My BF and I went on a Tuesday night and the place was packed! There were two servers, who were busting their butts. Honestly, other restaurants should take notes because everything came out on time, was perfectly cooked and was a decent price. We will definitely be going to this place more often!
Review Source:Loved the small atmosphere of Christopher's. For a Tuesday night this place was packed, not a seat left. They have a great beer and wine selection as well as very reasonable pricing for the quality of food and beverage. We had the mussels, chowder, and smoked salmon linguine all of which were amazing. The mussels had one of the best sauces ever actually no the best sauce ever I've had with mussels. So good in fact it took two baskets of bread to soak it all up. The chowder was pretty rich, but still pretty dang good. At that point we were asking ourselves why we had ordered the linguine because we were both full. We had a couple bites of the pasta, which was very good. The rest of the pasta went into a take home box. They had a 22oz. Ipa for 8 bucks and we split it between the two of us 4 bucks a beer not bad. I highly recommend Christopher's to anyone who enjoys high quality seafood.
Review Source:Christopher's is a fine place to stop for lunch or dinner in the pretty little town of Coupville. Â The food they serve is premium and competitively priced, the menu looks small at first glance but it gets straight to the point and is simple and unique. Â The outdoor seating is very nice and the location is easy to find and classy. Â My experience was good overall and although I was happy with the service that my waiter provided, he had a mannerism and dress that I found inappropriate and offensive, this was not a deal breaker I just expect more form a fancy place like this.
Review Source:I've tried seafood stews on and off for years knowing that they can be great. Â At other places I've tried they usually get three things right and two wrong with it. Â Christopher's Penn Cove Seafood Stew was perfect all around, best I've found in the last 10 years. Â The mussels, clams, chunks of fish, and scallops were all cooked perfectly and not rubbery. Â The broth, well, I could have just had that alone as a soup - I ended up slurping up as much as I could even though I was full on the generous amount of seafood. Â The rest of the dining experience was great as well.
I'd definitely recommend reservations, those that showed up without them did have to wait a while.
The food at Christopher's is consistently good. Â Dinners come with a perfectly crusted baguette served with cool butter followed by your choice of a Caesar or house salad (love the dressing on the house salad). Â
My favorite item on their menu right now is a Mediterranean pasta dish that includes kalamata olives, artichoke hearts and feta cheese. Â The serving size is impressive - you'll have left-overs for lunch the next day! Â The price of $15 is reasonable considering the meal comes with bread and salad.
Others I've dined with at Christopher's have had chicken fettuccine, seafood stew, lamb, and steak - people frequently say "this is SO good" during the meal.
Service can be hit or miss - sometimes we're rushed and sometimes its a bit too slow, but when you're on Whidbey Island its best to relax and just take it as it comes.
I recommend reservations, especially during the summer months. Â This is definitely the place to go for a nice meal in Coupeville - you don't need to dress up all fancy, but you can if you want. Â :)
We are locals who LOVE Christopher's! I cant think of one bad thing about this place. The food is fabulous, the portions are VERY generous, wonderful view, good service and very fair prices for what I consider gourmet food. Their menu isnt huge, but everything Ive had here has been fantastic. Their garlic soup is to kill for-its rich yet delicate at the same time. Steak sandwhich is always made perfectly. I bring my baby daughter and they are so accommodating, flipping the highchair upside down and letting her sit our-level in her car seat/carrier. I took my grandma here from out of town and she enjoyed it. I go here at least once or twice a month with my parents. The dining room is small, but on a nice day you can eat outside. I highly recommend Christophers!!
Review Source:A longtime Whidbey institution, Christopher's on Whidbey is a hit - and - miss dining experience, but overall, I'd say it's worth the visit, but only just so.
WHAT WORKS: The dining space is light and airy but not terribly intimate. Â Overpriced pieces by local artists adorn the walls. Â Overall, it's sort of like someone tried to replicate a Shari's. Â The clam chowder is a real delight! Â Not heavy or thick, with nicely diced potatoes and lots of clams. Â CoW doesn't resort to the common 'cheat' of throwing in bacon for extra richness. Â Just a wonderful clam taste here. Â Portions are
'Fred Flinstone'-sized generous, which makes is a good value for the trencherman or someone who wants to take half home and have two meals for the price of one. Â Also, they don't gouge you on wine prices.
WHAT DIDN'T: Lamb shanks were a bit tough and mutton-y. Â Service, while pleasant, had bizarre pacing and more hiccups than one should expect at this price point. Â For no good reason, two of us were brought our chowder, and the other two guests watched us eat it. Â Then they brought one guests salad, and so the three of us watched her eat that (is there any reason why the chowders & salad couldn't have been brought at the same time?). Â One guest's entree salad was completely forgotten, so she had to watch us eat our entrees while the kitchen frantically banged out the overlooked item. Â To their credit, they did bring us a complimentary dessert to make up for it (AFTER they asked us if we wanted dessert, and we declined because we were full - #WhatTheHeck??), so you should give them credit for having their hearts in the right place, even if the execution was a bit ham-handed.
THE VERDICT: An interesting menu with good value for money and some standout individual offerings is offset by amateur-hour service goofs and occasionally lackluster execution. Â Still worth a visit, but only because it's a relatively big fish in a small pond. Â It's only really competition on the Fine Dining front in town is The Oystercatcher. Â Coupeville is still a bit sleepy, and the serious foodie action seems to be in Langley and Oak Harbor.
Decided to check out Christopher's with my girlfriend based on positive Yelp reviews--we had no problem finding a table at 5:15 on a Saturday (afternoon appy and pint @ Toby's Tavern beforehand). On the topic that counts, we found the mussels at Toby's superior--fresher tasting, and preferable sauce (much less creamy/rich). Â That said, the mixed greens salad (with steak) was excellent, as was the the Caesar calamari (my favorite). Overall, excellent value--and without holding grudge for not providing the tastiest mussels of my life (Toby's)--a solid 4 stars.
Review Source:Rec'd by the owner of the Coupeville Inn. Â Went to check out the posted menu, and had a group of locals ask us where we were from etc, and further recv the place. Â So, in we went!
Thursday night and the place was hopping. Â Lots of knowledgeable waitstaff. Â Water and bread (decent baked) filled throughout the meal. Â Since mussels were the special we got the large size to split. Â Nice white wine sauce, not too much garlic. Â Calamari caesar was different and interesting, but tasty. Â Not like we haven't had grilled romaine before, but with grilled calamari, it was quite 'umami' ish.
Hubby and I split the smoked salmon pasta. Â Cooked perfectly el dente. Â Very savory sauce, fresh parsley. (Not as good as the recipe from the NY times, but I'm splitting hairs!). Â
One of our friends really enjoyed the shrimp with gnocchi. Â Her words were 'now these are gnocchi !' Â They were pillowy soft and the shrimp sauce was delicious.
Wanted to have the homemade chocolate mousse, which looked awesome going past our table, but there was no way.
We were too full for dessert, had to take a walk around the town.
Thanks for the recc's!!
After our local contact said, " Christopher's is my first and second choice out of three  choices," we thought we would drop in on a weekend evening in peak tourist season for dinner. Rating our odds at far less than 50-50, we walked in to find that they always hold 5 places along the short bar between the dining room and the open view kitchen for walk- in adventurers. Soon it was clear that this was just one great feature of a smooth operation. Wait staff was local, friendly, knowledgable, and willing to give great advice on portion size and wine choice ( I love it when a waiter down sells me when I go overboard with a bountiful menu and is right. ) That close to Penn Cove, we stared with a 10 oz order of mussels @ $11.00. The broth was a subtle, light cream sauce seasoned with aromatics and diced leak. Our waiter made sure we had enough fresh French bread to take advantage of it. We then had a house salad, about a cup of mixed greens with thin sliced root vegetables and vinaigrette. The menu salmon, served with a raspberry sauce was next for one @$20.00 and a hot seafood salad with a full dinner serving of clams, mussels, salmon chunks and shrimp in a lightly spiced fresh tomato based dressing for the other @ $17.00.  ( see picture). Both of us were thrilled with our picks and glad to have given up on other menu choices.  Wines by the glass include 3-4 white and 4-5 red varietals and each measured pour was at least 6 oz. The dessert board had 6-7 hand written options and tears were shed as we realized it had been a choice of the mussels vs. dessert and we already ate the mussels. We will return to explore the dessert menu on another night.
Review Source:I had the salmon with berry "barbeque sauce" and my wife had the ravioli and sausage. Â
Her food was absolutely delicious! Â Raviolis were the right size, the meat was cooked slowly in the sauce which was creamy and tomato-y, and the spinach was added at just the right time to not lose the flavor and become completely bland. Â Just right, awesome dish this one!
My dish was not bad, not stellar ... . Â To be honest, the sauce was a letdown. Salmon is naturally flavorful and good salmon (which this was) doesn't need a lot of toppings to make it delicious. Â I also found it too sweet for the fish. Â Seriously, Christopher's, you can do better than this. Â Everything else was cooked to perfection, and the fish itself was beautiful AFTER I scraped off the mounds of too-sweet barbeque sauce. Â Juicy, and salmon flavor is awesome. Â Not a big gripe, I know, but this place ain't cheap, so I expect a little more refinement. Â
Service was spot on, and everyone was courteous. Â Great job, just ditch the too-sweet sauces!
I had a great salad here--the mixed greens salad with a better-than-average balsamic dressing, dried cranberries, candied walnuts, shaved apples, & gorgonzola. Â It was huge. Â DH had a Caesar that was very good too, along with a cup of chowder. Â A delish chewy sourdough bread was served with buttah. Â Very filling and the service was attentive and friendly. Â Love that Coupeville town!
Review Source:I write this completely disappointed in Christopher's. I have been there many many times in the past and thoroughly enjoyed my food and experience with the staff. The last time I went was not the case. I had made a reservation for four with two of my guests being from out of the country. Our reservation was for 7pm and we walked through the door at 7:02.
We waited for a few minutes and were not greeted and could not find wait staff. After that, a female employee came to the reservation book and told us (without apology) that it was going to be a few minutes and she was checking to see if our table was ready. It was clearly not, as we could see only one empty table to seat four still dirty from the previous party. After another five minutes at the front door (while the rest of the patrons were looking at us half standing half sitting) waitstaff had still not cleaned our table or offered apologies. We ended up walking out as it was so embarrassing continuing to wait as the rest of the restaurant pitied us.
I'm sad to say I will not be returning because this was one of my favorite places in the area. No matter how good the food is, it cannot make up for poor service. They had my name and number in the reservation book, and the waitress that saw us walk out made eye contact. They had the opportunity to call afterwards and apologize, but I suppose they have too much business walking through the door to worry about making their loyal customers happy.
Lovely surprise. Great menu, warm ambiance and professional, friendly service. Our group of 8 went there for dinner. Ages ranged from 9 to 68. Every meal was beautifully presented and delicious. Â We had to ask for more bread (and then MORE bread) because the sauces were all so yummy.
Review Source:I love you, Christopher's. Â First you pour me a deelicious glass of SIX dollar wine. Yes. In Seattle, that would be $11 and a snooty expression on the side. Â Then you woo me with perfectly cooked salmon. Â A bed of risotto so amazing, the Hapa Boy almost stabbed me with his fork to keep me out of his plate [I joke. He's a good food share-er. Â Most of the time.] Â Then you seal the deal with the best dessert I've ever eaten. Â Homemade chocolate chip bar cookies - still warm - with incredible vanilla ice cream.
You're a keeper, Christopher's. Â We'll be back.
I've been dining at Christopher's since 1998. The food is consistently good, portions generous, and never a service problem. The menu offers a nice range to suit just about anyone. The wine list includes some decent choices at reasonable prices.
The only demerit I'd give Christopher's is that it follows the trend of having acoustics designed to amply the sense of a bustling cafe. But there's a banquet room if you plan a quiet dinner for a larger group, and tables outdoors in summer.
The bright, open space is accented with a rotating show of art by the artists of Penn Cove Gallery.
We live 2 blocks away and dine at Christopher's about every 2-3 months. 2 words come to mind - consistent and generous.  They are simply always good!  And, you get  generous portions. Â
If you are the types that like to share/split a meal, you can easily do this here.
We run an Lovejoy Inn B&B just up the hill and this is the first place we recommend to guests. Â Only complaint, too much food.
Price is reasonable, certainly not expensive, especially in light of the quality and amount serviced. Â
Favorites: Penn Cove Mussels - they are in a wine & cream sauce and are amazing. Â The fillet mignon is great and a great value. Â Smoked salmon alfredo and seafood alfredo are both excellent and very rich. Â The house salad is tasty with a nice balsamic dressing and we have heard very positive reviews from our guests about the seafood stew and the warm seafood salad. Â
Good idea to make a reservation for dinner.
Great food, and decently priced for the upscale atmosphere. Â The portion sizes are pretty generous, too. Â However, it gets quite busy on weekends, so reservations are the way to go to avoid waiting for a while. Â In addition to the dinner fare being excellent (gotta go with seafood, it's probably their best offering), their desserts are inventive and superb.
Review Source:Christopher's is our usual restaurant of choice when my husband and I go out to eat. Â It's not much of a drive from Oak Harbor, and definitely worth it. Â Their mushroom fondue is to die for. Â My husband always get the mustard encrusted steak (I don't know the exact name off the top of my head) and eats every possible bite. Â I tend to vary my food selections, and it's all been very good. Â The tomato soup is awesome. The service is always friendly. Â It's always hit or miss how busy they are. Â Sometimes we've made a reservation for a Friday night, and there are a ton of open seats. Â Last night, we just showed up for for a Wednesday night random dinner, and it was packed!
The more we come to this restaurant, the more we love it. My mother-in-law recently bought us a gift certificate by calling the manager so that they had it there waiting for us when we arrived. Everyone was so friendly about it, and super accommodating. Â We love them all.
Recommendations from locals lead me here. Â Crisp salad and be sure to ask them to add the ultra crunchy croutons to make the salad perfect. Â I am sure they make those croutons from the top notch hot French bread they serve. Â I ordered their entree' of the day: true cod with Penn cove mussels and rice pilaf. Â The cod was lightly breaded and flaky. Â The mussels were good but a few in the bunch were sandy, which disturbed part of my meal. Â Nevertheless, I felt that the prices were reasonable and I had a fun dinner there to finish my day visit to the island. Â I would recommend a visit here but be sure to make reservations as the locals love it here.
Review Source:I've never eaten inside of Christopher's, but my family ordered a huge amount of takeout food over the weekend while in Coupeville. Â The food was SUPER good.
There was this amazing salad with chickpeas and a fantastically thick and tasty dressing. Â The salmon was to die for! Â Looking at the menu online, it was definitely the salmon with the raspberry BBQ sauce - it was sweet and smokey at the same time. Â A really great combination.
We also had some wild rice and veggies, which were cooked perfectly and tasted quite good. Â There was fresh baked bread and butter as well - some of the best bread I've had from a restaurant in a long time.
I'd really like to come back and eat in the restaurant because if this takeout order was any indication, they must have some really fantastic food.
hmm, good reviews makes me wonder if we visited on an off day or someone there called in sick. As the reviews indicate, the menu is great as is the food. Generous portions - lunch was fantastic! We had two small kids with us (5 and 3) and it seemed that they are set for kids (special menu and crayons)but the service didn't really show it.
The service we received that day was just horrible! We visited around 1pm on a week day and it was about 80% full. There was one waitress and one bus boy for the entire room. We asked multiple times and didn't get water until we got our food. As we were watching the waitress, it seemed that she was servicing all the locals first. It took around 20 min to order even though we promptly identified our meals and closed the menus. When we finally got our meals (about 60 min after we sat down) the kids were over it and I had to get them out of there before they disrupted lunch time for other people. Left the grandparents to finish their meals and pay the check and even though they let the waitress know that the kids and I were in the car, it took her another 20 min to process the check. We frequently go on trips along the islands and are always looking for places to stop and eat. We are always recommending places to our friends as well. It's a shame I can't recommend Christoper's - the food was great but we can't take that kind of chance on the service again. I'm hoping they were just short staffed on that particular day.
We had our first visit to Christopher's on Valentine's Day. If you're a visitor you might want to split an entree as the portion sizes went beyond generous into ridiculous. It's good value if you can take the excess with you.
Decor is pleasant, not pretentious but certainly nice enough. Service was fine. Â The small but servicable wine list is aimed at complementing the meal rather than emptying your wallet. A pleasant guitarist/singer provided music. They gave my wife a rose with the bill, which was a nice touch.
The food was delicious. The Penn Cove Mussels appetizer was excellent. You'll never have fresher seafood and the broth had a lot going on but didn't compete with the mussels. I used bread to sop up every last bit. Yum.
Then the entrees came out and we did a doubletake. Did I mention that the portions are FREAKING HUGE? I had the seafood stew and wound up leaving half of it. Not because there was anything wrong with it, oh no: it was wonderful. But it was just too much food. I regretted sopping up all the mussel broth.
My wife had the smoked salmon on linguine in a tomato-cream sauce and this was also enough food for two people. We could save this so we shared it for lunch the next day. It was almost as good cold as fresh, and that's saying something.
We'll certainly return. But with a cooler in the car.
I had the very worst meal I've ever had in my life. Â The meat was tough, the sauce was a watery beef broth poured over it, Â too salty, the sauce was also poured over the broccoli and was so awful I couldn't eat that either. I left almost the entire meal uneaten since it was inedible. My partner had a salad that he also left most of. Would never go back, it was really bad on multiple levels. Â The cook needs to get some advice on recipes.
Review Source:If you are up on the island and want a meal that will complement the beauty of the area, try Christopher's as we do everytime we visit.
Personal favorite is the garlic soup (though I will advise that it may not work for everyone) and any of the sandwiches. Â If you can manage, the dessert is worth ordering as well, especially the chocolate mousse that is served in a chocolate tulip bowl. Â Â Exquisite.
On Saturday's in the summer, use Christopher's to regain air conditioned balance between shopping at the nearby farmers market and walking the main street.
Christopher's moved to it's own building at 103 NW Coveland, up a block from the waterfront and next to the Post Office. Â Still the best food in Coupeville, but a new location. Â The dining room is bright and airy, but a bit noisy. Â Service is excellent, and I've never had anything on the menu that disappointed. Â Lot's of locals make this a regular stop. Â The mussels and chicken pannini sandwiches are my lunchtime favorites, but the salmon and tenderloin are top notch for dinner.
Review Source:
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