We live in Olympia and have been to Budd Bay Cafe often, so we took some out of town guests there for dinner, and we all were so disappointed! The service was slow throughout the meal and my wife's meal was cold when it arrived at the table. We had to ask the waiter to clear the dishes after the meal. So disappointed and embarrassed since we talked about how good this place was to our guests. read more

I came here on a Tuesday for dinner. I ended up getting the blackened salmon. It was so over cooked it was burned not blackened. I also got the crab and artichoke dip. It was difficult to taste the crab in the dip. read more

Budd Bay Cafe - The crab and artichoke dip - Seafood Near Me - Olympia, Washington

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There are quite a few options to choose from in this area of Olympia. All have spectacular views of the marina and west bay. We chose Budd Bay Cafe for our family due to the wide selection, operating hours and previous reviews. We have young kids and they all enjoyed their fish & chips and Mac & cheese meals which is quite rare for our kids. My wife and I shared a bowl of Clam chowder which was good but maybe a bit too much even for two people with medium-sizes appetites. Don't get me wrong, it was really good but it left us both partially full before our entrees even arrived. I ordered the blackened salmon and my wife ordered the crab cakes. Both were delicious especially the side of mashed potatoes that came with mine. The service was quite good. Our waiter was attentive, kind and the food came out pretty quickly. We were there during the lunch rush and so it was quite busy but we didn't feel like the food took that long to come out. We'd definitely come here again if we ever visit the area again. The views are truly picturesque and the ambiance is quaint and casual. read more

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Visiting for vacation and stopped here for first lunch! Got a steak and it was amazing! The service was amazing as well! Nancy was our server and she was amazing! read more

Just not worth the money anymore. Nice place to go for the view of the water, especially if sitting outside. Although our server was pleasant, there were long stretches of time (maybe 10 minutes) when we didn't see him, and the water glasses sat empty. And he should have offered to comp the meal that came out overcooked-- one of us sat without an entree for 12 minutes while the others had theirs. Very good attention spend on the child in our group- served quickly, crayons, and a child-friendly sippy cup. The complementary sourdough rolls (I love complimentary rolls!) were tough and tepid and soft-- not worth the calories. Delicious butter. The fried artichoke hearts are a good dish for serving, and not skimpy. The artichoke/crab dip was creamy, cheesy, tasty-- a real 1990's standard-- and wish there was more of it in the dish. The mac and cheese was very good, the sirloin steak was very much over-cooked, and it's less-done replacement was still tough and had a sour-ish flavor. Excellent baked potato-- the kind you only find in restautants-- cooked through with good potato flavor. The condiments looked like they'd been sitting out too long: the shredded cheese was drying out, the chives wilted, and the sour cream wasn't thick. The green beans very undercooked and became edible only when I took them home and microwaved them. I'd like to see less use of small plastic containers for serving up sauces and condiments; we must have gone through 12 of them for four adults. read more

all of the meats were over cooked, we ordered chowder and eggs that were never delivered, no refills or additional drinks were offered. This used to be a much better buffet! read more

I was proven really wrong about this place and forced to keep my biases adn assumptions in check. I am going to come right out and say it- I was not excited about this place beforehand. The building has a sort of dated, 90's, Bubba Gump Shrimp feel. The umbrellas are Pepsi branded. The heavy wood and oversized booths give off the feeling of a place that keeps pads of room temp butter wrapped in gold foil on the table at all times. We arrived here because the fiance wanted seafood, I was VERY HUNGRY, and the price point was more digestible than some of the other waterfront spots. The menu is varied and actually featured some of my favorite dishes that I make at home (shellfish, red curry coconut). I was pretty stumped on what to order becuase there were quite a few things that sounded delicious. The recipes had more edge and flavor than I was expecting based on the look/feel of the restaurant. I ended up asking our waitress what the most popular dish was and she didn't hesitate to gush about the salmon with wasabi crema. I love salmon and wasabi so I was SOLD! She then asked me how I wanted my salmon cooked. THANK YOU! NOTE TO EVERY RESTAURANT EVER- ALWAYS ASK CUSTOMERS HOW THEY WANT THEIR FISH. You would never make an assumption about the preparation of a steak and fish is NO different. A solid 90% of the time fish is woefully overcooked and destroyed. I got mine medium rare and went with double veggies instead of rice. The salmon was DELICIOUS. The outside was crispy and pan fried with a gorgeous crust and inside it was- true to their word- medium rare. The veggies were generously buttered, but I wont hold that against them. My fiance got the bouillabaisse and was thrilled with his dinner. The seafood was fresh and well cooked and the broth was heavily fragrant with saffron and garlic. He was a little worried about it being too heavy handed on the tomato scale, but it was light and savory. Overall, we were very pleased and will come back to explore the menu further. read more

Budd Bay Cafe - Salmon with wasabi crema - Seafood Near Me - Olympia, Washington

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The absolutely best folks ever. Our wedding luncheon here became the wedding venue and they handled all 30 of us including five small kids like Champs. Everyone loved their meals. Staff were incredible Just an awesome place. read more

Absolutely horrible food. I have eaten here just once and was astonished at how a seafood place by the harbor in a part of the country known for seafood can produce something so awful. I ordered the crab cakes and found no crab in them whatsoever. They should be called "corn meal cakes with crab flavor". Crab should be the main ingredient in crab cakes and there isn't an excuse for having none with a seafood market offering live crabs located on the other side of the parking lot. When we brought this up to management they offered to serve us another crab cake. Since that one would not have crab in it either we politely declined. Other things we were served: Clam chowder, it was ok but probably not fresh as the potatoes in it were disintegrating. Salmon: On the medium rare side, very pink in the middle - that actually is a fairly common way to eat it in the Northwest, but not for everyone. Service was good. read more

Stopped by here on our way to Olympic National Park. Our first time in Washington. We had the cod and chips. The crust was thin and crunchy. Tried the Seattle cider. Our server was good. It's nice to sit by the water outside in the patio when it's sunny. There's 2 hour free parking near by. read more

Budd Bay Cafe - Cod & Chips - Seafood Near Me - Olympia, Washington

I must visit Budd Bay Cafe whenever I visit Washington. Everything is always fresh and delicious. The service is always attentive. read more

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Stopped here for a Bloody Mary and light eats with friends and family. Bar tender appears to be new at his job. Bloody Mary was 12 dollar a glass tomato juice...no spice, one sad pickled green bean and maybe a splash of lower shelf vodka. Fool me once....you know the rest, not coming back. read more

Extraordinarily friendly and efficient service from Courtney today!. 1/2 crab Louie salad was perfect for a carb restricted diet (note: they make their own dressings) and hubby had fish and chips which we he felt were both perfectly cooked. read more

The food tasted fairly good but when I found a long wavy blonde hair fried into the calamari, I asked for a manager to come and see it and then was told by the manager that it would be taken care of and the plate was taken back (only a few pieces had been eaten) still ended up paying for the hairy calamari. Just a heads up no pun intended. read more

Budd Bay Cafe - The hairy calamari - Seafood Near Me - Olympia, Washington

Excellent food, great service Server accommodated my food alergies & food was still excellent! read more

This is one of my favorite places for lunch. The halibut fish and chips are very good. The best thing I've had on the menu and really anywhere, is the Ahi burger. Just wow! Juicy, flavorful, all the right spice and sauces. Yum! I hope they don't take this yumminess of the menu. read more

We visited Budd Bay during the summer this year. It was busy but it didn't take them very long to sit the 4 of us. We ordered for the calamari, yellow fin tuna, crab and artichoke dip and the mussels. The food was delicious. The calamari was one of the freshest calamari we've had. I am a huge squid person :) and so when I had them I knew that I would be going back for more. We were seated near a window as well so the view overlooking the boats and water was great. I would surely recommend visiting this place if your in the area. read more

Clam chowder was too thick tho packed with fresh tasting clams, Pako fried cod (fish and chips) was okay. One piece of cod was moist the other a bit dry. Telling me they refried that one piece. Chips (French fries) weren't fresh but had a good scald on them. Cole slaw came out of a bag, The cook should taste his or her food before it goes out... food was flavorless. Sorbet almost tasted lemony. Very mediocre I would come back but I'd try the steak plate or portabella burger. Wonderful view of the bay and docks. Very friendly service. The wait staff deserves all of the good credit. I'd recommend this place for hot filling food... read more

Great place on a sunny day for drinks and appetizers. Food and service is great...love the view too read more

Budd Bay Cafe - House salad, calamari, shrimp cocktail - Seafood Near Me - Olympia, Washington

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My brother and I enjoyed the clam chowder and turkey pot pie soup. We also had Huckleberry Fizz cocktails. All good.

What a darling place! We fell in love with Olympia! This restaurant is right along the bay and has views of the marina. It has outside seating and gorgeous views. Our wait staff was funny and friendly. I got the smoked salmon and goat cheese pate which was delicious, my friend got the smoked salmon and arugula, we both enjoyed a delicious cocktail. I highly recommend this place. The vibe is on point!!! read more

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Really nice little place on the pier. Good fish and chips, nice burger and prawns. Nice beer selection and parking is easy. Perfect lunch after a day at the open market. read more

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Absolutely amazing service, they took great care of us and our puppy. Went above and beyond to make us comfortable, they even boxed our food for us. On top of all this, the food was top notch, making us wish we had bigger stomachs in order to eat more. 10 out of 10, definitely eat here. read more

We finally tried this place out! I had been wanting to for awhile now. It's a nice quiet dinner spot with a beautiful view of the water. The customer service was great! Highlight of the evening was the Butternut Squash Ravioli every bite was perfect! The taste, texture and sauce was so delicious! I will be back to order that again for sure. You have to try it! read more

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Man what a disappointment and joke! I had 11 members of family visiting from out of town and we had reservations here for lunch. First, the hostesses were impolite and had long faces as if they did not wanna be there. And they are supposed to be faces of the restaurant? Get a freakin another job if you can't provide good service! Then the wait for the food to be brought to our tables was excruciating. It took them well over an hour. Yeah there were 12 of us, but come on an hour and 15 mins? You gotta be kidding! We had to inquire a few times what the delay was and were told that it's a large order so that's why it was taking time. Once the food arrived it was a huge disappointment. The so called jumbo scallops were the size of a quarter and were NOT jumbo! Very misleading and false advertisement. The fish and chips were super greasy. The salad was pretty decent though. By the time the food arrived it was already at room temperature and not warm or hot. The other items we ordered were less than par but edible. We expressed our dissatisfaction to the manager and were given a little bit of discount. However, the manager got abrasive and couldn't handle the feedback and became curt in her response. These guys were not adequately capable of handling a party our size. They did not have good customer service. Their food for the most part sucked. These guys also cater to my work. I'm going to suggest to look for another caterer. And just to give you an example of good dining, the whole group went to a fine dining establish ment called Simply Thai in Tukwila and boy what a contrast. Service was good, variety of food we ordered was excellent and hot temperature wise. read more

I ordered rare steak with over easy eggs. I probably should have the steak cooked more because it was a bit tough to chew. And the eggs were cooked nicely. Staff were friendly and everyone wore masks. read more

Budd Bay Cafe - Steak and eggs - Seafood Near Me - Olympia, Washington

Prime rib was excellent and cooked just the way it was supposed to be but the veggies in hhebplare were cold and crispy (raw). Mashed potatoes were also good. read more

This is one of our favorite places to eat. The staff and ambiance are great and the food is always delicious! I wanted to give a shout out to the exceptional service we received last night from our hostess and bartender/waiter. I tried the seared salmon special and fell in love! It was delicious but I especially loved the sweet potato purée, delicate Brussels sprouts and pepitas. Such a wonderful mix of flavors and textures. They made a traditional favorite even better. We recommend this spot to everyone! Thank you for always being amazing. read more

Our recent visit to Budd Bay Cafe left my husband I very disappointed. We went on a Thursday night and it wasn't very busy at all. Ambiance. The first thing we noticed was that solar film had been placed on the windows since our last visit. It was poorly installed and made the windows look like they were broken. The light reflected in the windows and you couldn't look out at the boats at all, which is part of the charm of the restaurant. Service. Our server was very friendly, but seemed scattered. He made several errors on the table next to us and had to make several trips to take care of everything. That delayed him getting to our table. He took our order finally, but there was no offer of an appetizer, bread or a drink. I had to grab him before he took off so we could order a drink. We never did get bread. After a long wait, our entrees arrived. They were not very hot. My husband had a flank steak and mashed potatoes and green beans. The potatoes were on a round mound like they came out of a cafeteria ice cream scoop. There was a tepid gravy served on the side. I had the seafood curry. The flavor was good, but it wasn't very hot. Bread would have been nice with it. After finishing, I thought our dishes would never be cleared. We were not offered dessert. This was my husband's birthday. A disappointing celebration. I don't think we'll be back for dinner. read more

I've been coming here at lunch for years and never disappointed. I had the Cioppino which was full of fresh tasting seafood and wonderful. My lunch partner had the Seafood Red Curry and also enjoyed every bite. It wasn't too busy because it was during the holiday week, so it was easy to get a table by the window which are the best tables because you will have an unobstructed view of the marina. Service was excellent, which sometimes is more important than the food to me. read more

An extensive seafood menu with solid service right on the Olympia waterfront. A great go to place.

The food was okay. it's frozen seafood not fresh caught. Good food portions. Clam chowder not made from scratch. Service was slow although they were not busy. They were short staff and didn't have enough servers which lead to long wait time for a table and food order servers didn't really know the menu Ambiance was okay nice view of water. decorations out dated. Floors dirty carpet needs to be cleaned. Dusty restaurant needs deep cleaning. Sorry I forgot to take pictures read more

Pomegranate Sparkler was a great choice for $10 bucks! They use Ranier Vodka! Very tasty! I'm only giving a 2 star review because of the baked potato. I've been here several times and every time I send it back. A fork shouldn't stand up in it. Should be light and fluffy. Also it was barely warm when they served it with my steak. The butter wouldn't even melt. They did bring me another one, but just wondering why the constant issue. read more

Budd Bay Cafe - Pomegranate Sparkler! - Seafood Near Me - Olympia, Washington

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Excellent harbor-side restaurant, featuring seafood and dishes for land lovers. The food is excellent, the mixed drinks were perfectly made, the service top notch and the price slightly below comparable restaurants. During the spring/summer/fall months, the large windows offer a tremendous view of the harbor. I highly suggest Budd Bay. read more

We had a family reunion in this restaurant and had a lot fun. The food we individually ordered were all excellent except they missed one and had to follow up. But we got a huge dessert return. And we chose an excellent chocolate cake which name I cannot remember. The ambience is besides a waterfront and has tables outside which is perfect for summer. Its my second time and I will come back pretty soon. read more

Budd Bay Cafe - Taken Inside the cafe with my family. Budd where the resto got the name is the bay besides it. - Seafood Near Me - Olympia, Washington

What a pleasant surprise! Everything we ordered was delicious. Blackened scallops were perfectly cleaned with a nice pepper jelly kick. Halibut was fresh and flaky. The crab cakes were addictive (I'm glad I ordered 3). Even the sourdough buns had a comforting crunch. Finished our entire meal! I am only deducting 1 star because when I arrived, the hostess seemed incredibly inconvenienced by seating a table of 4. I was polite and patient throughout our exchange, but it seemed as though she had no tables left and much better things to do. Now, I don't expect bells and whistles from the staff, but I also don't expect to be treated as a burden either. The rest of the staff was pleasant. read more

Just had lunch there again and was again sorely disappointed. Just plan on spending $15.99 no matter what. I ordered beef tips appetizer, chewey meat, salty sauce. There needs to be a lunch special under fifteen dollars, simple , small shrimp salad, fish sandwich? The rest of the party was not thrilled with the choices either, the cup of chowder was about 1/3 of a cup. Maybe dinners are great but so far not had a good lunch in the 3 times Ive been there. Won't be back for a long while. The staff was great. read more

We had the surf and turf special and it was amazing! The lobster was fresh and juicy, the shrimp was big, the steak was a little too red for me but my dad said it was excellent. The baked potato was huge and the lemon cake was fluffy and delicious! So yummy!!! read more

From the young lady at the front podium to the runner to the waiter, impeccable service. Cioppino was great, flavorful and packed with seafood. My shrimp scampi was wonderful although I could have went with a touch more garlic. If the weather allows, wait if you have to to sit outside. read more

Food - 4 Drinks - 3 Service - 1 So I could definitely understand why people would love this place, but my visit was not what I was expecting. Obviously, there are regulars that come here because our waitress seemed to know and want to talk to all her customers, except for us. I think it's great to build that connection but if you're giving your time and attention to the people you already know, you definitely won't have any new returning customers. We were seated immediately but the waitress didn't show for another 10 minutes. Then when we ordered drinks, she seemed really annoyed to have to answer a simple question - which was, can you substitute the juice for a mimosa? Anyhow, drinks came out kind of fast. When we ordered our meal, it took nearly 40-45 minutes before we got our food. After we got our meal, the waitress never came back until I flagged her down for some condiments. Then, while I was waiting to ask for the check, she walked right by me, to the customer at the table next to me and proceeded to have a 10 minute conversation about her husband. Really? I just wanted to run out of there. If you're a manager and you're reading this. You should look out for that. I would have loved to come back but I don't like being treated like a nobody. My money is just as good as anyone else's and I should receive the same service as anyone else too. Shame! read more

Budd Bay Cafe - Seafood Near Me - Olympia, Washington

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