Skagit River Brewery — Restaurant in Mount Vernon

This place had great potential to be an awesome experience. Unfortunately that was not how we felt upon leaving. We came on a busy, beautiful Friday afternoon, having already walked from one restaurant with a 45 minute wait for a table of 12, we were beyond hungry (not their fault, I get that.) on our way we called to see if they had room for 12 and the gal on the phone said it would be about a 20 minute wait and took our name down. We were stoked, thinking we were only going to having to wait 10-15 minutes after the walk there. Upon arrival, my husband let the hostess know we were there. She said they don't take reservations and it was by first come first serve basis only. One of the servers that happened to be standing there (and also the server we got when we were finally sat 30 minutes later)... Piped up to say that we must be mistaken because nobody there would have taken our name down over the phone because they "don't do that." Not exactly a very good first impression but hey, we were starving and whatever they were cooking in the kitchen behind us smelled damn good! We go in and the restaurant is not very big at all but had a great atmosphere... Beer selection looked awesome but unfortunately at 7.5 months pregnant I couldnt have a single one and settled for the Fermenter burger with bleu cheese and a peach Italian soda. We were ready to order almost as soon as we sat down having already looked at the menu while we were waiting. She took our drink order and came back to take our food order. As she wrote it all down, it seemed like she was paying attention but she forgot our appetizer, brought an extra meal out that we didn't order, and totally botched an order that was probably a little difficult with all the modifiers but not for someone who was actually paying attention when being given an order as well as adding bleu cheese to the other 2 fermenter burgers instead of just mine. The two kids rib platters we ordered were extremely burnt but the kids were so hungry they didn't even care at this point. When my brother in-law asked how much longer the food would be (we waited another half hour to get it) she was extremely rude and said, "well our deck is full and our restaurant is busy and you guys are a large party--- so it's naturally going to take longer." Uhh yeah, we can see how busy you are, that wasn't the question. We just wanted to know how much longer it would be. At this point I was really wishing she would have apologized for the wait time and politely said something like "let me go check on that for you." She was visibly annoyed and irritated at the fact that a group as large as ours should so much as inconvenience her day and just happened to be super hungry and was just curious about how much longer it might be. If that was me and a 12 top walked into my section, I'd be all over that table like white on rice to secure a tip, which is the only reason why I would be at work on a beautiful Friday afternoon. Every person is a dollar sign and you are there to make money. Serving is show business just as much as it is customer service and if you lack a smile on your face (even if it's fake) and even an ounce of apology when you make a mistake, you should probably find another line of work. I'm almost always a 20-22% tipper for even an average experience and still never below 10% when the experience is terrible.. Unfortunately for her, my husband paid and isn't nearly as kind as I am. The only staff who was even remotely pleasant from the time we walked in to the time we left were the bussers. From the hosts, to the food runners and servers, they were the only ones who smiled!

On the plus side- although the food was somewhere between cold and luke warm by the time it hit the table, we all agreed that it was still really good. We love a good burger and the Fermenter was up there with one of the best I've ever had. Also, the Amtrak came through while we were eating and honked which was awesome! Cool little spot, just wish the service was as good as the food...

TIP: The Baby Back Ribs here are awesome, but they are only served Friday, Saturday and Sunday and when they're gone, they're gone... You have to think of eating the ribs here like people in Chicago vote (Early and Often)!

It has been about a month since my last visit to the Skagit River Brewery. Although I was still unable to order Baby Back Ribs (they were gone early this afternoon), I did have a wonderful plate of Fish and Chips served "piping-hot" -- maybe a little oily (but, not overcooked) -- nothing a little malted vinegar couldn't resolve! The fish was served with a generous order of fries and a delicious honey-vinegar slaw that introduced a little "tang" to what would otherwise be an unremarkable side dish. I add a touch of horseradish to this vinegar-based dressing, but I like my slaw with a little "kick!" A pint of Porter rounded out the meal for me.

One of my companions enjoyed one of their more popular burgers and a glass of house Cabernet and the other chowed down on a personal pizza -- half of which will become lunch tomorrow.

We finished off our meal with a shared hot, mixed berry crumble served with a scoop of ice cream.

Next time I intend to arrive earlier in the weekend for the ribs and expect too be unable to consider dessert.

Service (3.5 Stars): Prices ($$): Ambience (3.5 Stars) Food Quality (4 Stars)

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Please Note my previous (Three-Star) Review posted about a month ago:

It has been a while since I've dined at Skagit River Brewery. While the food and service were adequate, and they still feature an excellent rotating tap that includes both their own brews and an excellent variety of local and out of the area beer, several favorite menu items are either no longer available or limited to specific nights of the week.

Unable to order pan-fried oysters, a Crab Cake Sandwich or Baby Back Ribs, I settled for a burger that was nicely garnished with alternating layers of cheddar and swiss cheese, then pilled high with crispy onion straws, bacon and smothered in barbeque sauce to compensate for an otherwise mediocre commercial fast-food burger served with lettuce, tomato and pickles on a brioche bun.

One of my companions ordered a tasty-enough veggie pizza and the other was tempted by the fish-n-chips. All three meals were adequate -- neither worthy of praise or complaint -- but, hardly memorable.

If you found something useful in my review, please rate my review as 'useful,' (and/or, 'funny,' or 'cool' if appropriate). If you love food and traveling, follow me, or better yet, let's become friends on Yelp! SYOY (See...

Got dinner here on the recommendation of local family and it was overall very disappointing. It seems like a cute little place but from our experience the food was just not what we were expecting from the word of mouth we got..

I ordered a kids fish and chips and a side salad since I thought the combination would be filling but instead got what ended up being a warm salad with moist croutons and 2 small pieces of fried cod with no fries and no tartar sauce. The size of the kids fish was expected, and the outside was crispy. The inside was a little bit fishy which is always kind of offputtiing. My friend is the one who placed the order so maybe there was a miscommunication but I was sitting there when she ordered and did order the two items separately.. as someone whose worked a lot of food service jobs it's weird that the order wasn't at least read back.

My friend got a burger and fries. The burger was ordered medium but came well done and the fries were really soggy and had a texture like frozen fries. Very unpleasant to eat.

The cesser salad dressing was really good though, so I'm regretting having not just gone with that but I'd heard great things about the...