Ivar’s Seafood Bar

Came in here for lunch and this was a first visit. Staff here are extremely friendly and helpful. Very clean place as well. Placed our order and then sat down. The food was brought to us in less than five minutes. The fish and chips was very tasty as was the clam chowder. I enjoyed the fact that they brought out more ketchup and tarter sauce when they saw that we were running out. We didn’t even need to request more. Overall, a very good lunch and the customer service here is top-​notch!

serves it’s purpose for fish and chips.

I can’t go to the Seattle area and not visit Ivar’s for my scallop platter. All that I can say is YUM… Yum, YUM!

This is a better version of Long John Silver’s. Better tasting fish and a variety if sides… Corn bread, smoked salmon chowder and more. My go to place for fish when I don’t have time to cook and I’m on the go.

The service here was good. Quick drive through service. Portion sizes are way too high for the high price you’re paying for the food. Definitely not worth it.

Not for me. I wanted to like this place.
Service was great maybe it was just what I ordered.
Quality seafood is expensive… but the portions here were very very small the price was what I would expect for top quality, same day caught and prepared by a chef, and I know that was not what we got here. I opted for coleslaw instead of fries… it tasted like cabbage and pineapple juice maybe that is how they make it in WA? Maybe it was just me. I will try it again some other time. I have added photos of the food you judge for yourself. our meal was $ 33
I had the 2 PC Panko battered cod, the husband had halibut and fried and a small bowl of chowder plus 2 small drinks.

The day before I wrote this review was my first-​ever visit to this particular Ivar’s. I was craving Ivar’s so much I drove 15 miles across the county to stop here! I was in for a nice surprise!
The gal working the register was super nice, cheerful, friendly and appeared to really enjoy her job. She promptly greeted me with a smile and a big hello before I got halfway to the counter from the door.
My first shock was the prices. This Ivar’s has what I found to be the most expensive Ivar’s menu I’ve ever seen in Pierce County! I’m sure the ones in Seattle might be higher priced, but I didn’t expect it here. If all the Ivars have raised their prices this much, it might explain why the one inside the food court at Tacoma Mall closed after all these years. I’ve never paid more than maybe $ 8.50 for a 5-​piece fish & chips, until this visit, where they charged $ 9.39 for the same order WITHOUT A DRINK OR CHOWDER ($ 10.28 with tax). WOW! I don’t recall ever paying that much for an order of fish & chips anywhere on the planet! Not even in tourist traps like Seaside, Oregon or Leavenworth, Washington! I highly doubt I will eat here again due to the sky-​high prices, and if Lakewood’s Ivars have raised their prices this high it looks like I’ll resort to just any old fast food joint’s boring fish & chips.
So, now for the food quality.
This was my first visit to ANY Ivar’s where my fries were luke warm! I totally love Ivar’s fries, and they’re part of what I look forward to when I go. Being a former cook, I recognize fries that are hand cut in one of those french fry maker things that hang on a wall. They’re all uniformly square and still have the peelings on them. Yep, I love their fries at Ivar’s, but I don’t like them so much if they’re only warm and not hot and fresh!
I was shocked to find that I got 5 pieces of fish when I only ordered a 5-​piece meal, but then as small as the pieces were, maybe the guy cooking felt sorry for me by giving me such small portions. But as usual, my fish was smoking hot and freshly cooked. I was in fish heaven once again! NOBODY beats Ivar’s fish & chips! Okay, Lighthouse in Aberdeen comes pretty close, but just not quite there yet.
I’m up in the air about if I will ever go back to this Ivar’s again. Mainly because of their prices. I’ll check the one on South Tacoma Way in Lakewood. If the prices are the same there, I’ll know it’s a corporate decision and not blame management. But if I find Lakewood’s prices much lower than the one on Mildred, I’ll know that someone feels since they’re across the street from a community college, people will pay more. WRONG! Not everyone is made of money. Not everyone wants to pay over $ 10 for an order of fish & chips! If they think their 5-​piece is worth $ 9.39 plus tax, they had better start including a drink and chowder with that order!
TO SUM IT ALL UP: Had this Ivar’s had a little lower prices, and my french fries been hot, I would have given them 5 stars!

The service was good, and all of the food was good but my salmon. It was over cooked. I have had their salmon before and it was excellent. Because of the salmon I am giving it only 4 stars.

Good meal for fast food type food. Good for the whole family, It’s no date night spot, or anything fancy, but I would recommend it for a quick meal, or to feed the family.
The service was really nice, the food was fast, and the place seemed fairly clean.
Everything does seem like it came from a box, or bag, normally I wouldn’t like something like that, but if you’re not in the mood to cook, then this is a good spot.

The only reason I gave it two stars was the white clam chowder was delicious, but the fish, chicken and fries, not so good. Heavily fried, no flavor, just not good, wouldn’t eat there again.

This location exhibits a lot of pride in ownership and management. Very clean with incredibly pleasant and attentive staff. Great fish and chips in a fast food setting. The chowder is great. I am glad this location exists. You can get there in about 3 minutes from Highway 16. So glad I found it!

I love this Ivar’s location! I’ve been going here for years. Of course, it’s franchise food the same as any other Ivar’s, so you get just what you’re expecting. They cook everything nicely without being overdone. The chowder is always good. The staff is friendly and helpful.
And the fake giant clam shell inside the place is kind of cool. :-)

We use to eat fish and chips at this location back in the days when Ivar was alive. Sure they tore down the old building and moved into this fancy new store a few feet away. Back then the food was good, the portions were plenty and you left full and happy.
Shortly after the new store opened we went into to check out the new store and sat down for some fish and chips, I instantly noticed the portions being smaller than normal and the prices being higher. What I remember the most is feeling like I paid too much and leaving hungry. Not good. New Ownership?
So after not returning to this store for a few years I had heard recently that Ivar’s was having a Flounders days sale in honor of Ivar’s 104^th birthday. You buy one entrée at normal price and get another for $ 1.04. I thought how bad could they hose me this time — after all I’m getting and extra meal for just over a buck and I was craving fish and chips.
We ordered two 3 piece fish meals (they are a whopping $ 7.49 each normal price) and two 2 piece kids fish meals. ($ 4.99 is more reasonable) I took the order to go.
So we get home and open my meals and look at the fish and are just stunned. The cod fillets are a measly 3″ long by maybe 1″ around. Are you kidding me? I’ve had fish sticks out of a box larger than this. The kids fish fillets were the same size as the adult fish meals. Three teeny tiny fish fillets (or sticks) on a mediocre size pile of fries. Was this a Flounders Day sale scam? Give everyone teeny pieces of fish since we won’t be giving away the shop today. What a freakin’ joke. Whimpy pieces of fish which were smaller than most sardine’s.
We would have been better off buying a pile of kid’s meals during this scammers day sale and saving more money and getting more meal for the money. I think the tight wad cost cutting measures done by this store and Ivar’s seafood chain is absurd.
By far the best fish and chips for the same money in Tacoma can be found at Freighthouse Square at Paya Thai fish and chips. The fillets are huge and tasty and rested atop a huge pile of crispy fries. You even get a decorative slice of lemon for your fish. You will leave stuffed and content and not disgusted like at Ivar’s these days.
I won’t be back to Ivar’s. Keep your clams.
These small portions would make even Ivar Haglund roll over in his grave.

Just another Ivars but one of the few in Tacoma. It is too bad that it is all the way in UP instead of being closer to the city. The food is always great and the drive through is surprisingly quick. I always make a point to stop by this one when I am in Tacoma. It really is some of the best chowder you will find.

Maybe it’s because I’m from Phoenix and the closest thing I have to good seafood is Red Lobster, but this place is amazing. I’ve had it pretty much every time I have visited WA, and I have never been disappointed. There is just something amazing about being able to go through drive through and getting a delicious, piping hot bowl of clam chowder on a chilly day. I also love their yummy little cups of shrimp cocktail as well as the big, heaping trays of fried clam strips. Yum! This place is the best.

This is another one of the Ivar’s fast food store fronts. It was a great place to stop for lunch on a cold rainy day — the salmon chowder in a bread bowl really hits the spot.
I was surprised by the bill — lunch for two totaled $ 16. That seems a lot for fast food, though the overly friendly clerk will bring it to your table.