My First Experience at Boathouse 19

I recently had a chance to dine at Boathouse 19, the new restaurant at the Tacoma Narrows Marina.

The 4,500-square-foot restaurant near .

While the food was delicious, their service was rather disappointing.

My boyfriend and I walked in the restaurant at 7:30 on a (rare) warm, sunny Tuesday night. The place was packed, including the outside deck and the bar area (they apparently don’t take reservations).

The hostesses at the entrance also seemed inexperienced and distracted as we waited for few minutes before someone greeted us. Once we were told that it would be an hour wait, we placed our name and number on the waiting list and decided to walk around the marina. The hostess said they would call us once our table was ready.

An hour later at 8:30 p.m., we still hadn’t heard back from the restaurant. When we came back, we found the restaurant fairly empty with only several diners still eating.

This time, a different hostess greeted us. When we told her about our name on the list, we noticed that they had written, “Called, but did not answer” next to our name. My boyfriend had his phone with him the whole time, but no one had called him in the last hour. Strange.

Once we got to our table by the window looking out to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, our waitress took our drink orders. (As a loyal Gig Harborite, I got 7 Seas’ Cutt’s NW Amber Ale. My boyfriend got the “Engine Master”, which has Knob Creek bourbon, fresh orange, bitters and soda—a very tasty cocktail. )

I should also note that the waitress didn’t bring us water until after she brought our drinks.

Our food arrived about 30 minutes later. I had the Carolina Pulled Pork with a wedge of watermelon. My boyfriend ordered the Philadelphia Cheesesteak with Cajun fries. They were both tasty and filling. We would highly recommend them if you ever get a chance to go to Boathouse 19.

After dinner, we also tried the Oregon Blueberry Crisp with brown sugar ice cream, which was also delicious! Just make sure you don’t burn your mouth. The crisp was super hot!

While we were quite pleased with the food, the subpar service was yet again on our minds as we waited 15 to 20 minutes before the waitress brought our bill. It took her another 10 minutes to process it. By then, only three or four tables were filled including a corner booth where the wait staff, plus our waitress, was chatting away and folding napkins.

Even though my first experience at Boathouse 19 wasn’t the best, I think the food and drinks are worth going back and hopefully the service will improve. In the meantime, we’ll just have to make sure we don’t wander off too far out while we wait for our table…

Have you tried Boathouse 19 yet? We’d love to hear you thoughts.