The Mansion Restaurant at Rosario Resort & Spa — Restaurant in Orcas Island

Absolutely amazing dining experience. Highly recommend requesting a table by the kitchen for the best views. They have a large window that allows you to see the chefs preparing the meals, and let's you see how meticulous and professional they are. On the other side is an expansive view of the water that can't be beat.

The service was excellent, everyone was friendly, attentive, and very professional. Our waiter, Bobby, gave amazing recommendations and wonderful descriptions of the entrees, which were amazing. They even went above and beyond with the little things we never thought about before. We got the 'Josh's Salad' and house special 'Cucumbers with Xo Sauce', they made 2 smaller salad bowls for us instead of 1 regular salad to make it easier to share.

As for the food itself:

The 'Cucumbers with Xo Sauce' was incredible. The freshness of the cucumber paired so well with the complex flavors of the Xo Sauce, and had our expectations blown away right off the bat, "it tastes like spring" is what our waiter described it as and he wasn't kidding.

The 'Josh's Salad' was ridiculously fresh. Some of the juiciest, freshest strawberries I've ever tasted that really stuck out, but had amazing flavors from the pickled raddish and candied walnuts.

For our main courses I had the ribeye which blew me away. I'm not a huge fan of red meat but it was so worth it. Absolutely delicious, so juicy and tender. The bok choy had a wonderful char to them that really changed the flavor profile of the vegetables. It also includes a layered potato block (I'm not sure what it's called) that was incredible, with crunchy edges and perfectly cooked layers, that did a fantastic job of soaking up the ribeyes flavors.

My partner had the pork on recommendations from our waiter, and found herself holding back tears after the first bite. We were told the pigs are fed nuts for the last few months of their lives leading to a marbling in their meat. Super juicy and paired perfectly with the sauce, charred vegetables, and carrot puree which was more like a carrot cloud it was so light and fluffy yet packed with flavor that complimented the pork rather then overpower it.

For desert we got the banana bread which came with a scoop of espresso ice cream, and the yum-yum cake. Both were very yum-yum. Chocolate pudding, nuts, cream cheese and an glaze of the yum-yum cake were a match made in heaven. The banana nut bread was delicious aswell, with a fine nutty texture that paired perfectly with the espresso in the ice cream.

Overall this was one of our best dining experiences we've had. The service was fantastic, the views were beautiful, and the chefs are clearly incredibly talented, with everything we ordered having something unique and delicious, as it was obvious the Chefs were allowed creative liberty over their dishes and this was apparent with the complex...

The Wagyu burger was a work of art—definitely my favorite burger of all time. The fries were delicious too, very creamy inside. Unfortunately, my wife had a very lame gluten-free pasta dish. She did not want all of the seafood that was in the other pasta dish and went for the gluten-free vegetarian alternative after confirming with our wonderful server Emily that it was flavorful—olives and capers—and not plain. What arrived though was a relatively small portion of broken up pasta. The flavor was good, but the chef hadn’t even bothered with a garnish of fresh parsley or side vegetables. This dish really should come with the Option to get gluten-free pasta if one desires, but otherwise to provide a quality pasta. Those of us who have cooked gluten-free know it can be tricky, but for $32 this was really not an acceptable offering. My wife asked for something to make it more interesting and was offered the chef’s chili oil, which she enjoyed. There’s just no getting around the poor presentation and quality of this dish however, hence the less than stellar review. Our crème brûlée dessert tasted wonderful, but the torching had melted it somewhat—a rookie mistake. Emily was a delight, very helpful as far as wine samples and information in general, chatty and fun. And I really enjoyed chatting with host Robert about motorcycles, etc. He’s a great Front Man for a wonderful historical establishment and I hope the place treats him well. *We learned while staying at the resort (9/14-15, 2023) that it is up for sale; perhaps this accounts for other poor reviews I saw here for the restaurant. *I will write a separate review for our room, but the short version is be forwarned—you will have a fairly long walk outside to your room, the walls are bare/no decor, and there were stains on our carpet and chairs. And it cost almost $600 for the two nights. The upside is the view is Fantastic, and getting to have access to the historic Mansion is a wonderful experience! It was a big treat for me to come back to Rosario after working here 45 years ago. The local community has visiting hours and that includes children—be aware that if you want a calm and relaxing time in the pool/hot tub to avoid...

Gorgeous views from the windows of the Rosario Mansion Restaurant, but nothing to write home about in terms of service. We stayed at the Rosario for a milestone wedding anniversary and made a reservation at the Mansion Restaurant for our anniversary dinner a month in advance of our stay. Staff made no mention of our celebration, and were at a bare minimum with interactions throughout our meal despite there being almost no other tables filled during the time we were dining. Never once asked if we enjoyed any of the 3 courses we ordered. We absolutely loved our stay on the island and will be back, but will not be dining at the Mansion Restaurant for a special dinner in the future. When spending $200+ on dinner, guests should be treated with service that equates to the cost, and special celebrations should be acknowledged - this is basic 101 hospitality knowledge.

The menu had a great variety if you’re a meat eater. We opted to start with the Smoked Halibut Dip - wonderful comfort dip with great balance of fish, cheese, and herbs. Shared the Grilled Pear & Burrata Salad - oddly this salad had no grilled pears. We could not figure that piece out, but otherwise was a delicious salad. Both of us ordered the Brodetto di Pesce as our entree - if you don't love spice, do not order this pasta! Nowhere does the menu mention hot peppers/chili being used in the tomato & garlic sauce, but our mouths were on fire. A great variety of seafood in the pasta, but felt more like a soup than a seafood pasta.

Overall, gorgeous presentation of food, but not worth the hype for the price...