Downriggers - Friday Harbor — Restaurant in Friday Harbor

I have eaten at Downriggers several times over the years as I used to work for a local health organization and went at least once a week to work at the hospital on Friday Harbor. The service has never been great in my experience. Staff always seem annoyed, pretentious, and bothered by paying customers. Which is odd, since Friday Harbor makes a lot of money off tourism and mainland workers. In the past, the food was always just mediocre, but the view and ambience is pretty nice.

The day after Thanksgiving (11/29/24), my husband and I wanted to take my brother (visiting from Oregon) for a day trip to Friday Harbor. Since Downriggers is a great location with a wonderful view, we thought we would try that for lunch, while I knew it would just be “ok”; but we wanted it to be a great experience for my brother. So it’s me, my husband, our toddler and my brother. We were immediately met with a hostess who was visibly stressed and annoyed telling us they “just got a rush” so it would be a “minute to organize things”. Which was fine, we didn’t mind waiting. When looking down the hallway from the hostess stand, however, there were all empty tables. Ok fine, maybe they don’t have a lot of staff on yet. No big deal. Another family of 3 were there before us and they seemed a tad rude and demanding; in fact the woman kept interrupting our interaction with the hostess to ensure her demands were met.

Anyway, it was hard to understand what the staff wanted from us; first the hostess said to follow her to our table and then we were stopped in front of the dining area and stood there while they cleared one table off, amongst at least 8 clear, empty tables. The hostess then brought back a high chair, then said to me “I don’t know why I brought this I guess you need it”, rolled her eyes and walked away. Another older women was helping clear the table and constantly glared us. I finally told the hostess “sorry I thought you were ready for us, we can wait”. She said “no sit here” and sat us on one of the tables that was empty and clean to begin with. We were given two menus, no high chair and completely ignored for 10 minutes. I have never felt so unwelcome in my life. The whole experience was really uncomfortable and embarrassing. It felt absolutely like prejudice to me but I cannot understand why…

I cannot understand or figure out why we were treated this way. We are just normal people, dressed normally looking for a place to eat. If bringing in my toddler was an issue, that could have been expressed. He was surprisingly well mannered through the whole ordeal, thankfully. Plus, I checked online the day before the trip to ensure Downriggers was family friendly and it claims to be.

In the end, we left soon after the older, angry woman begrudgingly gave us water. I didn’t say anything to staff, we just stood up and quietly walked out. I mean, what is there to stay? We walked across the street to Blue Water. We were treated like humans there and had a nice lunch. We even gave the waitress a $30 tip because she was kind to us.

Downriggers, you all are lucky you are in a small town on an essentially secluded island. Your poor service and lack of quality food would not work on the mainland where there is actual competition. I have had nothing but disappointing experiences at your establishment, and after the way you all treated my family yesterday, I am going to make absolutely sure I tell everyone I meet what you are all about.

Good luck Downriggers. You are...

Hmm where do I start. From beginning to end the service was absolutely terrible, food was not great & soooo over priced and it took 30 minutes from when she dropped off the bill to come and pick it up…We sat outside since it was nice out, off the bat we noticed there were like two people working the patio which was huge and had lots of tables. Typically when places are understaffed the staff is still kind but maybe more rushed, but our waitress was super rude. I started by asking if they had amaretto for an amaretto sour and she’s like “probably? Why wouldn’t we” how would I know? Then I said “do you have disorono?” In which she responds “that’s the norm isn’t it? So probably yea why wouldn’t we?” Again, idk what you have?! Then she brings out the worst amaretto sour I’ve ever had in my life, it was so sour I could barely drink it and it is literally the easiest drink to make. Then my boyfriend, who btw we’re here for his birthday, is served the wrong burger but it already took 1+ hour to get our food so we didn’t even notice and he began eating. Then someone comes and picks it up mid bite and says “ugh you’ve already started eating it huh? We’ll we we brought you the wrong one.” They were 100% gonna serve it back to the original customer who did order it. Mind you we JUST recovered from Covid you can’t just grab food youve already served and serve it to someone else!? In a pandemic for crying out loud. She then proceeds to place the correct burger in front of him. Then our waitress comes back and I let her know kindly they brought the wrong one but no worries and she goes “well it’s not my fault I know I wrote the right burger when I took your order” …. Ok? No one was upset with you. Lastly I said, “it’s his birthday do you guys do anything Most restaurants in this price range COMP a dessert and she’s like “yeah if you order a dessert” ???? I ordered two, we paid for both and she came so close to him when bringing it to our table she nearly lit him on fire. Dropped off our check when she brought the dessert and returned THIRTY minutes later to pick it up. I was literally walking to the front door to ask someone to charge my card so we could finally leave. Overall I would not come back nor would I recommend anyone to. Food is so over priced and wasn’t that good. $140 wasted on his birthday dinner. It sucked. The view was...

If I could 0 stars for service I would. The food is good, beautiful location. Service HORRIBLE! My friend came in from Nebraska to see Washington for the first time. I was excited to show her one of my favorite towns Friday Harbor. Before going whale watching we went to Downriggers for some lunch. We were seated given water and told the waitress would be with us. 15 minutes later watching her wait on everyone around us that were seated after us. Finally, we flagged down one of the 3 employees circling the dining room like vultures. She said she’d look into it. Finally, the waitress came over. She said she was not our waitress, although she had ALL the tables around us, but she would take our order. She kept her back to my friend, who is black, only when I redirected her did she acknowledge her. When she walked away, I suggested we leave, my friend did not want to make a scene, so we stayed. After about another 5 minutes another waitress came up again only speaking to me she said she did not realize we were her table, again she had one table in another person’s section. Strangely, we never saw that waitress again. To say I am disappointed does not cover it. I proceeded to tell every person I spoke to about my experience. We went to other restaurants while we were there and did not have this problem. EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED! I will never go back to Downriggers.

Another caution for those with food allergies. Both my friend and I have celiac. The menu had GF marked on several items. With no further note, we assumed that meant that item was completely gluten free. I ordered the portabella burger and noticed gluten free bun, so was able to make that adjustment. My friend ordered the crab dip, again clearly marked GF. When we finished eating the waitress offered us a free dessert for the “confusion,” I said I doubt there is nothing gluten free, the waitress replied no, then paused and asked if we were both gluten free, which we confirmed. The waitress replied the chips on the dip were not gluten free. My friend was extremely ill for the rest of...