Wednesday 13th of April 2011 08:49:10 PM

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We stopped in Wednesday afternoon about 1 pm for dessert and beers. This place is a family friendly restaurant that has a microbrewery attached. They have 15 beers on tap, cask ale (on Friday’s) and cider available. We tried a sampler of six beers for $7.00. All the beers were served at the same cold temperature; we had to let the porter and stout warm up before tasting. They have a seven barrel system and a cold room for lagering; the Pilsner that we tried was very smooth if a bit hoppy. Since we had just eaten lunch, we opted for dessert; we had the Berry Cobbler and the Porter Ice Cream. The cobbler was very good but the Porter Ice Cream was outstanding! Ample parking is available on the street. Everything is no smoking.

Saturday 1st of January 2011 06:58:08 PM

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I make it into the Rockfish Grille 3 or 4 times a year and am never disappointed. On my latest visit (December 2010) they had a cask conditioned IPA on their beer engine which was excellent just the right temperature, creamy head, nice hop character and bite. After talking to one of the brewers outside later in the day I returned and tried their Darkside IPA on his recommendation. It was maltier than their regular IPA and was also quite good. I always order the Oyster Martini (double oyster shooter) and was not disappointed. The food is always excellent. My only regret was that I did not have enough time on this visit to sample all of their taps as they brew some 30 different beers during the year and usually have at least a dozen on tap at any given time.

Sunday 28th of March 2010 09:37:37 PM

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I was bummed with the experience. Coming back north from Seattle I thought I'd swing by the Anacortes brewery to finish up a weekend of fun and beer.
While the food and location seemed very good (with very friendly staff) the beer was a let-down. Every style had a sticky-sweet middle of the tongue flavor that wouldn't go away. The individual styles also seemed blurred. The pilsner seemed more like a lager, and the amber tasted more akin to a pale. Overall, while I wouldn't object to going back for the food (my wife and I only grabbed a bowl of soup, having eaten recently) I wouldn't go back for the beer. (See "Curmudgeon's" review for more detail on the beers...I agree with that assessment completely.)

Monday 29th of June 2009 09:25:39 PM

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This person needs 3 or more reviews on the site for their scores to start counting.

The Brewery and Grill is located in Old Town Anacortes and has a local watering hole feel. I drove 40 minutes from Mount Vernon, Washington were I was working and fealt very welcome the minute I walked in to the bar.

The service was a little on the weak side. I walked in looked around for a few minutes and even made eye contact with a few employees but no one greated me or pointed me in a general direction. Once I made it to the bar and planted my rear I was passed a few times by the bartender until I had to flag him down. When I couldnt recite what beer I wanted, mainly because I had no idea what they had on tap I was passed over until I asked for a menu.

I chose to partake in a flight and also an order of fish and chips. There are plenty of beers to choose from and everyone a winner in my book. The porter happened to be my favorite but I wasn't disappointed with any of my other samples. The food was great too. Reasonably priced and very tasty. I was fortunate to show up on a day when they had a band playing live music. This place is a cross between a college hangout, casual restraunt, jazz club and local pub.

If you end up anywhere near here it is worth your time to drive to Anacortes and try some for yourself. Just be patient with the service.

Wednesday 21st of January 2009 04:31:40 PM

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The Rockfish Grill is in the historic Anacortes small-town downtown, in an older one story brick building. It’s a friendly, welcoming destination with superb beer, good food, and a great pub atmosphere.

There are four regular beers - Porter, IPA (one of the best NW IPAs), Pilsner, and Amber. There are also six special innovative beers that rotate through, for example, bourbon barrel aged porter, Galena single hop pale, ale, Noel (strong hoppy brown ale). And there’s a cask beer on Fridays. (You can also buy a growler of beer to-go.)

The brewery itself is in the adjacent store front and you can see it from windows in front or from inside the bar area. The bar runs back from the front entrance on the right side and is separated from the restaurant section on the left by a half wall. The bar itself is wooden and has a great wood bar back with several ornate columns and a large mirror. Seating in the bar is on fixed bar stools (soda fountain style) and quite a few stools with narrow tables. The walls are a deep yellow color and the tall ceiling is black with exposed heating ducts and great art deco frosted glass light fixtures. Various fish items and beer or fish framed prints provide the decoration. The canvas curtains and some areas on the walls have modern, minimalist fish imprints that are quite effective.

The food is good. Quite a few seafood options as well as burgers, sandwiches, wood-fired pizza, and salads. The oysters are delicious.

Wednesday 13th of August 2008 01:05:06 PM

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I was pleased with this one. I was only able to sample a few of their beers on this visit. They do offer allot of beers on their list, however, only a portion of them is available at any given time. I'm an IPA individual, and their IPA is one of the best I've had so far. This ale has allot of aroma and a hard bite to it. Some of my buddies were a little put off by this, saying it was a little too bitter, but that's what we get an IPA for right?

I do hope that I can make a return visit in that direction eventually, I was not displeased with this place at all. Only real complaint I would have on this place is 'last call' is a bit too early for me. And concerning the rotations of the beer from their list selection, I'd have to visit more often to see how satisfying the cycle is.

Wednesday 26th of March 2008 10:19:28 AM

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After visiting nine breweries in Seattle, we happened upon this little gem. I have to completely disagree with the previous review. We did the sampler and then followed it up with another sampler of the other brews we had not yet tried. They were happy to give us whatever brews on the sampler we wanted and the beer was exceptional. They had about a dozen of their own beers on tap. Not only was the beer superior, but the food was wonderful too. Try the smoked salmon and goat cheese pizza, it's too good to miss.

Monday 8th of October 2007 05:35:09 PM

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Anacortes lies on a NW tip of Fidalgo Island, a friendly little burg that ranked 20th on a list of the Top 100 Places to live in America back in 2005.

It still has incredible charm and, in the Rockfish, an above average brewery...but there are some problems here, the main one unfortunately, being the beer.

Set on the main drag through town (Commercial St.), it boasts no view but is impossible not to find. Just look for the steady stream of people coming in & going out. Make no mistake - this is more of a family-style restaurant than a brewpub with a menu chock-full of family-friendly fare. Burgers & pizzas abound and all of it cooked in a brick, wood-fired oven. Wouldn't you love to compliment that with a good beer?

Well, it's not gonna happen here.

The menu lists 23 (some guest brews) but only 6 are available at any time. What a disappointment. Couple that with their sampler "choices." Yes, you can sample 6 BUT the bartender chooses 4 - then you have a brewmeister pick which leaves you with (1). That is not my idea of a choice or a sampler, especially when you consider that every other brewpub in the state (there are approximately 80 and wife Persimmon & I have visited, at this point, 69)have at least an 8-tray sampler, some as many as 12 and (1) gives you 24 in a 4-tray parade.

And the beer. The 6-locally brewed included a Red Ale, Pilsner, Hefeweizen, IPA, Doppelbock & Porter. Of those, the Porter (Our pick of the 6) was much too smokey & thin (almost watery) and tasted more stout-like. The Pilsner could have been poured from a Coors can, the Hefe was not cloudy & tasted heavy & metallic, the Red Ale had no taste whatsoever.

For dessert, the waittress recommended that we try ice cream from Lopez Island (one of the San Juan archipelago) mostly a farm community & building a reputation for it's ice cream. We had sampled & brought several pints of their cappuccino earlier in the year on a week-long vacation in the San Juan's, carefully nurturing & keeping our treasure as cold as possible on the hour-long ferry ride & 90-minute drive home. "Well," we reasoned, "we can end the day with a WONderful dessert."

Nope. This was made from the Rockfish Porter and tasted like cardboard. There is no other word that accurately describes it.

With all this, know that Rockfish is a popular place in the community with live music 3 nights a week, mostly local artists but they have been known to bring in some name acts. It is always packed with people. On our visit, we were seated & told it might be awhile before the waittress got to us and indeed, it was almost 20 minutes. But she looked to be the only waittress on duty and she greeted us with a smile & friendly attitude. Given her situation, it would have been understandable (but not acceptable!) if she had been surly.

If you have time before an excursion to the San Juan Islands (which all should experience at least once), stop by Rockfish on your way to the ferry dock. But, as was once said by the knowledgable Anonymous, "Life is too short to drink bad beer."