Anthony’s Restaurant – Boise — Restaurant in Idaho

Anthony’s ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

On 7/26/21, I and a couple of friends visited Anthony’s in downtown Boise for the first time. Prior to this I had visited the Anthony’s in Gig Harbor, Washington three or four times over the years.

We started off with freshly baked sourdough bread from Zeppole’s, served with a pad of butter decorated with a fresh sprig of thyme.

Anthony’s is known for their crab cakes. You can order one as an appetizer ($19) or order them as a entree ($42) that includes two crab cakes, rice pilaf and seasonal vegetables. We ordered one to share. It was perfectly cooked and delicious! Anthony’s crab cake appetizer is Oregon Coast Dungeness Crab with no filler, served on top of beurre blanc with a garnish of fresh ginger.

Some reviewer’s have complained about Anthony’s crabcakes being too expensive. What they don’t seem to realize is the less expensive crab cakes they are accustomed to are made with fillers. To compare, Tom Douglas’s restaurant Etta’s in Seattle is famous for it’s crab cakes. They are priced comparably to Anthony’s. Tom Douglas also uses Dungeness crab, but he uses plenty of filler; 4 cups of breadcrumbs to 1 pound of Dungeness crab.

For starters, I ordered a cup of Anthony’s award-winning Clam Chowder ($7). Chock-full of clams, potatoes and bacon, it had good flavor. It wasn’t as outstanding as the bowl of clam chowder I had at the Anthony’s in Gig Harbor a few of years ago, but that was before they started making it available at some of the Costco’s in Washington. It’s possible that prior to doing so, they tweaked the recipe. Even so, Anthony’s calm charter is still very good and better than most clam chowders served in other restaurants.

For my entree, I ordered Tempura Alaska Lingcod & Chips ($24) - Three pieces of Alaska lingcod dipped in our award-winning light tempura. Served with Simplot sea salt french fries and ginger slaw. I have never had lingcod before and was eager to try it. My entrée came with a complementary onion ring on top of my fish. It was excellent! My go -to for fish and chips i# halibut, not cod. The best way I can describe lingcod is that it seems to be in between cod and halibut. I liked that the tempura was very light. It was a nice portion of fish that was perfectly cooked. I liked the tartar sauce. The french fries were excellent. I didn’t care for the ginger slaw, which had a bit too much fresh ginger for my taste.

MU ordered Fresh Pacific Yellowfin Ahi ($39) - Sashimi grade ahi marinated in ginger tamari sauce, charbroiled with wasabi-ginger butter. Finished with fresh ginger sauce, homemade pineapple chutney and craisin pistachio rice pilaf. She said it was very good.

CF ordered Wild Black Alaska Cod ($27) - Longline-caught wild black cod, ginger miso glazed and cashew crusted over crispy slaw. Served with crazy and pistachio rice pilaf and seasonal vegetables (green beans). Based on the way this dish was described, CF was expecting a firmer fish, similar to Walleye. Even so, she enjoyed her meal.

We ordered two dessert to share: Fresh Berry Creme Brulé Cheesecake ($10) - Our creamy homemade cheesecake with a Chris, caramelized sugar crust topped with fresh, sweet local berries. It was about as perfect a slice of cheesecake as I’ve ever had. Outstanding!

Baileys Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse ($8) - Made with Fran’s chocolate, this is a signature dish. It was excellent!

If I was rating based solely on the service, I would give Anthony’s 5 stars. Our server, Sherry was outstanding. It was a busy night and I know she had lots of other customers to tend to, but she vas very attentive and helpful. She came back to check on us regularly, asking if we had everything we needed and if there was anything else she could bring us. The manager also came to check on us, which was much appreciated. I had interactions with a couple of other staff, which who were also very pleasant and helpful. I appreciate that if you park in the garage located on the property, Anthony’s validates your parking.

We had a wonderful evening and look forward...

My husband, our two kids, and I dined at Anthony's restaurant last Sunday night. Unfortunately, our experience was so poor that we won't be returning. I had pre-booked a reservation for their all-you-can-eat Dungeness crab legs, and was looking forward to it. I ordered a salad and the crab special, while my husband opted for a filet and oysters. Our kids had the buttered pasta. They promptly brought out my salad, but the wait between the salad/bread and the main course was over an hour. We had a reservation for 5:00 p.m., so by the time we were seated, the restaurant was filling up. I observed that a party of five that sat behind us and two tables of two sitting to our right all received their entrees before us, despite being seated after us. I asked the waitress about the delay, and she said she would check. They brought out our kids' pasta plates and informed us that our entrees were on the way, but we continued to wait. Finally, our food arrived. My husband was disappointed with the temp of his steak, and his oysters were soggy. However, he didn't want to wait any longer for them to prepare a new entree, given the extended wait. Our waitress did check in and said, "I'm glad to see your entrees came in. I'll put in another order for crabs for you so you don't have to wait." By this time, my kids had finished their meals long ago. As any parent of young kids knows, I had brought coloring items and allowed my daughter to play games on my phone, but she's only four. It was a long wait, and she was getting restless. I initially thought the crab legs were served chilled because the ones with my entree were ice-cold. However, when the second plate came out, they were hot, so I'm still not entirely sure. The waitress came back and asked, "Do you want another plate?" I replied, "Yes, please." I suggested to my husband that he try the cheesecake while I finish quickly, and we can then ask for the check. After waiting another twenty minutes, she came over and asked, "Do you want anything boxed up or dessert?" My husband mentioned, "She never received her crabs," and I added, "Please cancel it. My kids are getting antsy, and I don't want to inconvenience other diners." I asked my husband, "Do you still want cheesecake?" He replied, "No, I don't want to wait." I told him to go ahead and take the kids to the car, and I'll wait for the check. The waitress must have informed the manager that we were dissatisfied because she returned and said, "I comped your crab meal. Sorry you were unhappy, but as you can see, we are very busy." She motioned for me to look around the dining room, essentially chastising me. I worked in the restaurant business for over seven years, so I never complain. I understand it's a tough job, but her "customer service" as a manager was completely unacceptable. I explained to her that several other tables received their food before us, even though they were seated after us. She claimed it was because they all ordered the crab special. I informed her that this wasn't true because the gentleman next to us ordered a steak entree. I refrained from mentioning that they had all received multiple rounds of crab legs before I got my first serving, and if the crabs were prepared so quickly, why didn't they bring mine out sooner, as they take longer to eat? I emphasized to her that I hadn't complained to the waitress, been rude, or shown any disrespect. My husband simply didn't want to wait any longer, and he relayed this to the waitress. I also pointed out that our table had never been cleared, and from my experience waiting tables, no one likes to sit in front of dirty plates for an extended period after finishing their meal. I told her I didn't understand her attitude, as I hadn't asked for anything to be comped. She did apologize, and that the restaurant was just very busy. I should note that I saw bussers readily available, and there were still empty tables when I left. The entire experience left me extremely disappointed in both the...

New Visit 2/23

So it been a second since we visited Anthony’s Boise…..well the lost another star in my book. We stopped in for an early lunch….the restaurant is still very nice…but that is when things started to go down hill. We ordered a Manila clam app…which was very good, portion size was great….then ordered our mains my daughters ordered a cioppino+caesar and a salmon bowl…respectively….my wife ordered the trout and I had the chop chop salad…low and behold we find out a few minutes later no trout….mind you we are there an hour after they opened….but no big deal ….wife gets salmon instead, the food arrives and the cioppino is missing the Dungeness crab, which my daughter was looking to….then we hear a server tell another table….they are out of crab….WTH? Why were we not given the heads up? Life moves on….my second daughter is eating with a sad look on her face….her salmon bowl with a tiny piece of salmon includes a slaw….the slaw is placed next to the rice and the dressing has flooded the rice….again not thrilled but life moves on……wife’s salmon is also tiny, but it is what it is…my salad has a good portion of bay shrimp….a tiny sprinkle of crab meat, grape tomatoes, cubed avocado and a flooding of chopped egg…..I honestly felt I had an egg salad….and finally while eating the little crab on the salad, I was lucky enough to hit shell …wasn’t at all pleasant…..

Finally as we were settling the check…..we now now hear specials being offered to the table next to us….we were not given the options of any specials…what gives?

So sadly ….food …sub par…..service …needs work. Anthony’s you really need to step it up, absolutely not worth the price…we are so so disappointed.

This will be our last visit here!

Original visit 4/22 We were here to celebrate my daughters 18th birthday…(lol she could pass as 12 tho) ….but here…we…go….Ok….I’m kind of torn on this one…I really want to love Anthony’s…and for many reasons I do …the decor is comfortable..yet elegant.. the food was yummy …(unfortunately this is not affordable dining) the food was appealing to the eye as well as the tummy….plates were not dropped on the table nor did I hear the clanking of glass or silverware (very important to me btw) but here lies my issue… when you order an almost $60 appetizer, and the first item listed (it was lobster fyi) doesn’t make an appearance on the plate ….to be honest we were enjoying ourselves so much …stuffing our faces with the yummy food that we didn’t notice until we talked about it later that night. I could be wrong….maybe a substitution was made on the plate, but we were never told…Anthony’s …you can do better…I don’t know if I’ll be willing to try again….but I wish the best to those of you that do….because there is much to love there.

Update...

Anthony's reached out to us after I left this review...it was nice to feel like they cared...but promises were made to have someone contact us and nothing happended.. guess they would like to appear that they care but apparently they really DON'T!...please dine somewhere that actually appreciates...