Nell Thorn — Restaurant in La Conner

Last night my Brother had made reservations at Nell Thorn a Waterfront Bistro & Bar in La Conner WA. The reason for the reservations was for his Wife Lynn's 39th Birthday. So myself, Dad, Brother Angus and Lynn all went out for what was to become a Legendary Birthday Dinner that I will never forget. We started with some specialty cocktails that are created by Nell Thorne's Incredible Mixmaster. I chose the Suncatcher, a chai infused four roses bourbon, Montenegro, pineapple, lemon, it was absolutely delicious! I've included quite a few pictures with my review of the food and drinks ordered by everyone else. I will post full descriptions on each picture that I post . My only recommendation is that if you choose to view the pictures and descriptions un-supervised, I'm not responsible for what happens next. I promise you there is not a single offering from Nell Thorne's menu that would fail to satisfy whatever specific diet you choose. For our hors d'oeuvres, we opted for fresh Penn Cove Mussels & Clams, white wine, parsley, pastis, applewood bacon and a touch of cream. When ordering fresh clams & mussels, it's also recommended to order their homemade sourdough bread that's made from locally sourced grains, hearth baked and served with the most amazing smoked paprika, gorgonzola, and rosemary butter. You may raise an eyebrow when first contemplating the blend, but rest assured the compound butter was a perfect blend of subtle yet very distinct flavors. We also ordered the Calamari Marseilles. The calamari was dredged in chickpea flour, fried, parsley, and lemon aioli. This calamari appetizer was magical. The calamari itself was delicate and very flavorful. It almost felt fragile. The calamari also came with a couple of thinly sliced butter fried lemons. That was amazing by themselves. Once I'm back home in Upstate NY I most definitely will be making those butter fried lemons for myself. Before our main course arrived I switched to a local brewery's Porter-Stemma 'Pluit Porter' (5.5%) and a damned good beer I might add. For my dinner I chose the 12 oz Ribeye, the Signature Double R Ranch, whipped potatoes, chef's veg, bordelaise sauce. I also chose the fresh Dungeness Crab Mac & Cheese With Fresh Dungeness Crab, fontina, parmesan, white cheddar, bechamel, chive, dill, garlic bread crumbs. For my dessert I selected the Chocolate Mousse, valrhona chocolate, whipped cream, ginger citrus chocolate bark, candied hazelnuts. Everything I ordered was phenomenal! And our dining experience greatly enhanced by Sam, our server. She was very friendly, very knowledgeable about each menu item. We all thank you very much for your excellent service Sam! So all of us were treated to a meal that was made directly from the heart. Each and every ingredient is locally sourced whenever possible. Enjoy your meal when you visit them yourself, and tell em...

My husband and I are locals and we invited friends out for dinner last night. I have never been so embarrassed in my life. What happened to this place? You do realize you # 1 job is to provide great customer service and make sure your guests enjoy their experience, right? We had 5:15 reservations so we happened to all arrive separately. None of us had a great experience with the hostesses. That is your first impression. The red hair girl wearing a crop top after walking up while I was standing there never acknowledging me for over 5 minutes. No hi I will be right with you nothing. Obviously avoiding eye contact. Another girl came back after helping someone else decided to acknowledge me and the girl with red hair let me know she wasn't ignoring me...uh ok. Like I said we had resvations but yet when my husband decided he wanted a seat outside he was told he would have to wait and then a walk in couple came in and was sat immediately. After he was finally sat he tried to tilt the umbrella, he didn't want the sun blazing in his eyes but the waitress was quick to scold him. She told him she walked in to it last week and poked her eye ( he could not have any shade on a 75 degree day.) When the table next to us tilted their umbrella she didn't make a comment to them. My Morel pasta was blan and only tastes like raw asparagus. As a vegetarian I love vegetables, it was terrible I didn't even finish it. The Pesto pasta my friend had was delicious. My husband liked his food and I think our friends liked theirs. Our waitress brought over the desert menu prematurity and then didn't ask of we were ready for the bill, just brought it over apparently she was ready for us to go. You have a prime location on the water people want to eat here treat them with more respect. We wanted to spend our money here you don't have the best food in La Conner. Just be nice. We left a tip but remember they are earn not mandatory.

I worked in this industry so I know first hand you have good days bad days. If you don't like it anymore do what I did and do something about it make a change don't take it out on...

This is a belated review of a meal my husband treated me to in February. When making a reservation he let the restaurant know that it was a special occasion meal. Two hours before the reservation, someone from the restaurant called him and said they could have two glasses of prosecco waiting on our table. So far, so good. We arrived and were shown to our table. There was no champagne on the table, nor any mention of the promised champagne. My husband did not mention anything at the time as this was supposed to be a surprise and he did not want to create a negative atmosphere so soon into the evening. As it turned out our waitress (and we use the term loosely) quickly created the negative atmosphere herself. She was unhelpful, rude and dismissive, and, it felt like we were inconveniencing her simply by wanting to order anything. Several times we had to flag down other staff for refills of water, a second cocktail, etc. - basics that any waitstaff should be on top of. Those individuals, who stepped in for our waitress, were perfectly pleasant and helpful. Unfortunately none of them were our primary server. Towards the end our waitress asked, "want any dessert?" We said we would like to split a serving of carrot cake. My husband asked if there was a Whiskey menu; the waitress flipped over the dessert menu and just pointed, then walked away. When the dessert was brought to the table, my husband wanted to order his Whiskey of choice, but the instant the dessert was on the table, the waitress turned immediately and left. The food was reasonably good, which is the most positive statement we can make. This was an expensive meal ($225+ for two) that was definitely not worth the cost given the terrible service. A few weeks later my husband sent a private review to the manager to give them a chance to respond. The manager never responded. If management doesn't care about terrible service and/or unsatisfied customers, that's a problem and not a restaurant we will support in the future. There are plenty of other places that provide both good food and good service, hence a 1-star...