Sea
Breeze
Restaurant & Lounge
The Seabreeze’s burger
is familiar, hearty and a
good value.
Working-class Seaside eatery serves up solid value
I
I’d never heard of a “chicken box.” (It’s
like a doggy-bag but for birds.) That was be-
fore I set foot in the Sea Breeze Restaurant &
Lounge, where such requests are common-
place.
“Oh yeah, people ask for chicken boxes all
the time,” server Alice says to a customer who
piles in her leftover fries.
Despite its name, the Sea Breeze feels a
little more country than coastal, more work-
ing-class than tourist trap. Nestled at the in-
tersection of U.S. Highways 26 and 101, it’s
almost like a time machine to when everything
was made of wood, when steaks were king,
and every plate came gar-
nished with a little piece of
parsley.
On the more lively bar
side, over the glow and
plinking of video slots and
country music radio, you’ll
hear the latest on logging
politics, woebegone rec-
itations of off-roading ad-
ventures gone awry and
tall tales from the hunt. It’s
been this way, more or less,
since the 1950s, and I gath-
er little has changed. From
the steak-is-king menu to
the aged decor, you can al-
most taste the burnt coffee.
As both an outlier and, for
the most part, a solid value,
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ly charming.
The restaurant’s best
deal is the burger and beer
for $5.25. Now, other plac-
es offer occasional specials
— or tastier burgers — but
none so cheaply and reg-
ularly. It’s available every
day, from 4 to 7 p.m. The
quarter-pound patty is fro-
zen and pre-formed, and
delivered on a tall bed of
shredded lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and
Thousand Island dressing. And though the bun
was toasted, the roughage — as well as the
ketchup and mustard — were chilled, making
the thing lukewarm at best. The Thousand Is-
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The
restaurant’s
best deal is
the burger and
beer for $5.25.
Now, other
places off er
occasional
specials — or
tastier burgers
— but none
so cheaply and
regularly. It’s
available every
day, from
4 to 7 p.m.
14 | October 29, 2015 | coastweekend.com
It was familiar, and it was a hearty burger
and it came with a pint of Budweiser (or Bud
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it’s a value I can only trumpet.
At the upper end of the menu is the Sea and
Steak ($23.95), an 8-to-10-ounce rib-eye steak
with choice of prawns or scallops. I opted for
prawns, as well as mashed potatoes and gravy,
and a cup of clam chowder. The home-made
chowder, which the Sea Breeze is known for,
arrived almost immediately, with a pat of but-
ter on top, just beginning to melt. The base
was thick, traditional and quite creamy. There
were chunks of potato and plenty of clams,
which were a little of the chewy side, and I
made short work of it.
The main course arrived with a thick slice
of garlic toast. The prawns, beer battered
and deep fried, were shaped like little “T’s”
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preparation created more surface area, essen-
The Seasider omelet
came with hashbrowns
and toast.
tially doubling the amount of crisp, oily bread-
ing. The breading covered the tails too, which
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where the meat ended and the tail began. It
was also quite salty. Sweet and sour sauce and
an exceedingly bright tartar offered some bal-
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The accompanying rib-eye steak was am-
ple, about an inch thick, maybe more. Two rib-
bons of fat essentially separated it into thirds.
It was a tad over-cooked and needed more salt
and pepper, but the quality of the cut itself
was nothing to be ashamed of. With whipped
mashed potatoes and a thick, salty, beefy gra-
vy, it was a whole lot of fatty, greasy food,
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near-nap status.
mouth
OF THE COLUMBIA
COAST WEEKEND’S LOCAL RESTAURANT REVIEW
Story and photos by THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA • mouth@coastweekend.com
Sea Breeze
Restaurant & Lounge
Rating:
84774 US Highway 101, Seaside
503-738-7329
HOURS: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday to Thursday; 7 a.m.
to 9 p.m. Friday.
PRICE: $$ – Entrées hover from below $10 for sand-
wiches and burgers to above $20 for steaks
SERVICE: Thoughtful and personable
VEGETARIAN / VEGAN OPTIONS: Meat is king at the
Seabreeze.
DRINKS: Coff ee, tea, juice, soda, full bar
But unless you’ve just hit the jackpot on
the video poker, I’d recommend ordering
down menu at Sea Breeze. There are better
steaks to be found elsewhere, and better deals
right in front of you, from the Broasted Chick-
en ($11.95) to the array of burgers and sand-
wiches.
The Fish Sandwich, with breaded halibut,
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frozen for some time, and the overall makeup
of the sandwich was quite familiar, but with
a load of fries it was a wholly acceptable,
not-too-greasy alternative. That said, the Sea
Breeze isn’t a place you go to on a diet or
looking to eat healthy. It’s a place workers go
after a day of physical labor. Or, for that mat-
ter, before.
The Sea Breeze too offers breakfast and,
save for pancakes and biscuits and gravy, you
can get it all day. In my trips, breakfast offered
the most ringing taste. The Seasider ($10.50)
— an omelet that split the difference with a
scramble — cupped molten, runny sharp
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bell peppers and salty-sweet ham. I didn’t
think I was hungry at the time, but I devoured
it, leaving little left for the chicken box.
KEY TO RATINGS
poor
below average
good & worth returning
excellent
outstanding, the best in the
Columbia-Pacific region
