BIG WAVE CAFE re-opens Sunday March 21, 2021 - NEW OWNERS - David & Jennifer Cleary.
SAME Great Menu Featuring Fresh Ingredients from Local Farms, Fishers and Yes, Carol’s Desserts
“Why mess with a good thing?” That’s exactly the philosophy of David and Jennifer Cleary, the new owners of the Big Wave Café in Manzanita. The local community has been anticipating the popular North Coast restaurant reopening on Sunday, March 21st.
The same great menu and specials will continue to feature the best ingredients, locally sourced, and served in ways that showcase the flavors of the foods. And, Carol Williams’ desserts (she’s sharing her recipes with the new owners) will continue to be featured.
Manzanita is home to the Big Wave Café as well as the northernmost city in the Nehalem Bay Area.
Nehalem is built along the river of the same name. Despite the fact that the highway runs through it, it still bears a remarkable resemblance to its turn-of-the-19th-century self, with its old-fashioned storefronts.
Wheeler offers residents and visitors an impressive view of the bay, where, during the town´s heyday, local mills floated logs bound for San Francisco.
Together, the three villages, as many refer to them, compose a tight-knit, yet diverse community catering to everyone from golfers to organic farmers to visitors from the city to sports fishermen.
For a closer look at each of the three communities located in the shadow of Neahkahnie Mountain, click here to continue reading. Manzanita, the northernmost community in the Nehalem Bay Area, is home to the Big Wave Café.
Love this place when we visit Manzanita! The food is wonderful & service is spot on. We are visiting the end of this month, so I hope they are doing take-out in the light of this virus thing!
Don’t miss stopping at Big Wave for a fantastic meal! The service is superb and the halibut fish and chips couldn’t be better—it even includes a large delicious side salad! It has become a true favorite restaurant when we are in Rockaway, as only a few miles farther for a meal we will recommend to all our friends!!
This place is bar far the best all around place that we have eaten at on our weekend travel.
Greeted promptly by Taylor G as we walked in the door with a warm and friendly smile to be seated in a comfortable booth to look out the windows.
Taylor was great at letting us know the specials and answering menu questions we had. Knowledgeable on menu and prices.
Everything we ordered was without a doubt spectacular, from taste to presentation, from texture to quality.
Prices were reasonable with the exception of the Deviled Eggs. They were amazing but definitely could have been a little less, maybe $10.00 maximum.
Thank you Taylor G and Chef 👌💕
Charming place with great tasting food. Everything is made fresh, and we are never disappointed. The staff is super friendly, and you always feel welcome!
Awesome dinner, excellent service and the food was great. Family owned place and feels good in there, positive ambiance. Ate the crab cakes - was tasty and came with some yummy veggies and a side. Wine list was satisfying and felt well attended to. Nice small menu of seafood and seasonal specials. The oysters were on point and all ingredients were locally sourced.
Wonderful place! Staff are very nice and give a warm greeting upon entering. Food is very good. And their fries! Crispy on the outside, warm and soft on the inside. Everything a plate of fries should be. And they serve Portland Organic Ketchup, on the money! Desert was absolutely perfect!
My son and I stopped here for dinner. He loved the kids grilled cheese and I had the fresh chinook salmon special which was nicely done. Service was good, albeit a little slow. But my experience went downhill fast during the apple crisp dessert - there were 2 hairs in it. That’s pretty unforgivable and I won’t be back (or recommend either).
We went on the labor day long weekend. The service was great and the food was very delicious. We had clam chowder, tsunami burgers, and bay shrimp salad. The beef patty for the tsunami burgers was so fresh and juicy. I would love to come back again.
Comfortable, clean , fast , service timing was perfect. All Food my wife and I had was.... make you slow down and want to savor and enjoy. Portions were great , price right for the quality of food and service. Family owned and operated.
Were from Portland, I would do a round trip just for dinner.
This is a solid seafood restaurant. We had some razor clams, halibut, and clam chowder. We also had the French dip. Everything was good. Nothing screamed amazing. But with so many places failing to do seafood right, it's nice to have a place that does. Portions and prices are what I expect it to be.
Stopped in for the first time while I played tour guide with my visiting family. Delicious seafood and amazing marionberry pie. Friendly folks. Loved seeing owners and their son working in the restaurant. I overheard the owner bring out the dinner special for his waitstaff to try. Very sweet man treating his staff right. We will definitely be back!
Wow! This place really impresses.
Food: 5/5
Had the special, sesame crusted seared ahi tuna (pictured). Was perfectly cooked and a wonderful presentation. Split that and the standard burger with my wife. The burger was one of the best I’ve had in a long time, and I get a lot of gourmet burgers.
Service: 5/5
The most surprising thing was the great service. They were very attentive. The exec chef Brian came around to ask how meals were and even topped off a few draft beers for a very hospitable touch.
Atmosphere: 5/5
The outside is very unassuming, but the inside shows a close attention to detail. Beautiful woodwork and very clean. It gets a little loud when crowded, but nothing that distracted from the experience.
Overall: 5/5
This place is excellent. My family and I just had a big seafood dinner there. It was fairly busy but the service was still good; atmosphere had a nice bustle to it too. Food was all high quality and nicely prepared. Calamari to start was delicious. Kids had fish and chips and chicken strips - all really good. Chicken was actual chicken - not some processed garbage. I had grilled halibut with baked potato and green beans - all were cooked to perfection; the green beans tasted very fresh and were not over cooked. I’m Irish, so I’m big on potatoes and I was very happy. My wife’s halibut fish and chips were good too. The salads were full and fresh and I really like the raspberry vinaigrette. We just wrapped it up with marionberry pie and apple crisp - so yummy! I want to go back to try the clam chowder and crab cakes...
The waiter, Sam, was great. I'm always leery about restaurants with "cafe" in the name. The atmosphere was indeed cafe style, but had a bar, which was nice since I was traveling alone. The clam chowder was very good, I had to add a little salt though. They may go light on salt to accommodate people more. Side salad with bay shrimp was fantastic. Lots of shrimp and only $3 more to add it. I think it was $8. Could've just had that. Ranch dressing had dill in it, which I enjoy. Wine selection was good. I expected super cheap tasting wine.
Really good Alaska halibut fish and chips. Fast service, very clean. The wait staff was extremely friendly and accurate. The food was a little pricey, but well worth it.
ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL!!!
So many delicious choices, and all of them are amazing.
Great service. The owner blends in with the waitresses.
The best seafood I've had anywhere.
If you live anywhere within a 200 mile radius, definitely worth the drive.
Plus, the road to get here, 101, is one of the most scenic drives in the country.
Wonderful dining experience and the food was amazing. The staff was very friendly and the restaurant was nice clean and comfortable. Hadn't seen the owner there in 40 years and he recognized me. The owner Brian & his lovely wife Carol are wonderful people. Highly recommend you go even if it's a little out of the way.
We had never been before and checked reviews. They seemed good so we stopped in for Sunday lunch. Very cool place. Very clean and a great vibe. Super friendly staff. My order was messed up but they were more than accommodating to fix and quick! Good clam chowder and crab cakes! Would definitely come back and recommend.
The service is excellent! Our server Sam was attentive and very good at his job , and the food is amazing! The Wagu tip steak was one of the best I’ve had! The atmosphere is great too! I would highly recommend this place!!
I visited here recently for the first time. Part of our order was wrong but I'm sure it's just because they were very busy. We didn't want to bother with changing it. I had the halibut fish and chips. It was very good. I was at first very disappointed to see the fish was salted but it was a very small amount that wasn't overpowering. The two people we encountered working were extremely friendly and made it a pleasant experience.
