The Brown Lantern

Upgrading the Brown Lantern to 4 stars.
The service has improved significantly over our last few visits. As I’ve written before, the food has always been good. My wife loves the Thai Chicken Skewers!
But the poor service had become a deterrent. The management seems to have worked on this. Even on a really busy Saturday evening, service didn’t drag!
One thing to note for Non-​Smokers: If you park in the back, by the movie theater, walk around to the front of the bar and enter from Commercial. You’ll thank yourself, by avoiding the Brown Lantern’s ‘nicotine garden’ out back. It’s their cute way of circumventing the state’s ’25 foot smoking distance’ regulation designed to protect people from having to walk through a haze of smoke to enter a dining establishment.

I can vouch for the cheeseburgers and fries. Old school, the way God intended. Also, Black Butte Porter. It’s all I need.

Its a bit loud. Then again its a tavern/​Bar! The Crab & Corn chowder is the BEST! I go there just for the chowder, make it a meal. Awesome and friendly staff!

If you like a real and genuine bar then this is the place for you. It’s a bar drinker’s paradise.
Great beer, superb bar vibe, and friendly locals and staff.
I spent one night in Anacortes and ended up coming here twice! It’s a genuine place where anyone that wants to really know the town and its people should stop into. I was blown away by how friendly everyone was, drinking in the bar and out back in the beer garden with the locals was brilliant.
100% genuine. If you don’t like it here, you don’t like bars. Find yourself a chain restaurant.

Back off on the spice. We were a party of 12, and 10 people had food too spicy. Cook must be a heavy smoker. Fun place and I would go back but not eat.

Gluten free options limited, but the crab chowder is gf and very good. They also have gf beer and cider available. My non-​gf other half loved the regular beer and fish n chips. Good but doesn’t knock my socks off, so it gets and average rating. Great service, though!

I usually LOVE going to the «Brown»… However, this day, Mothers Day was the worst. I ordered the brunch Mac n cheese. For my eggs on top, I asked for egg whites (and mentioned to the server that I have an intolerance to yolks), not that I needed to, but just did. And my friend ordered biscuits n gravy with eggs over easy. The server put our order in, came back and said «the cook won’t do egg whites, he refuses». I replied with an «ARE YOU EFFIN KIDDING ME?!» And was serious! She said «I even told him that you were allergic. He won’t». He didn’t want to stop to separate the eggs. WHAT?! I said «FINE. I’ll get the fries with gravy and a side burger patty with pepper jack cheese». So we wait, and wait, and wait. Finally MY food came, NO cheese on the patty. So I sent it back to get some. It came back. Over ten minutes went by and my friend still hadn’t gotten his food. We asked where it was. She told us that they had RUN OUT of eggs and she sent them to get some. Ummmmmm no. He asked «did they KNOW they had run out and just didn’t tell us?» «Yes». We cancelled his order and just shared mine. Needless to say, my thoughts on returning are pretty much slim. And that pretentious cook needs a lesson in customer service. RUNNING OUT of eggs on Mothers Day before noon, and deciding what I can and can’t eat is absolute BS. The bartender was great I will say. She was completely apologetic for the cook and embarrassed (which anyone would’ve been). He’s NOT going to go far with that kind of behavior and timing. What a disappointment on what was suppose to be MY Mothers Day. A BIG THUMBS DOWN BROWN!

We came up to Anacortes to enjoy the amazing sunny day, and along the way found the Brown Lantern. I’d recommend this place to people from out of state!!! It is by far the largest portion sizes I’ve ever come across, with great prices as well. It’s a little hidden, down at the very end of the Main Street, so don’t miss it! We had the crab chowder, cod wrap, bbq pork sandwich, CBGB sandwich, and the habanero chicken sandwich. Everything was unbelievable. That and a few beers on tap, all of which came exceptionally fast. We will definitely be back!

The food was good. Not incredible, but good. When we got there, they were very quick to get us our drinks and take our order. Our food came out very quickly too. The problem, is that after our food came out, they forgot we existed. We never saw our server again. We finished our meals without even a refill of our empty water glasses, then we waited for nearly 20 minutes to be acknowledged. Finally I had to ask someone there for a check. They gave me the check and then disappeared again. I was pretty annoyed at this point, so we just went up to the bar and paid.
The food was good, but I would not go back again. I recommend going to the Rockfish Grill across the street instead. We have been there twice and really enjoyed the food and the service both times.

I’m really fond of this place :) I’ve never gotten food here because I only come for drinks at the later hour (its a half bar area, half family restaurant area deal) but the staff is efficient and no-​bullshit. The prices of drinks are just as satisfying as the taste of them, and the bartender’s know exactly what they’re doing which is more than I can say for a lot of other bartenders at other bars in town. Now I don’t come here that often as I don’t frequent bars a lot– but it’s a place you can count on for consistency which is really viable to business, and it is why it’s always our first stop when we decide to go out in town.

We had the fisherman’s platter. The fish was the best that we’ve had in a long time. Try it and you will not be disappointed. The wait staff is friendly and there are many interesting photos on the wall to amuse oneself while waiting for your dinner. There are no fancy fixtures and the menu prices reflect that.

Laid-​back bar with good service, great cheeseburgers and quirky décor. What more could you need?

Met my daughter and her co workers here for lunch and am now eager to return to try some of the other delectables like habitots! (Habanero laced tater tots).
My first impression after perusing the vast menu was that it was a little pricey but, after receiving the gargantuan portion (half pound patty), was actually good value.
I ordered the Jalapeño bleu cheese burger with fries and try as I might, left a fair size chunk of heaven behind!
I must comment that a consumer disclosure should be made on the menu that warns of the mess factor involved with this selection as the rivers of molten bleu cheese, pepper juice and other delightful cheeseburger stuff was running down my wrists from the backside of the bun.
I will also add from this initial experience that the belly buster sized sandwiches served here make you want to moan in pleasure with every bite and that I am slightly embarrassed about what my daughters coworkers may have thought as I emitted grunts, groans and other guttural sounds of pleasure with every bite!
The burger was sided with a mountain of tasty golden brown french fries that, when married with the ketchup, had just the right amount of crispness on the outside while perfect and piping hot in the middle.
On the street parking can be a slight problem as the road out front is under construction but certainly worth the walk even from Oak Harbor!
Friendly attentive service that kept my tea and water glass full.
There is a bar side and a family side so The Brown Lantern and its wide variety menu can be enjoyed by food lovers from age 3 –90.
I will return to this little spot of heaven soon because after my first visit, crave more and may pack a change of clothes or at least a bib!

Great food. Love the burgers and my hubby can’t get enough of the habi-​tots.
Full bar is nice lots of options.
Family friendly with adult only areas.

Went with my mom who is a long time resident of Anacortes, she picked the spot & I can’t believe I hadn’t ever been there! Is perfect setup, have an entrance for family dining & another for over 21 dining! Beers on tap, drinks… I had the fish & chips, amazing! Perfect light crunchy breading & the fish wasn’t lost in the breading, hearty fish, loved it! I didn’t read what the dipping sauce was, however had great flavor & I am not a dipper, I dipped away! Mom had the bacon cheese burger & loved it, was perfect size, fresh garnish & she dipped her fries in my dip! Service was spot on, locals wandered in & out.

Perfect experience on a Friday night. Got in about 8 and the place was busy. We were immediately seated and ordered a couple of drinks. The Manhattan was delicious.
For dinner we ordered the black and blue jalapeño burger and the grilled fish tacos. Both dishes could be easily shared with another person. The tacos had cooked to perfection cod and full of other fresh ingredients. They were huge. The burger was good as always.
A great place to go to count on good food all the time.

Disgusting oysters. They are huge and you have to chew them to get them down. For the love of god… dont get the oysters.

My wife and I love this Ale House. Every time we’re in Anacortes we stop in here for a brew or two.
Free street parking can be found. Discover is an accepted form of payment. A bar option (21+) as well as a family dining area is offered. Although the same venue, the Lantern does a great job at keeping the two areas detached. We have never looked in or been seated in the family area.
The bar area gets packed. Probably because the place as well as the occupants are so laid back and super cool. The waitstaff have always been friendly and never pushy.
A variety of local brews are on draft. I ordered a pint of Port Townsend Scotch Ale for $ 5. My wife ordered a pint of Manny’s Pale Ale for $ 5.
For our lunch we shared the Montréal Habi-​Tots for $ 6.50: tots, Montréal seasoning, melted cheese and Habanero ranch. The tots were hot and crispy and the Habanero ranch provided some nice fire. We were both happy with our choice.
We also shared the Fidalgo Whaler burger for $ 11: crisp cod filet, cheddar cheese, lettuce, red onion, tomato, pickles and tartar sauce. The kitchen was thoughtful enough to split our burger for us. Nice touch Lantern. Another choice we were happy with.
See you the next time we’re in Anacortes Lantern. Stay cool and keep doing what you’re doing.

We went here Sunday evening after breaking down our booth at the art festival. They were using a limited menu for the festival weekend, which is understandable.
I’ll start with the positive: my fiancé’s bacon cheeseburger was totally amazing. It definitely seemed like they make their patties by hand. The bacon was thick cut and juicy. Wow. I would return for a burger.
I didn’t see any gluten free options at all, so getting a burger would be a challenge for me. I ordered the roasted red pepper bisque with gouda. It was fine, but it did not taste homemade. It kind of tasted like those soups you can get in the clear containers at Fred Meyer. You know?
My $ 11 large dinner salad was a joke. It came with garlic bread, which was a nice addition, but doesn’t help me out. The salad itself was really lacking toppings. I was hoping the cup of soup and large salad would be plenty for dinner. I thought wrong.
Our server was completely unfriendly and downright bitchy. She didn’t get a good tip at all. Sorry, girl. Gonna have to try harder than that.
I’d return for their burgers, but that’s it.

In search of the perfect IPA… Done.
I ordered the Crab corn chowder, which could not be more perfect. Yummy deliciousness of local crab with every bite. Oh bliss. The BLT is just right. Washed it all down with a Washington brewed IPA. Sha-​wing!