The Tides Wharf

(707)875-3652
835 Highway 1
Bodega Bay, CA

Price: $$-$$$
Rating: 3 (Rating & price key)
Last visit: 03/19/06

Located right on the shore of lovely Bodega Bay, The Tides is one of several bayside seafood eateries in the area. Sarah and I chose it at random after driving through the main town area (this doesn't take long!).

The building is a fish market, bar, gift shop, and restaurant, with a moderately large dining room on the right side. We were seated after a brief wait, and perused the menu.

The menu is typical seaside fishery fare, with fish and chips, specials, oysters, shrimp/crab louies, chowders and the like featuring prominently. Our table was right next to the waitstaff stand, and unfortunately we got to hear a lot of the sort of talk that patrons of restaurants would generally rather not hear (the poorly-toupee'd manager upbraiding the teenage waiters, a waitress crying for some unknown reason, etc).

Decor is sparse and nautical, big surprise! I decided to be daring and ordered oysters on the half shell ($9.95 for 6) and a seafood manhattan chowder ($8.95 for a small bowl, ouch!), while Sarah decided on a presumed-safe fish and chips ($16.95). The prices were high even for the genre, given that we were ordering from the lunch menu, not the (more expensive - I checked) dinner menu.

We were now treated to a long wait (10+ minutes) during which we were brought water and bland bread, but were not visited by anyone capable of taking our order. Our waitress, when she dropped by, took our order without a single pleasantry, and walked off without a word when we'd ordered.

Sarah fish and chips, and my oysters, arrived relatively quickly. The fish and chips were bland and rubbery, with way too much breading on the fish, which wasn't moist at all. I opted not to try the fries, as they looked tired. The vegetables, broccoli and zucchini, with a small morsel of asparagus, were cooked to mushiness, without a trace of the brigtness or snap they once possessed. Sarah proclaimed the small bite of asparagus to be the highlight of her meal, and I can't say that I disagree.

My oysters were okay, but strangely devoid of the rich smoky oystery flavor I was expecting. They were served with cocktail sauce, tobasco, a wedge of lemon, and horseradish, some of each of which was necessary to provide sufficient flavor. At least they weren't bad-as-in-make-you-sick-bad, but they weren't what oysters should be either. A full 15 minutes passed before the waitress noticed that I'd finished my oysters, and she scurried to fetch my ($9, remember?) cup of chowder.

The chowder was inoffensive, and actually had some nice tomato flavor in the broth, but had very little that I would call seafood in it, especially for the price. Whereas I was expecting a "seafood chowder" to have, perhaps, white fish, shrimp, and crab, or some combination of sea denizens, it had just a few lonely pieces of fish. Happily, they were at least tender and reasonably moist.

The highlight of my lunch was the $7 glass of Sonoma Pinot Noir, which was good. Once we received the check, we hurriedly paid it and fled so as to not incur further delay!

Perhaps they were having a bad day, but this was a pretty awful lunch experience, especially since the tab, before (a small) tip, was $54 for two! I can't imagine the circumstances which would cause me to return here, but we did get a kick of getting a smashed penny from the place to commemorate our bad lunch :)