Shelburne Inn

The food was amazing. I swear it was one of the best soups I have ever had in my life. We got the soup of the day. It was a beef base with wild mushrooms. I asked for matsutake mushrooms on top of the soup and they were very accommodating. The soup arrived with slices of those white fragrant Japanese pine mushroom. We entered the soup like it was a world of its own. Like I already wrote, by far the best soup I have ever had in my entire life.
The dessert was also amazing.
The fish and chips was also amazing (fresh cod).
We are going there tomorrow for a porcini and matsutake scramble breakfast.
We also left with some amazing pottery made by the inn keeper.

The clam chowder is the best part about this place. The food is always the best every time you go there! The most badass! Just about as badass as Pickeld Fish!

Stayed here for a couple of nights. Previous reviews mention room temps but our room had a mini air unit and temp was delightful throughout our stay.
Food was amazing! Had dinner here one night, breakfast twice. Dinner was much better of the meals — server was attentive and extremely friendly. Had crab ravioli that was creamy and tasty. Finished dinner with a fabulous slice of carrot cake — moist and delicious. Also had live music which made it feel romantic and cozy. Breakfast is good but staff seems overwhelmed in the morning — service was slow which was okay, more uncomfortable by frantic atmosphere. Wasn’t bad enough to avoid though.
Location is across the street from a grocery store but didn’t mind that at all. Gardens are lovely and give the place an exclusive feeling. Would definitely come back to stay, eat.

Let me start by saying, this is our favorite restaurant on the Long Beach Peninsula. We have been frequenting this restaurant for the last 5 years and I feel it is a perfect candidate for the show «Kitchen Nightmares».
They cannot keep a steady staff, each experience has been sub par from the last and yet we will not give up on it. Why?
Five years ago, our first experience we had the owner as our server. The food was mind blowing and the atmosphere was perfect. It was refreshing to find this gem amongst all of the greasy cafes with clam chowder and fish n’ chips.
For some reason, every time we visit, the staff is all new. Seeming bitter and pissed off with worsening service each time. The food is beginning to go down hill as well. Why such a beautiful hotel and restaurant with such angry staff?
All of the elements for a fantastic high quality restaurant are there; amazing menu, beautiful environment, the garden is amazing, location amazing. So what is going on? David, please you have the best restaurant on the peninsula, what is happening? We believe in your restaurant… please fix it. One word– Inconsistent

Circumstances found us in the Longbeach area for a family emergency in early May. Not surprisingly there was a shortage of rooms in Astoria so we were fortunate to find an available room here. First, the location (right on the main drag across from a grocery store) is a little off putting for a bed and breakfast. Putting that aside however the building itself has a lot of character and they do a fantastic job of maintaining the flowerbeds/​side garden. The staff was nice and the bed was comfortable. Given that we were just looking for a place to crash for the night we were a little disappointed that there was no TV or way to watch a movie but given the age of the building and the ambiance I wont hold that against them.
I was surprised by how hot the room was. Again, probably not a lot that can be done given the age of the house but as stated in earlier reviews-​this place must be an oven during the summer. Our room was also pretty small and while the claw foot tub adds character the shower arrangement (middle of the tub) isn’t terribly functional. I guess I was hoping for a little more for the price ($ 189).
Finally, we had dessert in the bar that evening which was OK but not spectacular. The next day we had breakfast in the main dinning room. It was fairly average and the Victorian décor was somewhat diminished by the waitress yelling back to the cook constantly.
Overall, a nice place with friendly staff… I just expected a bit more for the price point.

We stayed here on a secluded romantic getaway and had a great time. Can’t wait to come back!

The owners promptly replied with a very nice letter of apology, a check for the soup, and a generous gift certificate with a request to give them another try. I must say I’m impressed. Thanks to the owners for making us feel heard and valued!

We stayed at the China Beach location — the Audubon House. It was a bit pricey but we thought the location would be wonderful. It was a wonderful location. The house is right on the coast, overlooking an expanse of sea grass and the boats leaving Ilwaco for fishing for the day. You have a view of Cape Disappointment and can see all the way over to Astoria. The sun was out ever day.
The pictures for the Shelberne are NOT what this house looks like. Check out their website for better pictures.
This house was built around a theme, but somehow the theme got scrambled. There is an abundance of fine woodworking, but it is a real hodgepodge of ideas without any thematic consistency. An antique here and a beautiful modern staircase there. A lacquered natural log post here and a totally strange outdoor tub there. A divider in the upstairs bathroom that makes no sense but does a great job stubbing your toe in the dark. Bathroom doors that are frosted glass so that the light from inside saturates the bedroom. An early to bed person and a late to be person will have to figure out how to deal with that.
A sitting room downstairs that is flooded with only overhead can lights, so it is NOT intimate. No shades downstairs so the adjoining home can watch you. No light over the small convenience kitchen. All in all, it is not well thought out and is not worth the significant upcharge.
The Inn would be wise to do a walk through with someone who is tasked to make it more appealing in these easy to adjust areas: Some added and improved task and mood lighting downstairs, remove the awful neon thing upstairs on the desk (what is it, anyway — it is creepy?), Take out the upstairs divider altogether. Get a quality shower curtain. Shades for the downstairs doors. Personally, I would trash the tub on the front porch — the cover has seen better days and makes it unappealing. And the odd extra wood pieces on top of the lower deck handrails get in the way of the true beauty — the view. Steps going out the front would be an improvement in ambience.
Simplify it, streamline it to the fine Audubon theme and you will have a high quality place. As it is, it is only novel, and I only do novel once.
It is close to all the great sights at Cape Disappointment, easy to get to Ilwaco and over to Astoria — a nice location for all of that.
Finally, if you are thinking you are close to something retail or commercial, you are not. This is a drive from anywhere, and the walk along the road is not for the timid because there are no shoulders. I would absolutely not walk at night and during the day, wear something bright. Also, the grocery store on the short drive from downtown Ilwaco is horrible. Get your groceries in the store across from the Shelberne. And when you are down here, go eat at Pelicano in Ilwaco. Wonderful food!

Caught wind of this place on Groupon while searching for an anniversary get-​away for my fiancé and I. The Shelburne is a historical gem! First opened in the late 1800’s and was a get-​away for Portlanders. There’s a restaurant and pub, complimentary breakfast. Fancy breakfast cooked by a chef, none of this bagel and cereal business. It’s just outside of downtown Long Beach and minutes away from the beach. We were lucky and caught the last day of the International Kite Festival.
The Inn has old world charm and free wifi. What more do you need? I’m sure we’ll be back.

This place is old and I liked the charm of it but it was definitely small and got very hot in the rooms. The grounds are manicured and beautiful. Nice short walk to the beach and a convenient grocery store nearby. Both dinner and breakfast were tasty but we had made a reservation for dinner and it was not upheld. We had to wait for a significant amount of time to get the window seat we had requested months before. This is one of my biggest pet peeves because that is what reservations are for, to avoid waiting. We made it very apparent we were unhappy and they comped us a charcuterie board and a nice port wine. All in all this place is a fun experience but it isn’t as luxurious as presented.

My wife and I stayed at the Shelburne for our anniversary. What a great place! The ambiance was fantastic, the staff were extremely accomodating, and the food and drink were A+++. David the owner spent time with us and took really good care of us. He really made us feel at home. Thank you David! We highly recommend the Shelburne.

A portion of our excursion along the southwest Washington region included a stay at Shelburne Inn during the month of August 2012.
The Shelburne Inn, established in 1896, is a bed and breakfast destination that gave us one of the worst experiences ever. We checked into a cramped room that barely had enough room to walk and no place to put luggage. Nothing but old, dusty smells throughout the hotel (but ain’t much they can do with a historic place, right?) This room had access to a shared patio area with a neighboring room. Placed our bags down and headed out the door.
So, after a tiring day of sightseeing and exploring the peninsula (Oyster Bay and Long Beach), we looked forward to a warm bath and some shuteye. The stuffy, warm room was close to unbearable at 11 PM; I tried to open the window but it was nailed shut. No ventilation to the room with a small desk fan that’s weaker than a pinwheel resulted in only one option — open the patio door to let in cool air. To make matters worse, taking a shower consisted of standing in the middle of the clawfoot tub and pulling the curtains around you (claustrophobics need not apply). An extremely low pressure shower head with lukewarm water with about 10 inches of wiggle room to apply and wash off soap isn’t my idea of a cleansing bath.
But wait, it gets worse. Sweating like pigs after the wonderful shower, we just couldn’t sleep. There isn’t a TV (not supposed to have one, it is a B&B I guess) or enough light in the room to read a book so we shared my smartphone and watched a previously downloaded movie. I accidentally dropped my phone under the bed and boy was that a mistake; heavily caked-​on dirt and dust bunnies all over the carpet and especially in the crevices behind the headboard. After an hour drenched in our own juices, I went downstairs to search for a staff person about this ordeal. With absolutely no luck after stumbling around in the dark to find assistance, we had no choice but to sleep in the car with the windows cracked open.
In the morning, we returned to the inn and reported it to the desk person what had happened and started on breakfast. Standard morning breakfast and a few more inquiries into why they nailed shut the windows went unanswered.
After a few more calls and playing phone tag weeks later, the owner finally agreed to refund our money. One star added for this resolution. I sincerely appreciate the owner reaching out to me and hope that the necessary adjustments for their future customers.

WOW!
I had the most incredible weekend here. I had expected to just use this place to sleep after a day full of roaming around the beaches and shops. Once I got there my whole idea changed. The restaurant and bar served up great food. The private yard and herb garden enveloped me for a good 8 – 10 hours on Sunday afternoon and we just soaked up the atmosphere that David and Laurie (owners) have created.
The staff here were extremely friendly and bent over backwards to make us feel welcome and comfortable. David himself did a lot of the cooking while we were there and the food was outstanding. Other than a bowl of chowder that we got in Oysterville, we ate every meal at The Shelburne and loved it.
I can’t wait to go back to this beautiful little gem of a get-​away. Highly recommended!

The Shelburne Inn is a great place to just relax. It has a homey atmosphere and few distractions, i.e. no television. The staff made us feel right at home and were very helpful. We had breakfast there twice and dinner once. Their chef is very creative in delivering exceptionally tasty food, and you won’t go away hungry! Thank you for the wonderful stay.
otto and marie

Sweetest little bed and breakfast. Great deal. Free wine, cookies, and delicious breakfast. I’d go back anytime! Friendly staff and walking distance from beach!

We had lunch at the bar a few months back and it was enjoyable and pleasant. And the food was good. ;)
I liked that the hotel allowed us to walk around and look in the empty rooms. They kept the doors open. We did not stay, but only had lunch there.

I pegged this place as a destination for our Long Beach weekend, largely based on a recommendation from our hotel (Adrift Inn) and my perusal of the menu. The décor is definitely quaint and old-​fashioned, which isn’t really my style, but it was fine.
My wife and I both enjoyed our salads, which were lightly dressed the way we like them. I had the salmon, which was cooked in fat to give it a delicious crust. The presentation was beautiful. The server asked me how I wanted the salmon cooked. I’m not used to that question (at least not in Seattle), so I didn’t know quite how to answer. Perhaps the language of beef could work here. In the end, it was cooked just a little more than I like. My wife enjoyed her crab cakes very much, followed by some very nice desserts.
The only real negative was around wine. Our server was new and didn’t know what wines were available by the glass, nor was that apparent on the wine menu. Seems like a pretty basic function that they should have figured out. Then, when my wife ordered a dessert wine after dinner, the server came back to say it wasn’t available. In fact none of six or so dessert wines listed on the menu were available. Seemed odd to us. Our cynical selves thought maybe they didn’t want to open a new bottle because it was the off-​season and dessert wines don’t last too long.

We were in town celebrating our 10^th wedding anniversary and wanted someplace with ambience. A quick drive up and down the strip of Seaview/​Long Beach and we realized our options were extremely limited.
We considered them anyway: Seafood seemed fitting considering the occasion and location, but the Crab Pot’s empty parking lot was unsettling. We were drawn to Pancho’s because Mexican food is hard to mess up, and even if you do, it’s hard to notice after 2 or 3 margaritas. But that seemed too informal for our momentous occasion. Roos definitely won points for curb appeal, but celebrating an anniversary in a sports bar didn’t feel right.
Then I saw The Shelburne Country Inn. The quaint little Victorian style B&B/Pub & Restaurant seemed like just the place. We went in to check out a menu and found one in the entry way. As we were reading it, the gorgonzola burger seemed to jump off the page and grab me. There was no way I was leaving.
Just then, a friendly gentleman (whom we assume is one of the owners) asked us if we were ready for dinner. It was well after 8pm, our options were limited, I had visions of burgers dancing in my head and we were hungry. The answer was a resounding «Yes!»
We were led into the dining area and told we could pick any table except for one over by a window that was already reserved. It was by far the best seat in the house and I felt like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden: I wanted this forbidden table. Alas, we chose another one at the base of the stairway going up to the guest rooms. A cozy little spot that allowed us to look all the way up to the third floor as the stairwell twisted above us.
The woodwork was amazing. Warm, beautiful and dark, the original slat-​board paneling covered the walls, ceilings and stairwells. The low light and smooth jazz added to make a wonderful experience. Oh, and I’m talking REAL jazz here folks, think Miles Davis not Kenny G.
We had found our ambience.
The same, friendly man who had led us to the dining room ended up being our server as well as host. Warm and kind, he explained our dinner options to us and showed us a very impressive wine list. This place was top notch.
The menu looked delicious, and I’m sure the food would be amazing, but the only thing I could think of was that the gorgonzola burger was not on it. When the host came back, I asked about the difference between the menu we saw in the lobby and the one we had before us. He explained that what we saw was the pub menu, but we were more than welcome to order from it. So we did.
I ordered the Howling Wolf Bacon Gorgonzola Hamburger (I think that’s what it’s full name was) and my wife ordered the fish and chips.
The food came quickly (which is to be expected with only two occupied tables). The fish and chips was one large cod filet with a very good breading that was flaky but not too dry and very tasty. The tartar sauce and homemade coleslaw were both delicious. My wife said it was the fanciest presentation for fish and chips that she’s ever seen. I would definitely agree. The fries were great too. Not too crispy and not soggy, but perfectly browned and very satisfying.
On to the burger.
Let me say this: I’m kind of a burger snob. I enjoy making my own gourmet burgers (my repertoire includes a Greek Feta, Cajun Black & Bleu and a hickory bacon BBQ burger that will make you cry) and I thoroughly enjoy tasting other chef’s creations. So when I say this burger easily makes my Top 5 burgers of all-​time (mine included), it’s kind of a big deal.
The marriage of beef, bacon and the thick slab of gorgonzola cheese was like the perfect storm. In fact, as I’m writing this the next morning, my mouth is watering as I relive this experience. I wonder how soon they start serving lunch? My only suggestion would be to have a beef patty that’s as thick or thicker than the thick slab of cheese. Not a deal breaker, but I am kind of a fan of thicker hamburger patties.
As far as the prices go, the owner admits he gets flak from the locals for charging $ 14 for a burger. But when you consider everything you get with it, I would gladly pay $ 20. It’s not just about the burger, it’s about the experience.
After our meal, the host encouraged us to explore the place, which we did. We looked around the dining room a little more, meandered through the hotel lobby and even poked our heads in a couple vacant rooms. If we didn’t already have a place to stay in town, I would have seriously considered staying here.
All in all, your experience at The Shelburne Inn completely depends on what you’re looking for. If you want a cheap, uninspiring dining experience, go elsewhere. If you are willing to pay a little more (the main dinner entrees were in the $ 20 – 30 range) in hopes of good food, a warm and relaxing ambience and a strong desire to return, then you will definitely get what you paid for.

We had breakfast here as part of our B&B package and WOW did the breakfast stink. The fruit was old: strawberries, grapes, and slices of watermelon that should have been thrown away weeks ago.
My bacon and eggs were OK but my husband’s sausage and mushroom omelette was so greasy that he couldn’t finish it. The potatoes were hard as rocks.
If you stay here or the China Beach location (a very nice place actually), don’t bother with breakfast; just sleep in and get brunch somewhere else!

For a birthday trip, I took my husband here last March. It was cold and blustery the whole weekend, but we were happy to stay at the Shelburne Inn. We were the youngest folks there by a long shot, but we felt welcomed by the owners. Our room was really charming, with large windows, private balcony, and canopy bed.
I can’t rave about their breakfast enough! Both mornings I had a delicious baked potato with cheddar and gruyère cheese, sliced ham, parsley, and a poached egg. That, along with freshly squeezed OJ and fresh, still warm corn muffins, made my day. I’ve dreamed about this breakfast ever since, and have attempted to recreate it multiple times (all unsuccessful).
We are hoping to come here again in the summer when it’s much, much warmer, and also with some friends so more people can enjoy this place!