Johnny's Dock Marina — Attraction in Tacoma

Three of us arrived at 4:20PM today (Sunday, 8/10/2025) and we asked if we could get a table in the bar. The pleasant guy with a braided beard told us "yes," grabbed menus, and asked us to follow him. Before we could leave the front desk, a small thin woman wagged her finger at him and said, "wait a minute" and went on to insist, "you can't sit on the deck." I replied, "We don't want to sit on the deck, we want to sit in the bar." We proceeded into the bar and he seated us at an available 4-top. He brought us each ice water, and that was the last time anyone came to our table for quite a while.. After 20 minutes or more, I flagged down a male bartender who asked if we had ordered yet. He recognized us from our previous visit and brought our bottle of wine and glasses to the table. A few minutes later, he returned and took our orders: chicken biryani with salad, and two orders of tempura shrimp with fries. The food was soon brought out by another server and placed in front of us. I had asked for tartar sauce and assumed that the bowl placed in front of me was the tartar sauce. It seemed off. Later, we realized my husband's salad wasn't delivered and it was his ranch dressing that was set down in front of me rather than my tartar sauce. Oh geez. I again flagged down the guy that took our orders and he promptly brought out the salad and some tartar sauce. We also had to ask for flatware and napkins. We all agreed that the food was okay, but the long wait and the mistakes messed up the meal. Like our previous visit, it seems like seating, bussing, serving, working together just don't jive. The alcohol service was definitely happening, but even that seemed to have hiccups as a long line formed at the bar. The band that was playing was great, which helped keep us there in spite of staring at our dirty dishes too long and waiting for our check. It was a very warm afternoon/evening, and I couldn't help but notice a container of milk sitting on the bar for far too long. Who is running the show at Johnny's? We want to support local food establishments, but things haven't improved since our...

Sad The Easter buffet was good (seafood was not fresh, room was hotter than an oven, buffet was shoved behind the bar by the restrooms great Desserts,Carving Station,Bar) , and very reasonably priced. The server charged us $15 per margarita ( seems steep), then proceeded to insult us at the end of our meal because we had decided to leave her a larger cash tip so put some on our card. Emmalee H., loudly asks "Is that all you have on the card?" All the tables looked at my husband and I like we hadn't paid for our meals! Charged us $38 per person, than $15 per cocktail, and than insinuated we couldn't afford to pay?! ON EASTER?! Well thanks for ruining our first holiday buffet, and first ever visit to this establishment! Of course they didn't offer to even consider a small amount off of the meal or even a giftcard to encourage a 2nd visit! And sadly, evidently all men of color look the same to Lisa the Manager, as she began speaking to another man of color and his family before hearing him, the host, or myself say he was not the person who'd requested to speak with her! She was standing with her back to me less than 8 inches away! Should DEFINITELY NOT REPRESENTING THE RESTAURANT! Really not a class act at all! If we'd known you only served a certain color/class of person we'd spent our money elsewhere! Thanks for showing us what you have to offer!

First time we've ever had a negative experience anywhere in Downtown Tacoma! I worked right across the marina at another restaurant and would've at least offered to pay for the meal! Wow! #GuessNot #GoSomeWhereBetter #NotTacoma...

Before a show at the Tacoma Dome, my spouse and I plus another couple had an early 5:00pm dinner here. We have fond memories of the former Johnny's Dock Restaurant and wanted to give it a try with the new owners so close to the venue.

Overall, we wanted to like it, but it was not a good meal or experience. I got the feeling that the owner and staff are not trained very well and customer friendly, understaffed and do not know how to run an upscale restaurant for its clients. I had to go to another table and get 4 sets of flatware that were finally delivered 10 minutes after we asked for it.

Ordered two choices of red wine and both were not available. We did get two glasses that were good. My spouse ordered crab cakes and never got her order. The waiter stated it was deleted from our order that we just placed. The ahi tuna was good, but my Caesar salad had too much dressing on it to really enjoy the greens. The clam's linguini was good and probably the best meal was the curry with naan bread. Needless to say, we did not order dessert.

I finally had to personally go to the front desk and get a "to go" container for a leftover entree and pay for our meal. We were compensated with our drinks removed from the bill but the meal we were so looking forward to having was not favorable. So disappointed and probably won't go back for a long time or ever.

I hope the new owners can improve their operation, but a lot of work needs to be done to make me want to come...