Flow Restaurant and Lounge

What a wonderful location and panoramic views of the Mendocino coast. The bar itself is a wonderful addition, their beer and wine menu consist of local wineries and breweries. The menus consist of breakfast lunch and dinner. So if you love having breakfast for lunch like I do then this is the place to come to dine with a million dollar view. The staff are also friendly and accommodating! Love love this restaurant!

We went here for the first time this weekend. The food was amazing and the service pretty good. I say that because our waiter seemed unusually busy for having so few tables and didn’t really come check up on us as servers are supposed to. Friendly staff, great food, really great food! The ocean view is amazing and it’s located on the Main street of Mendocino. As a former Mendocino native I’ve seen restaurants come and go. I’d say this place is a winner!

I’m visiting a friend who lives in Mendocino and we went to a place for breakfast and found they only do brunch on weekends — we decided to come here despite a few 1 star reviews — I gave it 3 stars — the ambiance is quiet and serine with great views — the service was pleasant and attentive — the food was fresh and good — but the execution was, in my opinion, flawed — learn to make an omelette better and you get your 4^th star

Still loving Flow. I’m usually not in a rush and enjoy the calm ambiance. Menu has evolved pleasantly. House baked breads, be good to see a whole grain option. While family friendly I prefer to regard Flow as a bar with food. With that expectation it’s easy to relax and enjoy. Especially watching waves, whales and sunsets from the cozy deck overlooking Main St. and the ocean.

The bacon wrapped dates were amazeballs! I realize that sounds unprofessional, but oh is it true. The service and the rest of the food was spectacular as well.

I had the bagel and lox… The salmon was fresh and the pickled onions were so good. If you like fresh food and willing to step out of the box and try something other then bacon and eggs this is the place. Great service and no extra charge for a beautiful view.

By far the worst restaurant in Mendo! Bad customer service, grumpy, stuck up! No one smiles! Ordered the filet minot med rare, It came well done and cold! Tried it twice… NEVER AGAIN!

It is under new management, and when i read those old reviews i can tell: try it again. Here is our experience:
We just thought we drove to Mendocino for the Valentine Day. So we did and we looked on Unilocal where to go for dinner. And we thought every time we see a bad review on Unilocal we think — give em a chance. We are so glad we did it with the Flow again.
We obvious didn’t had a reservation, so we just jump in at the rush hour for dinner between 6 and 7 pm. We have been lucky, we where welcomed from the Host Melissa with very warm words and we got the last available table right in the spot.
Melissa started with recommending stuff from the menu — and also stuff that wasn’t on the menu but a very good idea («put some blackened cod on the Brussels sprouts»). After one minute we had our water and our order for drink have been taken. the drinks came and also the starters that we order with the drinks (Brussel sprouts + cod and the small green salad). The Brussels sprouts where phenomenal! Very yummy — the cod perfect and with the sprouts came a lemon parmesan kind of sauce. The green salad was also good. Then we ordered the main dishes. Just as a side note all the time we had full water glasses, every time a waiter crosses the tables he or she looks care that the glasses are full or refilled. also with my ice tea.
We ordered the home made pasta which in word was just YUMMY again — everything on that plate was very good. And i had something from the special menu the chicken with beans and rice (i substitute with mashed potatoes which was not a problem). And it was very tasteful. The chicken perfectly in temperature and the sauce a bit on the hot side — but not to hot.
Then we had Melissa again and she offered the perfect ending for a great dinner — strawberries in chocolate and crème brûlée and a picture, cause after all it was v-​day!
So guys don’t look at the stars, THIS flow absolutely deserves five stars and Melissa and her team has earned a pay raise ;-).
Thanks for a wonderfull evening, and a delicious meal. you have a great team!

I had a really great time here last weekend. My boyfriend and I were looking for a nice brunch place with a view, and we sure found it! We ate out on the deck with a view of the ocean. the customer service was amazing, we were being helped by two servers. I would say it is a little over priced, but for the quality of food and the view it was worth it.

Flow, you are not in Manhattan. You aren’t in New York. You ain’t in SF either. You’re in MENDOCINO. So why are you charging more than SF’s most beloved brunch places? Have some human decency and stop gouging customers.
Embarrassingly all the menus are wrinkled and stained, which was the first impression we got of the place. Yikes and gross.
A classic breakfast for $ 12, but you don’t get any protein. That’s an extra $ 3 for something which should be included. If you look anywhere else you’ll see that a classic breakfast always includes bacon/​ham/​sausage. That’s just the way it goes. But Flow wants to gouge you, so for $ 12 you get two eggs, toast/​biscuit, and potatoes or polenta cake. In fact, on a google review there’s a picture of an old menu which does include the protein for $ 12… Which means somewhere along the way the genius behind this all decided to screw everyone for the extra $ 3. What is even more rich is that the biscuit (just one) and gravy dish is $ 14, so you’re paying even more for less food.
Also ordered the pancakes. 2 medium-​small pancakes for $ 12. Yup. Also the «grilled pineapple compote» isn’t grilled… and it tastes like canned pineapple. Flow, are you actually grilling the pineapple on a real grill back there? No. So don’t say you are.
This place is cringeworthy and utterly desperate. While the food tastes decent, the bullshit surrounding it is enough to scream «STAY AWAY» and that’s exactly what I will do.
Seriously shame on you. Get a clue.
One star because our main waiter (we had 5 different waiters for the meal) was nice and brought our food promptly.

I ate here with my husband the other night and our experience was meh.
It was a very nice environment with a good classy ambiance. We were seated pretty quickly, but it took awhile for us to be greeted at the table for our first round of drinks.
Our server was pretty good and worked to help my husband find something that he could eat. I wish there had been better communication between the daytime staff and the nighttime staff. Our server was not able to confirm whether or not items that had been prepared during the daytime had onions or garlic in them because the night staff did not know (not her fault of course). So it was a little tricky to find something he could eat.
I started with the potato leak soup. I honestly couldn’t finish it because it wasn’t very good. It wasn’t hot when it came out. I thought there was way too much sour cream in it and it was sort of bland.
For my entrée, I had the margarita pizza. It again, was okay. Not super crisp and just sort of decent flavor.
For dessert, we had the banana split and the apple crisp. Those were pretty good.
The prices for what you got I thought weren’t very good.
I will not be back.

Well I would like to say I ate here but after not being served at the pub because they were crowded and understaffed, i walk up the tower steps to this place. A guy on break asks me if Im planning to eat and says bar menu only — i reply i only want some clam chowder he says ok.
I wander out to the deck because Im told go ahead and find a seat — coool — nice view! Starting to think maybe things are looking up… Until mister snooty pants waiter comes over and when I ask about clam chowder he says «well we have cod chowder which I think is better — everybody else does clam we do cod». I say nicely «yeah sorry I don’t like cod, thanks anyway» and I get a look down the nose from mister holier than cod.
Maybe he was having an off day but man that being the third weird encounter in the space of 40 min from people in restaurants in that town I had to give up.
Ok Mendocino. Nice view but what else?

Got here on Thanksgiving weekend (Saturday) around 6PM. Hostess wasn’t too personable and was very confused on what to do when saw us walk in. Didn’t really greet us, couldn’t tell us precisely how long the wait for a table would be and what not. We sat at the bar and waited to be called for a table. Still uncertain to which table she was going to seat us at when she came to get us, we finally sat down where she pouted at.
It took at least 5 minutes for us to get acknowledged by any of the staff after seating. No menus, nothing. A waiter walked up and took our order, which was a tomato bisque and their brussels sprouts appetizer. While the brussels sprouts were not bad the bisque was alright. We were hungry and ready to have a full course dinner but after the disappointing quality of the service and food up to that point, we just asked for the check and left. The staff (hostess, waiter and all other waitresses that walked by us when we were first sit) just didn’t seem to care. We went down the street and had a great dining experience to save the night.

Our first and last experience at Flow today was terrible. Be aware that this restaurant is poorly run. Others have commented that the prices are outrageous (a cheeseburger is $ 18) but that was not our problem today.
Flow restaurant is a perfect example of why most restaurants fail after opening. It needs an owner or manager who manages it’s staff and cares about it’s success. Clearly, that is sorely lacking at Flow.
Today, my wife and I arrived for lunch after reading a few Unilocal reviews. There was no hostess present and we stood at the entrance for about five minutes unnoticed. A cook from the kitchen came out to tell us to sit anywhere.
It was a pleasant day so we sat down on the deck. Five minutes later, a young server or hostess who had been giggling with staff inside dropped off the menu without greeting us or asking if we wanted a drink. She then disappeared.
We waited 15 minutes along with two other couples at another table for our servers. The server never appeared. There were only about 4 tables of people at the restaurant — it wasn’t busy.
Because we were hungry and decided that if the service was this poor, it would probably take forever to get the actual meal — so we got up to leave.
Ironically, I was planning to explain to someone why we were leaving. But, as we walked out, there was not a single employee in sight. Nobody at this poorly run restaurant even noticed us leaving. We went down the street and enjoyed good food and service.
This place needs a decent manager or owner managing the business. Needless to say, we won’t be returning.
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It’s a month since I wrote the above review and I can’t believe there have been so many similar bad reviews since mine! Bad food, no service etc. When will the owner wake up and do something?! One day it will close and save customers from being ripped off.

If you’re really hungry, don’t come here. The fish taco «entrée» probably had a total of 300 calories. Service sucked. After we got our food no one came back to our table.
2 stars because of the view.

Come for the view, but it’s a tourist trap with pretty bad food at high prices. I wanted to keep an open mind since our hotel receptionist recommended it, but the minute he brought it out, the presentation was underwhelming. I had the crêpe and magherita pizza– both very expensive and not good.
Can’t believe I was paying so much more than San Francisco brunch places for the quality.
Service was good-​nice people.

I do not recommend this restaurant. Why is that:
1) Service really sucks: we had to wait 45 minutes to get seated instead of promised «maximum 20», then we waited for somebody to come and take care of us another 25 minutes, and the restaurant was not packed at that time at all. Other than that, waiter forgot to bring us main dish, one of 8 we ordered. If you’re alone or couple you might be more lucky getting better service, but they seem do not care about group of 6 people as 18% tips already included in your bill.
2) Food is below average. Though if you dare to go there I would recommend to take Fish & Chips and Clam Chowder soup.
3) Restaurant is bad for little kids: no paper no crayons provided, and so called «kids menu» is no different from adult menu: same food to offer for the same prices.

Rolled into town and read a bunch of reviews and settled on this place due to the good reviews and «farm to table» menu promise.
Good beer and wine got us off to a good start. We ordered a pizetta and one of the specials. The meat was so dry I had trouble chewing and swallowing it. The mashed potatoes were gluey. It’s clear the food was made hours before. I sent it back and requested my own pizetta. They rushed it so it was underdone/​doughy and just had no flavor.
We finished our drinks and left. Absolutely lackluster and a waste of time.

I would have given this restaurant 4, or even 5 stars for the taste and quality of the food. I also had the best Bloody Mary (with shrimp and bacon) I’ve ever had! One BIG problem. The price! I get that they have a decent view of the ocean, but to pay $ 20 for a bacon burger? Really? I paid less for the same at Gordon Ramsey’s place in Vegas. $ 16 for a peach and mozzarella salad, in which they took a slice of mozzarella and cut it into four pieces alternating between slices of peach. Really? If you got the money, then go for it, but there are so many other much less expensive options in Mendocino. Definitely poor value for the money. Also, don’t sit next to the porch door on a cool evening while the staff leaves the door open while tending to customers seated outside. Brrrrr!!!

The outdoor deck on a beautiful day is a must! We saw so many whales spouting as we enjoyed our bloody mary drinkgs, brunch and some sunshine. The food was good, the service very friendly.
One star off because we ordered our drinks, then ordered our food a few minutes later and when the food came, we still didn’t have the drinks and the server forgot that we had ordered shrimp in one bloody mary. Also a bit tough to get his attention a few times but all in all, we would come again :)