Cricket’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar

Service is excellent, food is always top quality, you can be inside or outside watching the world go by. Very friendly staff,. They stay busy so patience isn’t bad, but a good time for sure

Awful service and food, took over an hour to get our food (was not very busy at the time) nacho were very cold, all 3 burgers were so dry couldn’t be eaten and on the first bite something very hard hurt my tooth management came out looked at it said they would talk to the cook and be back never saw her again, the chicken strips tasted like fish. Then took almost a another 20 minutes just to pay for things we didn’t eat! Will never go back

Good service, good drinks and good food. We had a party of 4 adults and a toddler. Margarita, with ample variety of tequila available, an Italian soda and a flavored lemonade; all were very good. Reuben, Italian sandwich, Cod fish and chips and a child’s hamburger and fries; one of the best Reuben’s we have had in a while, Italian sandwich had plenty of meat and sauce, the fish was good with just the right amount of breading and the hamburger was tasty. Fries were seasoned, a bit salty but with ranch or catsup they were just right. The only fault we found was the cole slaw didn’t have much flavor at all. We will return. Overall good eats and friendly staff.

On our way driving cross country, the town of Coueur D’Alene was recommended to us as a nice town to stop and have lunch. The town is beautiful, and we loved Crickets! The indoor décor is really cool, but we chose to eat outside as we’d been stuck in the car all day. Fast, friendly service, and delicious food. My sister and I each got pasta dishes and cleaned our plates! I had a tortellini dish with a vodka crème sauce and it was incredible! Highly recommended :)

Good place to go eat & drink beer. Good food, oysters are good, especially the pan fried. We were in there Friday night, place was packed, but someone greeted us & seated us quickly. Had great service, good food from a smiling waitress with great personality!

Service by Mary was excellent. The food was good and the patio/​sunshine was wonderful!

Found this place last night, and had a good time. Oysters were really fresh, and delicious. I was told they have comedy on Wednesdays so I’m definitely going to check that out while I’m in town.

Best Long Island ice teas! Good food, good service, safe establishment to bring kids and friends. Easy going stress free environment.

We came after dinner hours and sat in the bar dinning area and observed many people who were there from a variety of groups who looked liked they had been having fun on a Friday night or had a long week and a few drinks and needed some yummy food. It was a loud atmosphere with absolutely that annoying drunk girl but it was great people watching and not bad food at all. If you are going for a quiet date not the place. If you have a group of friends that you want to grab food and drinks this place is perfect. I have always heard good things about the sea food and we got the calamari and clam linguini. The calamari was yummy the linguini well not terrible but nothing to tell your neighbor about. Food and drinks were reasonable price and our waitress was a saint. I told her she has more patience than anyone I knew in a long time dealing with some large buzzed and maybe a little drunk groups in the restaurant tying to keep them happy.

Ok… my family came here a while back and my daughter wanted to come here for her 18^th birthday! We had a great time before, and some reviews made me nervous. … however, it was great again! Great service, great food, great everything! I’m not great at taking photos but the food was fantastic! Fajitas were awesome, chicken dinner for my wife was the bomb, my daughter loves their Italian sandwich, and my son loved the bacon cheese burger! Fun time, great food and great service! Thanks so much! Next time we will be back on my daughter’s birthday, rather than missing it by a few days… (Family illness). Awesome!

The clams were fresh and delicious. The cinnamon crusted pork was to die for! Nice atmosphere, great selection of beers. Underrated in our opinion.

Not impressed with the last few experiences we’ve had here. Rotten and dirty celery in our Bloody Caesar and the food is not worth coming back for. Update: Management must have changed over the years as it has gone down hill… obviously, just look at his response below. Sad.

Freindly service and beer is always cold. Food is not that bad either. Wife always gets the cheese sticks and i have oyster shooters. Love this place cause it is always calm place to have a beer.

Awesome variety on the menu and good classic American atmosphere. Food took a little while to arrive but when it came we learned why. It was fresh and real and layed
out nicely on the plates. Pics to follow

If I could give this place 2.5 stars, I would. We had the huckleberry Margarita, which was very, very good! They blended the fruit for the drink freshly!
Shrimp cocktail was ok. Shrimp was probably frozen, and the cocktail sauce tasted store bought.
The cauliflower soup and salads were excellent! We then got the Thai pizza, the blue onion burger, and the Frangelico chicken. The chicken was great, albeit a bit dry, with a very generous portion. The burger was just ok, cooked well but nothing really special. The Thai pizza was probably the worst pizza we’d ever had. Dough was raw and flavorless, way too many sprouts, and not at all Thai! It tasted bland, undercooked, and sour! I guess we should’ve listened to our waiter who tried to steer us clear of the pizza.
Service was good and they have a game table, which was fun!
All in all, there are far too many other options in CdA to spend your time here. Other than the pizza, there was nothing extremely bad with this place, and it wasn’t too pricey, so this review is mostly relative to the great establishments surrounding crickets. Find better elsewhere, as there is nothing special to be found here. But if you do come here, steer clear of the pizza!

First let me start with a compliment, were greeted by several people. I stated there were 6 of us and would there be a wait– they said no and took us back by an open kitchen. Got drinks and wanted to order appetizers at the same time, however did not get an opportunity as the waitress rushed off. After an hour and five minutes of waiting for our simple dinners to arrive I stood up, the waitress made and exude that they are slammed– I walked around finding maybe a handful of tables and a 21^st birthday on the back patio.
I honestly believe the kitchen forgot about us, since we still had to travel down the Spokane river (now in the dark) I asked to cancel– she told me it was headed out. So I requested a bill and boxes.
The kitchen frankly dumped the uneaten plates into containers leaking all over. I asked to speak to the manager who took two cocktails off our bill. Wondering how we would eat this food on a boat we started with simple sides like fries, they were over cooked and so salty they could not be eaten.
The cinnamon pork loin was thrown in a box, quick busted through the TO-​Go container and all over the plastic bag.
My daughter corn dogs were still frozen inside.
Pretty much all of the food (over $ 100 worth) ended up in the trash and we ate sandwiches.
Note to management/​owners, you serve a tourist community where many patrons come via boat. If you are so very busy don’t seat people.
Train your staff not to gossip, argue or discuss personal problems where your paying customers can here you.
Unfortunately we will not be visiting your establishment again. What a waste.
UPDATE
Robert C seems to be pretty arrogant via Unilocal and Facebook. I have a long career in customer experience and account management and would never ever call a customer names.
Unfortunately in the days of customer comment cards where I left with my number or email to be contacted he made a choice to instead of contacting me to gain further information call me a spoiled American.
Apparently a man named Rico Ciccone is the opener of this establishment maybe they are the same guy– not sure because the first time I called and asked for the owner I was hung up on, the second call gave me a name.
I am sure he listened closely to the audio on those tapes so he can hear exactly what we did or his response wouldn’t be so condescending.
I started the first review with a compliment on how friendly the staff was, if you take some time and read this business responses to reviews on both Unilocal and Facebook I hope you are as appalled as I am.

We came here for a late-​night bite. The food took over 45 minutes to come to us, and the Thai pizza we had was very salty. After one slice, I had enough. How do you over-​salt a Thai pizza? Somehow, the cook figured how to do that.
Definitely won’t be coming back.
Update:
Customers: The owner replied with a comment about disregarding negative reviews because they are fake. Ummm… this is real, dude! And yes, the Thai pizza was very salty. If you don’t believe me, try a piece from the to-​go pizza box we left at our table. Three others at our table tried it and said it was too salty.
Second Update:
Upon looking at the owner’s response, which was a link about Unilocal’s apparent methods of extorting businesses, and upon reading other reviews that had similar issues we experienced (with responses from the owner that were similar to my review), it is obvious that Crickets likes to point the finger without realizing there are three fingers pointing back at them.
We will never return. And we will suggest others do the same.
Third Update:
The owner sent a direct message to me that said «please don’t return.» Keep it classy, Crickets. Keep it classy. :)
Fourth Update:
A user named Libby G., an apparent friend of Crickets who shares a similar anti-​Yelp philosophy, sent me a harassing message. Jesus! I’ve had better customer service at Comcast. And that is something no one has ever said in the history of life up until right now. Lol.
Fifth Update:
Holy cow! Yet another harassing message from a Crickets’ associate. The previous one came from a Libby G., while the new one came from a Naomi G. Both profiles offered glowing reviews of Crickets and extremely negative reviews of Unilocal and Unilocal’s business model. And both have sent me harassing messages that I’ve reported to Unilocal.
Sixth Update (in response to the owner’s comment that it’s not working):
Yes, it is. Look at some of your recent reviews. And… keep the number 271 in mind. That’s the number of customers we’ve specifically told to not go to Crickets since our visit. There are so many good restaurants in CdA, and unfortunately, you’re brand of poor service, sub-​par dive bar food, and an inability to address any wrongs does not put you even put you close to any of those better establishments. People have choices and voices these days, and that’s the worst enemy for establishments and attitudes like yours.
Seventh Update:
After receiving another unintelligible response from the owner (Robert C.), as well as a very discreet message from one of the owner’s friends, I’ve decided to revise my original review to put a positive spin on it rather than attack the owner again over his viewpoints about customers who rate his restaurant poorly. So here goes:
We were looking for a place to eat one late evening in July, and we saw a restaurant called Crickets open. As we wandered in, we were immediately soothed by the smell of old frying oil and met with the charm and enthusiasm of a short and abrupt hostess/​waitress. I wish more restaurants had such a welcoming committee as Crickets did that one night. Why don’t restaurant owners give customers what they want and have more rude staff on-​board. I’m tired of all these restaurants who have such friendly staff members.
Another thing I love about Crickets was the wait for our food. Most restaurants try to rush things by getting meals out in 15 minutes or less, but Crickets really wants you to stay late and relax. I know this is part of their plan because there was hardly anyone else there while we were there. As I saw our waitress mingling with the cooks, I thought to myself: «Man, I wish other restaurant owners are inspired by Crickets’ way of doing things.» I mean, really, over 45 minutes isn’t that long of a wait for our meal.
Now, the best part of the night was the food. I ordered the Thai pizza, and man, was it salty! I mean that in a good way. It’s been a while since I’ve had to contort my face as a response to an over-​salted meal, but that’s just what I needed. You see, I haven’t really worked-​out my face muscles in a while, so the exercises my face muscles did when I tasted the pizza were just what I needed. I’m so glad places like Crickets over-​salts items like Thai pizza. And while I could only handle one slice, this is a good thing because I’ve been trying to lose a few pounds. Thanks Crickets for not making the pizza delicious and properly-​made. I owe you!
Finally, screw those other places who have good customer service practices. I want more places like Crickets, where the owner and his friends harass you if you don’t have a favorable review. We need more owners like Robert C. (I heard he is also known as Rico… Suave?), people who make no sense in their responses and don’t give a crap about their customers.
Screw customers! Screw edible food! Screw cleanliness and welcoming staff. Long live Crickets!

Came in with one other person during the 4^th of July parade. Since the parade was only halfway done, we decided to hit the restaurant since we weren’t into watching or trying to shop with the crowds. We are not from the area (me– los angeles and friend — southern ID).
Outside front seating was obviously full. I think the back deck was open but we opted for a booth inside. We were seated right away.
Waitress was wicked nice.
I am vegetarian so I was pleasantly surprised to see a bean patty burger option. I ordered it with swiss cheese and mushrooms. Literally, right away my burger patty fell apart on the first bite. The entire thing crumbled into hundreds of pieces. I tried to keep stuffing it back into the sandwich prior to each bite but I gave up halfway through and ate the lettuce, tomato and mushrooms instead. See my photos. The patty itself was ok tasting although I’m not a fan of red peppers…
As a vegetarian, this happens a lot. Local joints (I totally love and support) that do not have a ton of vegan or vegetarian clientele, don’t have the motivation to upgrade their options. It happens all the time… even california pizza has one of the crappiest, most friable bean burger patties I’ve ever seen.
If they read this and care to maybe experiment… one of the best bean patties I eat is a bean and red beet patty. They put the beans and beets in it, mix with onions and whatever other flavoring components and put some potatoes or another starch compound (not a lot) to help hold it together. When it grills, it should hold it in and the beets give it a very good taste and appearance.
Burger was 2 stars.
I specifically asked if the onion rings were freshly made or frozen. The waitress said freshly made with a beer batter. They lacked in taste for me. And they were perfectly shaped. Perhaps use more flour and add some more flavoring. The batter was flat and kind of soggy. I ate 3 before I gave up.
My friend has the veggie sandwich and he said it tasted ok but it also fell apart (but, it’s just veggies, so no stars off for it).
We didn’t order drinks, so cannot comment on that.
The bar looked like it could probably be fun for nightlife. The booths were those old, semi-​circular ones… vintage. reminded me of an old cocktail bar from the twilight zone.
It was a cheap lunch but predictable. Would I return? Yes, but I’d order something different and no onion rings. I would not return if it was busy… seemed like many options in the area and a wait would turn me off.

This place is AWESOME!
Good beer, good TV’s, friendly and cute staff.
Fun for football!
Would come here every hawks game.
Cant say enough about this place!

I knew it was a mistake from the moment we walked in. Yes, its a dive bar; however, that doesn’t mean that it has to be bad.
The service was slow and it took for ever to get our server’s attention. The food was mediocre. Our chili was cold (ironic), we sent several items back for chef micro.
It was a rainy Friday, around noon time. Crickets was about ¹⁄₃ full.
Avoid, I will not return.
Update: 5÷26÷15. Verified that my review was correct. We only ate in the bar, my original review stands. I am not sure if the owner is trying to pressure me to change my review.