Finn's Fish House

While on vacation, sometimes it is good to have a plan of some sort.  But then again, things change. The original plan for the day was to wake up and head straight back to Portland from Seaside.  With glorious blue skies and temperatures in the mid-teens, we decided to stay and enjoy the beach.  That we did, despite freezing our arses off.  Once we were done with that, it was lunch time and gasp, we had no plan at all.  So we had to do a random food adventure.  The first thing to catch our collective attention was the "kids eat free" banner at Finn's.  Sold!

To start, we had a bowl of the Clam Chowder with smoked salmon mainly because my daughter loves it.  Yah, she often gets what she wants...  I pity her future partner...  Anyways, the chowder was super thick (probably a bit heavy with the flour or roux), yet arguably better in consistency than the watery version from Dooger's.  It was packed with tender chunks of potatoes, onions and clams with a touch of smoked salmon.  It wasn't particularly creamy despite being thick while exhibiting a considerable amount of saltiness from the smoked salmon.  Trying to eat a bit healthier, Viv went for the Blackened Albacore Salad which featured a bevy of greens topped with a blackened piece of tuna.  Unfortunately, the tuna was unevenly cooked where one part of it was fully done being dense and chewy.  The salad was mostly fresh except for the radicchio.  As for the cilantro lime dressing, it was nicely acidic while balanced off with a touch of sweetness and only a minor hint of the pungent cilantro.

For myself, I had the 4 Piece Cod & Chips with coleslaw on the side.  Although thin and crispy, I would've liked to see some fresh-cut fries instead of generic ones, but they were okay nonetheless.  As for the fish, most pieces were flaky and moist with a super thin batter that was only slightly crisp.  Tart and creamy, the tartar sauce was appreciably better than Dooger's sweetened mayo.  I enjoyed the crunch of the coleslaw, but it was in dire need of more acidity, which I added myself in the form of lemon.  Girl Smiley opted for something similar but served within a bun being the Beer Battered Pacific Cod Burger accompanied by smoked bacon, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion and tartar.  With the same qualities the aforementioned cod and accented by the other ingredients, this was a considerably-sized burger.  Not sure if bacon went with this though.

Guy Smiley decided on the ol' standby being the Club House Sandwich consisting of ham, turkey, smoked bacon, Swiss and American cheese, lettuce, onion, tomato, mayo and guacamole.  This was another well-portioned dish which sported more filling than bread.  He thought it was toasted a bit too much as it scraped the roof of his mouth.  It was a decent sandwich though, but the addition of onion was strange as it dominated the flavour profile.  Now the main reason why we ate here - the free children's meals!   They had the Chicken Strips & Fries and the Fettuccine (in both marinara and butter & Parm).  Pretty standard stuff, but hey, the dishes were no extra charge!  That alone made Finn's a better value than Dooger's.  In terms of the food, I would say both need a bit of work.  If I had to choose, Finn's would edge Dooger's out.

The Good:
- Kids eat free on Mondays
- Serviceable food
- Decent service

The Bad:
- Serviceable food, but not memorable food

Dundee's Donuts

After a pretty unappetizing meal at Dooger's, we were in a bit of food shock (for all the wrong reasons).  Taking a stroll back to our cars, we noticed Dundee's Donuts across the street.  Donuts?  Just after eating a full dinner?  Well, the dinner did suck and something sweet could be the cure for our food ills.  Hey, we couldn't go wrong with a random donut shop in the middle of a tourist town right?  Whatever the case, the kiddies were begging us to get some.  Being the great parents that we are (yeah right), we got some.

For myself, I got the standard yeast Glazed Donut.  It was not overly sweet which was good in my books.  However, the donut itself was dry and lifeless.  It was properly drained where it wasn't greasy and in fact was rather light.  But in this instance, more glaze would've helped to moisten the donut itself.  Just because it looked pretty, we got a few of the Pink Sprinkle Donut.  Based on the same basic donut as the glazed, this was not moist.  However, the candy-like glaze helped somewhat.  As such, the donut ate much sweet than the glazed.

My son didn't think much of the pink donut and decided on the Chocolate Sprinkle Donut instead.  Naturally, it shared the same qualities of the aforementioned donuts, but with a chocolate glaze, it did have a distinctive flavour that wasn't just pure sugar like the pink one.  That would be the same with the Chocolate Glazed Donut except it was less sugary due to the absence of sprinkles.  The chocolate itself wasn't great, but it did the job.  Realistically, we had a feeling the donuts would turn out as "meh" considering we were in a touristy part of town.  At the very least, they weren't expensive.

The Good:
- Reasonably-priced
- They didn't over-glaze the donuts

The Bad:
- Dry and lifeless
- Limited selection

Dooger's Seafood and Grill

There we were in Seaside for an overnight and with no clue what to eat.  Sure, I wrote down a few ideas but all of them had equal amount of praise and pan on the internet.  What to do?  Well, we merely chose one from the many restaurants that littered the main drag in the heart of town.  Dooger's seemed like safe choice right?  It is a chain restaurant of sorts that offered up a kid-friendly environment and menu.  Was it a recipe for disaster or something that would do the job?  I guess we were about to find out...

As part of the entrees, we were started off with a Green Salad topped with baby shrimp.  Nothing particularly wrong with the salad as it was fresh and plenty crunchy.  However, I found the baby shrimp to be a touch too soft for my liking.  It wasn't as if it didn't taste fresh, it just didn't have an appealing texture.  I did like the blue cheese dressing as there was just enough of it and the chunks of cheese didn't hurt either.  My daughter opted for a bowl of Clam Chowder instead of a kid's meal (love that she doesn't accept mediocrity).  Despite having a good balance of creaminess and briny flavour, the broth itself was too thin.  Also, the chunks of potato were far too small and there was too much sand.

For my main, I went for the Ahi Tuna which was prepared perfectly rare inside.  Despite this, the tuna itself was rather under-seasoned while not exhibiting the qualities of ahi tuna.  It was not particularly moist nor tender. Instead, it was stiff and the overly strong onion-flavour of the salsa overwhelmed the fish.  I hated the side of rice as it was cold, dry and clumpy without any noticeable taste.  Viv decided on the Cod and Chips which featured 5 fairly decently-sized chunks of fish.  The batter was light and mildly crispy.  The fish was a tad overdone, but not too much so.  It was still flaky and in some pieces, still moist.  Lacking acidity, the tartar sauce didn't do much for the dish.  Same with the starch-covered fries, something fresh-cut would've been better.

Guy Smiley went for a relatively safe dish in the Salmon Burger that featured a relatively thin piece of fish.  Hence, it was overcooked and slightly dry.  Moreover, it didn't seem to have much seasoning and the squashed bun didn't help matters. He thought it was rather "meh". Girl Smiley opted for the Clam Steamer which looked impressive and appetizing.  In reality, it was only passable.  The clams themselves were fresh enough, but there was something lacking in the seasoning as they had no apparent flavour of any sort (other than its own brininess).  Again, the dish was okay enough to eat, but there was nothing screaming out for it to be memorable.

My son ended up getting something from the kid's menu being the Fettuccine Alfredo with a side of garlic bread.  Much like the garlic bread on my plate, it was stone cold and not toasted enough.  We actually had to ask for butter because there was barely anything on the bread itself.  As for the fettuccine, it was a touch soft, but the sauce was actually quite good.  It was creamy, rich and well-seasoned.  Now if the only "good" thing of the meal was the kid's fettuccine, there are some issues.  Seeing how the prices are not exactly cheap either, Dooger's needs to be a whole lot better.

The Good:
- Attentive service
- Kid-friendly

The Bad:
- Food ain't good
- Not cheap either