Mccormick & Schmick's Seafood

06/01/09

low class help

by mdhall7

trashy bartenders, terrible service...

So DON'T ruin your whole night because of this joint... go somewhere else.

• Pros: none to speak of
• Cons: bad service/obnoxious staff

11/25/08

Overpriced - Overcooked

by Gwennie38

It's not a restaurant that I would have ever chosen because I don't like high priced restaurants, but I got a gift certificate from my boss so I took my mother for her birthday. I asked for a window seat when I made my reservation and mentioned that it was my mothers birtday but there was no mention of it while we dined. I would have liked for it to be acknowledged and for her to receive a little dessert. I'm not talking about having the waiters sing at the table, but a little something is nice.

General observations:

One little bun sized piece of bread cut into 5 slices for a table of 4? Dinner was $130, and no extra bread? I don't understand ala carte dining, I gues I appreciate the lower end restaurants where you get a salad with your meal.

My mother had the ling cod, the fish was good but it was served with what looked and tasted like plain white rice Yuck!

My daughter had the crab stuffed salmon which was tasty, but it was swimming in a big puddle of grease on her plate.

My son had the sirloin & scampi, no comlaints, everyone at the table wished they had ordered what he had.

I had the wild mixed grill-no sauce on the crab cake, the salmon was over cooked and dry, the risotto was tasty, but there was that all too familiar puddle of grease on the plate.

I've got $18 left on the gift certificate, anybody want it?

• Pros: It will quickly relieve you of a pesky chunk of change that's bothering you
• Cons: Everything else

09/13/08

Great All Around Seafood Place with enchanting view.

by uchylisa

We ate at McCormick & Smicks Harborside tonight and though we've lived in Portland for many years it was our first time. We took our two children (2 and 10) and it was a GREAT experience. They kids muched on tender calimari and delicious steamer clams and watched the passerbyers on the Esplanade as they waited for they dinners, Dinner was not only tasty but beautiful, no detail was missed. They even took the tails off the shrimp for the kids shrimp meal. I had Albacore and my husband had Ahi, both cooked perfectly. We had a nice bottle of wine and the kids shared a deseret trio which satisfied both of them. They only thing that could use improvement was the coffee. I was expecting a french press or at least something strong and local such as Stumptown, but it tasted like coffee you got in college when pulling an allnighter at Denny's.

• Pros: great location for people watching and a nice view of the water, every food item was had was good!
• Cons: coffee was NOT good!

10/28/07

Great Place - lots of energy, great seafood and service

by the_cow_whisperer

We're heard poor reviews on this site about this place and were a little leary. But, we were tired after a long day of sightseeing so it was close. We were very pleasantly surprized. We were walk-ins (Friday night) got seated by the window, and ran through a selection of wonderful fresh oysters, a beer sampler, arctic char, and king salmon along with an amazing dessert sampler. The fish was perfectly done, wait staff friendly and efficient. Definitely a place to go after tiring of the higher-end restaurants in town.

08/23/07

Avoid at all costs

by unfortunatecookie

Horrible first impression as our appetizer (ahi sashimi) was anything but fresh. In fact, it was crawling with some kind of small green "crawlies" (since citysearch censors the "b-word" ;) ). While I might be tempted to put this down as a onetime fluke, even one incident of that magnitude is unacceptable. The crawlies weren't exactly subtle or hidden, so surely someone along the line should have noticed. The waitress was as nice as could be expected about it and the floor manager instantly offered to comp our entire meal, but there was no way we were staying to experience the rest of a meal there. So from what I experienced, I would guess the service is great but if you're looking for fresh (or even edible) seafood, stay away from McCormick and Schmick's.

• Pros: Waitstaff were friendly and tried hard to address problems
• Cons: Inedible (quite seriously) food

08/20/07

Cold...

by smapty

While the seating was very prompt our waitress was not. In-fact we saw the bus-girl more than our waitress. When ordered the tuna and marlin both came cold. The waitress seemed stunned that something like that could happen. I figured if she were more prompt our food didnt have to sit and turn cold. When they fixed it they OVER-COOKED the fish (how?). The floor manager comp-ed our dessert which was good and delivered by the bus-girl. Seriously? All in all the location is great and good atmosphere.

• Pros: Great View
• Cons: Overpriced seafood!

07/31/07

Best host staff duo

by hamastaire12

My family has freqented the Harborside for a couple years now and I myself have frequented the waterfront gem for many months now and I always have a great time. I request to sit in the same spot and have never had a problem! The lighting under my preferred spot is fantastic and the beautiful ladies at the front desk (especially the shorter one with a brown bob and her much taller brunette couterpart) have always been smiling and having a great time with thier job. As I've come to know them from my time spent there, these ladies always try their hardest to grant all requests that people come in with and do so with a big smile! They are genuinely in love with their job! They aren't afraid to interact with customers and shoot the breeze with some of the regulars (such as myself and a few others I usually sit near)

Transporation is another quandry since my car was stolen...but I manage to still make it down there and its great not having to pay for parking!

Although I usually overdress for the occasion (Im a tuxedo man myself) the atmosphere is one of class and fun. It seems I have a permenant smile on my face when Im at the Harborside!

• Pros: Amazing hostess duo.
• Cons: one of them is leaving soon.

03/04/07

Good place to take out of towners

by lizzywizzy

I loved the location of this restaurant. It is in front of the harbor with a river view. My husband and i have been there a few times and have never had to wait for a table. I personally liked the way the restaurant has tiered seating. I liked the ambiance of this place. The dress code is dressy casual. I agree with some of the other reviews as far as the prices, they are a little high . The food is good, but nothing out of this world. Service is a little slow but friendly. I think this is one of those places to go to visit when you have out of town guest visiting because of the nice location and the atmosphere is classy. I'd like to know where most people park when dining at his place because we have always parked at the parking garage across the street and have had to pay alot. Is the valet free? Do they validate parking ticket? We always forget to ask. Does anybody know?

• Pros: Atmosphere is classy and great location
• Cons: expensive food , small portions, slow service

10/15/06

All about hype

by jadran

M&S has become somewhat of a local institution among the yuppie and upper class blue-hair set. Riding mostly on location and lots of money to spend on atmosphere, all of the restaurants in this chain, including the Harborside, have ridden a wave. Many people go here because of the lovely location on the Willamette, but the chances of seeing the river from inside this cavernous place are slim, especially if you go during a busy hour. The service in the restaurant tends to be decent, though it's such a huge place that the servers seem to easily forget some of their tables and none of the servers seems to enjoy their job or the customers, they just seem to be going through the motions. This is probably largely because they are always in a hurry to scurry to the other side of the restaurant. The atmosphere was obviously expensive and that's just about what it feels like, lots of money but no soul. I've had both cocktails and wine at the bar. The wine selection is good with nice variety, the cocktails decent, though on the weak side and not cheap. The food I've found to be unreliable in quality. If you find yourself here, go for one of the salmon dishes, which seem to be consistenly good. Then again, there are many places that do it as well for less money.

• Pros: location, reputation
• Cons: over-priced, lack of soul

Seafood, waterfront views and microbrews--this place has it all.

by Contributor

In Short
This eatery's waterfront location and upscale-yet-casual ambience make it popular among everyone from prom-goers to groups celebrating special occasions--and the multi-tiered layout ensures views from every table. Skillfully prepared traditional seafood is to be expected. Good options include local salmon and sturgeon, grilled swordfish and oysters on the half-shell. Steaks are consistently good, as well. Beer is serious business here, with a dozen or so styles of Full Sail, most of which aren't available elsewhere.