Rock and Rye Oyster House — Restaurant in Bellingham

A cozy restaurant with the potential to be a trendy, haute seafood destination, but it appears to be stuck between two audiences. Overall, the Rock and Rye has some decent fare, but is a tad overpriced for what they bring to the table. The dishes are good in concept, but poor in execution - ours we're over-cooked, dry, and under-seasoned. Dishes that are clearly not 100% are still sent out when they shouldn't be. We had a dozen oysters, the salmon, sturgeon, grilled cabbage, and mussels. The oysters we're ok, but we're on the large side, and only served with a single sauce option (some kind of vinaigrette) options would be nice here, and some freshly grated horse radish would have been appreciated. The sturgeon was overcooked, and dry - accompanied with under seasoned mushrooms and potatoes that I asked be substituted with veg (they refused). The sauce was thin and underwhelming. It was unfortunately a nice piece of fish that was ruined by an inexperienced cook. The salmon was off, plain and simple. It should not have been served. A shame, because the brussel sprouts and sauce it was served with were delightful. The grilled Savoy cabbage was great - caramelized, savory, with a fantastic sauce - I could have ate through three portions of this it was so good. After rejecting the salmon, we opted to replace it with mussels, which were decent - fresh and well prepared. Wait staff was good, and immediately took care of our issues - we weren't charged for the salmon, and were given a discount on the sturgeon. The ambience of the place is nice, and it has the potential to be a trendy, haute seafood destination, but quality and consistency need to be a higher priority. The smell of deep-fry immediately sets a low tone when you walk in and brings the experience down a few notches - plates heaped with battered deep fried fish and french fries seemed out of place, and off-brand for this restaurant when compared to the rest of the menu, but are likely a big earner given the location...

Was a little disappointed in my first visit but I think I'll be giving it another shot at some point. The appetizers we tried were fabulous, the Japanese street corn and the scallops were wonderful!! Really enjoyed them. The cocktails were okay, a little small for the price and underwhelming flavor wise. Try the Pulp Fiction though that was great. My biggest problems were the service and my entrée. I ordered the rib eye rare and it came medium well...and I'm being generous with calling it medium. It was incredibly tough and hard to cut. The flavor was delicious though and the chimmichurri it comes with was fabulous. But when you're having a $200 dinner it usually comes with the expectation that your steak will be cooked to your preference. So that was pretty disappointing :( I would have loved to give the kitchen a second shot at it but our server was too busy to even check in on our table for 45 minutes. We couldn't get a second drink order in, couldn't give feedback on the entrées, so in the end we hunted someone down for the check and just called it a night. Wasn't offered a dessert menu, nobody asked how our experience or our food was, I waited for our server to come around for a second round of drinks for so long it was just confusing. But the outside deck is absolutely beautiful in the evening! Loved the atmosphere. I'll update this review after giving it a...

Spent the day in the Bellingham area with family over the Easter weekend. Came in just before the end of happy hour. Service was friendly and quick. Atmosphere was open and inviting.

We decided to share an order of mussels, brussel sprouts and the pork tacos. Mussels were plump and juicy, brussel sprouts and pork belly were crispy and the pork tacos were tender and succulent.

My mom also ordered the oyster chowder, which was full of flavour and had a medley of vegetables and oysters. And while it was creamy, it wasn't heavy. I wasn't feeling very hungry, so I decided to order the fried oysters. They were nice and crispy, almost like chicken nuggets of the sea, especially with tarter sauce for dipping in the side. The bed of potatoes and corn salad and the pickled okra helped balanced the flavours of meal. My brother the ordered the black cod. It was a bit disappointing that the fish was slightly small, and was a bit over cooked. However, everything else on the dish was great. This was all rectified when the server came over with a plate of more fish. He stated that the Chef felt like the the piece my brother had received was a bit small and wanted to make it right.

All in all, we had a declious meal and a great time. Also we're glad to see a restaurant who actually cared about the customers and their meals, instead of settling...