La Conner Pub & Eatery — Restaurant in La Conner

I was just eating here a few minutes ago with my family. I will not be coming again.

We came in, and were seated promptly. We looked over the menu and decided to get a basket of chicken tenders and fries as well as a Captain's Platter (which was a sampling of different seafood) along with more fries and chowder to split between myself and the two children.

The chowder came along, and was quite good.

Then, the entrees arrived. The chicken was okay, and quite crispy on the outside, but the fries (from both baskets) were crispy but bitter in the same way that frying in old oil tastes.

The seafood was mostly all right. The shrimp were actually quite juicy, and the servings of cod were quite generous. The scallops were alright.

The oysters, on the other hand were a bit of a mess. They came on the platter basically black, and I wasn't going to eat them like that. I've eaten plenty of different types of seafood before (including oysters) and had thought that this was definitely charred. I called our server (Jonathan) over. I shared my concern with him and he took them back to the kitchen to get a replacement. All he said in response before taking them was that "they're supposed to be cooked like that" which I thought nothing of, as he made no comment of how he was going to serve it otherwise.

A while later, he brings the new oysters to the table, sets them down, and walks away to another table. The oyster looked cooked, so I divided the first one up to let the children try some and to try some myself. We all finish our first bite, and then Jonathan comes over and simply says that "by the way it's undercooked". He said that because I said it looked burnt before, I wanted the undercooked one instead.

Mind you, this was after the kids and I had already eaten the food! I did NOT consent to eating undercooked food or giving it to the kids. If he had simply said the first time (or even before he walked away after putting down the replacement plate) that the food was going to be undercooked if it wasn't black, I would I have never eaten it or given it to the kids. After he told me this, I put it down and no one ate any more.

Suffice to say, that was not appropriate or safe. If you are going to serve undercooked food (that is not listed on the menu as undercooked), then you NEED to tell your customers.

I will be editing this to add if anyone becomes sick over the...

This was my first visit and likely my last. I ordered fish and chips after consulting the friendly waitress. The food came piping hot, & the portion was fair for the price. But though I was starving, I couldn’t eat much of it. I tried the coleslaw first, which was old and made from a stale package mix so had an off taste. The fries were greasy & tasted burnt. I tried one of the fish pieces, which was literally dripping with grease. The outside was crisp, but inside was a goer layer of uncooked batter. (My former pub cook friend says that taste can happen when the oil hasn’t been changed and the greasiness etc is because oil was not hot enough.) When the waitress came by again, she asked how my food was, and I told her that i really couldn’t eat it. She offered to have the manager come over for a chat, and I said “I know that you’re very busy right now and I don’t want to disturb her with a complaint when it’s like this.” (What I was thinking was that because they really were slammed, that the manager might not like being called to a table where someone was going to complain, & therefore be unsympathetic, and I would end up having wasted my time and hers and have had an unpleasant chat as well.) The waitress told me that the manager would want to hear what I had to say if I didn’t enjoy their food, and this made sense & seemed fair to me. The manager came to the table and it all went from bad enough to worse. She appeared ready to do battle from the git-go and didn’t seem the least bit sympathetic that I had not been able to eat their food. She acted like I was trying to get something for free when the still full plate was staring us both in the face. She offered to have the food remade, which I declined saying that it would not fix the basic problem. Anything I said was followed by yet another offer to remake the food. After about the 4th such offer, I felt compelled to blurt out that I knew this would be a waste of time, and please just bring my check. As she sailed away in evident triumph, she said she would cut the price in half, the best she could do. So I paid $9 for food that went back to the kitchen and left hungry, looking for the nearest burger place. I will also say that the waitresses were polite and friendly despite the heat and crush of people coming in. And they have some of the tastiest tartar...

Update (9-9-24): I'm afraid the service has gone downhill big time (depending on which waitress you get and hostess is present). As we had put our name in, the hostess called us and told us to get there ASAP because our table / everything was ready. I got there first with my daughter while my wife was dropping off our dog at her car after our walk. We waited 10-15 min for water but nothing. I told the hostess we were ready for water & to order drinks. We were sitting outside so water / drinks were a good start. My wife came and still we waited another 15min, until I got furious and went looking for our waitress. I found her and she was confused, she pointed to the hostess while she rushed, trying to get us water. Finally the hostess brought our water. And then the waitress, the orange soda for our daughter, but no beer for me. We ordered, but after about another 15 min & noticing tables that came after us had their drinks, I went to the bar to get my beer. More confusion ensued, and then the waitress said I got your beer and had a tray with our food.

*If I can give the chefs more than 5 stars I would. For 10 years we've been coming, and the food's always consistently delicious and always quickly served. Thank you chefs! This is very hard to do so know that you are greatly appreciated!

The men's bathroom smelled uriny - 0 stars

But the views & atmosphere are always awesome! 5 stars

*Please get better waitresses & hostesses and we'll gladly rate you back to 5 stars overall. Or do what some businesses do - get rid of waitresses & have people order, get a #, and come get their own food & drinks when called. Better not to have service than to have bad service. (Having grown up in the restaurant biz, I remember how difficult it was for my parents to have good and consistent employees, especially waitresses. They would get so stressed out and over worked because of incompetence and alcohol / drug abusing employees.)

Hopefully next time we come we'll be able to get one of the better waiters / waitresses or be able to just...