TripAdvisor Traveler Rating based on
665 reviews
Family dining specializing in Northwest cuisine; featuring lunch and dinner.
TripAdvisor
We've been to Side Door one other time, and decided to make a reservation to come there again for the first evening of our two overnights at the coast for my birthday. Upon walking up to the front door (on the SIDE of the building, of course!), I noticed several "happy birthday" notes written in chalk on the sidewalk with a person's name on each. There was also one chalk writing closer to the entrance honoring a couple for their 50th wedding anniversary!! Very cool!! When we checked in for our dinner reservation, we were asked a few questions like where we were from, and we said we were from Portland and were at the coast for my birthday. She quickly noted that my husband had not mentioned it to them when the reservation had been made. We teased about it a little, then the gal said, "Look for your name when you leave! It will be there!" Sure enough, it was! Only one part of the staff's great customer service that evening! And as my title for this review says, this was DINING, not just eating!! Yes, it WAS a little more expensive, but was SO worth it! All of our meals were wonderfully prepared! Husband had the parmesan panko crusted halibut with the totally amazing risotto which I got a couple of small bites of. I wanted SO MUCH MORE, but due to having a dairy allergy causing lots of sneezing, I had to just taste! It was about the most delicious accompaniment to a meal ever! My salmon with saffron rice and fresh grilled zucchini strips was also quite good! We split a "west coast salad" and were pleased by it being just the right amount. Our server, Alisa, was also an excellent service provider! She made sure everything was going well all through our dinner, was friendly and kind, and seemed to enjoy her job a lot. We will plan to return in the future when we are at this area of the coast!
We enjoyed the atmosphere at the Side Door Cafe. It was clean and attractive. Our server was friendly and helpful. We started with the Thyme Biscuits as our appetizer. I had Crab Cakes and Prawns which were delicious. Other family members had Seafood Fettuccine and a Breaded Pork special of the night. Everyone raved about their food and mentioned that the food was served hot. There was a full bar and wine list. We highly recommend Side Door Cafe.
Terrific establishment. Looks small from outside but its cavernous and has plenty of seating. We were in the seafood vibe and loved our meals. I started with a bowl of chowder which was superb and had the crabcake special,. Crab was prepared very well with good sides. Service was great and if I was in the neighborhood, I'd definitely go back.
This has always been one of our favourite restaurants on the Coast and was probably our 15th visit to the Cafe for dinner. We invited friends to join us to celebrate our anniversary and while the food (excellent!) and ambiance were as fabulous as in previous visits, the service left us feeling regretful that we chose the Side Door. Our table was being set when we arrived and a server came by and told us in an unfriendly way not to touch the cloth napkins at the edge of the table because she had to wait for clean cutlery. Our main server then arrived and she was brusque and rude from the start. With the first interaction, we felt that we were an inconvenience and unwelcome - each request was met with silence and a look that suggested we had annoyed her. When our starter plates were cleared, we offered to keep our cutlery and she motioned with her eyes (no words), to leave everything on the dirty plates for clearing. Minutes later, our food arrived and when we reminded her that we had no cutlery, she looked completely annoyed and said “how many?” With eyes down, I asked if there was fresh pepper and she returned looking irritated, quickly turned the pepper mill without a word. It became more uncomfortable as the evening went on. We poured our own wine. Each subsequent visit to our table was the same, she rarely spoke or made eye contact and when she did, there wasn’t a hint of kindness or humour. We sat with dirty plates for about 10 minutes when finally a different server brought to-go boxes. We didn’t want to linger once our meals were finished and to cap off the night, our bill was dropped off in a drive-by manner. This server very deliberately made our night unpleasant. Regretfully, we actually left a tip out of habit and wished we had left nothing.
This is a fairly good restaurant for the Oregon coast and the ambiance is great. We made reservations online for the earliest open slot which was 8:15pm and arrived on time. We were seated fairly quickly but our waitress made a snide comment about us just making it under the wire, making us feel like we were imposing on her. I explained that it was the earliest spot available online and she told us we should have called. Wow. Happy birthday to me. The entrees are pricey. My daughter ordered a burger with jam, bacon, and avocado but slices of bacon were never found and we assumed that perhaps it was crushed up in the "jam" which wasn't sweet or tasty. Our dog was happy with the leftover burger. I ordered the ribeye steak, because it was my birthday after all, and it was cooked at medium, though I ordered medium-rare. We felt pressured to shovel down our food quickly because it seemed our waitress was wanting to check out. We were offered dessert and I inquired if tiramisu was available and it wasn't but was offered bread pudding. I was told it was made with croissants and was really good. We took it home and after a few nibbles, it ended up in the trash.
