Tide Pool Cafe And Lodge — Restaurant in Seldovia

ALL reviews about Tide Pool Cafe And Lodge

• Added 2015.10.06

  Expensive, slow, small portions, bad service. We had two hours off the boat and they took up our whole time. They were out of half of the selections on their menu. The server never came back to refill my tea. When I ordered one to go she charged me $2.50 for the sixteen ounce cup of tea. I'm not sure what the other restaurants here are like but I'd suggest trying one of the others for sure. This review is for the lodge. Short version: The owner Dean took full payment six months in advance, and in my opinion knowingly double booked a nignt of our stay with the hope he would have additional lodging ready in time. When that failed to happen he didn't communicate with us honestly and then provided unsanitary and unsafe housing for part of our party for 1 night of our 3 night stay. Our fishing trip was cut short because of these housing issues. Once we got to the apartment it was adequate for our needs but is 2 bedrooms/1 bath, and is unfinished with multiple potentially dangerous issues. He lost potentially repeat customers as we would never rent from him again. The long version: I am a life long Alaskan who has been visiting Seldovia for years. I planned a once in a lifetime extended family fishing trip for 6 adults and 3 kids. My husband had rented the apartment above the tide pool last year during the summer and had had a good experience. We called and booked 2 separate 3 day weekends for this summer back in January. I booked and paid in full for the apartment for a 3 nights over a weekend in mid June. I talked extensively to Dean about the weekend, how many people etc.. He said on the phone he checked his "book" right there and then because he was worried it might conflict with a fishing party from Texas but they would leave the day before so it was open. He charged my credit card for all three nights upfront in January. I received no confirmation email. He did not return my calls or emails. We finally came in to the tide pool one weekend in person. Dean finally admitted he had double booked one night of our stay but we would have space as he had a rental property that would be done by then. We were told check in was after 4pm and the restaurant closed at 5pm. When we came to the tide pool cafe at 430pm it was closed. The door was open so we called out until the woman behind the counter came out. She said the extra room at the new property wasn't ready. She told us we would be staying at an alternative lodge next door owned by a different person (which was lovely) but wasn't big enough for all of us so my parents would stay at the new property for the night and then we would all move over to the actual apartment we rented in the morning. Dean said he would come get us when it was ready. At 8 pm I had to walk into the closed tide pool cafe to hunt him down and find out when it would be done. They said shortly and we watched them take a truck with two beds over to the house to set up. When we went over it was two beds set up in a room with carpet padding over the windows as curtains, no hot water and no heat. One of the two beds smelled so badly it couldn't be used. My parents slept in the one decent bed and my husband, my 2 year old daughter and myself spent the night on our boat. In the morning- instead of leaving for our fishing trip- we had to move all of our things from the temporary lodgings to the apartment we had actually rented. Dean had said the apartment would be ready at ten- it was ready at 1130am. The actual apartment we paid for has many unfinished details including several open electrical outlets/panels an easily accessed unfinished second bathroom that has open floor boards, and shower handles that didn't shut off and came off when turned. Despite that, it had enough beds, was comfortable and clean enough, with beautiful views and a nice layout. Dean told us several conflicting stories of how we got double booked. Our fishing trip was shortened because of their inability to be honest or properly schedule. The stress of having to hunt them down repeatedly, wait hours to have a place to sleep - with small children - and in the end the disgusting place my parents slept had me in tears. (I am not a crier) I would never use them again and have trouble believing they will be in business much longer with this type of customer service. We were repeat customers who could have given them business for years to come and now I wouldn't use them ever again. If you want to catch fish do not go here if you do happen to catch fish it will never get to your house Dean is a LIAR my group has been waiting for our fish since June I keep calling Dean but he just tells me a different lie each time now he will not answer his phone so everyone be aware of this scam it costs a lot to go on these fishing trips please do not make the same mistake I did Food was okay. Waitress was relatively nice, even if it took 15 minutes to get water. However, I could hear the kitchen manager yell at the staff about putting in too many orders at once, like somehow that is their fault or even a bad thing. I also heard him complain specifically about my order since I requested no onions on my burger. It's fine if you want to throw a tantrum like a two year old over every little thing, but maybe build a door so customer can't hear your whines while I wait for my food. Truly unacceptable behavior for a restaurant. Fish and chips are very yummy. Love the batter!