Thomas C.
Yelp
I went here for the first time recently at the recommendations of others, saying it was 'the best food in Homer'. I disagree. There are a number of reasons why I'd give this such a low rating. For one, the price is definitely not comensurate with the quality, quantity, or creativity of the food, although a couple of items, like boar, you don't see too often in AK. The menu, and specials offer a good array of local seafood or other meat options.
So the details. I heard it had a nice view, that might be true if you get a window seat, in the summer. In the off season, they cover their windows with a vinyl film that blurrs or distorts the view, and even kind of gave me a headache trying to look through it, so I averted my eyes. Overall, the ambience, is somewhat dark and dingy, not very enlightening.
I ordered the halibut special which came with a vegetable/butternut squash 'hash' (spinach, squash, carrots, potatoes incl some blues). The halibut was cooked perfectly, which can be hard to do if your not on it. The vegetable/hash was good, somewhat interesting flavor-wise good texture mix, but nothing really special. There was a sauce, and it was somewhat flavorful, creamy-buttery, plating was attractive, but nothing sensational. In fairness, probably don't want overwhelm halibut with sauce.
My friend had the chicken, which was very similiar to the halibut pretty much the same dish, just chicken instead of halibut, different shaped dish (probably so the servers know which is which, cause they look nearly identical!)
And there's no bread!! NO fricking warm crusty artisan bread to wet the appetite or to compliment the dinner? Major deduction. An insult really.
The wine by the glass list is mediocre, mostly large volume middle of road wines and about 1-3 dollars per glass more than normal. Much more intriguing wine list can be found at Fat Olives or Cups.
In the end, the bill with tip ends up about $60 per person, but I'm just not sure what I'm paying for here.Overall the food was good but no bread with dinner, come on, I hope this this not a new trend!? That and the price alone will keep me out of this place in the future.
Service was ok, but not great, waitress could have followed up a bit better.
My biggest complaint about this place aside from the absences of bread, and not being totally wowed by the food or menu, is that you pay ~$30+ for an entree and the closest thing to a dinner salad is another $8, that even for an iceburg wedge (iceburg wedge? :((!). The lowest cost entree was Udon noodles no meat for $25. Appetizers too were quite expensive $9-$16) and not hugely interesting. So had a miso soup, which was as tasty, as miso soup can be. I've had better flavor, experience and, service at half that cost. I can easily see why some reveiws are poor. I don't mind spending that kind of money when its deserved. This is not a place that I will make a concerted effort to go back to, but would like to try their sushi.