Geoduck Tavern

Geoduck is the bomb.  We watched seals and bald eagles while downing 1lb burgers.  I felt a bit sheepish about our drink orders (no one got a beer).  The Big Burger Dip was killer.  Don't listen to the haters.  Mom was gushing about her turkey club - great bacon and crusty dulish bread - for hours.  This was our best meal of a week on the Olympic Peninsula.  Waitress was a doll - hilarious and charming.  It's a dirty tavern (minus the dirtyness), so expect logger ambiance and grit, but great pub food too.  Don't order a salad you dummy.  Although the salads that came with the sammys were surprisingly great - mesculun greens, cukes, shredded carrot etc.  Whatta surprise.  If you drove past, you just screwed up.  Skip the valet parking.

Geoduck has more of a bar atmosphere, but the restaurant section is separated from the bar section by a waist-high fence, and the restaurant has a completely separate entrance.  There is a deck where you can watch the seals and birds while you eat -- there is also a cat?  

I ordered the clam strips (they were out of clam chowder, oysters, and I think steak).  The pieces were large, about 3-4 inches long and half an inch wide, unlike many restaurants who give you small skimpy pieces where there's just as much batter as clam.  Some of the pieces had a soft texture, and others had a chewy texture -- clams AND oysters? We asked our waitress, but she denied it because they were out of oysters.  It doesn't really matter to me, though.  I actually liked the combination.  The hamburgers were HUGE! My mom actually ended up taking half of her burger home with her.  The bacon burgers came with LOTS of bacon.  Lots of fries came with

Our waitress was really nice and had a good sense of humor.  When she saw me checking out the jukebox, she offered to give me some money from the till to play some music.  I declined, but she brought $5 anyway and stuck it in the machine.  I selected Paul McCartney's Wings album -- very nice of her.

I have been here once so far and although I didn't have the signature burger dip, I still had a wonderful experience.  The outdoor tables on the deck are a must if the weather permits as the view of the Dosy and the Canal are marvelous.  The food was superb, the menu was solid and the service fast and true.  I can't wait to come again and confirm my first experience and be able to give an update.