Reviews of The Willows Inn Restaurant (Restaurant)

Roy Leake

The food was very good, the price was excellent and the service was excellent

Alexandr Moroz

An old inn, located on the west shore of a tiny island divided by a five-minute ferry trip from the mainland, hosts one of the most exquisite restaurants of the Pacific Northwest. Dinner at the Willow's Inn offers a true gourmand experience with relentless attention to details, carefully crafted in a shape of a twenty-course feast. If the weather permits, you start the dinner on the terrace under a wisteria tree with a calming sea view. The first few bites set the bar high and surprise with a creative and well-balanced mix of tastes, flavours and textures. However, it's just a warm-up: the exciting part starts when you move inside and take your seat in the dining room, adjacent to the foyer. Your dinner turns into an extensive study of local products and ingredients, skilfully transformed into artistic creations. The menu is built around fish, shellfish, vegetables, berries and herbs. It offers plenty of food to taste and overwhelms your imagination with flavours. The service is friendly, attentive and unostentatious, which makes the dinner even more enjoyable. Our favourites were: savoury doughnuts of smoked cod, pink singing scallops, herbed tostada, and steamed halibut with mustard greens. With each of these dishes, we thought "it won't get any better than that," and the talented team led by Blaine Wetzel proved us wrong every time. The deserts featuring wild rose and stinging nettle ice cream deserve a special mention. Dinner at the Willow's Inn is a truly unforgettable experience that deserves a trip – if you're lucky to book a table.

Jackie Granger

World renowned chef Blaine doesn't disappoint. The food is great and amazingly presented. The experience is a must. If you have a large party, definitely try to be seated in the private dining area, it elevates the entire experience to what feels like a catered dinner in your own home.

Hans Fritz

Truly one of the best, if not the best, dining experiences I have ever had. From the journey to get there, the wait staff, the dedication to local ingredients, to the absolutely incredible food and wine pairing - you cannot miss this. Truly a treasure. A meal you’ll remember to be sure!

Brian Downing

Extremely expensive, but they do make it a special experience every night. Well over a dozen courses of local greens and just-caught seafood, presented in fun and creative ways. Staff and music are casual, and you move in and out of the restaurant as the 5+ hour experience unfolds. Visit at least once if you can.

Gamer braker X gamers in play

This places some very bad service

Bridget Fabi

Cannot say enough great things about the Willows Inn. A stellar world-class experience for anyone who appreciates local, fresh, creative food that is taken to the next level. Pricey but totally worth it. Gorgeous wine pairings.

Kat Sam

If the Local Guides rating system had a special extra star, reserved just for those incredible moments and once in a lifetime experiences, this would be that experience! Long overdue in posting this but figured better late than never and definitely better yet before we return this year for the second time. First things first, my husband and I needed a romantic getaway in the August ofcourse2017 and decided to try out famed Willows Inn. Drive to Bellingham was fairly quick and uneventful. Waiting for Whatcom Chief Ferry only took about 15 minutes and the crossing itself was very short. Neither my husband nor I have ever been on such a tiny ferry. It takes maybe 15 cars on its deck and we parked so close to each other that there was no getting out or opening car doors. Instead, we rolled down the windows and enjoyed Pacific breeze while admiring our perfect summers and shimmering waters of Samish Bay. Willows Inn on Lummi Island is a little hidden gem. Their sign is currently being redone so there is no indication from the road that you have arrived other than a few parked cars and a red pin on your map. Beach cottage is about a mile down the road from the main Inn. High Tide room is fairly spacious with a king size bed sitting high next to the back wall to allow for a perfect view. The windows are open and the gentle whisper of the ocean is calming while the air is fresh and crisp. Spotted a few seals playing in the water very close to the private beach. Thursday dinner. Ahh, started out at 4pm with a casual loungy cocktail hour ( more like 2 hours). Morphed into the finger food phase of one bite local creativity that transitioned into a multi course sit down endeavor. The pictures say a thousand words and the flavors that chef Blaine and team are able to create truly are out of this world. All I have to say is that it was an absolute tranquil, serene, creative and intimately rustic upscale dinner experience by far... Came back there next night for dinner number two. We wanted to get a perspective on whether we were justly impressed or if it was just a fluke the night before. It was not a fluke, the staff carefuly adjusted a few courses for those dining two nights in a row as to diversify the experience a bit and we were grateful. I honestly couldn't tell you if dinner one or two was better, it was consistently on a different scale than any other restaurant. We also tried their breakfast and lunch and were impressed by the simplicity and artfulness of all of it. Coming back and brining family for a newly established yearly tradition of pure Bliss and Serenity.

Cherie Roberts

Very expensive, but a superb, unique experience.

Angel Latterell

Hands down best meal of life. Most unique hyper local ingredients served by happy, fun, and laid back staff (who do everything right). Worth the money, the planning to get a reservation and the drive. So much better than any M starred restaurant.

Chris Immer

Wow!

Nat Luengnaruemitchai

Not living up to the hype. Some dishes were executed beautifully. However, oysters were overpowered by watercress soup. Crab brain did not have much taste at all. The service was great. Every server was nice, polite and super helpful.

Carolyn Iwata

The whole experience was amazing.

John Costello

A birthday present from my wife. Admittedly we had high expectations given its reputation but it feel short of them. The location is fabulous, of course, with views of north Puget Sound and islands. The evening began with fruit, however, it wasn't ripe which is a problem when it's served alone and with nowhere to hide. The following dishes were better but very little stood out as excellent. The desert course was to put it lightly, a frank embarrassment as you can see from the photos. If this were to be reviewed by Guide Michelin it would not receive a one star. The quality of the meal is not there.The setting and the service were top notch but the meal was at best very good for a regular restaurant and definitely not worth the drive or money. I say this as someone who has dined at the best restaurants in the US and around europe so I believe I have an adequate experience from which to draw this conclusion. I hope they continue to improve but so far it's just very good.

Marcus Fan

A superb world class restaurant on a remote island off the coast. Precise execution of 15 of so courses perfectly cooked. I suggest a slightly slower pace because the portion sizes can be large. Ingredients can be esoteric so i can see how someone may not enjoy their meal, but I found it entirely delightful.

Samanta Stewart

Worth the two hour drive from Seattle to eat some unique and fresh food foraged locally in Lummi Island. Book ahead!!!