San Juan Island Brewing Co. — Restaurant in Friday Harbor

Lovely atmosphere, location, and delicious local beer. Service was fine. Working in the food industry myself, I've noticed since moving to Washington State, the service at a lot of locations I've been to can be pretty basic. I'm going to guess because everyone in Washington State gets a guaranteed minimum wage ($15.74 hr) including food servers. The chicken finger basket we ordered was $15.95 for a handful of FF and 4 small strips of chicken. When it came to the table my sauces were served in plastic ramekins. At the price this restaurant charges, you might want to elevate the food experience to what the meal prices are. Sorry, but having to pull open a top tab of pre-made BBQ sauce is a deal breaker for me. It's messy and it forces your guests to possibly have a clothing stain accident if they open the container wrong. If you are charging an entree price for a basic appetizer, you should be providing your guests with different homemade dipping sauce options. You don't even provide honey mustard as an option which is one of the most popular sauces for chicken tenders. While you're at it, perhaps provide a good quality ketchup instead of a generic watered down cheap brand. I could come back for the great local beer options, but I'd spend my hard earned money somewhere else for food. At the prices they charge, I should be getting it served on dinnerware with ceramic ramekins at the bare minimum. Elevated food prices should reflect an elevated food experience. I should expect this though since Friday Harbor is an overpriced tourist destination. Perhaps traveling further into the island next time will open up some lovely new dining experiences where the visual presentation of the restaurant will also reflect in the quality and presentation...

Came in for lunch fresh off the ferry. Being the cliche PNWsterners that we are, it seemed only natural to head straight for the local brewery. Very cool building, great quintissential NW brewery feel inside with natural wood, bare concrete, and metal. The staff was friendly and attentive, and despite the number of people the din was more than tolerable. I ordered a sampler of five beers. I love my dark, full-bodied beers so I ordered both their porter and their stout. I also ordered their IPA, a lager, and a golden ale. The porter was good but not quite as expansive as I like. The IPA, which is not high on my list of favorite beer breeds, was actually delicious and very refreshing. The lager and golden were both good enough to make it to a pint order had we stayed longer. I had high hopes for the stout as they are usually my standard, but this one really didn't do it for me. It was kick-to-the-face bitter, and I really couldn't taste much else despite my best efforts. The food overall was good, but nothing to write home about. Between the two of us we ordered a Greek salad, which had a satisfying ratio of toppings to greens with lots of flavor and freshness, and would be recommended for a lunch order; Tuscan chicken soup (soup of the day), which was good, but lacked any special anything; a side ceasar, which was more than generous in regard to portion size if not a bit overdressed; and the stone oven focaccia, which, topped with mozzarella and served with tapenade, was just as delicious as any other bread topped with melted cheese and salty goodness. Overall, we will likely return and I'm sure this place will only get better with time and experience. Would definitely recommend this for a lunch stop for...

What a weird experience. Great pizza and beer, and I loved the atmosphere for the most part. The 90s playlist they had going rocked. However, this has to be the worst service I’ve had in a long time.

The young hostess was a great start, super friendly and quick, asking us if the table worked for us. She was great. Then our server (45-50ish year old guy with white beard) came up and was so aloof I was taken aback. No welcome, no introduction, just “You guys know what you want to drink?” Which is fine, but after ordering a beer and then saying I would be sharing a pizza with my 9 year old son, he almost seemed upset like I didn’t order enough.

The pizza is a perfect size for two people by the way, especially if you’re sharing with a child. Anyhow, he came back with the pizza and upon thanking him, and he whispered a “no problem” under his breath. The only other time I saw him was 15 minutes later when he came by and asked if we were ready for the check.

It was just a weird off putting almost hostile attitude I haven’t experienced from a server before. Maybe I just caught him on a bad day, I don’t know.

Upon walking out, a different person was at the hostess stand, looked up and saw us leaving, then just looked back down without saying a word.

Restaurants are in the service industry and the majority of the employees I interacted with here seemed to have forgotten that.

A recommendation, turn the TVs on. There were two TVs across the room which were playing sports. I couldn’t see them from where we were sitting though. The one huge TV on our side was turned off.

You might have a better experience than I did, but I definitely won’t be back and wouldn’t...