Anthony's Pier 66 & Bell Street Diner — Restaurant in Seattle

Where to start?

The twenty minute wait to get a table was no problem for us, however… while waiting we watched two women come in and ask for a table, which they were told would be a 45 minute wait. They declined (smart move) and walked out. Two minutes later, two men dressed nicely walked in and asked for a table without a reservation and were told by the hostess that he could get them seated ASAP.

After we were sat downstairs, it took twenty minutes to get a drink order in, so we ordered our food at the same time as our drinks. Another ten minutes went by and we got our drinks from a server with less personality than an oyster, and some overly seasoned and very mushy calamari. By overall texture and taste I’d assume it was frozen and carelessly thawed. I should probably also mention that in order to eat said calamari, I had to go to the servers station and grab silverware for myself and my guests.

Another 40 minutes goes by and we haven’t gotten our food, had a drink refilled, at this point I’m contemplating heading to the kitchen to cook my own meal, as the server came and took the calamari but rushed off and ignored us as we were trying to explain that it was BAD and possibly inedible. I finally flagged down who I assumed was the manager, she was dressed like a fourth grade mean school teacher and seemed to hold some authority over the apathetic drones known as servers.

I explained our situation and how long we had been waiting and how we had tried to ask several servers about the poor service but were walked away from. She said “yeah that’s why there’s a wait to be seated.” We explained that altogether we’ve been waiting over an hour and a half just to get food, she then told us we could leave, so we did just that.

Overall, my five year old daughter and I enjoyed a nice bout of food poisoning from their bad calamari, so I guess keep that in mind if you visit here.

Anthony’s on pier 66 used to be a great restaurant, I met my husband there and annually went back, now it has fallen into the abyss along with those not strong enough to survive the fallout post pandemic, or employ knowledgeable waitstaff. As a former server AND cook, I know how to distinguish between lack of staff and laziness, this was pure laziness. You’re not Ascend, you’re Anthony’s, stope treating people like vagrants because they aren’t dressed to tee off on the patio.

If you want to enjoy an authentic seafood experience in Seattle that is worth the high price, I highly recommend Cutters, you can’t go wrong with a nostalgic feel of when Seattle was actually respectable, and their seafood isn’t frozen...

The first time we ate here a couple years ago, we fell in love with the clam strips. We've made it sort of a tradition, that whenever in Seattle, and whenever on the waterfront, we stop here to have a quick snack of clam strips. The location and view, even on a rainy day, are really amazing. This time, we even went out of our way to get here from the Aquarium. All of the insane construction on the waterfront made it more difficult to get here, but we made it.

The place was empty. We were the only customers. It usually is pretty empty whenever we stop by here. The cashier took my order right away and we got our drinks and sat down.

I ordered the clam strips and a small bowl of clam chowder. The chowder is just OK. Better than anything I could get in Arizona, but not as good as most of what I've had in Seattle. The clam strips were yummy as usual. Other people speak about the stuff being frozen, but I don't get that impression and it was all cooked fine. I think the cook at this place is good for what he does.

Now on to why this place got three stars. Much like some of the other reviews here state, the employees of this place need a LOT of work. I will not give them 1 star like some of the other reviews because, like most places that sell fried food, the employees were teenagers, maybe college students. We went on the day the Seahawks got trounced by the Panthers in the playoffs and the game was on TV. The employee, along with two other guys who were also employees, apparently there on their days off, were watching the game on the TV. That's fine by me, until they began yelling profanities at the TV and at each other. One employee was openly bashing the manager of the place, who by the way poked her head out once around a corner, which prompted the employees to hide, and then she disappeared.

These guys yelling caused my girlfriend and myself to really not enjoy our experience, so we asked for to go containers and left. These guys got so agitated and loud, they actually gave my girlfriend an anxiety attack. It was pretty unnerving. I doubt these guys got the drift that they chased us out of the place, but I'm hoping that the owner or GM of this place reads this review and gets their employees in order. I'd hate to not make this a tradition just because the employees are all undisciplined.

I also visited the location in the Airport on the way out of Seattle. I got the halibut and it was really good. Still don't get the impression any of this...

We went to this restaurant at 8:30 pm on a fluke because it was across the street from our hotel. It’s very lovely inside and we sat next to a window overlooking the water and a Ferris wheel that was lit up. Our drinks were a huckleberry hard lemonade and a glass of Merlot. The lemonade was nice, and not too sweet. I didn’t try the Merlot. We ordered the seafood tower which comes with three levels. On the top was Hawaiian ahi nachos. The chips are ultra thin and the pokey was a little bit sweet. The second row had scallops, prawns and a lobster tail. All three were fresh and cold and absolutely delightful. The bottom level was northwest oysters on the half shell. I’m not a big fan of oysters but I tried it anyways and they were amazing. We had both New England clam chowder and crab and Dungeness corn chowder. The crab chowder was my favorite even though I couldn’t really find any crab in it but my dining partner liked the clam chowder better. We also ordered the northwest seasonal salad and it was pretty standard. It has chanterelle mushrooms which were delicious but I personally could not find any blue cheese in the salad even though it was listed as an ingredient on the menu. We finished with two orders of haupia. They are like a coconut almond jello with a huckleberry syrup and toasted coconut. You really want to order this, it’s not like anything I’ve come across on a dessert menu before. We also tried the cheesecake which was so light and creamy. It’s made in house and the best you might ever have. Our total before tax was $185. That may sound a little high for dinner without entrées but it was 100% worth it. I would absolutely recommend this restaurant to anybody in the Seattle area. I have reservations at a different restaurant tomorrow night but may just return to Anthony’s Pier 66 to try out some of their entrées. Our server was David and he was personable and knowledgeable about the menu. Definitely worth your time and money. Also, you have to ask for the bread. Ask, because it’s good and they bring you these thin super crispy...