do not suggest throwing a party here unless you want to pay. hidden charges when you are about to leave

My first time at Humpreys was this past friday night for a fun filled comedy show. I must say not only is it in and beautiful location on the water, but the ambience was great. The food was tasty, and the staff was very friendly and helpful. I give this place 2 thumbs up, and a 5 star rating. I am looking forward to returning there for the next event. Humpreys is the pace tro be. If you havent been i recommend you get there for tasty food and nice scenery and pleasant service.

Sadly this place closed. The city is looking for a new tenant to open the place back up.
Had to give it the stars it deserved last time i was there. I used to love this place many years ago, but then another person took over. The food went down hill.
Then much to my surprise, long time restaurant owner Eva took it back. I was pleasantly surprised when stopping in one late evening and had the most fantastic clam chowder. Definitely not from a can! I had to return a few weeks later just to have it again. Sad to see it go.

Oh Humphrey’s, I really tried to love you. I did.
I have been here about six times over the Summer and Fall with my fiancée. We read the article in the local news, pledged our support of the little-​guy, and tried to make it our occasional Friday night dinner destination. We’d walk along the shore, watch the boats on the river and feel so romantic and optimistic. Then we entered the restaurant…
Every time we dined here there was something completely off about this place. From the jarring hiphop or intrusive norteño music blasting out of the TV sports bar near the entryway, to the rows and rows of eerily empty seats with amazing views of the river, to the quirky but impeccably polite wait staff, its painfully obvious that the odd vibe I felt every time I came here is felt by everyone.
Beautifully designed, perfectly located, this restaurant had everything it needed to be a raging success — except, clearly it is not. Seats need repairing, cooks need training, TV’s need turning DOWN, the wine list needs better wine!!!
Management doesn’t have enough class to play up this wonderful restaurant’s cal-​fusion classic-​cuisine qualities. I feel they have let all of Antioch down.
I hope they sell it to a good company who brings back the Humphrey’s we all loved and knew.

Oh no… The word from Antioch locals on facebook is that Humphrey’s closed their doors for good on Christmas Eve 2012 :-(
When I tried to verify on their website,
the site was shut down.
I also drove by today at 1pm and they were closed.
All evidence, so far, leads me to believe the rumor is true.

Had never been here until a few old friends from work decided to hold a reunion. My sister, her friend and I arrived early so we decided to have a late lunch before the others arrived. We were seated promptly, given menus and drink orders taken.
Looking at the menu we noticed they had a lot of delicious offerings such as soups, salads, sandwiches and burgers. I decided on the Crabby Mac (Crab meat, green onion, on a sourdough steak roll, with melted Jack cheese and seafood sauce — $ 11) which was a very wise choice! In addition to the sandwich I added a cup of their supposedly famous New England Clam Chowder.
The sandwich was beyond what I expected. The crab tasted fresh and played very well with the accoutrements, it was like Sebastian from the Little Mermaid was playing a concert in my mouth! Next up the soup was absolutely heavenly, creamy, clammy (not in temperature) and just the right mix of everything. I couldn’t get over how good the food was.
Thinking I couldn’t fit another morsel, my sister and her friend suggested dessert so we looked over the menu. They had some very delectable items but we decided on a slice of Snickers Pie, Chocolate Lava Cake and Chocolate Explosion Cake. All three were shared although my sister’s friend didn’t want to (I don’t blame her haha). They were all as delicious as they looked and I felt like a complete sow after partaking but it was sooooooo worth it!
My only gripe is that the waitress kept forgetting to fill our waters but that’s only a minor infraction in my eyes. All in all we had a wonderful time visiting, eating and just being silly (sister’s friend had many mimosas). I would come back in a heartbeat!

They get one star because Unilocal makes you give at least one. After our experience last night, I would NEVER EVER recommend this place. We chose Humphrey’s to celebrate my 50^th b-​day, because they served Cioppino (and our dining experiences there in the past were good). Not knowing the place had been sold, our first clue something was wrong was when we walked in and were the only people in the restaurant. During the evening 2 couples did show up, for a total of 11 dining.
Where to start? The Cioppino was terrible, so terrible we sent it back. It appeared the cook (??) steamed the seafood, dumped a can of tomato sauce on top, then sprinkled it with canned shrimp… shudder. The Crab Cakes were horrible, they were sent back too. The Salmon was overcooked on the edges and undercooked in the middle — takes some talent to screw up fish that way! It was sent back too. The steaks were okay, just not cooked to the requested doneness. That’s FOUR meals returned to the kitchen. They had the gall to actually charge us for those 4 soup/​salads and even a talk with the manager didn’t change that. No dessert — couldn’t face a messed up sweet.
The only bright spot was the waiter. He remained courteous & friendly through the whole experience.

In the past, I was usually impressed by Humphrey’s, but after visiting there tonight, I will never eat there again. On a positive note, our waiter was very polite and professional. But, out of 8 dishes, we ended up sending 4 back and the remaining 4 were over cooked, really under seasoned and bland. All the fish dishes were sent back, salmon made one person sick while still in the restaurant. This use to be a great place that was hard to get a table at, and always had great food for higher prices. Now, it is totally empty with awful food that you can’t really digest, for even higher prices. Do not go here!

Met some friends at Humphrey yesterday, we were out on the patio lisenting to a Latin Jazz Group, that were very good. What a great afternoon, we enjoyed our food, it was great, the service and the ambiance too. The Oyster Rockefeller, Calamari and the Basket of Shrimp were very GOOD. If you like Oysters, you have to try the Oyster Rockefeller they are the BEST! The Shrimp Fajiats and Tilapia were excellent too! The menu has many items to choose from, not just Seafood.
To top off our day, they have a texting program VIP Club which was FREE to join and by joining we received 15% off of our meal just for joining plus they send out other coupons and discounts monthly, what a deal! if you haven’t been to humphreys lately you really need to check them out! GREAT job Humphreys, all six of us had a great experience and a wonderful day, we will be back!

Very sad this place closed! Hoping another seafood restaurant will take its place. It’s beautiful and hate seeing it sit there empty :-(
Happy to hear Humphrey’s will be remaining open! My husband and I had dinner there last night 8÷11÷12, it was nice to see many others doing the same.
Their banquet room was nicely decorated, it appeared a couple were there to celebrate their 50^th Wedding Anniversary… I wanted to party with them… it looked like a lot of fun.
Dinner was great, service was excellent and their clam chowder is still the best!!!
I wish Humphrey’s the very best and will continue to recommend!
Written on 7÷21÷12
Have been a fan of Humphrey’s since the day it opened. It has had its ups and downs, has changed ownership, I had horrible food, I had great food, etc. I do like their food now, for the most part.
It saddened me when I heard it has filed for bankruptcy. Humphrey’s is such a beautiful place, it is unfortunate that the owners don’t do enough advertising to want to keep it open… there’s only so much «word of mouth» can do.
I will miss their clam chowder, for it is the best in the area!

Went here for dinner tonight.
We arrived and were greeted by the hostess and asked if there was room on their patio. She went to check and while we are waiting, a woman, who appeared to be a manager, came out and started to say, «Has anyone helped???» and when she saw the hostess on the patio, she nodded and walked away. Okay, well — I would have preferred a «Welcome to Humphreys, can I help you find a seat?» instead of just confusing us and walking off.
We were seated next to the window, which has beautiful views of the delta. I never knew the delta, from the Antioch side, actually looked pleasant!
Our waiter came and brought us waters and drinks. He was very attentive and willing to check up on us.
I’m not sure if this new ownership doesn’t provide bread, as all the other reviewers mentioned, but we did not receive any bread. My meal came with a soup, whereas the rest of the party had ordered a la cart salads. It would have been nicer to bring my soup out along with some bread so my party wouldn’t have to sit there and watch me eat my clam chowder.
The chowder itself was delicious.
I ordered Chicken Marsala with a baked potato. It had mushroom gravy, mushrooms, and green onions in it, but no hint or taste of Marsala wine, so I’m not sure what the deal with that was.
As I am typing this, I am having serious digestive issues after eating here — I do know that the majority of food poisoning comes from improper food handling techniques, so I am not sure what the deal here is (see my notes RE: bathroom below — my impression is, if the bathroom is in bad shape, who knows what the kitchen is like!).
Napkins are cheap paper ones — for spending this much money, I’d expect a higher quality napkin, not a cheap McDonald’s style. I’ve eaten at establishments less expensive than Humphrey’s and gotten cloth napkins. Needless to say, my napkin was done after one use.
The overall ambiance was okay — they could switch up their music from light rock to something more classy, considering the price on the menu.
Now, for the bad part — I went to the bathroom mid meal and the men’s room was HORRIFIC. One toilet was clogged with feces, the other had a broken/​loose toilet seat, and the third was just fine — the walls, however, have about a 1″ gap so when people walk into the restroom, they can see you sitting on the shitter. In addition, they have this large hamper-​style basket beneath the sink where people apparently are supposed to throw your used paper towel. Gross!
Again, for the price you are paying, you’d expect a nicer bathroom, one that is clean, smells clean, and doesn’t look like the kind at the truck stop.
Anyway, when we were done, we did have to wait a long time to receive our check. We actually had to walk up to the hostess to get it and then pay.
Overall, I don’t think I’ll go back to Humphrey’s until they change their ambiance, fix their bathrooms, and maybe feature more menu options.
I felt the price was too high for the ambiance that you are getting.

It was our anniversary on July 4^th so we thought it would be nice to have dinner at Humphrey’s and then watch the Antioch fireworks. The thought was good… and the fireworks show was good… everything else was horrible.
We waited at least 20 minutes for the waitress to finally take our order. I was tempted to order the tilapia, but the menu said it was marinated in chipotle and I thought it might be too spicy for me and at $ 17.00 I didn’t want to take a chance. I thought that by ordering the Seafood Sampler Appetizer dish that that would be a safe bet. How can you screw up fried seafood, right? The sampler consists of shrimp, calamari and cod. The cod was dripping in oil and so soggy. The calamari was not like any calamari I’ve ever seen. My husband thought it was imitation seafood. It was breaded in a weirdly seasoned breading and it was all lumped and stuck together. The shrimp was just okay, it’s the only thing on the plate that I could take more than one bite of. It came with an aioli sauce (garlic mayonnaise sauce) that had a film on it like it had been sitting out for at least 3 hours. Needless to say, I didn’t even try that!
My husband ordered the prime rib, medium rare. When it arrived it had what he called a bloody watery liquid on top of it to disguise that it was cooked well done!
I had the tortilla soup and he had the clam chowder. Both were just okay. Our bread didn’t arrive until after we finished our soup.
The dinner took an hour to arrive to our table. The waitress never came back to see how our food was or how we were doing. I had to flag her down, which took three attempts, to order another rounds of drinks.
It took her another 45 minutes to bring us our check. We were there for 2 and a half hours!
This was the first time I’ve ever been to a restaurant that I would actually call the worst dinner I have ever had in my life. We will not be coming back here! I wouldn’t give this restaurant any stars, but that is not an option on Unilocal

The staff is very friendly and helpful. I ordered the salmon which was a little undercooked, the vegetables were so so, the best part of my meal was the bloody Mary I ordered. I will give another chance for them to redeem themselves.

After reading all the negative reviews, I was concerned about my upcoming evening at Humphrey’s. We had arrived by boat at the marina and there are no other close by places for dinner. It all turned out okay. Here are the details.
Service — our server was excellent! We had menus and water in an instant. The meal was paced well, with time between courses, The water and coffee were kept full. We asked for our dessert to be held until we finished a cup of coffee and that’s how it was delivered. We had cheerful business like chat as we went along and a delightful conversation as we were settling the bill. Everyone said goodbye when we left.
Food — was average. We ordered halibut ($ 20) and a salmon ($ 19) dinners, which came with clam chowder, garlic bread, and a side. The clam chowder had plenty of clams but was very thick. I’ve had the same in other places but prefer something more the consistency of cream. The fish servings were generous and well cooked. Both would have been better served plain as the toppings were a disappointment. Next time, I’d ask for fish to just be broiled. The veggies were fresh and crisp. My side of mashed potatoes with blue cheese was just that. Good mashed with crumbled blue instead of butter. I liked it, but it will not be to many others taste. The cheesy garlic bread is a dieter’s guilty pleasure. The slice of cheese cake was on the small side but priced accordingly.
Wine — just a few additions to house wines, all by the bottle or glass, $ 4 for house wines. Our by the glass wine portions looked to be ¹⁰⁄₁₂ oz. One each!
Value — two dinners with soup, bread and sides, two glasses wine, two coffees and one desert came to $ 67 with tax before tip. I think that’s at the low end of the price of admission for a nice seat by the bay. I have spent that much for lunch in many of the places where we have cruised.
Summary — Had they left the toppings off the fish I’d have given four stars.

I’ve been to Humphrey’s three times in the last couple years. The first time the food was good. The second time was for a networking group that has 30+ people and they stuck us in a tiny room — the food was also pretty bad. The most recent time the networking group met at Humphrey’s things got so much better! They put us in their large banquet room and the food was better than before.
The fajitas and burgers are good. I’ve heard their pastas are good too, but I’ve not tried it.
Why only 3 stars? The first two trips still linger in my memory…

Only three stars because I don’t want to be the mean person who give two stars.
Nothing about this place could make it worth the high price. Last night I went here with my husband and we were a little shocked at an $ 75 bill for just the two of us. Anyway, here is the deal with this place. It’s a barely-​okay location by the water. There are no other water front restaurants in the area, so we went for that reason, but between the window and the water you get to look at a path where «gangstas» hang out and throw empty beer bottles into the water. Not cool.
The service was so lame. We came with a coupon and we let the waitress know about our coupon before we ordered anything so we could make sure she applied it to the bill. (yes, it would have been more!) She was so annoyed we had a coupon. She took it out of my hand and reviewed it front and back then basically lectured me that alcohol was not discounted. Ugh, I wasn’t even planning to order a drink.
The waitress continued with her cold attitude until just before we ordered dessert. Tip time was coming so she was sweet as could be. Then she brought the bill and, of course, did not apply the discount! When I brought this to her attention she was back to being a sour puss.
There is no way we will be going back here. It just sucks we have to go all the way to Berkeley for a nice, waterfront restaurant.

A few months ago we purchased a coupon on
that would give us $ 25 off a $ 50 purchase.
When we walked into Humphreys, a sign at the podium stated that
coupon holders would only be able to redeem coupons for a 15% discount.
Um, what?
When I talked to the host, he attempted to convince me that «it would work out to about the same discount».
Wow, when did 15% ever equal 50%? That’s some shady Antioch math.
At that point, I had lost my appetite. A shallow bowl of Clam Chowder with too much celery and not enough clams accompanied by bread saturated in butter was enough for me. I called it a night after that.

Gayle and I stopped at Humphrey’s for a drink on Memorial Day after taking a nice hike at Black Diamond Mines. The last time I was here was for Brunch with an old girlfriend (Bev) and before I met my first wife (Julie). That puts that bit of personal history back to around 1990 – 1991. A colleague of mine who lives in Antioch told me that Humphrey’s has changed hands a few times since then and he’s not sure how they make it. The same might be said for downtown Antioch, which we drove around both before and after. Or perhaps Pittsburg will have better luck with their «Italian Fishing Village» urban renewal project.
The restaurant (huge) was closed and things were indeed quiet at the bar. But perhaps the group taking dancing lessons in the central party room area were having a «whale» of a good time. The barkeep was friendly and said it was OK to sit out on the patio with our drinks and the Yogi the dog. I ordered an IPA, while Gayle enjoyed her Martini. The patio itself faces the Marina and not the Delta itself. Maybe that’s because of the strong breeze, but you do feel cheated a bit view-​wise. In any event, we enjoyed the opportunity to relax after a good hot hike and with our favourite adult beverages. We also had a nice stroll along compact shoreline park, and made note of the nearby Dow Wetlands as a possible opportunity to hump back.

We were pleasantly surprised by our lunch here the other Sunday. Inspired by Grace L.‘s recent review and having already had this place in my bookmarks for a year we took a chance to come by and have some lunch.
The place looked closed from the outside. It was very dark inside. I don’t think there were any lights on at all.
We sat at a small table near the bar. It was quiet except for a few people sitting at the bar itself. I really didn’t notice anyone in the main restaurant at all.
This place is huge. I had no idea how big it was in there. They also have a large banquet room that a reception had just ended in and people were cleaning up.
They don’t have a custom drink menu so we ordered a standard Cosmo to start. It was made very well.
I ordered the Crabby Mac Sandwich. An open faced sandwich with a mountain of fresh real crab piled on top. The diced tomato’s were fresh and the green onion sprinkled through gave it a nice flavor.
Its also served with a «Seafood Sauce» as described on the menu. I got it on the side because of my recent allergic reaction to a sauce on a sandwich, I didn’t want to chance it.
The sauce was good like a lighter Clam Chowder broth type sauce with a hint of spice. It was pretty spicy, almost to spicy for me but good.
My husband had the Humphrey Burger. It was comparable to a nice home grilled burger. I had a bite and was really impressed by the freshness and flavor. He said it really hit the spot for him.
The second drink we had was the Lemon Drop. The bartender here really does know how to make an excellent drink. He was also our server and we could not have had a better of both.
I will say it again, we were really impressed by the quality of food and customer service.
They just need to get a cool custom drink menu and get that great bartender to come up with some nautical themed cocktails and they would be set.

Okay folks. I’m just tired of reading the bad reviews here. I feel like saving Humphrey’s on the Delta like how people saved Humphrey 25 years ago:
In case you were wondering, that is why this restaurant is named Humphrey’s. In 1985, Humphrey the humpback swam all the way from the San Francisco Bay into the Sacramento River, near Antioch. For a saltwater whale, that’s quite a commute! Eventually, marine biologists were able to lead him back in the bay by playing recordings of other whales. Right along the riverfront, this restaurant has great views of the site where Humphrey was discovered, not to mention, an awesome view of the Antioch Bridge.
Throughout the years, I’ve only had pleasant memories of the restaurant as this was the site of many celebrations: my first communion, 8^th grade graduation, high school graduation, and various birthdays, Mother’s Days, anniversaries. A few of my friends even had their wedding receptions and cotillions/​quinceaneras here.
During this particular visit, my parents and I came here to celebrate their 25^th wedding anniversary. It was a Saturday night, and aside from an Indian wedding in the banquet hall, the place was virtually empty. The waitress was super nice… she’s the same waitress who works on Saturday nights, so I recognized her right away.
The food:
~ They serve this loaf of bread smothered in butter and dust clouded with parmesan cheese. It is heaven in a bread basket despite being a kajillion calories a slice. We had two of them.
~ The clam chowder is super thick and creamy. The thickness might deter some people, but I loved its richness.
~ My mom had the Captain’s seafood combination platter. It looked like my mom had two bites, but really she had like 10, and yet she still couldn’t put a dent in it! Suffice it to say, my mom had enough leftovers to nosh on the next day.
~My dad always gets the seafood fettuccine alfredo. It’s his favorite dish here. My dad was apparently hungry because he finished his dish.
~ My prime rib was cooked to perfection. Medium rare, still kinda bloody. Dipped in the creamed horseradish, it was beefy goodness with every bite. I, too, had enough for lunch the next day.
Overall, it was a good night led by our awesome waitress, who not only had great service, but a sense of humor as well. I will always have a special place in my heart for Humphrey’s on the Delta!