Drove 30 minutes to get there only to find out this is a seasonal restaurant. Google stated they were open as confirmed by business 2 weeks ago. They had a printed paper sign on the door saying they closed for the season yesterday night. As we pulled out someone else pulled up looking. Disappointing and wish seasonality was updated on internet.
Service: 1
Billy Pierro
Service was good, food not so much. Place has all the charm of a high school cafeteria. Very pricey for what you get. Was not impressed.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 4
Naomi
Chena's Alaskan Grill tries to sell itself as a fine dining experience. However what you actually get is bland food that would be found in a run down retirement home.
We started off with the calamari with was just sad looking. It looked like someone had served us 6 fish sticks. I've never in my life seen calamari look like fish sticks. That being said, what was there was decent in terms of taste and the sweet chili dipping sauce was pretty flavorful.
Moving into the entree, I order the honey lavender halibut. The fish was not grilled and appeared to be baked in an oven. It was an extremely small cut of the fillet. The diameter was probably about 2 to 3 inches. It was bland and the sauce did all of the heavy lifting in terms of what flavor there was to be found. I've lived in Alaska for the past 11 years and this is the worst fish I've ever had.
The vegetables seemed to be steamed vegetables that lacked any seasoning at all. I had to apply a copious amount of salt to even make it palatable.
The mashed potatoes were really good. While the rest of the dish was an objective failure, they really know how to treat those mashed potatoes. I never thought that be mashed potatoes was be the star at fine dining establishment, but here we are.
We opted to skip dessert considering how bad our dinner service was.
The service was really good our waitress was attentive and tried to make sure our experience was great.
I'd highly suggest Lavellel's Bistro if you want a fine dining experience. Otherwise Chena Pump House is also fantastic and high quality.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 5
Kenrick Merchant
Decided to try this restaurant out while on my trip and it was the worse experience ever. My server suzie was very agitated by me and my wife but seemed very cheerful at her other tables who were white. Not the place to go if you’re black and need good service. The food was okay just average but the bread pudding was really amazing.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Bread Pudding
Darin Brewster
Walking back in time to a retirement community. Servers asked us to order right when we sat down. When we asked for more time she stood by the table looking at us. The people in the place were probably all at citizens and it appeared there was an employee to every table. My wife and daughter (22) felt so awkward we made reservations for somewhere else while waiting for our bill for our drinks. We have no idea how the food was because people wanted to leave.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 2
Jacinta Castro
The best of the best!!!service excellent,quality of food excellent and the place is very clean ? I ordered the Alaskan salmon and I loved it ?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
William C Shepherd Jr
Great food, exceptional service in a relaxing atmosphere setting alongside the Chena River.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Joern Borneburg
The food can be better for this price!!!!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
Chris Prudhomme
Good food, prepared with style and flavor. A chef is in the kitchen.
Great halibut! Fun to have live music on the deck.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: 8 Oz Filet with Red Chimichurri Sauce, Sear-Roasted Wild Caught Alaskan Halibut
David Spates
I can only find a single flaw in my experience, river view was obscured by riverside vegetation ( in some areas of deck). The service, and food were even better than I hoped. I'll be in Fairbanks the rest of their season and want to make it my weekly indulgence! See you soon.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
adriancombe
They are doing outside seating again, which seemed to have gone away with the impacts from COVID. But they were not seating in the lower veranda, ostensibly owing to earlier rain, which seemed like a false rationale. Also, when the outdoor seating stopped, they stopped trimming the shrubs, so the views are less appealing than previously.
Dietary restrictions: My wife avoids cheese and gluten as much as possible, and she picked this over the pump house.
Animal Language
Is good fast food, not grease, fresh simple salads, yummy desserts, a little pricey, great service, good place for friends, family and/or a date, has amazing atmosphere next yo the river, with tables inside and outside. I am coming back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
David Smith
The chowder was excellent. The salmon meal was nothing special. About the equivalent of a Coco's or Marie Callenders restaurant.
Good fresh fish and other options
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Drove 30 minutes to get there only to find out this is a seasonal restaurant. Google stated they were open as confirmed by business 2 weeks ago. They had a printed paper sign on the door saying they closed for the season yesterday night. As we pulled out someone else pulled up looking. Disappointing and wish seasonality was updated on internet.
Service: 1
Service was good, food not so much. Place has all the charm of a high school cafeteria. Very pricey for what you get. Was not impressed.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 4
Chena's Alaskan Grill tries to sell itself as a fine dining experience. However what you actually get is bland food that would be found in a run down retirement home.
We started off with the calamari with was just sad looking. It looked like someone had served us 6 fish sticks. I've never in my life seen calamari look like fish sticks. That being said, what was there was decent in terms of taste and the sweet chili dipping sauce was pretty flavorful.
Moving into the entree, I order the honey lavender halibut. The fish was not grilled and appeared to be baked in an oven. It was an extremely small cut of the fillet. The diameter was probably about 2 to 3 inches. It was bland and the sauce did all of the heavy lifting in terms of what flavor there was to be found. I've lived in Alaska for the past 11 years and this is the worst fish I've ever had.
The vegetables seemed to be steamed vegetables that lacked any seasoning at all. I had to apply a copious amount of salt to even make it palatable.
The mashed potatoes were really good. While the rest of the dish was an objective failure, they really know how to treat those mashed potatoes. I never thought that be mashed potatoes was be the star at fine dining establishment, but here we are.
We opted to skip dessert considering how bad our dinner service was.
The service was really good our waitress was attentive and tried to make sure our experience was great.
I'd highly suggest Lavellel's Bistro if you want a fine dining experience. Otherwise Chena Pump House is also fantastic and high quality.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 5
Decided to try this restaurant out while on my trip and it was the worse experience ever. My server suzie was very agitated by me and my wife but seemed very cheerful at her other tables who were white. Not the place to go if you’re black and need good service. The food was okay just average but the bread pudding was really amazing.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Bread Pudding
Walking back in time to a retirement community. Servers asked us to order right when we sat down. When we asked for more time she stood by the table looking at us. The people in the place were probably all at citizens and it appeared there was an employee to every table. My wife and daughter (22) felt so awkward we made reservations for somewhere else while waiting for our bill for our drinks. We have no idea how the food was because people wanted to leave.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 2
The best of the best!!!service excellent,quality of food excellent and the place is very clean ? I ordered the Alaskan salmon and I loved it ?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great food, exceptional service in a relaxing atmosphere setting alongside the Chena River.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The food can be better for this price!!!!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
Good food, prepared with style and flavor. A chef is in the kitchen.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Great halibut! Fun to have live music on the deck.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: 8 Oz Filet with Red Chimichurri Sauce, Sear-Roasted Wild Caught Alaskan Halibut
I can only find a single flaw in my experience, river view was obscured by riverside vegetation ( in some areas of deck). The service, and food were even better than I hoped. I'll be in Fairbanks the rest of their season and want to make it my weekly indulgence! See you soon.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
They are doing outside seating again, which seemed to have gone away with the impacts from COVID. But they were not seating in the lower veranda, ostensibly owing to earlier rain, which seemed like a false rationale.
Also, when the outdoor seating stopped, they stopped trimming the shrubs, so the views are less appealing than previously.
Dietary restrictions: My wife avoids cheese and gluten as much as possible, and she picked this over the pump house.
Is good fast food, not grease, fresh simple salads, yummy desserts, a little pricey, great service, good place for friends, family and/or a date, has amazing atmosphere next yo the river, with tables inside and outside. I am coming back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
The chowder was excellent. The salmon meal was nothing special. About the equivalent of a Coco's or Marie Callenders restaurant.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
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