Harbour Public House

Reviews 4

CH

Christopher Hewitt

Went on a Friday night for a friends birthday and will not be returning. 1. The place is small. Which may be fine if you are going for a very SHARED experience. It is a public house, so I get the idea. That part was fine. 2. Dont go with a large party. You will be relegated to the back deck, which is nice enough, but also not roomy. They quoted us an hour and half to seat a group of eight, but made no attempt to ensure tables were vacated long enough to accommodate us. The deck ended up working out, only because we were out there long enough for a sufficient table to open up on the deck that we had to claim ourselves. 3. Bartenders have zero urgency. The one guy behind the bar made no attempt to take orders for people standing and waiting for a drink. He acted more like a personal waiter for those lucky enough to grab a seat at the bar. The girl working behind the bar was attentive but was doing drinks for what seemed like the entire restaurant while the guy did very little. Finally got starter drinks after 10 minutes of standing there. 4. Once "seated" our waitress was rude and very impersonal. Never got her name until we asked for it at the end of the night. We asked for a round of waters (not an unusual request, especially since we were drinking) and her reply, "thats going to take a long time." Really?! Eight waters? After that she continued her bluntness, taking only a few orders at a time. I suppose she didnt want to overwhelm herself with the 4 or 5 tables that were there... Like I said, its not a big place. Every request seemed to irritate her. 5. The food was delicious. That is the only reason for the two star, otherwise I would have gone with one star. It didnt take terribly long to get the food, but I also wasnt timing it. Fish tacos, calamari, poutine... all winners! 6. Then the checks came. She made no attempt to combine checks to start because "it would be too complicated". She gave everyone an individual check so we could combine everything when we payed. Makes some sense. When we received the combined checks however, something was wrong. Luckily we had one person who had not had anything to drink with us who didnt understand why her combined check was $30 more than if she had payed individually. The waitress then came out to tell me I didnt pay her enough for the bill. Confused I asked her to show me what she was looking at. She tried to tell me that there are charges for the kitchen staff and the gratuity was already added for our large group, which I totally understood. What I couldnt understand is how $20 is 20% gratuity of $50... because its not. After a few minutes of me explaining math to her, she said, "lets check the computer". Sure enough, it doubled the gratuity which she could easily see as she showed me the screen. She also had the ability to remove the gratuity, which she did. Then said, "Oh, you did give me enough". We left shortly after this. I feel like the additional gratuity was added to take advantage of seemingly inebriated people. Since she had the ability to remove it, she had the ability to add it also, perhaps hoping we wouldnt notice. If we paid with a card, I am not sure I would have picked up on the discrepancy, because we still tipped on top of the added gratuity which "was not enough". NOT going back.

SW

Swing Portland

Its apparent that The Harbour Public House survives on the high volume of tourists that are literally starving after waiting forty five minutes to board the ferry and another forty five minutes of voyage and traveling through town to the restaurant. Upon arriving we were told that the wait time was 20 minutes and we were seated in slightly less than that time. With the prices for burgers between $15-$20 you would think that they would be some of the best in the Northwest. I was shocked that the trenchermen burger was not much larger than a slider, had a patty that was quite a bit smaller than the bun, included limp little fried onion pieces, and was essentially 90% bun. The fries were some of the worst ever. Limp, oily, and tasteless. Not a fan of trying to season food that has been professionally prepared. The saving grace on food was an accidental order of the hummus plate. We were so famished that we wanted something out quick and opted to share a hummus plate and then share a burger. This was a good move, because the burger took about thirty minutes to arrive. Coming in at only $7, the green chickpea & garlic hummus was well prepared and served with a side of fresh cucumber slices and red pepper. Most bars serve hummus with pickled veggies, so the fresh selection was a pleasant surprise. Rather than pita, eight crusty, toasted french baguette slices are served. It was an extremely satisfying and light alternative to everything else on the menu. They did charge $2 more for four slices of additional bread and some additional veggies, but with a total of only $9 the hummus plate was a very good deal and is the primary reason the restaurant earns a three star rather than a one or two. The service was descent. It was not top notch, but it was apparent the two servers were outnumbered by the never ending sea of rapacious tourists that pour through the doors all afternoon. Our server was friendly and the order was spot on although you could see the fatigue had set in which always makes the diner feel a little guilty for even sitting down to eat. With the harbor view and large beer selection, the restaurant could be great if they altered their burger menu. However, they probably do not have to as long as the ferry boats continue to shuttle thousands of hungry patrons to their doorstep daily.

LA

Lance

The nerve of this place: On the final bill, this bar took the liberty of adding a 5% service charge "to keep the kitchen wages equitable." (on the receipt) I understand this "inequity" caused by tips going only to the "front" staff. But, how is it fair -- or legal -- to unilaterally add on a charge to your customers? It wasnt in the menu or on any conspicuous sign in the bar. You have got to give me notice before I order (or decide to eat there) for this to be fair or legal. It is irrelevant what your "equitable" cause is: would you be so self-righteous as to add 5% for Seattle Childrens just because it is a for good cause? If you care about your back staff getting a fair wage, then PAY them a fair wage. Geez, do you want me to pay 5% toward your light bill, too. Raise your prices by 5% and raise your kitchen staffs wages by 5% -- thats what you are really doing here in an illegal, underhanded way! As for the food: eh. Fish & chips and oysters were over-fried. Cole slaw was tasteless. I remembered it being much better in previous visits. Service was painfully slow. Hostess was incredibly rude to my wife -- effectively shaming her when she asked for the water that our waitress forgot to bring. No apologizes, no accountability. Im gonna miss this place....

JU

Julia Lee

We live in Seattle and like to visit this place when we get a chance. Our first few visits here were good. I really like the fish n chips & their nachos. But I have a different view of this place since visiting here yesterday (6/3). We sat outside for the first time. Wow, the service was horrible. There was only one server for the entire patio. After waiting for 20 min, we finally got our order in. My husband ordered a beer and got it within 10 min. I only ordered water and that took over 20 min. I was pissed. I ending up asking one of the hostess for a water and told her I was waiting a long time for it. Her response wasnt apologetic instead she chuckled at the fact I was waiting for water! Her attitute was horrible. Does it matter if I ordered water & not an alcoholic beverage? How rude! We finally got our food after 30 min! So slow. The fish n chips I got were overly fried as well as the chips. So was my husbands fried oysters. We were at this restaurant for over an hour, most of it just waiting! Needless to say, I dont think its worth our time coming here anymore. Service is horrible if you sit outside and staff is incredibly rude, especially that hostess! Their loss.