The food is awesome and the vibe is great! We go to Ursa Minor every year for our wedding anniversary. You guys rock!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Veronica Serrano
From the get go the waitress was extremely pushy that we order EVERY single dish in the menu (for a party of four slender adults) which in spite of being on the small side would have been way too much food for us. We wanted to order more dishes throughout the night, based on how much we liked each dish and how hungry we felt. She again was pushy suggesting we order it all at once as the kitchen would be making last call soon and food preparation would take a while and we could end up waiting a fair amount of time for additional dishes (her words, not mine) The irony is that we originally had a reservation for 8:00 pm but arrived at 6:45 as they were able to sit us earlier on our request, so there was plenty of time for the kitchen to prepare more food. After we ordered “only” 5 dishes, she managed to make snarky remarks every time she came to our table. We had planned on getting dessert, but based on the service and how uncomfortable they made us feel we decided to skip it.The disinterest was palpable once the waitress accepted the fact that we were not gonna follow her direction. They stopped refilling our water glasses once they realized that our table wasn’t gonna be the most profitable one that evening. The restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, and most of the wait staff spent a considerable amount of time polishing the glasses and chit chatting, so being busy or understaffed was not the case.My issue is not the mandatory minimum 20% tip, the problem is that the servers were condescending and the food was just average. Paying 20% to be mistreated is not really what I had envisioned. I also dislike the lack of transparency given the number of chances the restaurant had to make this fee evident. Especially when so much effort is made by them to make other things obvious like how much time you are allotted per table based on the size of your party, how much advance notice you need to cancel before your reservation deposit is no longer reimbursable, etc. They also reach out to you twice via email to ask if you have any dietary restrictions or if you’ll be celebrating a special occasion (which I marked as yes, but I’m not sure what they do with that information as no one asked or did anything to make our special occasion memorable, so why even bother asking?)Someone who was allegedly the manager told us the mandatory fee is made obvious “everywhere” on their website as well as when making online reservations. None of that is true as it’s only visible if you click to view their online menu and look at the fine print. So even the manager managed to make a bad experience worse by blatantly lying to my face. We left a 15% tip which they certainly did not earn.Food was overpriced considering the flavors and ingredients were pretty underwhelming and nothing about the dishes was particularly special. The food was ok but overall unremarkable
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
The Edenwild
Such a lovely experience each time. The ambiance is warm and inviting. Staff are top notch. The seasonal menu highlights ingredients is a creative a beautiful way. A destination in itself. We cannot wait until the next time~
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Rolled Chicken, Fermented Vegetables, Salt Cod Fritters
Noel Y.
We ate here on our honeymoon and both felt like it was the best meal that we've had in years (and we're picky). We're both vegetarians and we got all 4 veggie dishes on the menu plus 2 really nice glasses of wine. The server was friendly and great to work with. This restaurant is a special place and we'll absolutely be back the next time we're on Lopez Island.
Dustyn
Have been here twice (2022, 2023) and it was an excellent experience both times with completely different menus. Ursa Minor has a small menu, but it packs a punch, and it's the kind of place where you can trust the chef to deliver on anything that's on the menu. Service was wonderful, even two months later I remember what a great host Molly was. A rare combination of hospitality but also done in a way where her individual personality shined. Look forward to returning - if Michelin rated restaurants I am confident this would receive a star.
Friendly and very good service. Molly was our main server. I did not get the name of the other. Not overly gushy or cheesy (server, not food, ha) and prompt. Solid A!Each dish quantity is decent for two. The broccoli was average, could've made it at home in minutes with same results. I'd rate it a C minus.Every other dish was good to very good. Our 4 entrees did not come close to "OMG amazing". Most are a solid B to B+. I take that back, the pana cotta was A+ OMG amazing.My old fashioned was a total letdown. Companion's drink was also below average. Very small, $10, not worth revisiting. Grade of F or maybe even "please see me after class to talk about retaking exam."Note: Many were turned away because they did not know RESERVATIONS ARE MANDATORY on weekends and need to be booked a loooong time in advance.Overall a nice evening, wasn't blow my socks off amazing, about $160 including MANDATORY 20% ADDED 'TIP'.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Anna F.
My husband and I had our second dinner at this beautiful gem of a restaurant. It was a rainy, chilly night on gorgeous Lopez Island, and we sat at a corner table as the rain pelted the windows. We ate seasonal spiced squash, a carefully crafted local salad, and the most amazing chicken dish- I wish I knew more about French cuisine, but the chicken had been pounded, seasoned, and re-rolled into its crispy skin again. Magnificent. Thank you Ursa Minor for an awesome memory!!
SweatpantGourmand
I'll try keeping this brief: Friendly and very good service. Molly was our main server. I did not get the name of the other. Not overly gushy or cheesy (server, not food, ha) and prompt. Solid A! Each dish quantity is decent for two. The broccoli was average, could've made it at home in minutes with same results. I'd rate it a C minus. Every other dish was good to very good. Our 4 entrees did not come close to "OMG amazing". Most are a solid B to B+. I take that back, the pana cotta was A+ OMG amazing. My old fashioned drink was a total letdown. Companion's drink was also below average. Very small, $10, not worth revisiting. Grade of F or maybe even "please see me after class to talk about retaking exam." Note: Many were turned away because they did not know RESERVATIONS ARE MANDATORY on weekends and need to be booked a loooong time in advance. Overall a nice evening, wasn't blow my socks off amazing, about $160 including MANDATORY 20% ADDED 'TIP'. Friend said it was a James Beard nominee, or something? Hmmm, cool, but I've eaten at JB winners and Michelin Gourmand (not Star) restaurants which were next level better.
James Pyburn
One of the best meals I've had in a while! Excellent food, service, drinks and ambiance. If you have the chance to visit López Island make sure to get reservations for Ursa Minor!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lee Morris
What a treat! Came here on a whim while we were moored at Lopez islander, and were very pleased with our experience. The dishes were beautifully simple, and really allowed the flavor of the fresh ingredients to shine.Barn Owl bread with toasted yeast butter: I’ve never had a butter like this before but I’ll have to try and recreate it, a nice and salty/savory butter that paired well with the fresh bread. I would have eaten it by the spoonful.Beets and heirloom tomatoes: beautifully plated with fun and flavorful additions like cured egg yolk and ricotta. The tomatoes were so sweet and fresh.Gnocchi and Chanterelles: another great pairing, the gnocchi were delicate and the sauce was a perfect accompaniment, smooth and creamy.Chicken and Eggplant: The chicken was the star of the whole evening for me. It’s amazing how they took something simple like roast chicken and just cut it down to its essence and perfected it. I could eat 3 plates of it.Overall a great demonstration of the amazing ingredients we have around us. For two people, I would go with 4 different plates to share as the portions are a bit small. My wife was satisfied but I was still a bit hungry afterwards (but not at all disappointed)
Fabulous meal. Great service with Keillor. He explained everything and made some great suggestions . The gnocchi was unbelievably soft and pillowy. Everything was great. The garden panna Cota was a great end to a memorable meal.
Luke L
Ursa Minor--where your dining experience is elevated!As a connoisseur of not-so-fine dining, this was certainly an experience out of my comfort zone. Coming here was not my choice, and I can't say I wasn't skeptical of this place when I saw the menu. But it was certainly a good experience! It's been a while since I've experienced such complex flavors in each bite.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Jonathan Nafta
We celebrated our 10th anniversary and had great food and excellent service. Unfortunately, they don't serve the Halibut anymore, but the Albacore dish was superb.
Luke L.
Ursa Minor--where your dining experience is elevated! As a connoisseur of not-so-fine dining, this was certainly an experience out of my comfort zone. Coming here was not my choice, and I can't say I wasn't skeptical of this place when I saw the menu. But it was certainly a good experience! It's been a while since I've experienced such complex flavors in each bite.
Ben Connel
Great service and really good food. I really enjoyed the eclectic drinks menu as well. I'd love to come back for one of their Monday night hamburger dinner pop-ups!
The food is awesome and the vibe is great! We go to Ursa Minor every year for our wedding anniversary. You guys rock!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
From the get go the waitress was extremely pushy that we order EVERY single dish in the menu (for a party of four slender adults) which in spite of being on the small side would have been way too much food for us. We wanted to order more dishes throughout the night, based on how much we liked each dish and how hungry we felt. She again was pushy suggesting we order it all at once as the kitchen would be making last call soon and food preparation would take a while and we could end up waiting a fair amount of time for additional dishes (her words, not mine) The irony is that we originally had a reservation for 8:00 pm but arrived at 6:45 as they were able to sit us earlier on our request, so there was plenty of time for the kitchen to prepare more food. After we ordered “only” 5 dishes, she managed to make snarky remarks every time she came to our table. We had planned on getting dessert, but based on the service and how uncomfortable they made us feel we decided to skip it.The disinterest was palpable once the waitress accepted the fact that we were not gonna follow her direction. They stopped refilling our water glasses once they realized that our table wasn’t gonna be the most profitable one that evening. The restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, and most of the wait staff spent a considerable amount of time polishing the glasses and chit chatting, so being busy or understaffed was not the case.My issue is not the mandatory minimum 20% tip, the problem is that the servers were condescending and the food was just average. Paying 20% to be mistreated is not really what I had envisioned. I also dislike the lack of transparency given the number of chances the restaurant had to make this fee evident. Especially when so much effort is made by them to make other things obvious like how much time you are allotted per table based on the size of your party, how much advance notice you need to cancel before your reservation deposit is no longer reimbursable, etc. They also reach out to you twice via email to ask if you have any dietary restrictions or if you’ll be celebrating a special occasion (which I marked as yes, but I’m not sure what they do with that information as no one asked or did anything to make our special occasion memorable, so why even bother asking?)Someone who was allegedly the manager told us the mandatory fee is made obvious “everywhere” on their website as well as when making online reservations. None of that is true as it’s only visible if you click to view their online menu and look at the fine print. So even the manager managed to make a bad experience worse by blatantly lying to my face. We left a 15% tip which they certainly did not earn.Food was overpriced considering the flavors and ingredients were pretty underwhelming and nothing about the dishes was particularly special. The food was ok but overall unremarkable
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 1
Such a lovely experience each time. The ambiance is warm and inviting. Staff are top notch. The seasonal menu highlights ingredients is a creative a beautiful way. A destination in itself. We cannot wait until the next time~
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Rolled Chicken, Fermented Vegetables, Salt Cod Fritters
We ate here on our honeymoon and both felt like it was the best meal that we've had in years (and we're picky). We're both vegetarians and we got all 4 veggie dishes on the menu plus 2 really nice glasses of wine. The server was friendly and great to work with. This restaurant is a special place and we'll absolutely be back the next time we're on Lopez Island.
Have been here twice (2022, 2023) and it was an excellent experience both times with completely different menus. Ursa Minor has a small menu, but it packs a punch, and it's the kind of place where you can trust the chef to deliver on anything that's on the menu. Service was wonderful, even two months later I remember what a great host Molly was. A rare combination of hospitality but also done in a way where her individual personality shined. Look forward to returning - if Michelin rated restaurants I am confident this would receive a star.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Rolled Chicken, Broccolini, Fermented Vegetables, Bread
Friendly and very good service. Molly was our main server. I did not get the name of the other. Not overly gushy or cheesy (server, not food, ha) and prompt. Solid A!Each dish quantity is decent for two. The broccoli was average, could've made it at home in minutes with same results. I'd rate it a C minus.Every other dish was good to very good. Our 4 entrees did not come close to "OMG amazing". Most are a solid B to B+. I take that back, the pana cotta was A+ OMG amazing.My old fashioned was a total letdown. Companion's drink was also below average. Very small, $10, not worth revisiting. Grade of F or maybe even "please see me after class to talk about retaking exam."Note: Many were turned away because they did not know RESERVATIONS ARE MANDATORY on weekends and need to be booked a loooong time in advance.Overall a nice evening, wasn't blow my socks off amazing, about $160 including MANDATORY 20% ADDED 'TIP'.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
My husband and I had our second dinner at this beautiful gem of a restaurant. It was a rainy, chilly night on gorgeous Lopez Island, and we sat at a corner table as the rain pelted the windows. We ate seasonal spiced squash, a carefully crafted local salad, and the most amazing chicken dish- I wish I knew more about French cuisine, but the chicken had been pounded, seasoned, and re-rolled into its crispy skin again. Magnificent. Thank you Ursa Minor for an awesome memory!!
I'll try keeping this brief: Friendly and very good service. Molly was our main server. I did not get the name of the other. Not overly gushy or cheesy (server, not food, ha) and prompt. Solid A! Each dish quantity is decent for two. The broccoli was average, could've made it at home in minutes with same results. I'd rate it a C minus. Every other dish was good to very good. Our 4 entrees did not come close to "OMG amazing". Most are a solid B to B+. I take that back, the pana cotta was A+ OMG amazing. My old fashioned drink was a total letdown. Companion's drink was also below average. Very small, $10, not worth revisiting. Grade of F or maybe even "please see me after class to talk about retaking exam." Note: Many were turned away because they did not know RESERVATIONS ARE MANDATORY on weekends and need to be booked a loooong time in advance. Overall a nice evening, wasn't blow my socks off amazing, about $160 including MANDATORY 20% ADDED 'TIP'. Friend said it was a James Beard nominee, or something? Hmmm, cool, but I've eaten at JB winners and Michelin Gourmand (not Star) restaurants which were next level better.
One of the best meals I've had in a while! Excellent food, service, drinks and ambiance. If you have the chance to visit López Island make sure to get reservations for Ursa Minor!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
What a treat! Came here on a whim while we were moored at Lopez islander, and were very pleased with our experience. The dishes were beautifully simple, and really allowed the flavor of the fresh ingredients to shine.Barn Owl bread with toasted yeast butter: I’ve never had a butter like this before but I’ll have to try and recreate it, a nice and salty/savory butter that paired well with the fresh bread. I would have eaten it by the spoonful.Beets and heirloom tomatoes: beautifully plated with fun and flavorful additions like cured egg yolk and ricotta. The tomatoes were so sweet and fresh.Gnocchi and Chanterelles: another great pairing, the gnocchi were delicate and the sauce was a perfect accompaniment, smooth and creamy.Chicken and Eggplant: The chicken was the star of the whole evening for me. It’s amazing how they took something simple like roast chicken and just cut it down to its essence and perfected it. I could eat 3 plates of it.Overall a great demonstration of the amazing ingredients we have around us. For two people, I would go with 4 different plates to share as the portions are a bit small. My wife was satisfied but I was still a bit hungry afterwards (but not at all disappointed)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Rolled Chicken
Restaurantji Recommends
Fabulous meal. Great service with Keillor. He explained everything and made some great suggestions . The gnocchi was unbelievably soft and pillowy. Everything was great. The garden panna Cota was a great end to a memorable meal.
Ursa Minor--where your dining experience is elevated!As a connoisseur of not-so-fine dining, this was certainly an experience out of my comfort zone. Coming here was not my choice, and I can't say I wasn't skeptical of this place when I saw the menu. But it was certainly a good experience! It's been a while since I've experienced such complex flavors in each bite.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
We celebrated our 10th anniversary and had great food and excellent service. Unfortunately, they don't serve the Halibut anymore, but the Albacore dish was superb.
Ursa Minor--where your dining experience is elevated! As a connoisseur of not-so-fine dining, this was certainly an experience out of my comfort zone. Coming here was not my choice, and I can't say I wasn't skeptical of this place when I saw the menu. But it was certainly a good experience! It's been a while since I've experienced such complex flavors in each bite.
Great service and really good food. I really enjoyed the eclectic drinks menu as well. I'd love to come back for one of their Monday night hamburger dinner pop-ups!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5