Marks On the Channel

Chose to dine here because of the menu option of Prime Rib and sides. If you like your Prime Rib a quarter inch sliced and well over done than this the place to visit at If not than find other dining options.

Calamari with thousand island dressing? Yuk? Give me something better.
Deep fried rock fish with grease oozing from it? Cole Slaw with no dressing? Just chopped up cabbage.
Clam Chowder that was tasteless thick paste?
This place was way over priced for what we had for food service and ambiance.
If I felt like I could renegotiate the final bill I would only pay 70% of it.

A little on the snotty side but still basically good service. Food was good, prices… meh. They’re not as good as they think they are but I’d still go back. I’d be go more frequently if they lost their stuck up attitude and just were a bit more nice to everyone, and not just the younger/​in (?) crowd. Turned my hubby right off and it’s hard to blame him when someone less than half your age looks down their nose at you and rolls their eyes at your questions as if you’re an idiot for asking.

The bacon and blue cheese salad, with smoked salmon is the pinnacle of eating delight. I’ve heard the quote ‘to die for’, this is it.
My wonderful wife looked at the salad and the option to include with smoked salmon. And for another quote in When Harry Met Sally: «Yes! Yes! Yes! … I’ll have what she’s having.»
Our waitress was attentive, helpful and very well engaged with all of the customers. She’s that young bubbly person whom you’d like to just have her sit and join your table.

Great location. Overpriced and not great quality food. Go for a drink only!

I hope to gosh someone considering eating at Mark’s reads this before they decide to go there. This place *used* to be great: food, service, price, ambience — it had it all. Now? It was trés expensive, especially for what you get. You say you like calimari? Hope you like cabbage, because that is what you will be eating. The few pieces of calamari were delicious but at $ 1.00 per ring, no, thank you. With a delicious bottled thousand island dressing. mmmmm. The cabbage was crisp and fresh, and if you like cabbage, this is your dish. The salad my wife ordered looked good. It was fresh, large, and had plenty of goodies on it. For $ 17, ok. Sure. The oyster sandwich I ordered came out as the cod sandwich. They offered to fix it, but after the wait, I really didn’t want to have my wife eat her dinner while I waited, and then I rush through something. So I accepted the cod. Well, the question could be asked (*should* be asked), «where is the cod?» I mean c’mon. I had like sixteen ounces of fried breaded crust and maybe 2.5 ounces of fish, which wasn’t even a fresh cod, I’m sure. It was dry, like it had been frozen awhile. Then the fries that came with — cold and even worse, oily. No greasy, but oily. Yuck.
Now I’ll admit the ambience is still pretty nice on a smokey summer afternoon. But you know, for over $ 50 bucks — try to get the food ordered actually delivered, and when it sucks, don’t offer to buy me a dessert. I want my dinner. So here I am now at home, hungry, wondering what’s there to eat?
Such a massive disappointment. We eat out so seldom, and now I remember why. Mark’s exemplifies why we should all just cook at home. If you want to go out for a trip to the river, the river beaches on Sauvie’s across the slough are quite nice, and a lot less expensive.
Mark’s: six thumbs down.

Let me start by saying how much I used to love this place. 5 – 6 years ago the food was top notch and deck on the Chanel couldn’t be beat.
Now fast forward to the year 2015 and it really is sad. I go back because of the memories of the past, and always leave disappointed.
Today the fish was undercooked and the staff was really friendly but painfully slow.
And the food… Man I wish it was like it used to be. The ribs taste reheated… The fish was undercooked or burnt. And I’m not talking about $ 10 dollar dinners. Fish was around $ 23.00 for the halibut fish and chips.
It really deserves a 2 star… But I have the great memories of the past…

Good service and location. So-​so food and over priced.

Wonderful location, attentive and friendly service. Boat parking. Great specials. We even saw about 20 osprey diving into the water for their own dinner. A real hidden gem.

This place has a nice curb appeal since it’s located on the marina. But the food is mediocre and expensive. the server was super friendly thoo… I would come back just to enjoy the marina and have a few drinks. just because there is not much going on here in town.

Marks is a summer must go to for me but at the same time. someth’s happ’ning here .what it is aint exactly clear.
The change appeared to come when fancy white contemporary plates showed up instead of the standard white dishware.
Then someone had the nerve to mess with the topping on the corncakes. That was almost enough for me to march into the kitchen. Thankfully they have gone back to the original corncake.
Fancy wine menus showed up. Yes they needed to up their wine selection but lets not try and make it look like we are at the Hilton.
I guess for me, this is a comfortable laid-​back location. Folks in swim suits, shorts, tank tops… its odd to have the place trying to upscale itself to a downtown Portland fancy restaurant feel. It doesnt work. The young/​new wait staff cant match that look either.
Return to your comfy classic casual style. Allow a new chef come in and try a couple new items on the menu but for gawd sakes leave the oysters and corncakes alone!
Sure wish the long island iced tea was the same… no good anymore.
I love ya Marks, I’ll keep coming hoping you stop messing with the good you had.

My son and daughter in law live quite close to this restaurant and while we were with them on holidays, they decided we would all go here for dinner. I had never been to a floating restaurant and I wasn’t disappointed with this one. From the moment we walked through the door, the waiter was very attentive and even asked us if the music that was playing was to our taste and if not, he would change it. Our drinks were served immediately and not long afterwards, our delicious cold and chips was served. The helpings were quite big and didn’t think we could eat another bite of food but we just couldn’t resist the crème brulee. When we had finished our meal, the waiter came to take away our plate rests and told us to stay and relax for as long as we wished. With just ten more days of our holidays left, we hope to get back to this lovely restaurant before our departure. Even though it’s a bit on the expensive side for fish and chips, it’s definitely worth a return visit.

We had a good meal here. The appetizers were good. Calamari and saganaki. Our dinners were good as well. Prime rib and several fish platters. Service was on top of it and helpful. Overall good food but just a bit spends but the view from the back deck was fantastic. So I think the premium was fine.

First the good, it is a nice setting on a sunny day to sit on the deck overlooking the water.
Now for the rest of it, the prices are way out of line, over expensive for what you get in food, quality and service. The menu looks good and we had high hopes but then we got our food. The waitress raved about the Halibut fish and chips so thats what I went for. The fish was tasteless and not much of it for $ 23.95, I don’t mind spending a little more if I get something great, the fish and chips at Burgerville are as good, maybe a bit better for half the price.
The wife had on of the burgers and it would have served as a back up puck for the Wintehawks it was so overcooked. On the other hand the fries were barely cooked and not very tasty, even though they had been tossed in some type of seasoning with lots of paprika.
We were not able to bring the issues to the attention of the wait staff because they never came to ask. In fact I had to go looking for them to get the check to pay
We have been hoping to try this place since we moved to St Helens a few years ago but now we know that there was not rush. We might go back some evening just to sit on the deck and have a cocktail but I doubt we will try the food again.

If you’re looking for a relaxing place to grab a drink on the water this is it. You can’t beat the back deck on a nice day. Then why the two stars you ask? The food is terrible. And by terrible I mean unpalatable. By comparison I would have given a floating taco cart in the same location at least 4 stars.
We showed up on a Sunday at 4:30 pm, placed our drink order and had to wait for 10 minutes before two coke’s showed up. Once they did we had to request that she take our dinner order… she came back a full five minutes later for that. Now keep in mind, this wouldn’t be an issue if the food was even mediocore… it is a nice place to sit after all. Unfortunately, everything went downhill fast once the food arrived.
The calamari appetizer was disgusting. I’ve got a high tolerance for fried calamari but this was terrible. What sat on the plate was about two cups of shriveled calamari that looked as though the waitress had gathered the left over calamari from throughout the day and then refried them. They charge $ 9 for this. The combo fish and chips platter was nearly as bad. The coleslaw is completely devoid of flavor. The French fries were a mix of soggy and burnt. The beer battered fish part of the combo was average but the fried rock fish was almost as bad as the calamari. This mess set’s you back just under $ 20.
During the course of our meal the couple next to us politely asked my opinion. I was candid. She responded with «it seems like it used to be better.»
Mark, here’s a tip… you’ve got a serious problem when your customers (total strangers) are chatting about how awful your food is. You’ve got a good thing going with the location but you can’t charge PDX prices for Denny’s quality food. In fact, you’d be better off hiring an experienced line cook from Denny’s…you’ve got nothing to lose.

I’ll preface this review by saying I don’t usually give negative reviews… realizing that every establishment has a bad day now and then… So here goes… It’s Mother’s Day — we called to make a reservation and the phone message said that they were not taking any more reservations but that they WERE taking walk ins, and with just two of us we felt ok about that. We made the hour long drive up there… Upon realizing we did not have a reservation we were told they were NOT taking any walk-​ins (the place was nearly empty @ 11:30am) and they only had enough food for reservations, all the while denying the phone message invited walk-​ins!!! Are you kidding me — REALLY… WHO only orders enough food for reservations and on an important day like Mother’s Day. Huge mistake… huge. We’ve had such a good time there in the past we we’re sorely disappointed!!!

Recently went to Mark’s for the first time after having living in Scappoose for over a year and not having tried it. We sat outside on a nice day — not all of the tables have umbrellas so if you don’t want the full sun you might have to sit inside or luck our for a table with an umbrella.
I had the fish and chips with haddock — as the halibut version was too pricey for a lunch meal in my opinion. The fish was tasty but I prefer more of a battered fish and chips than a breaded one. My dining partner had the oyster sandwich which she liked — it had a ton or oysters in it.
Will definitely try again next summer.

Not a ton of vegetarian options, but there was some fish options. It’s a small’ish kitchen, but there is some cool ambiance in that you are literally dining on a BOAT.
I think the staff was awesome, the location amazing, the food maybe a little overpriced (could be because you’re on a BOAT — did I mention it’s a BOAT?), and the menu not quite as extensive (for vegetarians) as I would have liked.
They do have live music on Fridays or Saturdays (or both) — which is a nice atmosphere in the summer time.

Went here last weekend and not to bad. They were out of almost everything so it was a little hard to judge. The food we did have was pretty good, nothing spectacular, but not bad. The prices were a little high in my opinion, but will go back again and hopefully they have more food to choose from.
The fact that it was on the channel made this place pretty unique.
Food: 3 stars
Staff: 5 stars
Price: 2 stars

Location /​setting — 5 stars
Service — 5 stars
Food — 1 star
Summertime in the Portland Area is amazing. Throw in a boat ride to Marks and you truly get to enjoy the beauty of a Portland Summer.
When you pull up in the boat you can expect to be greeted by a friendly staff member, they will take your name and get your table ready as you get your boat secured, whats not to love about that?
I have been in a few times, and I will go back. The wait staff is so friendly and the setting is great, there is nothing like eating on a dock on a sunny day.
The food, not great. They used to have a Jambalaya on the menu that was okay, that is not currently on the menu. The chowder was soupy and lacked flavor. The clam risotto was okay at best, I feel like a clam risotto should be great but it was lacking.
There is a lot to love about this place, I just wish I could love the food as well. I hope they keep the friendly staff, that keeps me coming back on nice days.