Downriggers

Roadriggers (Downriggers mobile kitchen) is open, a seafood truck operated by the same people who had Downriggers, at the same location.
We had a lovely lunch here just a couple of weeks ago! I loved the calimari (huge pieces with a lovely sauce for dipping!), and the garlic fries were delicious :-) My daughter raved about the pulled pork sandwich. We’ll definitely eat there again next time we visit the island, and we’re looking forward to trying the restaurant itself when it reopens next year! (2015, according to their website). The people were friendly, and it was great to see them call many of their customers by name; it is obviously a popular place with the locals as well as the tourists :-)

Roadriggers is open on the Port of Friday Harbor at the same location as Downriggers. So great to see the happy, painted truck, known staff working once more and so many YUMMIES to choose from. I had been looking forward to this opening for awhile so when it opened on May 25^th, I knew I would support this food truck business.
Creamy clam chowder full of vegetables, clams and a smoky flavor, yummy cheddar bacon burger and fries so good, so skinny… Locals serving the truck who is being frequented by old customers wanting to say «HEY.»
Good food, fat service and KINDNSS is underrated. The parking will be a challenge later this Summer as tourists come to SJI, but have a nice walk on the water. Cop a squat and share some sun and an umbrelled table with some locals who can tell you all about the good things Friday Harbor has to offer.

Someone needs to revive the info here to shoutout the awesome food truck that is rocking in the restaurants old spot!
We grabbed some quick bites before the ferry and really enjoyed it!
My husband had the blackened salmon sandwich – good blackened flavor, not too much, beautiful color on the salmon and cooked perfect to order. The sandwich comes with fries – shoestring skinny and wonderfully seasoned.
I had the clam chowder – really liked the flavor, chunks of vegetables, and pieces of clam. Temperature was nice, and oyster crackers were a bonus!
Appreciated the friendly service, and the eco-​friendly to-​go packaging.
I say keep the truck! Ditch the brick and mortar!

Great view of Friday Harbor. Rude hostess. Expensive, fishy menu. Went for the crab mac ‘n’ cheese, which was huge and loaded with crab meat. Even came with a great little side of greens. I’d come back, but it wasn’t my fave in the Harbor by any means. The Asian girl who was our server was great.

So, 5 adults and 4 kids trying to have dinner. We made reservations for 6:20pm. We arrived early were seated and ordered drinks. That was the only good part of the night. We ordered food about 15 – 20 minutes later, when they felt the need to get to us. Our food diet arrive for another hour. We’re talking three burgers, two were kids burgers. The other meals were basic as well. They ran out of bacon for one burger. They forgot cheese on a cheeseburger. They undercooked the requested well done burgers. They ran out of clams. Everything was horrible and nobody talked to is untile we asked what was going on. HORRIBLE PLACE TO EAT!

The minute my friend and I stepped into the place we got a bad vibe. This is a tourist trap, be warned. While we were looking for drinks and appy’s the hostess wanted no use of us. We did an about face and left.

The service was excellent, my crab cakes were delicious, and the employees were friendly and kind. The view was amazing!

Do you like horrible service? Do you like to feel like you are unimportant? Downrigger is for you!
My wife and I took the Victoria Clipper to Friday Harbor for whale watching/​afternoon in Friday Harbor. When we arrived on our land portion of the visit we decided to give Downriggers a try. This was based on it claiming to be seafood and having a nice view. We were seated by a hostess and our drink order was taken within the first few minutes by Kim, our mostly absent waitress. Once we asked for only water, you could tell that since we didn’t order any overpriced beers or cocktails we would be unimportant. It took almost ten minutes for her to return to take our order. Keep in mind we came in right at the end of lunch hour, with only two other elderly couples present, who had finished eating and paid. We both ordered the clam chowder/​salad combo. We sat near the kitchen entry/​window and I could see our meals ready, as they were just soup and salad it didn’t take long to prep. It sat there for a good ten minutes. An employee who walked by the food asked the seating hostess if she could deliver it to the table and she said no she was busy prepping the tables for dinner hour. Alas, our food was finally brought to us by the employee who made the inquiry and clearly had nothing else to do.
I’ll take a break and review the food…
Chowder sourdough bowl = surprisingly good. Creamy and full of veggies and clams.
Caesar salad = Too lemony. Most of the salad was yellowish iceberg lettuce. The croutons were good though.
Price = A little high, $ 24.00 for both our meals. While the view was gorgeous, I expected with higher prices for food it would have been a little more gourmet than what looked like bagged salad. The chowder bowl did redeem it a little bit.
Let’s get back to our service… Kim never returned to ask us how our food was, only once returned to fill up our water and that’s because I initiated the request with a look and push of my glass. She spent most of her time schmoozing up to what I gathered were locals, which seems to be if you are a local you receive service, visitor not so much. Once finished with my meal, I excused myself from the table to use the restroom. When I returned to our section the seating hostess who originally sat us looked at me from setting up the room for the dinner hour and said, «Oh, sir I am sorry we are setting up for dinner, the lounge is open.» This is the same girl who sat us down and brought us our water. This was the same girl who was setting up in a room that my wife and I were the only people in at the time. Oh, well.
Once my wife was finished with her meal a lady, not sure who, brought us our check without asking if we needed or wanted anything else… Guess we’ll have dessert elsewhere. I opened the check and it was the wrong one. Of course our chatty-​local-​lover Kim was in another section with a local and the lady who brought the check was nowhere to be found. Not wanting to spend any more time there I got up and told Kim that our check was wrong. She fixed it, thankfully and we left. I tip all the time, 18% usually, but I felt that this meal and service was a 0, so that is what she got, nothing.
The lowdown: Save your money and time. Go across the street to Cask and Schooner. My wife and I went there for dessert/​cocktails and while we didn’t have the food it smelt good, looked good and was well priced and we received prompt service!

Right off to the right when coming off the ferry. Had breakfast; was not so busy. Service was great and prompt.

I read a lot of reviews; I’ll admit that. One thing I hate is to spend money on something that could’ve been avoided had I read fellow reviews and listened to others.
This brings me to Downriggers, so many people are saying this place isn’t very good. Honestly, it’s not GREAT, but it’s also not horrible. The menu is vast, the price is moderate, and I cannot get over how good their scallop sliders are — NOM. The corking fee was only $ 7 — that’s SEVEN DOLLARS! :) Can’t beat that! The service is alright, maybe because it was New Year’s Eve and we were there pretty late, but I wasn’t BLOWN away.
I wanted to go back and grab my lunch and try something else to go, but no one was in there, I just couldn’t bring myself to be the ONLY person in there. Makes me wonder about the freshness of the food. The place is good, just not amazing.
Go there if you want something on their menu, everything is pretty darn good (and I’m one picky eater). Come guys, it’s not THAT bad. ;)

I was looking at my reviews and two years later, I still remember this as one of my worst dining experiences, service wise, so I’ve lowered it another star

Our server was charming and funny. Awsome menu but really expensive. Very fresh seafood.
Sitting on their deck is worth the expensive food.
Lunch with 2 drinks and one beer was $ 97. A new record for us.

What a great tourist destination. We were directed to Downriggers by our host at the Inn to the Woods Guest House on the island near Friday Harbor. There is not a bad seat in the house. The dining room is graduated so all tables can view the harbor and dock.
There an extensive salad menu which attracted us on an evening where we wanted to eat light. The portion size of the salads hardly constituted light, but effort was there.
The deck is great at lunch and early dinner in high summer, but it gets a little chilly as the sun begins to set.

I was on the whale watching trip last Wednesday. We were left at Friday Harbor for 2.5 hours. Downriggers was on the brochure provided by the ferry, and since it is right by the water, I decided to have lunch there.
I was there by myself. The restaurant was busy, but not packed. I waited for about 10 – 15 minutes until someone came what I wanted to drink and took my order. I ordered cod fish tacos and asked for extra pico de gayo. Some 10 minutes later, I got my food. No extra pico de gayo, but it didn’t really bother me. I had expected some rice in tacos, but there was none. Instead, there was a lot of black beans and olives. Overall, the food looked really appetizing, but the flavors weren’t that good.
Throughout my lunch, I got service from 3 different waitress. To me, that implied disorganization. However, there was one in particular that kept apologizing me. She was really polite and I did believe that she was doing her best. Oh well.

The view was good. The menu appeared to be good. We were a party of 4 who entered on a Holiday afternoon. A couple of 2 entered behind us. The couple that entered behind us was seated first because they had reservations. This I couldn’t understand because the reserved table wasn’t going anywhere! It was explained to us that it is a policy of Downriggers. Before we sat down, we have already had a bad experience. At this point I’ve already decided a number of things…
Do I trust their menu and order something expensive? No.
Do I recommend the establishment to friends? No.
Do I buy souvenirs? No.
Do I mention our experience to the hotel we are staying at? Yes.
All of this before we are seated. Does Downrigger tell me how to make reservations the next time I’m in the area? No.
Had I been on my own, I would have left before being seated.

My boyfriend and I had dinner here on our first night in town. We were looking forward to dinner here since they had lots of items on their menu we were interested in (we looked online before we came). We made reservations early in the day and came back later on.
We were seated promptly, but from there, things sort of went downhill. We sat at our table for quite some time before our waitress finally arrived, arms crossed (yes, ARMS CROSSED), to take our drink order. My boyfriend was specifically excited to get a bellini, since they had them on the online menu. However, they weren’t on the menu when we arrived, so he asked about them. The waitress checked with the bartender and said had only had them last year, but that they could make them. Seemed like a good sign, but it wasn’t really. When the bellini arrived, it was not very good at all. The drink was cloudy and filled with strawberry seeds. I had a coconut martini, which was tasty and strong, but I had been looking forward to the toasted coconut rim… and there was hardly anything on the rim at all. Big letdown.
Eventually, we finally ordered our food (with our waitress — her arms still crossed). It was a busy night, so it took what I am assuming is longer than usual for the food to come out. At one point bread appeared on our table, which was nice (it normally costs to get bread — lame if you ask me because the amount of bread you get is tiny), but we were still wondering why it was taking so long to get our food.
My fish tacos were excellent — the highlight of the meal. Lots of cod, lots of fillings, and CORN tortillas — YUM! Honestly, if I were basing the experience on these tacos alone, Downriggers would probably get at least 4 stars.
However, my boyfriend had issues with his fish and chips — there was a bad chunk of cod in each of the fillets. Like a bitter, spoiled taste. He said that the rest was fine, but that it was pretty disappointing and he was concerned about the freshness of the fish.
Our bill was $ 46 for two entrees and two drinks, which wasn’t too awful, but we had come away pretty disappointed with our experience overall. I would be willing to try this place again, but I would hope it would be with a less grumpy waitress, slightly better drinks, and fresher seafood!

My sweet hubby surprised me with a trip to Friday Harbor for my bday and we came here for dinner the first night in town. The main reason we came was because it was one of very few restaurants that were still serving dinner at half past eight. Being from the mainland we are used to restaurants being open much later, but eating here (because of our limited options) turned out to be a delicious dining experience!
The salad dressings and sauces here are scrumptious: the sun-​dried garlic butter, house salad vinaigrette, arugula salad vinaigrette, and lemon butter pasta sauce. The seafood lemon garlic pasta, my main dish, was just heavenly! Mussels, clams, prawns, and scallops tossed in with penne pasta… yum-​o! Hubby got the crab Mac and cheese, so good! Though not as good as Purple’s lobster Mac and cheese in my opinion.
It was dark so the views weren’t visible but the restaurant offered them via tables lined up next to the windows. The atmosphere was intimate and small, and very fitting for a harbor town.

I love eating out. If I could find a way to eat out and not gain weight or somehow to make it as affordable as eating at home I’d do it every day for every meal. A fantastic cook is worth his or her weight in gold.
A place like Downriggers in Friday Harbor has certain challenges. Friday Harbor is a tourist town and so their restaurants rely heavily on their seasonal visitors. That said, I understand March is out of season for Friday Harbor. My boyfriend and I were warned by the hostess that they were short staffed. I can accept and sympathize with that. Everyone has had this days where it seems that everyone and their brother’s mother called in sick. Waiting the fifteen to twenty minutes didn’t bother us. We passed the time easily reading about various activities to do on the island.
Once seated a young man came to our table and asked to take our order. Honestly, I am not sure if he was new, flustered, or even if he was the waiter. The way he acted it appeared as they grabbed the bus boy, threw an apron on him and told him to serve customers. He barely made eye contact as he took our order and then rambled on about how certain drinks were unavailable. The women at the table next to us were teasing him relentlessly because he kept forgetting things they asked for, but it was apparent that he wasn’t following them.
I ordered the crab mac and cheese and my boyfriend ordered the salmon omelet. We waited for some time for our food, but nothing that seemed unreasonable. Another lady, who wasn’t dressed in a Downriggers’ shirt, dropped off our food and made a hasty retreat.
The food was disgusting. The mac and cheese was cold. The few crab chunks I could find in it were hard and rubbery. It reminded me of leftovers that someone took out of the fridge, left on the counter for awhile, and then forgot to put it in the microwave. My boyfriend’s salmon omelet was no better. Not only was his cold as well, but it was also lacking salmon. It had lots and lots of sour cream, and cheese, but no salmon in the salmon omelet.
Our waiter returned after thirty minutes just to drop off the bill. I told him to ring it up on a card and he forgot to take he card with him. He never asked how our meal was, to refill drinks, or even thank us for coming in.
This truly was a lousy brunch.

I went to Downrigger’s with a group a few weeks ago during a Victoria Clipper whalewatching adventure. By the time we got get off the boat at Friday Harbor, it was mid-​afternoon and we were all starving, so the fact there was a restaurant within thirty seconds with beer and an outdoor view was awesome in and of itself.
The boyfriend and I both had the griled crab sandwich, and it was pretty good. The fries and coleslaw were both great– I ended up being jealous of the fries and stealing quite a few from him. Others liked the crab burger and the portabello burger. The sandwiches were pretty reasonably priced, but the other lunch entrees were definitely on the expensive side.
Not the best food in the world, but for incredibly easy access and a great view, I’d recommend it.

I would give this restaurant a 4.5!
The view is gorgeous and it goes without saying. I spent a girls weekend in Friday Harbor recently and we sampled Downriggers twice :-)
A very creative and impressive cocktail menu. Warm artichoke and crab dip was full of crab lumps and heavenly. Steamed clams were delicious. I ordered a cioppino, which had an abundance of fresh seafood that was cooked just right with a spicy kick. Second time I ordered kalbi steak with mashed potatoes which was equally tasty.
On both visits to the restaurant our servers were welcoming, warm and had lots of menu recommendations. The only hiccup is that both days they were out of fresh oysters and mussels, but our food and service more than made up for the absence.