Flyers Restaurant and Brewery in Oak Harbor Washington

The absolute BEST meal we have ever had!

Oh my G-O-S-H !! The Flyers Restaurant and Brewery in Oak Harbor Washington has got to be one of the best restaurants we have ever been to.

By a very lucky coincidence both kids were gone for the evening on May 2 and our 19th wedding anniversary was coming up on May 5.

So, because the kids were out, we decided we'd check out Flyers Restaurant and Brewery and have ourselves a nice pre-anniversary dinner.

I'm not much of a drinker (neither is Curtis because he has Epilepsy) but I really wanted to try one of their beers, the Barnstormer Brown Ale. It's won many medals and it said that it had hints of nuts and toffee, and that it was smooth with no aftertaste. The toffee sounded yummy!

Happy hour was from 2-6, with discounts on drinks and appetizers, and it was about 4:30 pm so we jumped in the car and headed on over. It's pretty much right around the corner from where we live so it wasn't a far drive.

It's a very unassuming building with just a medium sized sign out front that says Flyers and has a set of wings, but as I mentioned, it's right around the corner from us so we knew right where it was.

I dressed up, not formal but a little dressier than normal, while Curtis wore jeans and tucked in his shirt, and had a cap on.

We parked and admired the pink-flowered trees in the parking lot before we walked in the front door.

Immediately we were both comfortable in what we were wearing. The Flyers Restaurant and Brewery works for casual and dress-up.

There were planes made out of soda cans on the walls, and lots of pictures of planes, and what appeared to be model airplanes hanging from the ceiling.

It was a bit warm in there for me which worried me, I don't do well in warm buildings. Eventually one of the waitresses opened a side door and I could almost immediately feel a wonderful soft breeze which made it all the better.

We were met almost immediately by a waitress, her name is Angela, and taken to a nice "two-seater" high table with tall chairs. She asked us how we were and we said "Great! We're celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary and the kids just happened to be gone for the evening so we decided to come in and check out their offerings.

She was very congratulatory and promised us dessert on the house. Yay Flyers Restaurant and Brewery!

She took our drink orders, coke for both of us plus I had to get that beer so I did.

It was the smoothest beer I've ever had although I have to say that I didn't taste the nuts or toffee. I was disappointed in that but it didn't stop me from ordering another one, it was really was the best beer I've ever tasted.

When you visit their website you'll find that the Flyers Restaurant and Brewery has won many awards and medals for their beers and food.

We started with an appetizer of "Giant Stuffed Potato Skins", and they weren't kidding when they said "Giant"! They were outstanding, with cheese, bacon, olives, green onions and I think there were some tomatoes on them.

They're served with sour cream and salsa but I asked for a side of ranch dressing. Curtis ate the salsa on his and I ate the ranch dressing and sour cream on mine.

We were in heaven, they were soft where they should be, and very pleasantly crunchy in a couple places. We were worried that we weren't going to be able to eat our dinner because the potato skins were so huge!

Next, we each had a salad. I had the Caesar salad and Curtis had the Flyers House Mixed Greens with a honey-dijon dressing.

I love salad, whereas Curtis just tolerates it. I ended up not eating my entire salad, I wasn't really impressed with the flavor of the Caesar dressing and I wanted to save room for my dinner.

Curtis didn't really like the honey-dijon dressing either, he's an Italian dressing kinda guy but the Italian dressing was a raspberry or something and that was beyond what Curtis was willing to try so he went for the honey-dijon.

He ended up not eating his salad either but that wasn't really surprising considering he wasn't really happy with the dressing choices. I was actually a little jealous of his salad because it had olives and tomatoes and carrots (whereas Caesar salad has just lettuce) and I kept thinking how good it would have been with that yummy ranch dressing that I had with our potato skins.

But, again, I really wanted to save room for dinner so I just figured, oh well, next time we're there I'll get the mixed greens and ranch. =)

Next they brought our dinners and oh my gosh did it smell good! Without even tasting we knew that Flyers Restaurant and Brewery was definitely the place to eat!

I had the Rib Eye which had a very mild "Montreal" rub, cooked well. They referred to "well" in the menu as "Charred and dead" and it was divine, it was absolutely perfect! I can't remember the last time I ordered a steak well-done and charred and didn't have to send it back a couple times to get it to the point I liked it.

I also had the Garlic & Cheddar Mashies which were topped with green onions, and there was a fresh tomato slice on my plate. I asked for ketchup. Angela, our waitress, didn't even flinch, she brought over this cute little kind of like a six-pack holder that had ketchup, A-1 Sauce, malt vinegar, mustard, mayonnaise and something else.

Curtis had the Prime Rib. I am so totally NOT a fan of prime rib, but he said it was the best he had ever tasted. He also had a baked potato and they brought butter, sour cream and chives to go with it. Since he doesn't eat any of that, I used his sour cream with my potatoes and steak.

There was no way I could eat everything on my plate, as much as I wanted to eat it all, I think I ate half of the steak and took the rest home. Curtis ate a little bit more than that of his prime rib and then took the rest home.

Then Angela asked us about dessert. They had a chocolate cake, a carrot cake, I think some kind of cheese cake and I'm not sure what else, she had me at chocolate cake. She told us that it was huge and definitely more than enough for two people, so we ordered the chocolate cake and sat back and waited.

But not for long, and boy was it worth the wait.

I kid you not, this was the best chocolate cake I had ever had, and I am a true chocoholic. Curtis told the kids later that it was chocolate cake to die for, which is definitely outside of his normal vocabulary, so I know he was happy too.

True to her word, Angela didn't charge us for the chocolate cake, the Flyers Restaurant and Brewery "comped" it for our anniversary.

We paid the bill, which was surprisingly about $20 less than I thought it would be, gathered our take-out containers and headed out the door.

I took a couple pictures of the outside, you can see pictures of the inside here, as well as you can get get a look at the menu Flyers Restaurant and Brewery, and we jumped in the car and headed home (Curtis driving since I had had a couple beers).

We can't wait to take the kids there to eat! While the steaks were on the expensive side for us, they have numerous sandwiches, pasta and even stone fired pizzas (Cameron will probably be in heaven over the pizza). There's a meatball sandwich in the appetizer section that I kind of expect Shelby will order, she loves meatball sandwiches.

We absolutely 100% recommend that when you visit Whidbey Island, you MUST enjoy a meal at Flyers Restaurant and Brewery. It's one of those places that some people will drive several miles just to eat there.

We will definitely be back there ourselves, again and again!