Café Sylvia — Restaurant in Newport

This is my favorite restaurant on the Oregon coast and the place where i like to go for celebrations. Same day reservations are mandatory. When you make reservations you will need to choose from one of four entrees for each person in your group. It is important to mention food allergies at this time. Usually there is a freshly caught fish dish, a vegetarian/vegan selection, a fancy dressed chicken dish and a lamb or beef dish. The rest of the dinner is served family style. Fresh from the oven bread is served with each course. There will be a soup course--i still dream of a mussel soup where they were served open shell in a rich clear tomato consomme. This is followed by a salad: usually a crisp green salad with savories. This is followed by the entrees and usually two veggies. One spring i had my first garlic blossom buds here. In season, you'll get asparagus, green beans, pea pods. Occasionally, potatoes. And then, oh lordy, here comes dessert. If you are really lucky you may get a marion berry cobbler with freshly made ice cream. Or the owner's deeply rich gingerbread with chunky oregon applesauce. Coffee and tea come with dinner and for a few extra dollars you can enjoy a range of wines by the glass or the bottle.

For me one of the best things is a table game called two truths and a lie. Amidst a lot of laughter you get to know the other people at the table. Or you or your table choose to sit it out. I have met many interesting people at the tables of content, often writers or poets or artists on vacation, a plumber who raced cars and then ordinary folk like me.

Generally people dress business casual. Dinner cost $32 the last time i was there and i, a penny pincher thought it was worth it.

It is a bit like stepping back into a dinner party in the 50s where cell phones and selfies stay out of sight and people want to have conversations in...

Consistently delicious meals featuring fresh locally-sourced seasonal ingredients, served by friendly staff.

When I’ve dined here “in the before times” the seating was always 8-to-a-table, with an assortment of other guests, and we were encouraged to play a game known by the descriptive name “two truths and a lie” — each player makes three statements, and the other players try to guess which one is false.

During the pandemic lockdown, they’ve changed things up a bit: limiting seating to one party per table, and requiring masks on staff and, when not eating, guests.

The waitstaff and the kitchen are generally flexible and eager to help. Somewhere between the kitchen and the hotel upstairs, however, someone grows protective of the kitchen and deflects requests for what they consider to be too strict of dietary requirements. Sometimes this can come across as condescending or exclusionary, as when they told my wife — suffering from the weird complex of symptoms following her COVID infection last summer, know as long-haulers syndrome — “we like to celebrate food here, not cater to such stringent food restrictions.”

For people with specific dietary needs, they and we both recommend Zach’s Bistro around the corner. If you’re able to eat more broadly without much concern for The details of the ingredients used (beyond their freshness and flavor), do reserve yourself a seat at the...

I have never had bad food here. It does surprise me they are still requiring proof of vaccination as they’re the only place I have seen in the state do it other then a stadium. This past experience took much longer then planned, anticipated, or experienced in the past. Dinner lasted over three hours. We were seated at 6:00 and didn’t get our check until about 9:20. The staff are friendly however, they could use more wait staff. There was one person and she was slow and not well educated about the food. In the past we have been told what we are eating and asked if we wanted to take home leftovers. I hate waste and when hearing the food would be thrown out she looked at me funny when I asked if I could take some. No clue what was in the salad or the dressing (it was delicious). In the past you would be told what was in the salad and what type of dressing. You were also told if any food came from their garden. She also couldn’t answer questions about food like what kind of flower was on the dessert. She was nice but the entire meal was slow. It would be nice to hear about the food again… however I would still eat food here anytime because it literally is one of the best meals you will find...