Wet Dog Cafe & Brewery

We thoroughly enjoyed dining at Wet Dog. This was our first trip through Astoria, and we stopped at Wet Dog because we wanted to eat overlooking the water. The service was a little slow, but the food (a veggie wrap for me and a salmon wrap for my partner) was great, and the beer selection was interesting. I thought it was odd that they had Angry Orchard advertised as their cider selection because their brewery offer a cider, but we are pleased with the growler we purchased. Definitely worth the trip through Astoria!

Beer sampler: good selection to choose from served in little mugs.
Bratwurst sampler: not bad, the spicy jalapeño was pretty good.
Large open place, lots of seating. Lounge and restaurant looks nice, and restroom is clean.
Hostess and bartender were prompt, friendly, and accommodating.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ would visit again.

Great ambience for a cool bite to eat and a brew. People were super helpful and nice! Good and drinks were super great!

It was a cold, rainy day in Astoria, and I had been out visiting antique shops and other local small businesses. I was getting peckish, and since I was on foot, I was hoping for someplace nearby. Wet Dog Café & Brewery saved the day!
My server was super friendly. She helped me decide among the various options for fish and chips. When they arrived, both the fries and the fish were crisp and hot, and they tasted very good! The slaw was OK. Overall, it was just what I needed to shake off the damp chill, and head back out for an afternoon of exploring.

Nothing stands out about the Wet Dog. Food is ok, wait staff is slow and beer is better at Ft. George or Rogue. I had a ½ turkey sandwich and salad. Neither had anything special about them.
We were there in late December when the temperature outside was in the mid 40’s. I was hoping for a warm, inviting dining experience. It was SO cold inside that I didn’t take off my jacket. It has been several years since I have eaten here and unfortunately, it hasn’t improved. It will give you fuel, but not an «experience».

Just love this place, it’s food has been great and staff are fantastic, but the beer is off the hook

On our third stop in Astoria we just had a we sip of cider and beer and a nice little loaf of bread to wash it down with. The new Astoria Brewing tap room gave us a good sense of the offerings from this house.

I had the Pasta Special, The sauce was so pungent it was inedible. My date thought so too. I’m not one to complain, but this was so drastic I alerted the waiter, He told us sorry about that and walked off. I have eaten there many times before and found the food about average. My friends food was as usual that night, but not offering me something else from the menu didn’t help with the bad taste in my mouth. I did not eat it, and they did not remove the dinner from the bill, very odd. Since I live nearby I have had to go back for various functions, but never happily, and I don’t eat there, because I don’t like the Wet Dog anymore.

If you’re looking for tasty food, head somewhere else. All of it was frozen and/​or prepackaged. Our fries were old and chewy. Waiter didn’t come around for 10 minutes after we got out food, then he ignored the adults and took our son’s response of «awesome» when he asked how the food was. It wasn’t until the food was gone that I was able to tell him about the fries. I ate all of my fries because I was super hungry, not because they were good.
Didn’t try the beer, so I don’t know if it’s good or not.

The desert was excellent. I don’t really remember the exact name of it. But it was really good.
The beer on the other hand is not good at all .
Service was ok.

If you haven’t been here make a special trip!
The food is great.
Staff is very helpful, curious and checks on you.
Atmosphere is great… on the water.
Clean including the bathrooms.
A little pricey but you get what you pay for…

We arrived at our hotel in Astoria at about 3 in the afternoon on a very hot, muggy Wednesday in July. After a dip in the pool and a walk out the 36^th Street Pier, we had worked up sufficient hunger for dinner. But given that we were relatively close to our hotel, and had done well more than our share of driving on this road trip, we opted to come to the Wet Dog Café via foot, specifically along the Astoria Riverwalk.
Now, why more towns don’t have attractions such as the Riverwalk I don’t fully know (well, I kinda do, it all boils down to money sooner or later) — it’s a good way to give both residents and visitors easy access to what makes a particular place great. In the case of Astoria, it is of course the fact that it’s at the mouth of the Columbia River, where Lewis and Clark concluded their great transcontinental tour.
This probably isn’t a revelation to anybody, but coastal towns like this do not handle extremely hot weather well. Such was the case as we staggered towards down, sun beating down, with just a vague hint of a breeze. So by the time we got to this restaurant, we were parched and ready to sit down.
Except that the restaurant was allegedly full, at least for the sitting area, so we decided to sit at the bar. This may or may not have been a good thing, as the bartender at first was more attentive to orders coming from the seating area (which, if you haven’t caught my drift yet, didn’t seem all that busy, certainly not enough to merit a 30 minute wait time). An older couple sitting next to us spent about five minutes trying to flag the fellow down, and seemed exasperated when finally successful.
I will say that from this point forward, service picked up considerably. I started off with a Trolley Stop (speaking of which, the city does run a trolley along the aforementioned Riverwalk in case you don’t want to actually walk it), paired it off with a bowl of clam chowder, then had a second Trolley Stop. That was enough to fill my belly for both the walk home and for the evening.
Lesson is about the Wet Dog — good stuff, but try not to come at a time when the conditions are too unusual.

We always make a stop in at the Wet Dog! They have fabulous food and service, and the atmosphere is fun and upbeat. We stopped for in for lunch… I had the «Pulled Porker» sandwich and my husband had the Fish & Chip Combo (cod, salmon and halibut.) We also each had a cup of chowder. (The BEST chowder! Not to be skipped!) The pulled pork was outstanding… in-​house smoked pork with great flavor, and the fish and chips were also fantastic. (The cod was a bit fishy, but that is pretty typical of cod… the salmon and the halibut were wonderful!)
Our server was friendly and helpful. The views of the river are great! The ships coming and going are always enjoyable to watch. The Riverfront Trolley comes by about every hour… its great to see this fully beautifully refurbished 1913 roll by.
If i the area, don’t miss the opportunity to have a bite to eat at this restaurant. The food is fantastic!

We were greeted quickly and told that starting at 9:00 pm they have an abbreviated menu. I looked at my watch, it was 9:01 pm. You have GOT to be kidding me! It reminded me of being just a minute late for a McDonald’s breakfast. Not an auspicious start.
I didn’t have any beer, so this review is only about the food and the service. I ordered the garlic Parmesan bread and a petite burger.
The petite burger was small of course. It was just okay, nothing special. The steak fries were crispy and hot, it was a decent-​sized portion.
The highlight of my meal was the garlic Parmesan bread. It wasn’t crispy on the underside as I would have liked. But once I bit into the bread, it was cheesy, garlicky, and gooey, and tasted great.
Service was pretty good, but we were eating at the bar. It was not fun sitting near the drunk couple having to listen to their alcohol-​fueled conversations about karaōke and other things.

This is going to be a partial revue because I have not tried an entrée yet, only appetizers, but the food I saw being brought out looked superb, Large craft burgers, good looking fish & chips, a killer looking Reuben, etc.
So, I’ve been there twice and both times in between meals, mostly just wanting a good micro after a long drive. The first time we opted for onion rings. Perfectly cooked large hand cut (not Sysco) onions in a golden brown hand made batter. Crispy, not greasy. Home made sauces to dip them in. Perfect combination with beer.
Second time same story, just wanted a nice beer accompaniment. We opted for the fried calamari. And this is why I am writing this revue prematurely. I absolutely had to let people know that this might possibly be the best calamari in the whole state!
There is a trick to cooking calamari (most places fail) and these guys must have sold their souls to get the recipe.(Well maybe they, unlike others take pride in what they are doing) Light battered rings & tentacles, super tender, not the least bit chewy or greasy, delicious with a squeeze of lemon and/​or their home made remoulaud dip.
I have been happy both visits with a Red Beard amber. Beautiful setting on the old cannery row beside the Columbia. Looking forward to my next visit, and the next, and the next. I am definitely a fan!

We came out to this place because of the view and we wanted some seafood. Highly disappointed when it came to the meals. I ordered the fish and chips combo of all three types of fish and my wife had a salad with blackened salmon. When we finally got our food I was amazed at the prices paid for the portions. The fish and chips were meager at best. The size of the fish kind of reminded me of getting the large frozen fish sticks… You know, the kind that are as big as your finger. The chips portion was about the size of a medium fry at McDonald’s. The coleslaw had been sitting under the warmer for a while as it was as hot, the tartar sauce had a dried crust on the top of it and was also warm. Seriously overpriced at nearly $ 16. My wife’s salad was the size of a kids cereal bowl and was $ 13…
The service was alright, but should have been better for the amount of people that were in there. Beer was decent and the view of the Columbia was cool, but I felt we should have just waited it out at Ft. George for the food.

Worst meal ever. Management feigned concern with not an offer of any effort to make it right. Not even a free beer glass as a gesture of goodwill? Not hard to recover from poor food… I get it, things can go wrong in the kitchen. Underwhelmed.
You don’t get what you pay for, in this case. Sad for the tourists.

We often stop at Wet Dog and sit at the bar for some brews. We have always been treated well at the bar and occasionally order a quick bite. We have had the AleHouse Sampler. It was just okay in my opinion. We have also tried the Fish and Chips which were pretty good, I could not complain about them. Today, with child in tow we decided to actually sit down for a full meal.
We waited about thirty minutes for a table but we were not in a hurry, we didn’t mind the wait. Our hostess was a very nice girl. Our server was very sweet and accommodating. The food took a little while, but as said, we were not in a hurry. If we had been trying to keep a schedule, eating here would have been out of the question. You can always give them a quick call and ask about the wait.
We tried the Shrimp Melt (daily special), Salmon Burger (grilled option), and the kids Pepperoni Pizza. The Salmon Burger was good. The salmon was grilled well, the tartar sauce was great with plenty of dill. I did not like the bun myself. The kids pizza looked and tasted like those little frozen pizzas you buy in bulk. Unfortunately, the Shrimp Melt special was very sad. Very little bay shrimp, it was mostly bread. It was also served tepid. A hug slice of tomato covered what little shrimp was there on the thick bread. It appeared that there was a ⁸⁰⁄₂₀ ratio of bread to shrimp. Our nice server comped it for us.
I will still go to the Wet Dog and snack with a great brew, but I do not intend to sit down for a meal again. We left the restaurant and went down the road to Northwest Wild Seafood for a huge, delicious lobster melt. It was two dollars less than the sad shrimp melt at Wet Dog.

The décor of his place is a little bit odd, as there is a model storefront up top, which I think it supposed to model the old Sunday market, but looks a little creepy in today’s world.
Our waiter was awesome! We got oyster shooters which were amazing in their homemade cocktail sauce. Perfect amount of spice!
Beers were and extra $ 3 for a souvenir glass, which saves $ 2 vs. buying in the store Might as well get them at the table!
I’m looking forward to them moving to the new location!
Minus 1 star: creepy décor
Minus 1 star: diner style menu

We were rolling through Astoria on our coastal trip and the stomach started growling, and at the time we were there, not much was opened in Astoria and we needed to quiet the hunger. We looked at the menu, and stepped into this place. By the name alone you may think that it’s a small joint, as the word ‘café’ makes me think of a small coffee shop that serves light drinks, soups and sandwiches, not so with this place, it’s huge, and it’s a brewery as well! Coming in here, it’s got some funky décor, from old license plates from other states to big, bold neon beer signs, it looks like a very fun place.
This place has a few parts to it, for one, once you walk in… they have a small store area, selling all types of weird stuff, from candy to Hello Kitty! An odd store for an odd place, then we have the lounge/​bar area that also is showing the brewing machines (did I not say this is a brewery) which pumps out it’s own beer! It almost feels like an old Western saloon from a cowboy movie, with tons of seating at the bar, if you enjoy that scene while pounding down a few cold ones! And at last we have the main restaurant area, high ceilings, crazy décor, with one corner having a faux pas balcony, a real stage for live music, and sights all around you (lights, plates) this place is a shock to the senses. There is also an outside patio, an views overlooking the water, it’s quite a sight, a beautiful one at that.
We were seated immediately, and our server Cory greeted himself and while my dear was in the washroom, he actually came by to ask if I wanted a seat near the patio, that is service, as I was happy sitting in the middle of the place but just to ask that, and eventually moving me over for that beautiful view of the water, thumbs up. This was all done after our order was already put in, the night special, which was a steak with some roast potatoes and a big Texas style garlic toast, and a seperate small clam chowder. The steak itself was cheap on this night, $ 10 is a steal for the amount of meat we got, this will fill the regular person’s appetite! The clam chowder wasn’t bad at all, very potato filled, and I can find clams, they are there, not like some watery chowders I have had before!
Cory came by a few times to see how we were doing after he moved us, very attentive service, I hope I’m back one of these days to pound down a beer, but if your looking for a place to chill out, this is it, pet friendly, kid friendly (the have a kid’s menu), and if you need booze and a view… and food as a side. they have it!