I'm not sure what's going on with Yelp; if its a filter  or what, but this place is far better than its been given credit. I noticed that there were no recent reviews, so either positive ones are being filtered out, or the bad rap really hurt business.
I've been in here a few times. I enjoy chatting with Peggy and her staff, as they are absolutely delightful and attentive. Â I have noticed that they had been unreasonably slow for what would seem to be the busiest times of day. Although the ferry runs may cause their schedule to be a bit unconventional as far as the "rush" goes.
I do know that there is a buzz around town that this place has "improved greatly" in the last year or so. Perhaps a new chef? New staff? New management?
I have also noticed that business has picked up the last couple of times I've been there, so the word is getting to the locals.
This is a great spot for entertainment and good food. First; the food is as locally sourced as one can get on an island. Second; it's really quite good. It isn't mitchelin star fine dining, as some who travel to the island for vacation might expect. (Not everything here is extravagant... There is some down to earth local charm still wafting through the air) still, it's very tasty and might I add, they are very accommodating for those of us who have "special needs" when it comes to food, i.e: gluten/dairy intolerances. They also can pretty much make anything on the menu vegan as well.
I recommend their Spinach, Mushroom, Roasted Garlic pizza on a GF crust. You won't regret it.
All that said- give 'em a chance. It isn't the Electric Company (locals will understand) but its a heartfelt attempt to keep a piece of San Juan Island for the locals and tourist alike.
I visited the Rumor Mill for a quick happy hour bite before heading up to the FH Community Theater for their fun presentation of KWIT. Friendly Nomi was working the bar at their Saturday happy hour and served some good clams, variety of ok deviled eggs and some home-made style cheese stuffed jalapeno peppers that were alright. Beer selection was good and the 12 person brass swing & jazz band was fantastic. I'd definitely come back for dinner.
Review Source:Fine restaurant for an easy dinner. The menu is scatter shot across different styles so you don't all have to agree on one style of food. The flavoring is fine, the service is good, but we went in early so it had few customers. If you are looking for easy, and uncomplicated it will do. If you are looking for a dining experience there are other options in Friday Harbor.
Review Source:It's not often my impressions are so much of an outlier relative to the Yelp group mind. Â I'm not even sure that's true this time, either. If you look at many of the negative reviews here they seem to be written by accounts with low numbers of reviews/friends -- the very kind of reviews that usually get filtered out. Â In this case, it's the positive reviews by such accounts that have been dropped into the "Filtered" box, but reading them over they generally seem "written in a human voice," as the Cluetrain guys used to say. Â So it looks like Yelp's algorithm may just be having one of its off days.
Which is a shame, because this place charmed me a lot. Â It started with the presentation on the street -- their shingle reads, "rumor mill: food for thought." (See photo.) Â That's positively witty, people, and I saw it as a good sign. (as it, um, were)
My wife and I went in, and I had the cedar planked salmon, while she had the lamb sandwich. Â We both had 21st Amendment's Saison beer.
This was the same planked salmon RJB from Sacramento is so dubious about. Â To each their own tastes, I suppose -- for me, it was very much reminiscent of the salmon served at La Conner's Legends Salmon Bar, which does everything out in the open. Â If there was a switcheroo "backstage," it was a very clever one indeed. The portion was perhaps smallish for the price, but a) always leave 'em wanting more, and b) I could use smaller portions in general (ahem). Â It tasted great, regardless. I quite liked the seasoning on the potato wedges, and the pea salad tasted fresh to me, with a garnish of very interestingly pickled carrot slices. (Again, see photo.)
The place generally smelled like a cross between a pizza place and a Greek restaurant. Â My wife's lamb sandwich seemed to bear that out, and tasted comparable to those served by many Greek places in Seattle.
But there was also the setting, which was great. Â As a photographer on a day trip, I loved the Vermeer-like light that came in through the panels swung open to the street. Â Multiple pedestrians came and struck up conversations with us as they passed by. Â Our server was friendly and attentive without being over-the-top.
Overall, Rumor Mill had the kind of friendly neighborhood feeling that makes me slightly envious of those lucky enough to live in Friday Harbor.
Oh come on, please! All the negative reviews are exaggerated! This is an island folks, and people here work hard in the summer months and stay alive during the rest of the 9 months. No, this is not a 5 star place, but it's quaint , has great music, and is just fine. The food is all right. Sweet service too!
Review Source:Wen for the advertised German dinner.
Schnitzel is supposed to be thin but not transparent and certainly not the texture of cardboard and taste
Sauerbraten is supposed to be as the name  mean implies pungent with a hint of sweetness NOT cloyingly sweet. AND  cold!!
Bread used to be generously provided with flavored butters but is now clearly an after thought .What we got after the fact was stale, , half the previous portion, with molten "butter".
The final straw was acute gastrointestinal illness for both of us the next day.
So my battery ran out on my phone and there was no service for the ipad. So no <a href="http://yelp.com">http://yelp.com</a>.
Came in here as I blind spot. Saw the place was  crowded so I assumed it was a good sign. When we entered the whole town was there playing trivia night.  We needed some pizza to absorb some alcohol. We enter and get seated next to the window and the waitress tries to push drinks on us clearly seeing half my party is intoxicated.  I tell her we will stick with water. They try to look like an Italian diner with the bottled water and the decor. Should have stuck with good ole Americana.
Well I just wanted a one pizza but could not eat a plain pepperoni, so we ordered the chicken special also . So 2 pizzas for 3 drunk people. The waitress came over to put out napkins on our lap. Fine dining yes...pizza dive ..why bother ??  Pizzas came out and was a thin medium crust. Pepperoni was 19 inches of frozen pizza.  The chicken whiskey something was drowning in cheese with minimal chicken. possibly a wing was in there under the cheese someplace.  Well as you know when alcohol hits you will practically eat anything. Well the drunk guys demolished the pizzas and started feeling funny. Like upset stomachs. I ordered a house red to help digest it. They don't have a house red ?? Get me a Cabernet  sauvignon before the pizza comes back up. Got the wine and it settled my stomach. Â
Next time my phone will be charged so I can yelp some really good places to spend our $50.
No "nightly music". Cedar plank "Alaskan Salmon" clearly not cedar planked and questionably salmon. Dried out poached flavorless tail end maybe 2.5 ozs. Poor presentation with over crusted potatoes wedges with an undigestible odd taste. Cold "canned" tasting curry pea salad with a mystery seasoning. Pizza mediocre at best and over salted with imaginary spinach. Added $1 for tomato topping without notice.
Suggest you board the ferry hungry; you will be $50 ahead.
We ate here as we waited for the ferry back to Anacortes in August. Â Although the server was a bit frantic at the beginning with a rush of ferry folks, we were pleased with the service.
I had the salmon burger and curry pea salad which really hit the spot. Â I would love to come back to dinner to listen to the live music some time. Â I thought the food was reasonably priced...not spectacular, but good enough to come again.
A solid One star.
So, we came in because it was the only place that had live music on a Sat night. The jazz group was visiting, so I don't know what is normal for this place.the atmosphere was lively, mostly middle aged crowd was dancing. Not a place to meet your next young fling.
Pinot noir was the house wine for $5.50 - can't tell you how it was because it was not the first (or second) drink we had that night. Tasted like a cheap cab sav to me, though.
I wanted to have the item marked NEW - Sausages of some kind - but they were out. So, I got the Seafood Sampler ($16) as recommended by our waiter. My date ordered the Hawaiian pizza ($11 for the small). After waiting about 20 minutes longer than I had patience, we finally received our order.
The seafood sampler is the saddest such named dish I have ever been served. It had three baked oysters, five shrimp, a tasting of smoked salmon, and croutons. The oysters and croutons were by far the best part of the dish. The oysters were delicious. The cold shrimp were the WORST shrimp ever and the sauce they came with was equally terrible. The smoked salmon was so bad it made me think we were in the Midwest somewhere - we were served the thinnest part of the tail that was extremely dry and tasted like cardboard. Terrible but  this place was proud of it.
The pizza we ordered was supposed to have lychee and pancetta - we got pineapple and chicken on a very soggy crust. The waiter apologized for bringing the wrong pizza and we did not pay for it - it still did not taste good. Again, the waiter was proud of it when he recommended their pizzas. I think our waiter may have been the manager, too - he wore a different colored shirt than the others.
I guess if you are stuck on the island and the place has good music - go in, but stick to the bottled beer. I hope you find this useful, funny, etc - please mark it so on <a href="http://yelp.com">http://yelp.com</a> if you have the time.
Yet another tourist trap has emerged from the depths of culinary mediocrity here in Friday Harbor. This time it's the prior management team fresh off a catastrophic failure with their last go-around that was The Front Street Alehouse.
If I could boil down a quick description of their food--and I can--it would read something like; canned, frozen and over-priced.
Update.
The owner has been quoted referring to the locals as "riffraff".
Gee, no wonder the place is always deserted. I think we can put Rumor Mill on "death watch" now. How much longer can they last without any business?
Service was horrible, dispite being polite. Soup of the day was the strangest I've ever seen. Â It was a "Chicken Curry", taste was mediocre, and had pickles or cucumbers in it (yes, I thought that was weird, too). Salads were fine, but the kitchen and staff have much to learn. Pretty clean and ok presentation, but I'd pass on this place. Not very good for kids.
Review Source:Lots of potential here. Live Jazz band, which was awesome, but a little loud. Had a delicious salmon Caesar salad that had way too much dressing on it, but was yummy otherwise, with panchetta and Parmesan. Service was nice but slow and a little forgetful. One side of the place had windows open, which was very nice, but combo that with fresh flowers everywhere and we had a bit of a bee problem. Overall, a nice place that I would try again!
Review Source:
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