The Kannery — Restaurant in Homer

Okay. Let's be honest. It takes a crazy person to open a restaurant. Especially in an unfamiliar market, that is seasonal/ tourist crowd, as COVID was finally winding up. Their first year was ROUGH. Staff was hard to find, and it showed in every aspect. However... if you haven't been back because your first experience was lacking, then you are SERIOUSLY missing out!

Recently, I went back - at the behest of a good friend. Previous experiences hadn't been good. However, we were hungry. It was late, and dining options are slim after 7:30pm in Homer. Rule of thumb; in Homer, if your butt isn't in a seat by 7:30 then Mickey D's is your next available option. Groaning inwardly and preparing myself, I opened the door.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

We were very pleasantly greeted by the hostess who politely explained that it would be a bit of a wait for a table. Would we mind a 15 minute wait? We ensured her that was not a concern. Grabbing a menu, we took a seat by the door to wait.

The place was thrumming! Guests, and staff, were all smiling and enjoying themselves. It was an air of happiness that I haven't seen in a restaurant for a very long time... and this was on a Tuesday!

Our server, James, was friendly without being gregarious. He was super helpful with our questions, and even though he was serving many tables at the same time, it never felt rushed when he was at ours. There was a team of people who helped support James. They were incredible also! We didn't have dirty dishes stacked up on our table, never had to ask for our water to be refilled, and every time they approached our table, they were smiling and gracious.

Impressed by the service, I really wasn't expecting much for the meal. In truth, I didn't know what to expect. All I can say is what many gastronomic purists would consider to be rude; "YUMM!"

We had the shrimp dumplings to start. Thinking that we didn't want too much food, we very mistakenly ordered the small portion of six pieces. They were so delicious that I'm sure we devoured them in less time than it took to walk them from the kitchen to our table.

Next up, the entrees. We made sure to order two different meals so that we could share and experience more of the menu. Everybody does that, right? I had the shrimp and grits. My friend wasn't feeling as adventurous as I, and chose the fish and chips.

Dinner arrived, and one of the owners brought it to our table. Before setting our plates down, he began apologizing. Apparently, the chef had noticed that the fish and chips wasn't the five ounce portion that they normally served, it was smaller. He explained that another piece was being cooked and would be brought to us shortly. Then he sets our plates down, and I was stunned by the beautiful dish in front of me. I was so enthralled that I forgot to take pictures!

My shrimp was done perfectly! The grits were cooked with a gouda and so incredibly tender! My friend's fish was beautifully done and not overcooked in the slightest bit. It was served with actual chips, not fries, and the chips were homemade. The kitchen team's attention to detail shone through in the delectable meal that we savored with every bite. My friend's comment, "This is the best meal I've ever had!"

Oh, yeah... as for that additional piece of fish... when it arrived, it did so with gracious apologies for the inconvenience...and it was the size of a small whale! We split that piece. Kind of. My friend did get two small bites of MY shrimp and grits. Next time, however, I am NOT sharing.

In overview; I left smacking myself for not having come back sooner. Stupid human.

Go. You...

We tried to get in somewhere else at 4:50 PM and they wouldn't seat us without a reservation, suggested we go to the Kannery. My quick thoughts. Atmosphere: It's a nice sized place, lots of room, clean, good view, excellent place to sit and enjoy. Staff: Very friendly, eager to please and fast. We were impressed by everyone we dealt with. Food: We ordered and shared between 3 of us. King Salmon on plank, Market price was $50. Piece of fish was not impressive. Baked brie was tasty, roasted peppers were good, needed more/better salmon Fish and chips - fried halibut with homemade chips. My son devoured this, we got a few tastes. Fish was good, chips were better (possibly best part of whole meal). Bao's - pork belly with side of potato salad. The potato salad was ok. The dish did not make sense to me or my wife. It needed smaller pieces of pork with some herbs or something acidic, anything. It was just squishy rolls with browned (big) cubes of pork belly. Would not order it again. Kids burger - we ended up taking it home and tried eating it later. Those meals plus 4 beers cost us $200 with tip. Staff was great, cool place to sit, I expect much better food for...

I don’t normally leave reviews, but this was one of the most disappointing restaurant experiences I’ve had in a long time. My husband and I were visiting Homer and excited to try this place after looking at their menu online. My cocktail tasted like Coca Cola and had a completely different herb on top than what was advertised. The local salad had very little dressing and was missing half the toppings listed on the menu but the server didn’t say anything about that when we ordered. We ordered a few smaller things and planned to get one of the bigger plates but were so disappointed with how bland everything was that we opted not to. I thought the dessert would be an easy way to fill up but the sesame brownie was frankly gross. On top of that, the server barely interacted with us. It felt impersonal. Interesting menu and I love all the efforts to include local ingredients, but very poor execution. I have no problem spending good money on a good meal, but we spent a hundred bucks for something that didn’t taste good and left me feeling hungry at the end. I will say, the dumplings were tasty but nothing special. Wish I had better stuff to say...