OleBob’s Galley Cafe and Seafood Market

Ate in the café and bought fresh seafood to take home. The café food was quite good, although the they were out of my first choice (Fresh Willapa Bay Manila Steamer Clams) and the oven wasn’t working, so I couldn’t have my second choice (Baked Willapa Bay Oysters on the Half Shell). My third choice (Captain’s Platter) was delicious. The oysters were HUGE. I’ve never seen oysters that large. The batter was tasty and not too greasy. Scallops, prawns and cod were all great. Servers were friendly and helpful.
After lunch, we bought a nice salmon steak and tiny, fresh, cleaned, local shrimp. Both were great
4 stars instead of 5 because they didn’t have my first two choices.

We stopped here to grab some lunch and it was quite yummy. It was a very pleasant experience to eat some seafood by the sea shore.
I tried the halibut fish n chips (comes with coleslaw and the fries are curvy) and the crab cake (comes with coleslaw and toast). Both tasted quite good and were very fulfilling.
For beverage, I had their refreshing iced tea served on a lovely mason jar with a slice of lemon.
Definitely a good place for someone who spending their day at the pier visiting the seafood market.

Really nice place-​sunny patio overlooking marina. Grady spot where kids can play. The food was excellent and fresh. We had halibut and chips which was delicious. We wanted more seafood so for dessert we had crab cakes! Definitely coming back

Best clam chowder on the coast. Stay away from long beach and the tourists! Head to olé bobs and get some fresh, righteous seafood. I had the fish n chips-​halibut. Great. Great. Great! The tartar sauce is even good enough to eat by itself. My bride had a whole crab (I had half). It was perfect. Come to the beach? Drive a few more minutes and get real homemade seafood. Year in, year out.

Great place in a small chill setting with outdoor seating out of the wind and a view of the active docks. Amazing market selection.

Good location, you can see the boats. Over priced for what you get. I had a dungeness crab cocktail, crab was good but 12.95 for a ice cream size scoop. My bf had halibut fish tacos. Halibut want fresh. Tasted like store bought frozen battered fish.

Had the best chowder of my life here over the summer. Their Oysters are a bargain and as fresh as they get. The deep fried prawns were overseasoned and too chewy.
You don’t «run out» of clam chowder before dinner time on Sunday. You MAKE MORE!

Didn’t live up to the hype. Staff wasn’t very knowledgable and they had no clam chowder today. They had no crab because it’s out of season. But your menu is a whiteboard, update it! The baked oysters were good, but the bread seemed like a take-​and-​bake loaf that wasn’t baked. We had planned on buying seafood to take back to the condo, but their in-​shell clams didn’t look good and everything else was smoked or frozen solid.
The outside patio was lovely, but all in all, I don’t think we’ll go back. We got crab and steamers from the place a block down. Much better for seafood to go.

Ordered crab and it had gone bad. When I brought it to their attention. They didn’t even apologize. They just said that’s weird. And walked off

I’m writing this while I’m waiting to be served. Fun atomsphere, on the water, but damn was it slow. 45 minutes and counting for fish and chips. One fryer in the back, a house full of people and orders coming out of the kitchen about every 10 min isn’t right. Upgrade the «galley» OLEBOB!

We are on vacation so we are eating out a lot, but frozen TV dinners are beginng to look good in room microwaves!
Oh, how disappointing in OleBob’s! Been looking for good fish and chips since past places have closed, changed hands, or just started serving lousy food in this area. We thought this looked good. Lots of customers. Don’t know how long we waited but is was a loooong time. Ordered the fish and chips at $ 40.+ for 2 orders. When finally got our order, one piping hot, the other, cool. Skimpy servings, 2 thin pieces of fish, no taste, lousy fries. Coleslaw good. Other customers waited over 1 hour just to get a bowl of chowder! Geez! Don’t eat here. The staff is not trained. Food was served in the order it was placed. People after us, Waited 1.45 hr for a bowl of chowder. They’ll close before they get it together. Geez, I’m tied of being ripped off. And, it’s all too expensive.
I marked «good for lunch» … No choice for not good for anything!

As others reviewers have said, the wait was very long even on a Thursday afternoon when they were not very busy. It took over 50 minutes to get our order, one fish & chips and one tuna melt. The fish and chips consisted of four small pieces of cod and an ample supply of French fries. It was okay, but not worth what it cost, and certainly not worth the wait. My wife’s tuna melt was a few steps below okay. She said it tasted like canned tuna and was very bland. We would not go back again.

I you want greasy, overprice and want to wait a long time for your food this is the place for you. They have a very small cooking area and cannot handle cooking more that one order at a time. That is, one order needs to be cooked before the next one is started! Staff was rude. Worst service on the Peninsula.
We had high hope for this place, but it was a total disappointment.

Delish! Fresh, clean, good ingredients, perfect balance of ingredients so that you taste the very fresh fish. Note: this restaurant closes early. Not open for dinner. Down to earth café style

Stopped in here on our road trip. Hubby loves fish and chips. They were very delicious. His only complaint was he wanted more:)

The food was okay, I found every thing to be extremely greasy. Fish in the fish and chips were quite dry.

Halibut fish and chips were cooked to perfection. Batter is very light and it has good flavor.
The crab cakes are a disaster! They are mushy and filled with too much bread. There are a few lumps of singleness here and there. The coleslaw lacks flavor!
They need to put in another fryer. It took 50 minutes and it is not even the busy season.
On Saturday, you can walk the Saturday market until 4.

Best chowder ever!!! Cute little café facing the dock so you can watch the boats while you eat.

We took a drive to the beach and stopped at OleBob’s to pick up some smoked fish to munch on. But found the restaurant. I ordered the cod fish & chips and my husband had the cod fish tacos. We were both pleased with our choices. The fish was nicely battered and not greasy, this appeared to be the same fish for the tacos. I had cold slaw with mine and it had real good flavor. All in all it was a great meal!

We decided to eat here after reading all the great reviews. There were only two other diners in the place when we got there and they’d ordered the tuna fish n’ chips and said it was wonderful, so that’s what we got.
They came with a tiny paper cup of cole slaw and fries. We were pretty underwhelmed. My fish was not cooked all the way through on a couple of pieces. The outside was nice and crispy, and the fish was hot. That was good. The fries were okay. But neither one of us finished our lunch, which was just kind of meh. Very disappointing.
On the plus side, the view out back to the harbor is wonderful and the staff was very pleasant and the service was great. But I doubt we’ll go back.

The food was excellent. Also, I accidently left my rain jacket in the restaurant and they sent it back to me in Arizona. I offered to pay for the shipping, but they refused to take payment. Wonderful people, great service, and excellent food.
Highly recommended.

Overpriced, miserly portions, bland flavor. Two pieces of halubut, one the size of the end of a fork, for $ 15. Gross mushy crab cakes. Sides about 1 oz. portions. A rip off. Avoid.

I would give this place 5 stars for their captain seafood platter but knocked down 1 star for the wait.
it was a saturday and the staff was just rushing and frying seafood like it was nobody’s business. however they could not keep up with the customers coming in and out of the farmers market.
I’m pretty sure i waited 1.45 hours for food … and walked the market 3x!
Finally we dug in to the captains platter and it was all delicious! Large Oysters, Shrimp, Scallops and Cod galore… we also had a cup of shucked oysters which were fresh and plump!

People will tell you that you really don’t know what seafood tastes like until you’ve had truly fresh seafood — that is to say, stuff that came directly from the water, not directly from a freezer. Do you know why people tell you that? BECAUSE IT’S TRUE. No slight intended to people who live inland — I was one of you for 40 years — but unless you’re on one of the coasts and have regular access to fish and shellfish from the sea, you’ve been eating second-​rate. Case in point: Olé Bob’s, a little seafood joint (with excellent adjoining market) in the even littler town of Ilwaco. The only reason to be there is to visit Cape Disappointment or charter a boat, but if you find yourself there, you can happily luck into some of the finest seafood you’ll ever eat: crisp, incredibly fresh fish right out of the Pacific, spicy and tasty crab cakes, and fat, juicy fried oysters that you’ll remember your whole life (in a good way). The ambiance has only the seaside location to recommend it, and the place keeps odd hours, but it’s so worth it.

I visited this café on the first Saturday in August; I imagine my timing accounts for the large crowd present. Luckily I grabbed one of the last seats left at a counter facing the back window, a location that turned out to be prime real estate as I had a nice view of people strolling up and down the open-​air market happening just outside the back door.
At this café you go to the front counter to place your order; the menu is written on chalkboards behind the counter, but there are also paper menus scattered throughout the café.
I ordered the halibut fish & chips (one of their more pricey options at $ 14.95) and a beer. I took my number & my beer, found my seat, and only waited 10 – 15 minutes for my order; I thought that was good considering how busy they were.
Right off the bat I was disappointed that there were only 2 average-​sized pieces of fish in my basket. I was kind of expecting something more (maybe I’m spoiled by the Harmon Brewery & Eatery in Tacoma offering all-​you-​can-​eat fish & chips for $ 15.99 on Sundays). But the fish that was in my basket was fresh & delicious. The breading was just a light coating — enough there to provide a crunch, but not enough to detract from the flavor of the fish. The halibut tasted great and melted in my mouth.
The basket includes fries and coleslaw. The fries were average — nothing special, but not bad. I did appreciate that they weren’t overly greasy/​oily or salty. The coleslaw was pretty good, It had the right amount of dressing to provide flavor but not make the cabbage and carrots soggy.
The staff was friendly and efficient, the décor nautical, the atmosphere both lively and relaxed. I’d definitely visit again if I return to the area.

I love their tuna melt. We all love it. It tastes so good. Their clam basket isn’t that great. Ok for the oyster burgers. The place is hard to find though.

I thinkYelp needs to combine OleBob’s Galley and Olé Bob’s Seafood. We had cabin fever after a few days in Long beach so decided to search for fish and chips in another «town». I think Ilwaco may be even smaller than Long Beach, but it has salt water, boats, places to eat fish and the smell of crab boiling… Count me in.
Olé Bob’s was not a pre-​chosen destination, we went in because it smelled so good. Very casual. see the photos. fish and chips were excellent, crunchy batter, fresh fish. The clam chowder was hands down, one of the best three I’ve had in my life, better than my own, I hate to admit. The chowder contains razor clams which makes it a top seller to me.
The front part of Olé Bob’s is a fish market with fish and shellfish and some frozen fish, the prepared food is in the back closer to the water. you can even eat outside. After I win the lotto I’ll be back.

On a roadtrip down the coast I was hungry for some fresh delicious seafood so at the suggestion of my lonely planet travel book I stopped in ilwaco for some grub. I cruised down the little harbor area and this place drew me in. Turns out I made a great choice! I ordered the shrimp quesadilla for an appetizer which was good, the salsa was AMAZING! Coming from a Mexican woman this should mean a lot;) my other half ordered the clam chowder which was yummy and he had the fish tacos which were maybe not as delectable as we like in Southern California but they were still very good. My crab melt was out of this world. Made with Dungeness crab, it melted in your mouth, insanely tender! I would definitely dine here again. Considering there were a lot of locals there, it’s definitely the place to check out!

Finally got to eat here on recent trip — we had the Captains plate and the Halibut fish/​chips. I also ordered a cup of chowder.
The chowder serving was small, very chunky, but seemed to be mostly potato. Average flavor, and the clams should have been much more abundant for the price.
The halibut, 3 pcs + fries + coleslaw, breaded, lightly seasoned, a bit over-​fried but otherwise good.
Captains plate came loaded with shrimp, oysters and fish and huge serving of fries. My kid inhaled it.
Ambiance was good. Liked the fairly quick service and quirky sea-​town decorations.
Value — after tax and tip 3 meals, no drinks we were @ $ 55 — not cheap for «fish/​chips».
Green rating — very good, service was reuseable or biodgradeable.
I’m going to go with 4 stars since I love the seafood market in the back; most of my ‘check ins’ here are for the market as I always make at least one stop here every trip for their incredible fresh crab, IMO the best dunceoness to be had.
As for the restaraunt, I am hoping to be more impressed on the next visit. I’m sticking with the Imperial Schooner in LB for ‘best fish/​chips’ on the peninsula.

Good fresh fish available in the seafood market or prepared to order on site.
My only complaint was that the dungeoness crab was served cold. I’m not sure if thats standard in the area, but I definitely would prepare a fresh, hot crab.