Castaway’s
Seafood Grille
This Long Beach eatery serves up tiki drinks,
seafood aplenty, and extra toppings
S
Since taking over as the Mouth, I can’t tell you
how many times I’ve taken a box of French fries
home in a to-go box only to later move them to
the compost.
This graveyard of fries speaks to a certain tra-
dition, particularly when it comes to feeding hun-
gry tourists: Above all, make sure they are full.
Thou shalt provide the starches.
Castaway’s Seafood Grille in Long Beach also
makes sure you get full. But the ¿ ller I got was a
little different, and a cut or two above fry moun-
tain. It came in three forms: cheese, spinach and
bacon. Not bad, eh?
Almost down the middle, Castaway’s is di-
vided between a family dining room and a loose-
ly-styled tiki bar. I found the bar side in¿ nitely
more warm and welcoming than the family
room, with its À at lighting, voluminous blue vinyl
booths and wrote oceanic decor.
As it was a tiki bar, my companion and I be-
gan with cocktails. On the recommendation of
the bubbly, gregarious and well-styled server/bar-
tender, I opted for the Mai Thai. My companion
went with the Margarita. When the drinks arrived
it was obvious — a bit of information had been
left out. The drinks were enormous doubles. A
pleasant surprise, indeed.
The Mai Thai ($9), served in a heavy glass
beer mug, was sweet and strong, though it need-
ed a little extra stirring as all the rum was on top.
The Margarita ($9) was leavened with enough tart
lime against the syrup.
Now, something I probably should’ve men-
tioned before: There are two restaurants on the
North Coast claiming the Castaway moniker.
There’s Castaways Restaurant & Tiki Bar in Can-
non Beach (one of my top picks of 2015) and
Castaway’s Seafood Grille in Long Beach (which
we’re speaking about now). Though they prefer
different punctuation, each are tangential tiki bars
and seafood forward. But the restaurants are sepa-
rately owned and inspired. Besides the name and
penchant for fruity, sugary cocktails, they have
nothing in common.
Well, almost nothing. Both serve coconut
shrimp. And, as it’s a À avor that’s stuck with me
since devouring them in Cannon Beach, I thought
I’d give them a shot in Long Beach. The differ-
ences were apparent when they hit the table. The
eight Coconut Shrimp ($9.99) in Long Beach
were butterÀ ied. As such, the surface area of the
shrimp is doubled and the ratio of breading to
12 | January 14, 2016 | coastweekend.com
meat goes way up. The breading at Castaway’s in
Long Beach included as much — or more — Pan-
ko bread crumbs than coconut. (In Cannon Beach,
it’s all coconut.) Still, the shrimp in Long Beach
were well cooked, crispy and, after dipping them
in a generic chili sauce, we ¿ nished them all.
Anyway, that’s enough comparison. As I said,
these are truly different restaurants. Where Can-
non Beach explores fusion from a base of Cajun/
Creole, Long Beach delights in, well, extra top-
pings.
The Clam Chowder ($4.49 per cup or $6.49
for a bowl) was bacon forward. Smoky and plen-
tiful, it made the clam and potato chowder more
surf and turf.
Along with bacon, spinach and cheese were
dominant components of the Oysters Rockefel-
ler ($10.99). Served on the half shell after being
baked underneath a heaping of spinach, onions,
garlic, Parmesan cheese and, yes, bacon, the oys-
The Halibut Po Boy teemed with sweet pineapple, sharp pico de gallo, and creamy and spicy aioli.
ters were as much a supporting character than the
dish’s star. The large shells overÀ owed. Rather
than a nibbling, slurping delicacy, these were
Oysters Rockefeller on steroids — almost a meal
in themselves. And while my companion and I
enjoyed this hearty variation, we took issue with
the presentation.
The oyster shells were placed on a thick bed
of spinach. And after all the loads of sopping
spinach that were already cooked into the dish,
there was absolutely no need for more, garnish or
otherwise. So, just as it came, our plate left the
table with all the extra produce. Essentially it went
from the fridge into the trash. There’s no need for
such waste.
The Halibut Po Boy ($13.99) was also teem-
mouth
OF THE COLUMBIA
COAST WEEKEND’S LOCAL RESTAURANT REVIEW
Story and photos by THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA • mouth@coastweekend.com
ing, but more thoughtfully. On top of an ex-
tra-large, soft, white bread hoagie roll/hot dog
bun, the white¿ sh was tender, clean and lightly
grilled. It cupped an abundance of pineapple pico
de gallo — with tomato, onion, and cilantro — as
well as a cole slaw, lettuce and a chipotle aioli.
The sandwich seemed almost impossible to fold
closed, and doing so cause ¿ nger-licking collat-
eral damage.
Each bite contained multitudes: the bright,
sweet pineapple; the sharp pico; the smooth,
creamy and quite spicy aioli. It made you want
to keep going back, biting in as the toppings
spilled out the sides. The sandwich came with
the selection of fries — regular, tots, sweet po-
tato or garlic. I went with the Parmesan-cov-
ered garlic fries, which were potent and plen-
tiful enough to send Dracula out of state. (I
would’ve, however, liked to have known about
the $2 up-charge beforehand, since it was of-
fered as a choice.)
We ¿ nished with the Seafood Ravioli ($19.99).
It arrived much larger than expected, about the
size of a brick. It was smothered in Parmesan
(again) and a rich cream sauce, accompanied by
enough garlic bread to sop it all up. A generous
sprinkling of parsley helped the seafood stand out.
And among the smorgasbord of crab, cod, bay
shrimp and ricotta, the layered pasta held up. Well
cooked, it remained supple against the dripping,
gooey innards.
After all this food, that the ravioli was a favor-
ite for both my companion and I is saying some-
thing. I suppose that’s because while the ¿ ller
wasn’t necessarily the most nuanced, it was pretty
killer. And it wasn’t starch.
HOURS: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
Castaway’s Seafood Grille
Rating:
208 Pacifi c Ave.
Long Beach, Washington
360-642-4745
KEY TO RATINGS
PRICE: $$ – entrées from $10 to $25
SERVICE: Bright and chipper
VEGETARIAN / VEGAN OPTIONS: A mushroom burg-
er and salads
DRINKS: Full bar, soda, coff ee, tea, juice, smoothies
poor
below average
good & worth returning
excellent
outstanding, the best in the
Columbia-Pacific region
