Adrift Restaurant — Restaurant in Anacortes

B and I had a whole day planned together. Part one was to drive up to Anacortes and walk the Tommy Thompson trail. Then we would find a place to have dinner followed by watching the sunset before heading home. The first part went well, but the long walk in the hot sun with only a few blackberries to sustain us drained our energy to the point where dinner changed from a nice idea to an imperative. The walk along the shore suggested seafood and Google came up with Adrift. It had plenty of stars and it was nearby. That was good enough for us. Someone forgot to tell Google Maps that there was an art show that day that closed down Commercial Avenue. Fortunately, Anacortes is laid out in a simple grid, so we were able to maneuver around the art show and found street parking within a few blocks of the restaurant. We heard live music nearby, but I voted to stay focused on food. B is a kind person and supported my choice even though she has a burning love for live music. As we walked to the restaurant, we saw that all the restaurants on the street were packed. Dang, I was suffering from hanger and I didn’t know if I could handle a change of plans. When we got there, I thought it was a lucky chance that they had plenty of open tables. I was not so happy that the hostess ignored us while she made a phone call. The call was to another group waiting to be seated. Why they had to wait is a mystery. Once we got the hostess’s attention, we were led right to a table. The menu was short, but featured some interesting items. We had plenty of time to look over the options while we waited for our waiter. He came with a list of specials and a promise to bring water. We already had a good idea of what we wanted so we ordered before we let the waiter get away. I chose a rice noodle stir fry with shrimp and B had a cold noodle salad with a crab cake. The waiter made another promise to bring water and rushed off. After the long walk, I needed the restroom. It was easy to find, tucked away in the back. Unfortunately, I didn’t move fast enough and had to wait my turn. I glanced back at the table and saw that our water had been delivered. When I went into the little restroom, I was hit with an overwhelming smell of old bathroom covered up with air freshener. It was gross and I needed more time to do my business than I could hold my breath. Yuck. Back at the table, things smelled better and we did not have to wait long for our food to show up. The plates looked pretty good. Mine was full of vegetables and shrimp over a bed of noodles. B’s crab cake looked delicious. I stabbed a piece of zucchini and popped it in my mouth. I was struck with mixed emotions. The vegetable was perfectly cooked, but the sauce was way too sour from tamarind. The rest of the dish was the same - everything was cooked just right, but it was painfully sour. I added a bit of salt and sriracha sauce. That helped a little. We finished up and got advice on how to get out of town from the waiter. I paid the expensive bill and we set our course for...

Very dissapointed our last visit. Ordered the cinnamon black beans to try them out. They were pasty, hard shelled and under cooked. I let the waitress know when she asked how the crab cakes were, letting her know the cakes were great, but the beans were bad and can go back; barely touched. Also of note was the fact that the beans came in a half filled cup so you really get half a cup for $6.50. Of note is she didn't even acknowledge my comment, which is my minimum expectation on service...she just collected the bowl with our empty crab cake plate. To add to the experience, the fries with my tuna sandwich were undercooked. If your gonna serve hand cut fries, you have to cook them fully. Not only were these limp and not hot, they appeared to be sweating because they were heated, bit not browned; i picked one up and showed her why i didnt eat them by letting it bend in a horseshoe shape when i pucked it up. The toasted bread on my sandwich was mushy from not being toasted properly while my wife's sandwich was browned and firm as you would expect a toasted sandwich to be. Somply inconsistent food coming out of the kitchen; it was a crap shoot with me getting all the crap. It happened to be our anniversary, so I said little to complain as didnt want to ruin the experience for my wife. I was sure to kindly, but matter of factly, let the waitress know what was wrong with my meal to which i got little to no reaction and absolutely no, "I sorry" or any acknowledgement whatsoever except to remove the food and serveware. Having worked in service, I'm a decent tipper, usually 20-25% because I know servers work hard. I tipped 10%. If she reads this, maybe she'll know why and won't think it was a mistake or just some cheapskate. Bad food happens sometimes, you cant be perfect. Because of the complete lack of service recovery, I dont see me returning to Adrift...too many choices in Anacortes that are better. If friends ask about going here, I'll tell them why id rather...

(I took out a star for the reasons listed on Mt last paragraph) First time in Anacortes so wanted some seafood. Asked around and few recommended this place. I was forewarned that this pave have a long wait time. We went around 430pm and true enough there where a line. Waited for 20 mins but got seated.

We wanted to try their seafood so we ordered the clams steamers, chioppino, crab cakes and beet salad. The service was quick despite the packed house. The salad and clam steamers came shortly after our orders. Beet salad was fresh paired with candied walnuts as a great compliment to the slightly bitter arugula. The clams were nice and tender with the light garlic wine broth.

The main dish came right after the finished the appetizer. They looked great. Let's start with the good. Crab cakes were light without much breading. They were thick but cooked perfectly with nice heat from the sweet chili sauce.

The doozy: the kale with the crab cakes were under seasoned or more like no season. A little bit of salt would have been petfect. The cioppino. Is was a weak broth. Though it's flavorful but I had better. Somewhat tasted like watered down version. May be that's how they like it here. One thing I was looking forward to was the "A bounty of fresh fish and shellfish" advertised. We got a globe of salmon, 2 quarter sized white fish, 2 and a half of scallops and lots of clams. Now I have had plenty of cioppino prior and they always have at least some prawns or calamari. Even if not they are no where near "abundant" when comes to the fish. The server later did mentioned that they are mainly clam base. Well then the menu should have said clam cioppino instead. To my humble opinion it's a inaccurate part of the menu. Unless you like a lot of clams, should skip this one. So overall still...