Deer Harbor Inn

Love coming here. The food is consistently very good. We enjoyed the salmon special last night perfectly prepared fresh wild coho salmon. The soup, a white bean red pepper soup, was quite special, especially with the warm, freshly made sourdough baguette. We loved the Chateau St Michelle 2015 Columbia Valley Cabernet. At $42 it was a great wine at a fair price. And the entire evening was topped off by wonderful live keyboard music and blackberry cobbler! Of all the places to enjoy a summer evening I cannot think of a better choice!

We love deer harbor inn and have dinner there almost every visit to the island. We even tried last year when the power on the island went out they were closed along with everyone else in the island, but we enjoyed cup of noodles in the parking lot with the kiddos, watching the deer and rabbits. The quiet location, wildlife, and outdoor seating with a view of the harbor is hard to find anywhere else. Plenty of room that reservations aren't usually needed and it's kid friendly with menu items for them and plenty of room to run around while percents continue sipping drinks on the deck and enjoying the love piano music. The food is good we usually get a seafood entree and always save room for the blackberry cobbler. Don't miss this hidden gem the next time you're here.

I go out to eat to enjoy food number one, but service is also a close second. An upbeat or even smiling server can make a mediocre meal a better experience, and vice versa. The food at Deer Harbor was very good. The clam chowder had large tender clams and was homemade. The sourdough bread comes out warm in a basket and the salad, though not my thing, comes family style spring mix. The almonds all fell to the bottom and there was very little dressing. It had no oomph. The seafood pasta was great, pasta and cheesy sauce was fantastic, but the scallops were stringy. I almost sent them back. My wife's veg fettuccine was very rich and had a nice assortment of veggies. My issue was with the service and atmosphere. The place is dead quiet and you can hear everyone's conversations around you. There was music but it was very very quiet. And our server was also very quiet and did not smile once. And quiet atmosphere is fine, if it's fine dining with dim lighting, candles, and overall opulence. But the dining room is brightly lit, with fake plants and small paintings of local wildlife. I didn't feel welcome and comfortable, just awkward with the server's meek presence adding to the quiet. I won't go back, but I will say the soup and entrees were indeed good.

My wife and I had the lovely opportunity to start our anniversary weekend at this great restaurant! We came for the food and were blessed by the hospitality. It seems to be a very common theme with these reviews. My wife and I shared the shrimp cocktail as well as the salmon special. The salmon was cooked to perfection as were the mashed potatoes and the broccolini. We finished off the meal with the blackberry cobbler which came with vanilla ice cream. It's exactly what you want to finish the meal in the summer time. All of this cake with a soup starter that was really good as well as bread, which was also really good and then a salad!! Excellent. Apparently it's the owner's father's recipe. It's excellent! So, enjoy yourself. We did! In fact we enjoyed alongside the deer the the harbor is named after. They enjoyed chewing on the grass and playing together in the field on the other side of the deck! You'll love this place!

Everything on Orcas is expensive. So that 's not the issue. But when you are going to drop $30-$40 a person, it should at least be good. This was not. Wife 's steak was over cooked to order. Mashed potato 's were cold. My seafood pasta was solid but not amazing. The vibe of this place is just...odd. Needs some major updating. Smells and looks very old. Not sure who resorts here these days, but it feels like it hasn 't been touched in decades.