MIST Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Lincoln City

My partner and I were on a day trip to the beach and we hadn't been on a "fancy date" since before covid so we landed here. Overall, we had a lovely experience and left with happy bellies!

THE FEEL: The decor is very simple, but with an open fireplace in the middle of the lounge, the ocean views, the gracious spacing between tables, and the balanced lighting (not so dark you strain to read the menu, but not so bright or yellow you get a headache), it felt welcoming. Not too big. Overall low volume amongst guests. Easily a place you could dress up for, but most guests appeared in casual attire.

THE FOOD: VERY small menu. We went with an appetizer of calamari and both ordered a dish of (grilled) fish tacos for dinner and split a side order of fries. For drinks, he went with coffee and I with ginger beer.

Our drinks. I was happy with my bottle of Bundaberg. His first cup of coffee was barely warm, but our server realized this upon getting his refill and offered an apology and a freshly brewed cup for his second which he was pleased with.

The calamari. Delicious and tender! I've never seen calamari come in the shape of mozzarella sticks before. Although the menu claims grilled and these were fried, they were probably the most tender calamari I've ever had. And the chipotle aioli made up for the lack of seasoning in the breading.

The bread (complimentary with a meal). Honestly my favorite part! A fresh, warm, soft ciabatta loaf brushed with a glaze of melted garlic herb butter. Sooooo good! Didn't even need to use the butter they served with it. Our server even offered us a second one - an accidental extra from the kitchen.

The fries (with a side of ranch) were delicious, golden brown, with a nice crisp. LOVED the ranch.

The fish tacos. Sadly, we were a bit disappointed here. The fish was perfectly grilled - flaky, golden crisp edges, and decent cuts for each taco. But if they were seasoned at all, I couldn't tell. The rest of it - the menu claims pico de gallo, cabbage, and chipotle aioli, but we received a dry mix of cabbage, cilantro, and purple onion slices, and a side of spicy green chili salsa. Which all adds up to a rather flavorless dish.

I'm assuming the cilantro and sprinkle of onions were meant to be the pico, and I had to ask for a side of aioli. I skipped the tortillas because of all the bread I'd had so I opted for my fork. I don't mind cilantro in pico but there was quite a lot in my tacos making it difficult to pick through them. The salsa was too spicy so we had to use the aioli and ranch from our fries to find much flavor (I'll admit I totally didn't notice the lemon wedge on my plate until I finished, which probably would've helped). Overall, we both agreed the tacos left much to be desired.

THE SERVICE: It was good. I would say great, but it was quite slow. Thankfully we were happy to relax and had nowhere else to be.

Our server and the busser were both very friendly. Our server was struggling with keeping orders straight between tables (she almost gave us another tables' orders, twice). Minus an almost empty bar, it was a full house so I'm not going to fault her. Still, I would have appreciated more table touches.

I was also disappointed when I watched a table of three (who were seated and ordered after us) were served a good ten minutes before us. Considering all we needed cooked was our fish, that didn't seem right to me.

FINAL COMMENT: Overall, if I lived in the area I might try MIST again. There were other menu items I'd like to give a shot. The service errors could have been circumstantial, and the prices were decent compared to those of similar restaurants in the area. And the bread is worth...

Brand new first night waitress Kira attempted to wait on us we put in our drink orders and (simples orders for iced tea just 3 of us) and our dinner order. We did have a few questions about the menu and she did not have any answers, I do understand it was her first night, but it is important to look over a menu and try and learn about it before starting to work somewhere and their menu is not very big. 45 minutes later we still had no iced to or some order chowder or salad which is not included with a dinner and sold separate. We had to get up seek out another wait staff and request to speak to a manager. After some more waiting a chief named Sean came out and spoke with us and covered for a manager. He was very kind, apologetic and retook our order from memory. He brought it out to us personally, our waitress continued to be MIA, there was a very very very hard working man named Daniel working there who was busing tables, filling water, seating people, checking on us as our waitress was not. The other wait staff Will pretty much had all the other tables and Daniel did an excellent job keeping everyone one as happy as possible to try and keep the costumer service up. When we were done eating the waiting game began again. Waiting and waiting for our bill. Daniel and Will let Kira know multiple times we were waiting. There went probably another 45 minutes. She then finally brings us our bill after never having check on us once during our meal even to ask how our food was or did we need another iced tea etc. Sean had actually at one point run out from the kitchen to see how we were doing. She brings the bill and just stands there kind of staring at us not saying anything. I start to say something as at this point I feel that even though Sean was great etc we should get a discount and she just walks away. So we keep looking back towards the kitchen and she knows we are looking at her because she has peeked out. So she comes back to the table and I let her know how I felt and gave her some advice about understanding it was her first day but there is not excuse for the fact that we did not get even iced tea for 45 minutes. And then that she never checked on us and then just brings us the bill and then walked away when I was trying to talk to her. So over another 30 minutes goes by and she comes back with a discounted bill. 1 of the 3 total meals including the salad you buy separately had been removed. We then paid the bill at that point. We came for an early dinner and had arrived at 4:35. We left after 8pm. We did not order a 3 course dinner that could have been stretched into 2 hours were only drinking water...

Everything about our experience was terrible. I should have taken the hint when I tried calling three times with no answer. But since we stayed at the motel here I figured it would be an easy choice. As we walked in no one greeted us. The server came over and seated us, then awkwardly dropped waters off at the table and took off. When she come over to take our order after a few she didn't even know what I was ordering because she didn't know the menu. I tried to get the seafood Newberg omelette and made some changes ( no tomatoes or onion) and asked about the sauce and she had no idea..... she also never asked if I wanted hashbrowns or Potato's with my meal or what bread for my toast. The about 10min later the chef? Bigger lady comes out and says not to add the holinday sauce because it's not a good mix and she isn't responsive if I don't like it. She did this in a very rude way and stood behind my chair instead of in front of me. I understand trying to help put my choice but it was rude how she went about it. Then about another 10min later the server comes out and says I can't take off the tomatoes or onions.... so now I have to order something else. No big deal I try and think so I do a "make your own" omelette with crab mushrooms and spinach. While we sit and wait another 30min I hear the ladies behind us also having issues with their food and sending it back because it's cold and they told her they would microwave it!!!!! Omg! After finally receiving our food mine is about room temp and the mushrooms and spinach not even cooked all the way. My husband got the crab Benedict with avocado and it was rotten! He picked it off and tried to eat what was left and grossed out by the soggy crab cake.... not what we thought we were getting. The server never came back over to check on us and just brought us the check. As I'm sitting here writing this review she also just took my water..... I would never recommend this place ever. Terrible service and food. Our server was Brenda and I'm unsure of who the other rude lady was that came out of the back. Larger...