Nicki's Bella Marina — Restaurant in Bellingham

OK first let me start with the fact I am a super picky person and very hard to please. I am always disappointed in food quality, taste, presentation, and the efficiency of the waitstaff plus the bang for your buck. I like to cook and most of the time I can cook better then most of the dishes I purchase. Now I know I should not clump all of those together because its all different aspects of a food establishment but I believe we all do it. You have a decent meal but waitstaff lacked and you don't have a good experience or great staff but lackluster food and that goes across the board in any of those combinations. But not the case on 10/4/22 at 7pm It started a bit shaky. My friend and I were seated and left with a menu but it was 10 min before we had a waitstaff check on us. So instead of waiting on drinks we went ahead and ordered at that time. I ordered the fish-n-chips and Chris ordered the mushroom burger. Within minutes the Dr Pepper and Coke were brought out in giant jar glasses that seem to contain a 1/2 gallon of beverage. The sun was setting so an orange glow was beaming through the sail boat masts on west side and onto the fishing boats tied to the sawtooth. For about 10 minutes we sat there taking it all in when to our surprise the food arrived. We were asked if we needed anything else to which we could not answer from pure astonishment that our meals were in front of us seemingly like it was McDonalds and premade. I looked at my friends plate and was surprised to see what looked to me like a photoshoot plate! Sitting in front of him was an amazingly perfect looking gourmet burger piled high and open faced with golden fries around it cooked to perfection. The fish-n-chips were also cooked to perfection and the portion was large. The batter was cooked perfectly and fish was moist and falling out with not even a hint of undone batter inside. I said to my friend this cant be real this has to be a joke. There must be a Micheline star cook back there and this is a hidden camera show but no-one popped out to yell surprise or even came back to see us. Neither of us could finish our plates so the bottomless fries that were part of the meal was never needed but a great option. We had to ask for take home boxes and the bill which she kindly asked if it was 1 or 2 checks and was off. The whole dinner was under 50 bucks for both of us!!!! I must say honestly that it was the best meal experience I have had going to a restaurant in years...

Meh.

since you didn't understand my vocabulary I thought that maybe I would expound. I apologize for not being thorough in my explanation. I figured maybe it was better to be vague and let someone else make their own decision. However, I can help by offering my full explanation of my culinary experience. meh /me/Submit INFORMAL exclamation expressing a lack of interest or enthusiasm. "Meh. I'm not impressed so far" adjective uninspiring; unexceptional. "a lot of his movies are … meh"

Now that you know the definition let me tell you again... MEH. I ordered the Fish and Chips. I am originally from New England where we pull our Cod right out of the ocean, batter it and cook it to a DRY, crispy, golden brown. The fries are CRISPY with a soft hot center and the tarter... Ohhhhh the Tarter.... NOT HERE... The MEH Chef that prepared my food did not possess 1 ounce of finesse, didn't even dry off the grease... no resting... just throw the greasiness on my plate and Push it out the door! The batter was falling off in greasy chunks - Whoops, HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM. Fries were over salted and Soggy... must've been an off day. My husband was not overwhelmed by his burger it was MEH at best. You want to '...grow with the deep meaning of my vocabulary'? Here's a 1 star for being RUDE. Oh the location is Bangin! Servers are good, ours was a little too over the top but hey, I get it. Go, enjoy the view, service, HECK grab a cocktail... I might give it another try. I'll update if I do. Until...

I was not impressed. And it takes a lot for me to have to give such a bad review. We went for a nice meal and the hostess greeted us. Not a bad start. She took us back to our seats. That's when the problems started. We sat there a few minutes when the waitress Lisa, came to get our drink order. We asked for waters. It took several minutes to get even that. After mulling over the menu we were ready to give our orders. I ordered the clam strips and chips, my sister got the fish and shrimp and my mom ordered the hot wings, after being assured it was a large amount. We waited for our food. It came out, and my clams were sans chips. The hot wings were 6 little things and my sister had the only decent meal. I asked about my fries, and to that I got the response, "oh I thought you just wanted the clam strips?" Luckily she brought me a basket of fries. Every time she came to the table which was exactly ten times she would not make eye contact, smile or even ask how things were or if we needed anything. And the real nail in the coffin was that two tables behind me she was being very nice and attentive to the group there. When I asked for the bills to be split in three she rolled up her eyes. This was a bad reflection on the restaurant. I was not impressed by the service and the food was mediocre at best. I will not be recommending it nor returning. And it's a shame too because when they were up in Blaine it was a wonderful place to eat. The one star goes to...