Restaurant with a surprise!

We started to drive east toward Astoria where we are going to have lunch. Little did we know that this restaurant had a big surprise waiting for us.

We drove through the quaint little village of a Astoria which is an old fishing town with lots of old packing houses and canneries for fish. We arrived at the Buoy Beer Co. Restaurant.

A little bit about Astoria. It is a port city on the Columbia river right near the Pacific ocean. It was actually named after John Jacob Astore, who founded the American fur company. Astoria was the first permanent United States settlement on the Pacific coast and had the first US post office west of the Rocky Mountains. Back in the 1940s there were 30 canneries that could be found along the Columbia River and there was quite a lumber industry there also. You can see the railroad tracks running along the pier front.

We parked the car. As I started walking toward the restaurant I noticed a sign with a map on it. This was the tsunami evacuation map. As you may know the Pacific Northwest can have large earthquakes that can produce a large tsunami. This map showed where you should go if you felt an earthquake or there was a warning given. As there are hills nearby you wouldn't have to go very far I think only about four or five blocks.

When we got near the hostess stand I noticed there was a glass floor. I thought this was interesting and went over to take a look. Much to my surprise there were several Sea Lions lounging on the deck below the restaurant. The hostess said they are there most of the year only leaving between June and August to go south to California to mate. I thought this was one of the coolest things I have seen at a restaurant in a very long time!
Watch this video of them!

The restaurant had put some lights underneath so you could see them better and this actually gave the sea lions a little bit of warmth and attracted them to the spot. Have you ever heard of anything like this at a restaurant before? Very cool!

We sat down to see what they had to eat and drink. My granddaughter got a high chair.

I looked over the menu.

They had all kinds of food that I like! I decided to get the Clam Chowder to start. For my main course it was between the Rockfish & Chips and the Oyster Basket. I finally decided on the Rochfish & Chips as the waitress said it was very good.

My daughter and her husband both ordered the Albacore Tuna Melt.

While we were waiting for our food, I thought I would go look around the restaurant some more. They had a nice bar area. As we were here for lunch, it was not very busy. The waitress said they are very busy at night and on the weekends.

This was a waiting area for when they are busy.

This is the entrance. You can see they have some shirts and hats for sale. They had a lot of historical pictures on the walls.

And don’t forget this restaurant also was a micro brewery. Here is some of the vats.

I don’t drink beer, but my son in law said the one he got was great.

Here are the signs that tell what they have for the day.

I had to take another look at the Sea Lions under the floor!

I went outside and could see some of the big ships that were anchored waiting to go into Portland.

A view from inside.

I went back to the table and my granddaughter was happy.

The food came and I was ready to eat! The fish was excellent!

My daughter and her husband said the Tuna melt was really good!

Everything was great. We had to look at the Sea Lions again on the way out. I would definitely recommend this restaurant! Once outside I got a picture of the hill you would run to if there was a tsunami.

We drove though the town of Astoria on our way back to Portland.