The Portside Pub & Grill — Restaurant in Ketchikan

Oh, boy. Let’s start with the one positive. Our server, Kristi, she was the ONLY saving grace. She is very kind, and was extremely apologetic for our experience. She deserves a better place to work.

First, we came here because the honey mustard chicken sandwich came HIGHLY recommended. Unfortunately, it was not the honey mustard that the recommender grew up loving. It was basically yellow mustard with a dash of honey. Luckily we learned this from our friends sitting next to us, and were able to order other items.

Or maybe unlucky.

We ordered calamari to start - it was basically all batter that was bland at best. A lot of the pieces didn’t seem to have any meat. That took about 35 minutes to come out.

One person from our little group ordered sliders - they actually hit the table before the appetizer, because they came from downstairs? They were absolutely flavorless. The only thing you could taste was the bread. So bad that my 3 year old took one bite and spit it out.

I ordered the Monte Cristo with a cup of salmon chowder- the chowder came first, before the calamari, and it was decent. That would probably be the only thing I would be order, but I do not plan on returning. The sandwich was awful. I couldn’t even eat it. The bread was soggy because they didn’t cook the egg all the way through. And why are you using that nasty plastic American cheese? I had one bite and lost my appetite.

The third person from our party ordered grilled cheese with tomato bisque - I do not understand how they messed up a grilled cheese. But they did. It didn’t look like there was any cheese so he pulled it apart, and the white substance that was on the sandwich was clumpy and not melted. He also said he was pretty sure the “tomato bisque” tasted like cheap canned spaghetti sauce. He had a few bites of the soup, and none of the sandwich.

Our fourth and final person ordered a burger - he was hungry, so ate it, but said it was mediocre at best. But, the best part was this: about half way through the burger, we pulled something from it. It was the WAX PAPER SQAURE MENT TO KEEP RAW PATTIES SEPARATED. In ALL of my years working and managing restaurants, I have NEVER seen this happen.

Also, the 3 sandwiches outside the sliders took ONE AND A HALF HOURS TO GET TO OUR TABLE!! In hindsight, we should have had Kristi cancel our order and go somewhere else. The boys ended up stopping at Godfathers because they were still hungry after not being able to consume the inedible food.

If I could give zero stars, I absolutely would. I will never return.

Again, Kristi was INCREDIBLE!...

The revision of Jeremiah's was a pleasant surprise! We frequent this restaurant, now named "The Portside", many times a year. The appearance is an obvious upgrade! Lots of new faces with the staff, but they all seem very friendly and eager to make the experience a great one. One complaint....the music selection is atrocious! Here we are in Southeast Alaska, listening to some French music channel. Silence would be much better! Totally killed the mood for enjoying a nice lunch. We aren't in a French canal, sitting in a little boat in a romantic setting. Jimmy Buffet, Beach Boys, classic American beach music...anything!

EDITED. That review was relevant to our lunch. This review represents our dinner experience. Allow me to amend the stars to a much lower level. Music selection was the same unintelligible French music playing. It is horrible, and the patrons around us agreed wholeheartedly. In fact, even the servers commented that there were so many complaints in the same regard. I ordered the ribeye, medium rare. My husband ordered the t-bone medium rare. The ribeye was served mostly cold and raw, while the t-bone was well done and had an incredibly overwhelming smoke smell, and an unbearably strong smoke flavor. That was not on the menu at all! There was also a menu option that said "add crab leg", and my husband opted to add one to his meal. What arrived was an entire half crab, served as its own entre. Side veggies and the whole bit. You might think that is a pretty good first world problem, but the crab was leathery, (yes I tried it) old, and likely freezer burnt. My ribeye was replaced with a steak that was a closer representation of medium rare, and it was decent. Nothing extraordinary about it though, especially for the cost. The serving staff was great. Very attentive once again, as we had experienced during our earlier lunch. I notice how my comments on the negative changes were completely disregarded. I guess I am not shocked. This new ownership took away Jeremiah's, changed the entire atmosphere to something that is completely foreign to Alaska, and downgraded the menu items. Tourists might pay the bills in the summer, but your Alaskan client base are going to leave the Landing Hotel in search of a better experience. You will have an empty restaurant...

EDIT: I was convinced to give this restaurant another chance and I'm glad I did (thank you Mason). This experience was exactly what I hoped for. The service was great. Appetizers came out quickly. Main course was perfect. Great dessert. Honestly no cons during this dining experience.

Caprese salad is very well done. The balsamic was very tasty. The boubon glazed short ribs were so flavorful. And the chocolate torte was a great way to end the meal. Everything was really well executed tonight. Thank you for a wonderful dinner.

I really hope management reviews these because there is 5 star restaurant potential.

Pros: BURGERS: Everyone in my party that got burgers loved them. They were juicy and seasoned well. FRIES were also heavily complemented. DESSERTS were delicious. ATMOSPHERE is great. The new design and decorations are beautiful and very inviting.

Cons: SERVICE. While servers were very pleasant, we were the only people in the restaurant and had to ask for sauce 4 different times. Also (not sure if this is server error or policy that should be changed) we ordered appetizers and watched them sit for 20 minutes while the rest of the food was made, and then they were brought out with the entrees. Appetizers are generally ordered and expected before the entrees come out.

STEAK: We were not asked how we wanted our steak cooked, which is ok. Normally I'm a medium rare person, but I will eat anything rare to medium well. I've been to places that did not ask but the house standard cook is almost always somewhere between medium rare and medium well. Our steak was well done. Grey, dry well done. It's one thing to not be asked about cook temp preference, but the standard cook should never be well done. It was seasoned well but hard to eat.

SALAD: The salad seemed like it was washed but not drained so the salad dressing was watered down and didn't stick to the ingredients, leading to a salad that tasted like water.

Like I said, there is so much potential and I truly believe a great restaurant is there. But this particular experience was not...