Nell Thorn Restaurant & Pub

This was a very good meal! Fresh ingredients. Started with a glass of Bordeaux that was very good $ 14. Appetizer was sautéed sugar peas in a butter garlic, cooked perfectly. House salas was excellent with organic dark leaf lettuce, raspberries and a champagne vinaigrette, large portion, very tasty. A filet that could be cut with a fork and cooked perfect was next with mashed potatoes with a lemon butter sauce and what turned out to be the best steamed Swiss chard and kale I have ever had. We also had a cod dish that was also very good. Dessert was a special cherry tart with fresh homemade whipped cream and what looked like homemade canned cherries, not the crap from a can, very very good. Staff was pleasant, got our reserved table within 5 min, service started a little slow and bread didn’t come till the salad, but service was adequate and water was never empty. I think my only suggestions would be white linen table cloths and although they had a window screen, the sun was very warm through the window and I was sweating by the end, so get an optional reflective shade. That’s the only reason it wasn’t a «5». Will definitely go back. Thank you for a great dinner. $ 125 plus tip for two.

I think its as good as it gets for the price and value combined with the ambience of this jewel of a restaurant sitting on the water of this resort town. I had black cod and tried some of their morels the served with our dishes and it was excellent. Loved the pot stickers, arugula salad and fired risotto cakes. Like their local beers too.

Sooooo good. Sat outside on the water. Had Irish beef stew, potstickers, pasta, spot prawns and dessert. Everything was out of this world. I will be back for sure.

I ordered off the daily special menu from the dinner menu. It was a ravioli dish. Disappointed bc no meat or seafood like I thought. Misread it. Not a fulfilling or excitement in the dish for the price. My cousins ordered the duck daily special which was good. Small portion on the duck. The other cousin ordered lamb which was a huge portion. They gave it a four. I gave it a 3 bc the price for my ravioli. Service is what gives it a 4. Oysters were good! I would return for the drink and service. Just gotta be careful on the dinner menu.

After visiting Tulip Town we found this cute joint to enjoy lunch. My husband and I ordered two dishes to share. The Crab Spaghetti was absolutely fantastic. The fish and chips was not edible. My husband didn’t seem to have a problem with his piece of fish but mine was so under cooked that the battery literally dripped out when I tore it in half. Since this was at the end of the meal we told the waitress not to bring another back but she did comment on how undercooked it was. I was disappointed that we were charged full price with no discount or offer of a free dessert.. Again the crab spaghetti was amazing. I would give it another shot

On our family Tulip/​Deception Pass trip found this place on Unilocal good reviews but was very disappointed.
Slow service, specially kitchen staff not very attentive to orders. We had a pregnant family member in our group who needed well cooked meat, three of us wanted well done but all came medium rare. Sent back after almost 15 minutes steak came back same medium rare bit warmed up. Crab Spaghetti came out cold, appetizer wings came out not fully cooked.
Gave two stars only cause our waiter tried her best to be nice and accommodating, that is the only reason TIPd her well.
They get busy during touristy season but can’t handle all the business.
Please Managment, work on the issue, PLEASE!!!

It was a very awkward experience.
We were asked to wait for 20 minutes or go to the bar. We got a walk and returned in 20 min. The waiter told us that there is still a queue and we can wait at the bar and order drinks there. She said she would seat is at the table soon.
We went to the bar and ordered drinks and food. We got the drinks and soon the food.
What surprised us, there were 80% of the tables vacant. So I got just curious and asked why do we need to wait if there are so many free tables. I got a response that there are just few waiters and they can’t serve all the tables.
People were coming and going. But we were still sitting at the bar.
We finished our food at the bar, no one showed us to the table.
It was just so stupid, we had to eat the whole dinner waiting for the table while there were so many free tables there.
For the price we paid it’s just awful experience. Won’t go there again.
Give more than 1 star because the food was good and place looked beautiful.
But again, for that price the service is awful.

My husband and I stopped by for a quick happy hour dinner after viewing the tulips in the area. Fast and friendly service. We shared the pickled salmon appetizer which we were a little skeptical about when ordering… it was pretty good! We split the ribeye which was plenty for both of us and was cooked perfectly at medium rare. We had a nice window seat and view of the water. We would definitely recommend!

so sorry to write a sad review… While our service was great and friendly, we were served overcooked crab cakes that were too crumbly, overcooked and dry halibut (which they redid and it was great) and burnt hangar steak (which they redid and it was still burnt).
We were warned that the food was hit and miss… I think we got the miss.

This came highly recommended and seemed to be a local favorite. Ordered my favorite wild salmon and requested to have grilled. Waitress (Holly) responded why. That was not here concern to say the least. Well after it arrived, with a sauce ON TOP OF THE SKIN, which obviously you do not eat and peel off. That does not say much for the chef as well to do such a thing. In addition, the salmon was just warm.

Food was good, service was weird. For the price, I shouldn’t need to mention the service. I may be back, maybe I’ll get a warm invitation to come back. I live nearby, seems like a restaurant would want to keep their neighbors happy. We’ll see.
Really good crab cakes

We heard really good things about this restaurant while in Anacortes and La Conner, so decided to drop by around 8:30pm this past Saturday. We were immediately seated and were served water and menus. Our waitress seemed a bit cold, but we didn’t give it much thought initially. Ordered drinks that came in a few minutes. Fried Samish bay oysters were mediocre, with no crisp and still covered in oil (my wife bit into one that oozed oil out). The entrees were decent. We had the lamb burger with gorgonzola & Diver scallops. The scallops were cooked to perfection, while the burger was well executed but nothing out of the ordinary. Fries and spicy ketchup with burger were really excellent though.
The service though was pretty mediocre, to downright non-​existent throughout the night. Our server was cold and while we were starting on our entrees we saw her take a seat in another booth and start eating her dinner! I understand it must have been a long night, but I’ve never seen staff eat in front of guests before. They also left our whole section without a server for the rest of the night — at one point my wife went up to the bar to get more ketchup since no one would look or come near our section!
All in all, a decent dinner but for $ 100 I would have liked a better experience. They position the restaurant as a high end restaurant but the execution leaves a bit to be desired.

Our new favorite place to eat out. Nell Thorns is the place we have been looking for years. Love, Love, Love the freshness of all the ingredients. And the flavors, my oh my. Can’t wait to come back.
It’s a must eat to anyone who happens to be in La Conner and is hungry. Even if you are not, take some home.

Great, but fell short of amazing. The mushroom polenta had great flavor and crisp texture but the cream had too much floury thickness. Fried calamari was good and lite but nothing to write home about. I enjoyed the ‘lingcod fish town’, it was a very generous portion of seafood and was well cooked, I did long for a bit more salt or flavor to the broth. And the potatoes were very overdone.
Our waitress was efficient without being pretentiously fancy and I appreciated that. If I could give it a 3 ½ I would, but at least the food was reasonable priced. Overall the restaurant is cute and the bar has a good ambiance, I love the locally sourced food, and the view is what earned the fourth star in this review.

Service: awesome and everyone was enthusiastic to help with a smile.
Lamb shank: it smelled amazing! I was so happy that was the smell of my second dinner. You can really taste the freshness of the ingredients. The green leaves were still crunchy even after they had been cooked. The lamb meat just fell off the bone, no knife required. Loved the balance between the beans and shiitake mushrooms, but the sauce was slightly salty.

The wait staff is very friendly and the atmosphere is nice.
The food however was the downfall of our visit. I came here with my mother, she ordered the portobello burger. Which was an absolute mess to eat. The bun was soggy before it got to our table, and the burger was falling apart just looking at it! The flavor itself was good, but make sure you order extra napkins when you order this one.
The food I got was the crispy calamari. Unless you are a fan of salt, you should probably avoid this. The calamari itself tasted like the breading itself was fine, but the layer of salt they pour on top was very overpowering. The aioli it came with was delicious though.

Went on a Saturday afternoon after we accidentally saw a LaConner town tulip festival parade.
We started out with the polenta cakes with creamy Gorgonzola, which we probably could have ordered more and had that solely as our dish. Highly recommend!
My husband ordered the Nell Burger, which came with fries. He chose it with Gorgonzola as well, and said it was delicious.
I ordered the soup and salad, with the creamy Gorgonzola as dressing (cuz ³⁄₃ was necessary!), and tomato soup. The tomato soup had cinnamon so it was sweet, and took me a little off guard until I tried another bite. It also came with a slice of Brie and baked bread, both of which rounded out the lunch meal quite nicely.
It was a good price for a lunch, and we’d go back the next time we’re in town!

This place maybe would’ve deserved a four-​star rating except their service was a bit off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but something was awry with the staff at this restaurant. The food was good and came out in a timely manner, but my cousin, her husband, and I came in after going to see the tulip gardens on Saturday. The restaurant was busy but not overly so. I noticed some tables reserved for parties coming later, but there seemed to be several staff on the premises.
I had the scallops on a sweet potato purée and a house salad. The scallops were cooked to perfection and were delicious. I was sad that this seasonal way of preparing the scallops meant no morels as were pictured in a previously posted photo here. The salad left much to be desired. It was literally some greens with about ten apple shreddings on top. That is hardly a salad I look forward to eating. Anyway, the rest of my party had the fried oysters and the flank steak. I guess it wasn’t very filling because we ended up having a second dinner when we got to Edmonds.
Overall I was satisfied with this spot but will likely try the brewery the next time I’m back in this area.

Excellent happy hour selection (Monday-​Friday 3pm-​6pm) with a wide verity of cocktails and appetizers. Happy hour offers $ 1-​$ 2 dollars off drinks (beer, wine, and well drinks).
Nell’s Aviator ($ 11) Gin, luxardo, rothman & winter, crème di violet, and a cherry. I bit bitter, but excellent for Gin lovers.
Mescal Luna ($ 12) tequila and lemon. Enough said. Enjoyed every bit of it.
Honey Cream Ale ($ 5.75) Man’s review: «it was good.»
Crispy Calamari– a bit heavy on the salt, mild taste, soft, and chewy.
Truffle fries– AMAZING. Ketchup a bit too spicy
Oyster Spooners– a must try, even for those who do not like oysters. You will not be disappointed
Just a Burger– choice of Irish Cheddar or Creamy Gorgonzola. Chose the Gorgonzola. Made for an excellent juicy burger.
Come see Larry, he is a charming server.

Love this place! It is exactly as described: farm fresh to table! Everything is fresh, beautiful and inventive! I had the salmon salad which was excellent– great flavors and perfectly scooped, healthy-​portioned salmon! The wine and cocktail list also looked great, but I didn’t partake. Lastly, the interior is adorable and features beautiful vintage lighting from the boutique down the street. If you’re anywhere near LaConner, you must stop here for a bite to eat!