The Depot Restaurant

A wonderfully comforting place featuring both local seafood and classic Americana dishes. Had a lamb shank that absolutely melted off the bone. And my wife had a wonderfully zesty plate of linguine and clams. Terrific wine selection, especially on the Reds from all over the world.
There only a few tables so a reservation is probably a good idea but sitting at the bar is also cool and gives an elevated view of the chefs working in the open kitchen.

If you haven’t been to Long Beach in a long time and appreciate a historic building with a cozy atmosphere, warm friendly waiters and high quality cuisine, don’t miss The Depot. For a Friday night in January, they were fairly busy. We each enjoyed a glass of the Oregon Left Coast Pinot Noir and shared the house salad for starters. My main course was Tuscan stew topped with Ling Cod drizzled with verde sauce. It sounds very busy, but the flavors blended perfectly. My husband had the 7 ounce filet grilled perfectly to to his liking, which is medium rare, accompanied by potatoes au gratin and green beans. We will return, next time we’re in the area.

There seems to be some miscommunication about gluten free plates and food preparation, otherwise excellent food.
Edit due to the response below:
I ordered the calamari small plate and asked for a gluten free preparation. I tried to make it clear that GF wasn’t a lifestyle choice, but a real food allergy. When we received the dish the wonton looked suspiciously like wheat and my wife said it had a wheat rather than corn chip texture. I asked the server to check the ingredients, and to also check and see if they used a separate fryer so there wouldn’t be any cross contamination.
The server told us that they only used one fryer, and wonton strips were made of wheat. Hopefully there was simply miscommunication between the server and kitchen and it was a false alarm.
The server was very apologetic and nice about the whole deal — the Oysters ‘Scargot were great along with the rest of our meal.
Original review:
They need to take food allergies seriously, otherwise excellent food.
The menu is marked with gluten free options, however the «gluten free» fried calamari had wheat wonton strips on top. They only have a single fryer so even if the corn flower is truly gf, the dish will have cross contamination.
If you have food allergies double check on how the dish is prepared and all of the ingredients included.

I took my family there today to try out the fish and chips. After 15 minutes of waiting for our waitress to take our order, we walked out and went to the new restaurant down the street (large, new building, attentive wait staff, and kid friendly). After years of saying I will write a review, I finally did today. The food might be good, but I will never know. As we walked out, the waitress made eye-​contact with me, and did not utter a word. Whatever happened to, «hello, just a minute and I will be right with you,» and «I am so sorry about the wait, please give me just a minute and I’ll be right over.»? I will also add that there were many tables open, but I only saw one waitress.

So incredibly well deserved!
Just had dinner there last night with salad of mixed greens with walnuts, pears and blue cheese, then a wonderful rich pasta with andouille sausage and prosciutto, and an amazing brownie with ice cream, chocolate and caramel sauce and a dash of salt!

Living in Seattle, I do not always know what to expect when I venture into small towns when it comes to dining out. On my recent trip to Long Beach, I tried a newer place that looked like a place in Seattle and thought it would be tasty, it was bland and disappointing… the food and the service.
The next night, we ate here and loved it! The ambiance, food and service were terrific. It is my fav place out there now and I will go back every time I visit.

This is such a cute place with delicious fusion food and great service. We arrive late and they kept our spot for us and closed 20 minutes later then their closing time for us.

We dined there Thursday night. Party of ten adults and two toddlers. My brother is a world traveler and gave the gazpacho outstanding remarks. I had the house salad, it was perfect. Then I had the scallops from the small plates menu. It was cooked perfectly. I finished with the flourless chocolate torte, outstanding.
My husband had the duck. He said it was very good but a little too sweet and fatty for him. He enjoyed his flan too.
It got a little hot in the small space as our dinner progressed then cooled down as the crowd thinned out.
They do have a child’s pasta plate available.

The fine dining choices in the Long Beach area are pretty limited. My hat’s off to The Depot for having a comfortable, upscale restaurant. The menu isn’t anything earthshaking, but it IS very well done. The crab mac ‘n cheese was by far the highlight of our meal; I swear there was an entire crab in the dish — so meaty!
If I had to choose between Pickled Fish and The Depot, I’d probably lean towards Pickled Fish for their awesome view and atmosphere. But if I had enough time in town, I’d definitely go to both!

Just not exceptional. After reading all the rave reviews we decided to take some visiting friends to The Depot. It was OK. Nothing impressive enough to justify either the price or the reviews.
My wife had oysters and it came with a ¹⁄₃ piece of corn on the cob. Folks, corn on the cob should not be overcooked and mushy at any restaurant. ¹⁄₃ a cob? Come on folks, corn is in season and selling for next to nothing. The only good thing about cheaping out on the serving is that it was overcooked and mushy anyway.
I had the pork shoulder. It was OK. Anyone with even a hit of cooking skill could reproduce this dish at home with no problem. Again the vegetables were overcooked and mushy. Mashed yams… not a lot of skill required. What’s the point? If you can’t cook corn on the cob during the peak of corn season you really can’t consider yourself a top notch culinary place. I have had better pork and better sauces off a paper plate in a dozen roadside dives throughout Texas.
Guest had the duck. Really small portion. Again it was OK, just nothing to get excited about. Probably would have been more positive it there was not as much expectation. You can get a meal of this quality in anyone of many reasonable restaurants in any medium size city.
Sometimes a restaurant gets popular because it is trendy, not because it is exceptional. The Depot is probably one of the better in this limited market, but if you really want a dining experience heading over to Astoria, Oregon will give you better choices.
This place is just not an exceptional restaurant and is way overpriced.

Friendliness, politeness, and professional attitude serve as essential traits when creating an excellent dining experience. The staff at The Depot performed these essential elements to a high degree of accomplishment. We especially thank Laura for her service. She is a consummate professional.
The kitchen was running smoothly. The chef properly prepared our chosen menu selections, artfully plated his work, and delivered them in a perfect time frame.
We also thank The Depot for preferring quality local and artisan products. Subscription to such preferences allows for both chef and customer to more completely appreciate resulting complexities of the dining experience.
Additionally noted, the restroom was clean, well appointed, and appropriately supplied.
We are pleased to submit a Unilocal Five Star recommendation for The Depot.

Only open for dinner from 5 – 9 so best to make a reservation earlier that day or day before. The food was great. I tried three of the small dishes which are like tapas except a little bigger. My wife tried an oyster pasta dish which she loved. My favorite small plate was a Carne Asada something, which had perfect cube cuts of meat, no gristle at all, with spicy tart beans and red peppers that you scoop with some tortilla chips on the outer edges. My second favorite was the Thai calamari, and third, the pulled pork with spices and flavors that you eat with baguette slices. All in all a great dinner for my pre-​birthday!

This was easily the best rated restaurant in Long Beach on Unilocal so I made reservations to have dinner here a month before coming out here for 4^th of July. We were all VERY impressed. The previous reviewers are SPOT ON! For the appetizers, we ordered the calamari and clam chowder. Compared to other restaurants we went to in Long Beach, these were both excellent and filling! Now come the entrees… my fiancé ordered the Rib Eye Special, which he loved. I sampled a piece of the meat and boy, was it tender! I ordered the Clams Bucatini pasta. Now, I normally NEVER (and I really mean never) finish an entrée whenever we go out to eat anywhere, but this pasta dish… I devoured and finished every last piece. It was DELICIOUS. There were enough clams (which I find most places don’t give you enough) to pair with the amount of noodles. My mouth is watering just typing out this review. We ordered the peach cobbler for dessert and gosh… I love peaches even more now! I only wish they gave us more ice cream on top. :) Best advice: make reservations before coming here. I knew all the hype around this restaurant and since we came here on 4^th of July weekend, I knew reservations were a must. I called them a month in advance and they only had a 5:30pm slot available… even though I called a month earlier!!! The restaurant itself isn’t very big, so BE SURE to make a reservation, even if you go on a week night. I look forward to coming here next time we’re in Long Beach!

We went here tonight as our last night on our honeymoon! It was pretty amazing, I got the Greek lamb and risotto, it was pretty good. My husband got the duck, it was amazing.
I tried the wine special for the night, it was a whit wine, called butter, I’m in love with it now!
It was awesome to be able to see the food being prepared. Definitely somewhere we’d come back to on our next vacation to the coast.
You guys don’t know it but you made a great story for our honeymoon trip!

3.5 stars. Lots of really high reviews and the place was hood and certainly leads the pack in the local market but my experience was not 5 stars. Very nice hospitable staff, the fiid was good and well prepared (although the market special sole was drowned in lemon caper sauce — that was all you could taste– that was a takeaway for me). We enjoyed oysters ‘scargot style (but what’s not to love melty butter, garlic and cheese) and the scallops with mango to start. Big dessert menu (just get one and share). A funny thing was either our table was wonky or the floor but if you sat out in the chair side you were up and leaning in over table.
They likely would have accommodated but I would have enjoyed a few more simple seafood/​shellfish options like steamers or more razor clam to highlight the areas bounty. We will eat here again should we revisit this lovely stretch of coast.

What a great little gem on the south end of Long Beach in Seaview. The food was fantastic and the service was great as well. I had some of the nicest seared scallops I have et in a long time. The place is very small so call ahead early to make a reservation.

One of our all time favorite restaurants. Everything has been perfect every time. They have THE best calamari we have ever had. We always get the chefs table, which is an amazing experience. Chef Michael and Sous Chef Jamie are both wonderful to watch in the kitchen.
If Salmon is one of the specials, it’s a must have.

Great service. Best food on longbeach/​sea view area by far. It would be nice to have fresh bread and larger portion of seafood.
Our crab Mac had the teensiest amount of crab in it… Unnoticeable really. The shrimp dish was delicious but $ 22 and only came with 3 prawns

*burger night
I was disappointed in a lot of ways here. Incredibly expensive for the quality of product you get. I felt like a burden, anytime I could manage to get any of the servers attention.
My biggest issues were the ordering process, and what actually cost what on the little piece of paper. I assumed things on the right-​side were an additional dollar or something, if it was I still feel ripped-​off on the «avocado» option. I think it was bagged, flash frozen, store bought, pre-​made guacamole smeared on my bun? I don’t know. But if the menu says avocado and I am paying extra for it, put some fat chunks of avocado down.
I think the most disappointing thing of the night was the jalapeño option. I am pretty sure they used canned ones here. I mean this place passes itself off every other night of the week as all fancy-​like, and they can’t slice some fresh jalapenos or pickle some in house? I was so far taken back by this choice, my heart seriously sank as I saw those roundish, flavorless, opaque rings of disappointment piled on my burger.
I really wanted a salad with my burger so I asked and they obliged, I really wasn’t expecting anything fancy on burger night, nor did I want the candied walnuts, pears and an unhealthy amount of blue cheese. Nor did I want to pay 7 $, felt very pigeon-​holed.
Was going to give 2 stars but the short bread cookie was amazing, up there in the league of Claire Clark. It came with the sorbet; one scoop of really good pineapple and a scoop of some kind of flavorless berry.
48 $ for two burgers, one fry, one salad, two beers and a shared dessert. Seems a little steep.

I’m sure The Depot would earn a 5-​star review for meat-eaters…but I’m a vegetarian. Now, its hard for vegetarians in these coastal towns. There’s an abundance of sea food, of course, and that’s what most restaurants cook up. Fair enough. But us vegheads need to eat too, wherever we are in the world.
The Depot caught our attention because of a line on its menu that said it was willing to create vegetarian dishes. Though their actual menu only had a couple veg-​friendly plates, the hostess assured us that the kitchen was flexible. And they were. In fact, they were incredibly attentive to our dietary restrictions when we visited. I was genuinely impressed by the service. The hostess had made a note of our vegetarian-​ness when we booked our reservation, so as soon as we took our seat we were given a lovely presentation of what we could eat. I was told that the clams bucatini, sans clams, was actually excellent.
So clamless bucatini I ordered. And it WAS good. But when we received our check, we realized that we were charged the same amount as we would have for clammy bucatini. Bucatini without clams is really quite simple. Parsley, garlic, lemon and noodles. That’s it. And we paid $ 22. I assume that good clams are quite expensive, and so that $ 22 price tag was composed with such clams in mind. I understand its annoying to alter preexisting menu items; but it seemed a little wrong not to alter the price, whatsoever, with the removal of its expensive key ingredient. That really irked and disappointed me. Consequently, I’d recommend against taking them up on their offer to alter meat-​y dishes.
That said, there are a couple options for vegetarians already existing on the menu. The artichoke fritters are an insanely good appetizer. And there’s a stuffed portobello dish. Now I happen to think that portobellos taste like sweaty socks. But my boyfriend doesn’t, and he thought the dish was fantastic.
Another frustration came in the form of wine. We ordered the sangiovese, a $ 26 bottle. We were told that they were out, but had a chianti for the same amount. We double checked and were reassured it was the exact same amount. When we got the receipt, it was a $ 35 bottle. We felt bad because it seemed the waitress was new and genuinely mixed up. Unfortunately, her error cost only us.
So in short, the meal cost way more than it should have. So even though the food was beyond enjoyable, the receipt cut short our happiness. I give this place 4 stars for the food along with a warning to be mindful of the receipt.