The Pacific Plate

Very Friendly service, food is a bit experimental. The restaurant had a dive bar extension sort of atmosphere. I did not feel the upkeep of the place was top notch. Restroom was shabby. We ordered duck confit and veggie fried rice. Food was cooked well, salad tasted great. Its a nice place but needs to consider improving the décor, lighting, and the restaurant area could use windows. We love supporting local business, but hygiene and lighting are key aspects for returning customers

My family and I stayed in the area for a long weekend in early August. Two adults and a 19 and 17 year old. We loved it so much on our first visit that we had to return the next night. The food was outstanding. My kids went crazy over the drunken duck fries and I had a pork belly soup that was out of this world. My husband tried different things and he loved both but I can’t recall what they were. As they change the menu regularly, I guess that omission will be OK. Given where this restaurant was (small town on Highway 1), I was really pleasantly surprised at how high caliber the food seemed. It was simply a highlight of our trip!
After we left, we still had the timeshare for a few days so another son of ours drove in from San Francisco. We told him he HAD to eat here and he did. Loved it as well. Felt it was just as great as we did! We all love to eat well and this place did not disappoint.

This place is the absolute best. We had an opportunity to try several of the dishes and every one of them were perfect. Its a small place 7 tables and is connected to the bar next door which is nice since you won’t have far to walk for an after dinner drink. The 3 dishes the stick out the most are the quail confit, risotto fritters and the pork belly. I only wish I could have tried everything. Oh and the service was awesome. Do yourself a favor and eat at this place as soon as you can as often as you can.

I feel bad that I have to give the Pacific Plate such a low rating, but unfortunately my visit was extremely disappointing. My fiancé and I are foodies and gluten free, which means we are extra excited to find places that seem to fit into that profile, as the Pacific Plate does! We arrived late after a drive up the 1, around 9PM. After wandering in and being encouraged to sit by another customer (she was really nice, but … no staff?) we were greeted by someone coming out of the kitchen. She told us that she was the only one on staff for the night, but she was willing to serve us. We didn’t mind and said we were patient! We appreciated her up front honesty (later, looking it up, I believe it was the owner herself) but were a little concerned — it was a Friday night, only a single cook on staff? Weird, but if the food’s good, it’s worth the wait, and she seemed nice, so we settled in. From sitting down to leaving took probably an hour and a half.
We ordered the Drunken Duck Fries first. They sounded amazing from the menu and we had high hopes. However they were lacking in flavor (despite swimming in an oil + spice soup, we couldn’t tell what the spices were, but they weren’t doing much) and so incredibly wet & oily that they were almost difficult to eat. The duck itself was great & the sauce was pretty good, but there was sooooo much oil, and the fries were just soaking it all up. We both found ourselves refusing to eat the bottom layer of fries sitting in a pool of oil.
I got the warm greens + rabbit for an entrée. The first thing I noticed was that the whole plate was just swimming in oil — again! Before I started eating I poured the oil out into the empty bread container (the gluten free bread, by the way, was just sort of hard & tasteless. Which is a shame, because gluten free bread actually has a lot of potential when done well). There was probably ¼ cup of pure oil that I poured out without even trying. And the plate was still covered and glistening. The egg on top was cooked perfectly, it was a great poached egg. The rabbit was yummy, the candied kumquat was an interesting flavor + texture addition. But mostly all I could taste was oily greens. Not even a strong sesame flavor, just … oily greens. It was disappointing.
My fiancé ordered the pork chop ($ 27, mind you). The whole thing, yet again, was swimming in oil. So the plate comes with quinoa. The quinoa was just … plain. Not flavored, salted, fluffed, sauteed, just … boiled plain, in water. So, gross. The sauce was something apricot, with candied orange slices, which had potential, but when mixed with the oil sort of became like a flat soda coating everything. The greens were unflavored … just bitter. Imagine eating raw kale. Not great. The pork chop itself was the most disappointing of all. It wasn’t seasoned at all, and it was bright white all around — no browning whatsoever. The entire side was covered in about an inch of pure fat. And because the whole thing was white, you couldn’t tell you were about to get a full bite of fat until it was too late. The entire dish was under seasoned, poorly cooked, and completely covered in oil.
At the end of the night our bill was $ 60 before tip, which we felt was grossly overpriced. We tipped well because we felt sorry for the stressed out cook, but the food quality was just … sorry, but it was bad. I think that had the restaurant been fully staffed — rather than 1 single person cooking, serving, hosting, and bussing — our experience may have been very different (and I hope that we just came on a bad night) but we can’t recommend this place.

OMG. This place is fabulous! We started with the Drunken Duck Fries and Thai Corn fritters to start and oh what a starter. They both were terrific. The we 3 shared the Caesar salad. Very fresh. salmon Tacos rated Superb. I had coconut chicken. It’s brined so expect extra salty. frank had the pork chop and was quite pleased. Overall, a must stop when you visit Point Arena

My husband and I happened upon this restaurant after checking in at the nearby Wharf Master’s Inn and looking for something smaller than a regular dinner. One of the owners greeted us and answered all our questions about the menu. I had the chicken rice bowl and my husband had and raved about the salmon tartare and also ordered the wild mushroom fries. The rice and the fries are off the «bar menu.». The rice bowl was fabulous – like nothing I have ever tasted before – and unexpectedly came with three pieces of tempura vegetables with aioli sauce (?) on the top. We did not order drinks but they will help you «pair» your drink to your food if you want. Yes, we happened to be the only people in the restaurant on a dreary Thursday night except two people ordering carry-​out, but what did we care? The food was amazing and the owner very friendly and helpful. I wish them luck with this endeavor.

Looked promising. $ 10 corkage was fine. Disappointed that the ‘boxed’ penny pasta I ordered with pesto and chicken came in a cereal bowl and the chicken was shredded so fine it wasn’t even there. $ 16 was too rich for that dish
Great style though. These girls are hard workers and follow their passion. We could all be that lucky. Good luck ladies.

I Love This Place!
Yes, it is gluten free but don’t let that scare you. My husband (not gf) and I have taken 4 different sets of house guests there for dinner and each one is extremely impressed. Surprised and impressed. The food is fresh fresh fresh and deliciously prepared.

We always check with Unilocal before we try a place. This had stars and suggested reservation. Looked promising. I don’t know who gave this place a star. If I could I wouldn’t give it a star.
Made reservation for a Wed. evening. This is the back room of the bar, Sign of the Whale. We should have know we were in trouble when we walked in. No windows, no décor, no music, bad art, and bad seating. About 12 tables along the edges of the room with bare benches attached to the walls. The tables and chairs are old and unkept. It was dirty. The tables were bare except for a salt shaker and a tiny vase with a single tiny flower. We were the only people there, except for 3 young boys (10 – 12) across the room, watching stuff on a laptop. Why did we need reservations ?? NO ONE ELSE came in for dinner in the whole evening.

The waitress told us to set anywhere, she was headed into the bar. A few minutes later she came back and went into the kitchen. A few more minutes and she came out with the menus. They were having a special «Thanksgiving pairing». As it was the day before Thanksgiving we didn’t want green salad, squash soup, turkey, and pumpkin dessert, each course came with a special cocktail. As we were having a big dinner the next day, we opted out. The rest of the menu was not what we saw on line. She said they were out of some things as it was the day before Thanksgiving (?) As she was taking our order, a man came in from the bar to order, she stopped with us and took his order.
I went for the Cobb salad, they only had one dressing, a preserved meyer lemon. Hubby went with the hamburger and asked if he could have onion rings instead of fries. She said sure. We were planing to have drinks in the bar after dinner and asked for water only with our meal. The water was filled with lemons. When asked if she had just plain water she said no.
As we waited we saw the bar order go by. 20 min went by and the waitress stuck her head out to the kitchen door and yelled across the room to me that they were out of avocado and some stuff, so she would give me extra bacon.
Another person came in from the bar for to make a order to go. A few minutes later the cook came out of the kitchen to the table of boys, and asked if they wanted her to make them a snack. 10 more minutes and she appeared with baskets of french fries for the boys. She yelled at them to not touch the laptop with grease hands, and returned to the kitchen
10 minutes go by and the order to go appears in the window and the waitress takes it to the bar. 5 more minutes… now a total of 45 minutes and we see our food in the window. It sat there for another 5 minutes. The waitress came with the food, but no silverware or napkins. She had to go get them.
My Cobb salad was awful. Iceberg lettuce, chopped tomato, boiled chicken (dry and tasteless), bacon (burnt and hard), half a boiled egg. Nothing else. On onion, no olives, no croutons. The Meyer lemon dressing was awful, it was lemon and oil. I have never had such a bad salad, I could have done better at McDonald’s. Hubby’s hamburger was more like a meatloaf burger. A piece of iceberg lettuce and slice of tomato. Then onion rings seemed to be dipped in cornstarch. The onion was good but the coating of awful. There was no seasoning on anything… not even salt. Hubby wanted pepper, the waitress had to go find some???
The waitress brought us our bill and knocked over the flower vase covering the table and me with water. The bill … My Hubby was charged $ 18 for the burger and $ 7 for the onion rings. I was charged $ 18 for a Cobb salad with no cheese, no avocado, on choice of dressing. $ 43 before tax. No drinks, one burger and one salad… $ 43 ??? Silly me I still tipped my usual 20%. How does a café stay open with only open 17 ½ hours of service all week. ??? charging crazy prices.
After dinner we went into the bar, the Sign of the Whale. That was even worst. Check out my Unilocal review. We won’t go back. Unless you are looking for a snack in the bar, don’t bother. I saw some say «this is Mendo Baby what do you expect» ??? More than this … this is not Mendo… take a drive to Mendocino and see the difference. This place wounldn’t last a week in Mendocino.

Very good food in this new little hole in the wall restaurant near the movie theatre, good even if you do not need or want to restrict gluten. Duck confit was melt in your mouth, greens were fresh. Pleasant personnel, good cocktails from the Sign of the Whale bar adjacent. Furniture is modified early rummage sale, and the art on the walls is not Monet, but the owners also do take-​out if you want to go sit elsewhere in this beautiful area along the coast that suffers from a shortage of viable dining options. We will return, next time will likely get the steak or pork fried rice. Cash or check, dinner only, Tuesday to Saturday.

We were greeted with an amazing salmon tartar, caught the same day… and fresh potato, chips, amazed by the tasty corn fritters, corn so fresh & a perfect syrup that was delightful… (what was in the syrup???) My brined salmon was absolutely mouth watering with the sauce & wedge potatoes… really good…
The Bourbon bacon sauce that was on Jack’s chicken was the best such sauce we’d ever, ever had, such generous hunks of bacon!
Thanks! Keeps us coming back!

Soo glad Point Arena finally has a great restaurant! Ever since Pangea left and Food Company closed we’ve missed having a place that blends great locally sourced ingredients with passion and raw talent, but this place has it in spades! Thanks a ton for an awesome experience!

Best French fries ever! We ordered the Drunken Duck Fries. It included duck confit, bacon, green onions and house-​made drunken sauce. The duck confit is like duck carnitas. Melt in your mouth delicious. We also ordered a Cobb salad and carrot/​ginger soup. Both very good, but the fries ruled. Great service too. I would recommend anything with the duck confit in or on it.

Two words that strike fear in many a person’s mind Gluten Free. When i hear that I usually think of eating hay with a sides of weeds. Well I am happy to say that this old dog can still learn a thing or two. Gluten free can be delicious and Pacific Plate is proving in the small (very small) town of Point Arena.
Duck Confit on fries with a lovely «drunken» sauce that was awe inspiring enough to make me rethink GF. The wife had the duck confit with fried rice. Thank you Pacific Plate for making me rethink my eating habits. At to this the craft cocktail coming out of the bar next door and I hope you last around for a long time so I can get back to you someday.

Interesting little place connected to the Sign of the Whale Bar. Tiny space with no windows and no ambiance but decent food. We placed an order to go as we wanted to go back to our place and catch the NCAA hoops games on the tube. So we hung out in the bar and enjoyed chatting with the bartender and locals while we waited for our food. My bride had the pork fried rice ($ 13) and proclaimed that she would eat it almost every night. I had a small green salad, nice greens with a unique, but tasty preserved Meyer lemon dressing on the side ($ 7) and two pork sliders ($ 10). Pork was good and the two small buns were kind of like cheddar biscuits, which were good. The sauce was a little too sweet. Overall decent but seemed like prices were a couple of bucks high for what you get. A lot of different fries/​variations on the menu but we did not try.

Gluten free, everything on the menu and the kitchen — safe and celiac friendly. The duck confit was heaven. All the food was local and fresh with a changing and more than adequate menu selection. We ate there twice during our stay it was so delicious. Also the drinks from the connecting bar next door were exceptional and creative. The two owners, Amy and Caitlin are friendly and accommodating.

I never expected to find a wonderful place like this off the beaten track in Point Arena, but when I brought my husband up to celebrate his birthday, the B&B recommended this new gluten free, locally sourced restaurant that had opened recently. What a lovely find! Amazing food (try the Drunken Fries with Duck confit and the potato leak soup) is abundant. and the two proprietors, Amy and Katelyn, are dedicated to healthy, local food, herbs, spices and giving their customers a very special experience in a way that makes for a great experience, birthday or not. Thank you ladies. Oh and the bartender next door makes a kick-​ass whisky sour. Just sayin’…

Farm-​to-​table. Sonoma county is known for their organic foods and these gals know their vendors with fresh local meats and cheeses and will tell you all about them. The Jumbo Pink Banana Squash soup was a subtle delight but the piece de resistance was the Bollies Mollies soft cheese melted in it. I had the Grilled Vegies on Spanish Rice (w green chili & beans); it was available as a vegetarian entrée (yummy); the Stornetta Pork was an add on but was overcooked so I didn’t appreciate it’s flavor.
One of the owners lived in New Mexico which influences the choices of spices and ingredients. The entrees trend on the spicy (buy not burning) side so ask if you have concerns. As a new restaurant they aim to please and appreciate your feedback.
It’s a unique place that happens to be gluten-​free but don’t let that scare you off; there are so many interesting flavors here that your taste buds are sure to be rewarded!