Baked Alaska

My mom always said don’t go to a restaurant with an ocean view. Her advice unfortunately held. My caveat with that is that we came mid afternoon. Perhaps we had a bad waitress? Perhaps the good lunch cooks had left? The restaurant itself is attractive after all, and the owner was trained in Hyde Park (CIA).
My salmon was crusted in inedible salt – although the portion size was generous. It came atop a salad that was drowned in salad dressing-​also highly over salted.
One of my kids ordered buttered noodles pretty safe, right? The spaghetti/​angel hair (in between sizes) was crispy and dried out. I mean, really? The other boy ordered a grilled cheese and French fries. He didn’t like either, and he is ok with really low quality fries.
My wife’s salad earned two stars, which brought this place up overall to a one star.
I would have said something to my waitress about the food – as a former chef, I always think feedback is best and that it’s proper to let a place try to make things right. But after she dropped off our food, we never saw her again. Not for water, not for anything. Oh yes, there were four tables busy in the entire restaurant, so it’s not that she was slammed.
I even wrote up my concerns on one of those cards, let my real name and phone number. That was 10 days ago. No one ever called, so I can only assume one thing. Don’t go to a restaurant with an ocean view if it’s name is Baked Alaska.

I had the prawns and crab linguine. Highly recommend this dish came for lunch and service was excellent and so was view.

A nice sit-​down restaurant right on the Harbor with awesome views. I started with a cup of clam chowder but I wasn’t impressed with it in the least. The consistency was a little weird and the bacon was too overpowering in flavor. The dungeness crab macaroni and cheese, however, was outstanding. It might have even been the best mac and cheese I’ve ever had; add the crab and it made a pretty memorable meal. They could probably benefit from having a second host, especially on a busy Sunday lunch hour like the one we went on. There were people crowing the lobby but a hostess didn’t show up to the desk until at least 5 minutes after we walked in.

There was a restaurant we were going to go for dinner, but we couldn’t find it, and we are HERE, so we just walked in, we like the setting of being in a marina, and we have a beautiful shaded view, so here we are!
DH doesn’t rate the food very high when he could have cooked it better himself. That’s the case with the salmon dinner he ordered. The salmon was a pale pink and tasted just slightly different from chicken. The garlic mashed red potatoes with Gorgonzola were fine after he finished mashing them with his fork. The asparagus spears were done just plain on a grill. The generous pours of red wine made up somewhat for these shortcomings. The clam chowder is excellent!
We shared the Spinach salad. Cantaloupe, watermelon, & pancetta (Italian bacon made of pork belly meat that is salt cured & spiced), taste more like crispy bacon, but better! I also had the I had Prawns and Crab Speghetini, dried cherries, pistachios, butter, white wine. There were enough for leftovers. You can still taste the alcohol, it could have cooked a bit longer.
The restrooms were in great shape, service was good.

My crab and shrimp spaghettini was excellent. My husband’s burger with bleu cheese was a 7 outmoded 10. The baked Alaska was good but the meringue could have stood up more. The place has a weird setup. Pizza available only if you sit in the bar but dinner menu is priced lower there. You pay more for sitting where there’s a view, but our view from the bar was fine.

Just had lunch here. Not worth the money in my book. They gave you a bottle of chilled water that was split between 2 and gone in the first 10 minuted and not refilled. Tried the Kobe burger. Was pretty good. Had the Baked Alaska, definitely could be better. They fire it up at the table but as you eat it it reminds me of the brownie delight at Dairy Queen.

We had oysters on the half shell, chowder and fish and chips. Food was good. The fish and chips was a little over fried but still flaky.
Oysters were average size and a little gritty but it’s on the shell so what can I complain about.
The clam chowder was the best we had all weekend compared to Bouy Beer (good) and Fort George (spicy and kinda bland). This chowder has smoky bacon pieces in it and well seasoned. A lot of chunky clams as well. Loved this cup of soup even though it was the most expensive. Worth the money.

I had the seared albacore tuna – a classic favorite of mine at a seafood restaurant. While the steak of tuna was alright for the cost (definitely don’t share with anyone), the seared tuna would have tasted better if it had been somewhat warm. I received it at room temperature and it’s outside was drier than usual for seared fish, like it had been sitting a while. I used a bit of lemon on the fish and that perked up the flavor quite a bit.
But to be honest, no one at my table was super impressed with their meal, particularly the people in my party who received the 3 course chef special. The first course was rabbit that had turkey gravy or something on it, the second course was pork belly (very fatty) and scallop ceviche, then the third course was a very fatty cut of steak and tempura-​ed cauliflower. Excellent ideas alone, but together after each other, each course was heavier in oil than the last.

I had the best meal I can remember having recently! Bronzed diver scallops with fresh English puréed peas and pea shoots. I wan to try to recreate this fabulous recipe, or else I have to go back!

Love this place! My work brings me here every few months and I always have dinner at the bar. Great duck confit and love the grilled Roman.

Awesome service! We stopped here on our body Mary tour and we were not disappointed! Great food, service and atmosphere!

Wow! We were pleasantly surprised! Everything was top notch, even the service! We had for starters, the razor clam fennel appetizer. THE BOMB! A buttery, clammy sauce with capers and spiral-​like cut clam! What creative and culinary genius that dish was! I’m going to try and make that at home!
Dinner entrees: Halibut with Salad in dill sauce. Halibut seared to deliciousness, perfect dill sauce.
Crispy skin salmon with braised cabbage (German style) with yellow beets, sour cream and a Dijon sauce. Wonderful. Salmon cooked to perfection.
Dessert: Baked Alaska. Pretty good! The presentation better than the flavor but next time we’re going for the «half baked» version. Sounds more oooowy-​gooey.
We can’t wait to return to this restaurant. FANTASTIC views of the Columbia River! Very nice atmosphere here.

We went there for happy hour, and got a table looking over the river, which was nice. Our server was great, very friendly. Most of the food was great, with two exceptions.
The pizza I had was fine, one of their daily specials. Their sausage is bland, needs more spice in it. The calamari needed salt and pepper.
The wife loved the fresh Oysters, said they tasted very fresh. The star of the show was the fresh mozzarella and foccacia appetizer, was fantastic. Whenever I’m back in Astoria (Goonies never say die,) I’ll be returning.

Try the Razor Clam appetizer! It was not traditional, but SO delicious. See the picture? The beers were very cold, the service was friendly and efficient, and oh, that pile of creamy, salty razor clam goodness. Next time I go, I’m getting a plate of clam heaven all for myself!

Pros:
— Sat overlooking the water, which was nice.
— The waitstaff was friendly and efficient.
Cons:
— My meal came out a good 15 minutes before my husbands. This doesn’t make for the best dining experience. Not sure why that happened and no one acknowledged that that was strange.
Food was alright, nothing to write home about. I’d say it’s a good place to pop in for a drink or small bite, but I don’t think we’d return.

Great location couldn’t get any better unless it was a floating restaurant. Amazing size. Beautiful views of the majestic Columbia River. Vast menu selections. This visit our bar service wasn’t very professional and one of our meals was marginal but will try again and update because I really want to be thrilled with this place. Heart Astoria.

Baked Alaska took my Baked Alaska virginity. My husband and I originally came here for some strong drinks. We were not disappointed. During the enjoyment of our beverages, we saw another couple blow out their dessert and we asked our bartender for «one of those». Honestly, I didn’t even know what a Baked Alaska was. I just knew I wanted to see my dessert go up in flames.
I asked the other couple how they liked it and the woman’s response was, «I hope you like rum if you order it.» Yes, yes I do.
When our dessert came out, our bartender told us to blow it out when you would blow out your marshmallow. For me that is burnt to a crisp, so I didn’t take his advice on that.
Fun experience. Was it the best dessert ever? No. Was it the best Baked Alaska I’ve ever had? Yes.

Chicken and waffles!
But really, we eat here a few times a year as we pass through Astoria, and everything we have ever ordered has been fabulous. The view is beautiful (even when its a little stormy on the coast), and the service has been exceptional every time we are there.

I came back for a group function on the pizza side and had a much better experience than at the more formal restaurant side.
I tried various types of pizza and they were all very tasty, with a thin crispy crust and quality toppings. My favorite was surprisingly the one topped with homemade potato chips, I could eat those chips all night. I usually don’t like calamari, but really enjoyed theirs — nice breading and texture. The Caesar salad was underwhelming with wilty lettuce and boring croutons.
Server was excellent about getting drinks out. If you like a very, very strong root beer, try their Crater Lake brand root beer. Nice spot if you want an area reserved just for your group, especially for standing/mingling…beautiful view of the river too!

This is a nice restaurant that has a casual pizzeria of the same name on the street side while the nicer restaurant overlooks the water. (That kind of confused us at first when we were just walking around and checking out the area…)
I had the scallops which were excellent and hubby had the spaghettini. Both were wonderful dishes — flavorful and light. We were able to relax and enjoy their views while sipping excellent Manhattans.