Salishan Coastal Lodge Restaurants

A little something for everyone

As we planned our stay at Salishan, we were quite excited to read on their website that they offer "…carefully crafted, organic, coastal-inspired fare…" at their three onsite restaurants. Our stay at Salishan was the wind up of our Oregon culinary trip and we figured we'd be ready for some organic meals.

Attic Bar & Lounge, bar and patio

We were especially excited about Provisions Market where we thought we'd get a good, healthy start to our day with yogurt parfaits. Unfortunately, when asked, we were told the yogurt had sugar in it. We passed. They also offer smoothies (I might be a little skeptical about these as well although we didn't check on them), lattes and fresh brewed coffee. The latte and coffee we had were good. In addition, there are salads and more on their all-day grab and go menu. You can eat there, on the patio, or take your choices with you. Provisions is also their gift shop with t-shirts, sweatshirts, food items, etc.

We had dinner at the Attic Bar & Lounge where you can eat inside near a big fireplace that dissects the room (unlit when we were there) or on the outdoor patio with heaters. They do tend toward the healthy side of things here with items like roasted red beet hummus, grains and greens, Oregon halibut ceviche, wellness bowls, and flatbreads like roasted vegetables and pesto. Main dishes, a few only available after 4 p.m., include sandwiches, a smash burger, green curry (vegetable or seafood), halibut, salmon, lamb shank. You can get smoothies here, too. We had a smash burger which seemed to be a pretty average burger, and the seafood coconut green curry, which wasn't bad but was different from any curry I'd ever had. The curry was a thickened paste. It contained clams which were good, and halibut which was perfectly cooked. We tried a glass of red wine which was good and a Chardonnay which seemed past its prime.

Seafood coconut green curry

The Bay House is their fine dining offering, and we did not eat there on this trip. It's a lovely room and, as far back as I know, was always their upscale restaurant. They offer prix fixe, multiple-course meals (two as far as we could tell).

Overall, we felt the food was average without a hint of "magic" - no touches that would take a dish to the next level. Good ingredients but nothing out of the ordinary. The service was spotty, and they seemed understaffed. Having said that, it is still COVID times and Oregon was in a 25% capacity stage. It's extremely difficult to find employees, whether it's front or back of the house. If a place is fortunate enough to find people, they still have to train them. So while we weren't all that impressed, we would go back again and re-test the waters. It's not fair to judge harshly at this point in time. And at least they're making the attempt to offer healthier options throughout their restaurants.

We also ate at Mangia, an Italian restaurant in the Salishan Marketplace across the road from the Lodge. For us, this was the sweet spot. We weren't starving, so we each had the shrimp scampi appetizer and a dinner-sized Caesar salad. The salad wasn't anything to write home about, but the scampi was quite good with browned butter and garlic, served with toasted baguette slices to dip into the sauce. Kind of a must. While not open while we were there, they also have a wine room and it looked very inviting despite being closed. Mangia is a casual place - the stove is behind the retail counter and there are plenty of items for take-out at the counter. The people who run Mangia have a bakery in the Marketplace as well. Service was friendly, although not exactly prompt.

Mangia shrimp scampi

Also in the Marketplace you'll find the Beachcrest Brewery, a family owned and run taproom and brewery offering hand crafted beer. You can sit back and enjoy beer, cider, wine, Italian cream sodas in the taproom, on the sundeck, or in the beer tent. Kids are welcome until 9 p.m. Small food items like hot pretzels are available. If you're there on the weekend, the Squatchsami Food Truck offers items like fish & chips, clam chowder, fried chicken.

Connie Adams/May 2021