Coho Restaurant — Restaurant in Friday Harbor

Honestly we wanted so much from this meal. My partner ordered the four course prix fixe, I ordered the lamb gnocchi. It was a special birthday treat that just didn’t live up to the promised experience.

First, I would like to say that the staff were very kind when I asked if a candle would be possible for my partners dessert. They not only agreed but also gave us some sparkling wine; this was a nice touch.

What wasn’t as nice was the bug in my partners starter salad. Our server was very apologetic and offered us some of the bread to try and make it up.

My partner enjoyed the chickpea fritter and her cauliflower steak alright, wasn’t something spectacular but it was somewhat enjoyable.

My own gnocchi was flavorless and soaked in oil, perhaps the least seasoned sausage that I have ever experienced. I didn’t feel it was worth finishing.

Then we come to the dessert. The primary reason my partner chose to dine at Coho was for the chocolate torte. Unfortunately after the meal was taken away we were told that they were in fact out.

A disappointment to be sure but it is something that sometimes happens in every industry. It was the only item she was interested in so we elected to have no dessert.

We were a little shocked to see that we were charged full price for the four course prix fixe despite the first course having a bug in it and the last course not being served.

If we had ordered ala carte and not gotten the two parts of the fixe that weren’t eaten it would have been cheaper. If you count in the bread that was given as apology it would still have been cheaper.

I don’t fault the waitstaff, who were for the most part kind and considerate, but I wouldn’t trust this kitchen again and I certainly wouldn't be willing to pay 120 dollars for the experience again.

Edit: According to the bill we were charged for the prix fixe, otherwise the fritters and the cauliflower wouldn’t add up to $70, it would add up to $50.

Also, it was a bug. It is really disingenuous to pretend that your chef has magic eyes that see past what me, my partner, and your own waitstaff knew to be a bug. I have had za’atar plenty of times and never did it have legs and wings.

Furthermore, za’atar is not present in the salad according to your menu. So either you are claiming it is a spice that isn’t supposed to be in the dish, which is cross contamination, or you are trying to present my review as false.

I do have to wonder why the staff wouldn’t have said that it wasn’t an insect while we were present. Looking down your negative reviews it seems that you always insist that dissatisfied customers are responsible for saying so at the table. If this is the case then I feel most would agree that the ball was dropped either way.

To finish, I did not say you didn’t have other desserts, I merely said it was a disappointment that the one we came for wasn’t there. In the future I would certainly recommend that missing items are listed before someone orders a four course meal. Knowing what options are available would surely effect someone’s choice of...

This review expresses our experience on October 1, 2021.

We decided to celebrate our anniversary with a trip to San Juan Island and had booked a table @ Coho in Friday Harbor. After a long drive and ferry delays, we were exhausted. I called Coho and asked if we could order our dinner to go instead. Initially I was told no, but then the fellow who answered the phone said he would check with the chef. He returned to the line and stated that since we had made a reservation, they would be willing to do this for us. How nice! Or so we thought…

I placed our order: a salad ($13), an appetizer (a corn cake with rabbit for $18), a pasta dish (pappardelle w/lamb Bolognese, $32) and rabbit with white beans and chard ($36). We also wanted to order a bottle of wine, but the man who was taking the order suggested that we look at the wine list when we arrived to pick up the food. We made sure to arrive a few minutes before the scheduled pick-up time, and I walked in to find our food had already been boxed up and bagged. I looked at the wine list and settled on a bottle. The man then disappeared for at least 10 minutes before reappearing carrying a different bottle than I had selected – apparently the restaurant had sold the last bottle. Disappointing, but it does happen.

As I waited for everything to transpire, I was able to see some of the menu items being delivered to the tables from the kitchen ~ including the rabbit dish. It looked very nice, so I was hopeful that we were going enjoy our dinner.

By the time I walked out of the restaurant the food had been sitting in that bag for at least 15 minutes. By the time we arrived at our rental cottage 15 minutes later, the entrées were stone cold. Even worse was the fact that 2 of the 4 items that we ordered were incomplete. The salad was missing ½ of the ingredients and the box containing the $36 rabbit dish contained a leg/thigh and a scattering of beans. (see photo)

We called the restaurant and described what we had been given. The same man who I had interacted with before apologized and said that the “order would be remade” and that “he would take care of the bill”. Ok, fine. We drove back into town and this time my husband went into the restaurant. However, it turned out someone (Was it the chef? Was it the man on the phone?) had decided that they only needed to remake the salad and the rabbit dish – not the rest of the stone-cold items.

In the end, our anniversary dinner was a mediocre mess of reheated (and stuck together) pasta, a very dry rabbit leg (the beans were decent) and a 3” corn cake with a sprinkling of shredded dry rabbit. Oh yes, and a small salad. The wine was ok.

By the way, we were charged $195 (including tip) for this "delightful" experience. Additionally, the restaurant never did credit our card as we assured...

We had an okay experience here. We were celebrating our anniversary and wanted to treat ourselves to a nice restaurant. We were seated outside on the porch which was lovely as inside felt very warm to me however we were in front of the hotel's entrance and we felt a little awkward when the hotel guests came back and remarked loudly, "We can't can't that way because people are blocking the door." I will also say it is a pricey restaurant with very small portions; so be ready for that.

We had the 4 course experience that includes a starter, small plate, large plate and a dessert. The waitress kindly offered to make me a strawberry basil shrub which was absolutely delicious but then informed is she could only make one for the evening which was disappointing and I'm still not sure of why. The carrot soup was absolutely delicious! And my husband loved the asparagus. We both enjoyed the bread with a yummy butter spread, but felt it was weird to charge extra for this.

I had the rabbit tortellini which was was although quite gamey. But very tender and filled with flavor. My husband had the charcuterie platter; the bruschetta was overly done to where it almost looked burned. He didn't care for much of the items on the board but did like the rhubarb chutney.

For our large plate we both had the beef duo which was our favorite part of the meal. The short rib fell off the bone beautifully and the tenderloin was superbly seasoned and so tender.

For dessert I had the Mexican orange beignets with sipping chocolate and my husband had the orange cake. We both didn't like the ricotta topping on the cake but overall it was delicious and deeply orange. The beignets were very good but the sipping chocolate with the orange beignets didn't pair well in my own opinion.

Our biggest complaint was it took 2 hours from the time we sat down the end of dinner. Large gaps between courses which felt odd and too long, I've never had a meal that has taken so long. And being pregnant it was slightly uncomfortable to sit so long.

But that being said the waitress was absolutely lovely and so helpful. She made the whole evening brighter and she was new on top of it all! And it was still a nice experience to sit down to a well-thought out dinner that was plated just...