The Wayfarer Restaurant and Lounge

Reviews 3

JO

Joseph Forbish

I would give this place a 2.5 if I could. The service was fantastic- polite and knowledgeable. My wife and I were able to sit outside on a beautiful clear evening and it was a tad chilly so they supplied us with blankets, wonderful. Unfortunately that was all that was great or even good. The food was fairly expensive and we expected great things. For starters we ordered the crab cakes at $20 for 2. They were lukewarm to cold in the middle and the vegetables in them, namely the green peppers, overwhelmed the flavor of the crab by a large margin. So sad as we were looking forward to those. I also got the clam chowder as I have to try it everywhere I go when I am at the coast. This was the best part of our meal next to the bread. Not saying it was great chowder, just better than everything else we had, I would give the chowder a 7-8 out of 10. Meal wise she ordered the Razor Clams and I ordered the special Pan Seared Halibut with house cured bacon and an over easy egg on top. It sounded delicious and interesting so I paid the $35 to give it a try. Now besides being, again, lukewarm to cold in the middle the fish and egg were cooked to perfection. The bacon a tad under, but that is okay with me. The green beans on the side were warm on the outside and cold to frigid in the middle, under-cooked. The worst part about my meal was it was comPLETELY under-seasoned. I should say that it was actually completely NON-seasoned. No salt, no pepper, no nothing. Bland as bland can be. The fish tasted like the egg and vice versa. Even the bacon was bland, not salty in the least, hardly any flavor. After the meal when we were asked how everything was, we had to be honest and let the server know that we were unhappy. He acknowledged that the kitchen does indeed not use much, if any, seasoning at all other than the natural pan seasoning. A tiny bit of salt and pepper would have gone a long way, but maybe that is just me. Their restaurant, their recipes. As for her razor clams, they were just okay. The breading was very lightly seasoned and the clams were a little chewy. She literally ate maybe 2 bites of her $28 clams and I had 1. The waiter actually saw how little of it she ate and compd it back to us, thankfully. On a side note, all of her food came out hot. It is as if the kitchen mis-judged the timing and mine had to sit for a few minutes waiting for hers to come out. That is just a guess, who really knows. So to sum this up, I give The Wayfarer these ratings- Ambiance- 10 out of 10 (Again we sat outside with the ocean in our view, fantastic) Service- 10 out of 10 (Knowledgeable and very courteous) Food- 1 out of 10 (They seem to try to be high end, but failed miserably in my book. Maybe it was an off night?) Price- 3 out of 10 (Not the most expensive, but not cheap and the food was NOT worth it) Total- 5 out of 10 (or 2.5 stars) Unfortunately I will not be returning to The Wayfarer and will continue to advise others about our visit. Bottom line, there are so many other great restaurants in Cannon Beach such as the excellent Driftwood, which is where we went for lunch the same day- Price, food, service, etc.- 8.5 out of 10. If you just want drinks, it may be fine although the Screw and Brew across the street has a much more interesting decor and worth a visit if you just want drinks. I cannot comment on the food at the Screw and Brew as we did not eat there, it is just where we ended up at instead of spending more money at The Wayfarer.

DA

dave j

We ate there on a Friday night. My first impression was that the decor was very nice. It was classy without feeling uncomfortable. The menu was surprisingly limited, which is a good thing. Too many establishments try to be everything to everyone, and have huge menus. Quality and attention to detail suffer as a result. I saw the short menu and immediately took courage. The salads and appetizers came out in reasonable time. We had iceberg lettuce wedges with blue cheese, tomatoes, and bacon lardons. A simple dish, which the cook managed to not mess up. :-) Next up, the steamer clams. Cooked right. The broth made me wish I could have it as chowder. I would have liked a few more chunks of aromatic veggies in there for mooshing onto bread. But a good dish. The bread served with the salad and appetizers was a mild sourdough (my wife hates sourdough and loved this). It was fresh, warm, and tender with a good crust. My entrée was a hazelnut crusted sole with a a unique rice pilaf, vegetables, and a mixed berry beurre blanc. The fish was perfectly cooked and seasoned. The veggies (broccoli rob, caramelized pearl onions, and carrot julianne) were al dente, fresh, and seasoned just right. I could have done with some bolder flavors through the use of herbs and more acid to the sauce. The dish was tasty, well executed, but "safe." Given the tourist audience, safe is probably a good bet. My wife had a halibut filet, which was accompanied by the same vegetables I had. Her fish was served on a bed of crispy shoestring potatoes and topped with dried cranberries. As with my entrée, the fish and veggies were perfectly done. The cranberries would have been put to better use as part of a relish or chutney to add interest (as well as some needed moisture and acidity), but again, nothing wrong with this dish. It was apparent the chef knew what he/ she was trying to do, and was very much in control of the kitchen. It wasnt the most adventuresome dining, but still a treat. The wait staff was good, although I never got the sparkling water u ordered. I thought the dining room manager could have been more interactive. This place would rate 4 stars in Seattle or Portland. In a tiny tourist town with limited options and a captive audience, its any easy 5 stars and a no-brainer repeat for me next time Im in Cannon Beach.

EL

Ellis Wilder

I will NEVER do business with the Wayfarer again. I booked a large party reservation for our wedding reception 3 months ago and they tell us a week and a half before the date that they double booked the time. ........... When we had originally booked the reservation we were told that they could hold up to 30 people. I had called to inform them that 36 people had confirmed and asked if they could take the extra 6 people. Jerry the "manager" then told us that the actual capacity that they could hold was 26 (not working with us). Then I asked if we could reserve a space for the additional 10 in the dining room. At that point Jerry had told us that we have outgrown his restaurant and that we might consider taking our party elsewhere (again not working with us). Because cannon beach is so small and not equipped to handle large parties we were roped in to sticking with the Wayfarer. But to accommodate THEM, we were forced to cut our wedding guests in half and take half to the lumberyard the day before... THEN, after booking our reservation 3 months early, we were notified one and half weeks before the wedding that they had double booked that time slot. They did absolutely nothing to remedy the situation and did not even take responsibility for the problems that they had caused. I mean, how hard is it to check the date book?!?! Any way, we told them that the mistake was on their end and that they need to fix the situation and they were very rude to us and basically told us this was our problem and did nothing to compromise. So here we are 1.5 weeks before the wedding and Jerry the "manager" did not take any responsibility for his mistake and Jeremy could not be less sympathetic. We canceled our reservation and will never be going back.