Daniella A.
Yelp
I am somewhat confused by some of the poor reviews this restaurant has received. We dined here on our first night of our August trip to Alaska. The wonderful experience set the tone for an amazing Alaskan adventure. This was a one of a kind dining experience. And one to the top meals during our visit in Alaska.
The boat ride over on the Danny J was a lovely way to get our first views of Kachemak Bay, and the Homer spit. It was a lovely sunny evening, which certainly helped! But, the boat ride to the Saltry was just a nice add on to a wonderful dining experience. It was so cool to get to see Halibut Cove, which is only accessible by boat.
After about a 45 minute boat ride that left promptly at 5pm, we had 3 hours to spend in Halibut Cove. Once we docked at the Saltry we were promptly seated for our reservation. I was quite curious to see how the restaurant managed such a flood of people at one time. They had two different seating times, and assign your reservation time for you. So it was pretty well organized. You check in, and then get to pick where you would like to sit. All the seating is outside, though some is covered by an overhang. And you dine rain or shine so keep that in mind! There was a lovely fireplace you could sit by in the covered part. We opted to sit against the railing for excellent views of the cove. We were promptly greeted by our server with menus and waters. Obviously with all groups being seated pretty much at one time it is a lot for a server to handle. Our server Mary was excellent. Extremely prompt, friendly, and was very knowledgeable about the menu.
We started with a full order of the combination seafood platter to get a little taste of everything. The 1/2 order definitely seemed too small to be able to savor the flavors. It was very good. The halibut ceviche really showcased the fish, but it was a little bland in terms of ceviche flavor. My favorites were the shrimp poke and salmon pate. My husband really enjoyed the pickled salmon and the salmon pate. It was a great start to our meal!
For entrees I ordered the octopus and my husband the salmon. According to my husband the salmon entree was some of the best he has ever had, and certainly the best of the trip. The chef seared the skin, and it tasted absolutely delicious. The sprouted quinoa salad was an excellent accompaniment. My octopus was grilled to perfection. Had a lot of good smokey flavor, and not overcooked at all. The smoked tomato sauce added a nice layer of complexity paired against the taste of the octopus. It was an excellent meal with generous portions. We truly enjoyed our excellent dinner with a picturesque view.
We were too stuffed for dessert, but all the selections looked delicious. I did order a hot rum cider(Pico's Pleasure) to warm me up, which came out lukewarm so that was slightly disappointing. Wasn't really worth the $12 in my opinion. The berry picker was a delicious drink!
Overall we had an excellent meal at the Saltry, and enjoyed our time on Halibut Cove. For the food I thought the meal was fairly priced. We live near Chicago though were you typically pay a premium for fine dining. This is an experience that is not to be missed on a trip to Homer. The experience of taking the ferry over onto of a top notch meal is quintessential Homer, AK. Our first dinner of our trip was extremely memorable, and set the bar for the remainder of our vacation. I will be back to dine at the Saltry!