Here’s something that separates this place from every other seafood restaurant you’ve been to.
The fish on your plate was caught by the owner. Not sourced from a distributor. Not purchased at a regional market. Caught by the man whose wife is managing the front of the house while you eat it. Rob Seitz is a commercial fisherman working out of Astoria, and the restaurant his family built around that boat — South Bay Wild Fish House on 9th Street — is the most direct line from ocean to plate you’re going to find anywhere on the Oregon Coast.
This is what fresh actually means.
The Family
South Bay Wild is not a restaurant that happens to have a fishing connection. It is a fishing operation that built a restaurant because the seafood was too good not to share.
Rob Seitz fishes. When his own catch doesn’t cover every item on the menu, he barters with other local fishermen — trading his haul for theirs, keeping the sourcing local, wild-caught, and as close to the water as possible. Nothing here arrived frozen in a shipping container.
Tiffani Seitz manages the restaurant — the floor, the kitchen coordination, the daily rhythm of a place that runs on family energy and genuine pride in what they’re serving. Their son is the chef. Their niece works the front counter. On any given afternoon, you are being fed by people who are related to the person who caught your lunch.
That is an extraordinarily rare thing, and it shows up on the plate in ways that are difficult to explain and impossible to miss.
The Live Tank
Here’s something that tells you everything about how seriously South Bay Wild takes freshness — the boat carries a live tank.
A significant portion of their clientele is Asian buyers who require that their fish be purchased alive. Not fresh. Not same-day. Alive. Rob accommodates this on the water, keeping live catches on board specifically to meet that standard. It’s an extraordinary level of commitment to quality, and it speaks volumes about the reputation South Bay Wild has built on the dock — long before the food ever reaches a plate.
When your customers insist on live fish and you build your operation around that requirement, you’re not cutting corners anywhere else either. That philosophy runs straight through everything they do.
Part of Something Bigger
South Bay Wild Fish House is also a proud member of the North Coast Food Trail — a curated collection of the Oregon coast’s most authentic food and drink producers, from fishing operations and farms to canneries and creameries. The Trail connects people to the real sources behind what they’re eating, and South Bay Wild fits that mission perfectly.
If you’re making your way up or down the Oregon coast and want to build a meaningful food itinerary around it, the North Coast Food Trail is worth exploring at traveloregon.com. South Bay Wild isn’t just a stop on the trail — it’s one of the best arguments for why the trail exists.
How It Works
Walk in. Step up to the counter. Check in with the station in the front. You’ll find yourself inside in the cozy dining room or outside on sidewalk if the Astoria weather is cooperating, which in fairness it does not always do.
That’s it. No reservations required for a regular visit, great table service, no ceremony. Just good people, a straightforward menu, and seafood that makes you understand why Astoria has been a fishing town for two centuries.
Amanda was our server, she was amazing and smiled like there was no such thing as a extra request or even a problem. She never stopped smiling the entire time we were in the restaurant.
It moves fast. But like every good restaurant that doesn’t have reservations — sometimes you have to wait. The line can build, especially on weekends, but the kitchen keeps pace in a way that suggests they’ve figured out the rhythm of busy days and aren’t rattled by them. Locals clearly know this place well — the mid-afternoon crowd on a Friday has the comfortable ease of regulars.
One thing to know if you’re coming with a larger group (6 or more): this place is busy — genuinely, consistently busy — and tables are configured for parties of four or fewer. Either show up right at noon when they open, or be prepared to split your group up. There’s no getting around it, and honestly, arriving at noon is the better plan anyway. It also means you’ll have first pick of the day’s catch before the crowds work their way through it.
Please know that if you want to share this awesome experience with others you know, it’s a bit much to ask any local restaurant to accommodate without some sort of arrangements up front.
The Food
The menu reads like a greatest hits of Pacific Northwest seafood, and every item on it earns its place. Dungeness crab. Steamer clams. Fried oysters — chunky, juicy, with a house cocktail sauce that leans hard on horseradish and earns the confidence. Clam chowder in the Little Ocean Annie style with red potato and bacon, available by cup or bowl, with a buttery broth that is cleaner and lighter than the thick East Coast versions — and markedly better for it. Rockfish and chips. Ahi tuna poke bowl. Smoked tuna melt. Indian fry bread loaded with seafood that has developed its own devoted following among people who’ve discovered it.
We ordered the fish tacos, clam chowder (not pictured), claim special, Banh Mi (not pictured), ceviche. and an order of fries. Grilled fresh fish on corn tortillas with cilantro lime cabbage, cotija cheese, guacamole, and pico de gallo, finished with house tomatillo salsa. Perfectly cooked in the way that only genuinely fresh wild-caught fish manage to be. These hadn’t traveled far at all. You could taste exactly that.
We also ordered the Dungeness crab cocktail, and it deserves its own moment. Dungeness crab is the Pacific Northwest’s signature shellfish for good reason — sweeter and more delicate than the blue crab of the mid-Atlantic, with a clean brininess that announces itself immediately. Here, served chilled in the classic cocktail presentation with South Bay’s homemade cocktail sauce, it is about as close to perfect as that dish gets.
The sauce is the kind that stops you mid-bite — made in house, with a horseradish kick that is assertive without overwhelming, and a brightness that cuts right through the richness of the crab meat. It does not taste like it came from a jar. It tastes like someone made it that morning because they knew what they were putting next to it. The crab itself is local, wild, and cold, and the combination of the two is the kind of thing you think about on the drive home and find yourself slightly annoyed you didn’t order a second one.
And as you can see their chips tasted as good as they look, making their classic rockfish and chips being called the best in Oregon by people who’ve eaten their way up and down this coast.
South Bay Wild rounds out the experience with a thoughtfully chosen selection of local Oregon beer and wine — and in a state that produces both exceptionally well, that matters. The beer list leans into the Pacific Northwest craft brewing tradition that has made Oregon one of the great beer destinations in the country, with rotating taps and bottles sourced from regional breweries that understand the relationship between a cold, well-made pint and a plate of fresh fried oysters.
The wine selection follows the same logic — Oregon Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley in particular have an almost unfair affinity for Pacific seafood, the light acidity and clean fruit of a well-made coastal white cutting through rich chowder or crab in exactly the way a good pairing should.
Nobody here is pushing you toward a beverage you don’t want. But if you’re eating Dungeness crab and rockfish tacos on the Oregon coast and you pass on a glass of local Pinot Gris, you will spend at least a portion of the meal reconsidering that decision. Order the wine. It belongs here as much as everything else on the table does.
Why It Tastes the Way It Does
This is worth saying plainly, because it’s the whole point.
Seafood tastes like seafood when it is fresh. Wild-caught. Not farm-raised, not previously frozen, not shipped across the country before it reaches a kitchen. The difference between fish that was in the Pacific Ocean this week and fish that has been through a processing facility and a distribution chain is not subtle. It is enormous. You taste it immediately, and once you’ve tasted it, the other version starts to feel like a pale imitation.
How do we at JMO know this? From first hand experience.
Gary grew up in a small coastal town and experienced fresh fish both from restaurants and fishing himself. It is a whole different level to catch your own fish, filet it, put it on the grill with some just picked corn on the cob, and then to your table to eat.
The original farm to table. Simply phenomenal.
South Bay Wild is built entirely around that difference. Every menu decision, every sourcing choice, every barter Rob makes on the dock — and yes, every live tank he keeps on the boat — traces back to the same principle: serve what is genuinely fresh and genuinely wild. Everything else follows from that.
Getting There and Practical Details
South Bay Wild Fish House is at 262 9th Street in Astoria, open Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 8pm. Closed Sunday through Tuesday. Street parking is available in the surrounding blocks — Astoria’s downtown grid is walkable and the restaurant sits within easy reach of the waterfront area. The space is wheelchair accessible. They take credit cards.
Coming in 2027: Rob will be opening dock sales directly to the general public — meaning you’ll be able to come straight to the boat and buy retail, right off the water. It doesn’t get more direct than that. Watch their channels for details as that rolls out.
Check their hours before you go, as seasonal schedules can shift.
A 4.8-star average across nearly 1,700 reviews is not an accident. It is the arithmetic result of a family doing something genuine, doing it well, and doing it every single week from a boat and a kitchen on the Oregon coast.
And if you’re visiting Astoria for the Columbia River, the Astoria Column, or the maritime history the town does so well, build this into the afternoon. It deserves to be on the itinerary, not an afterthought.
And while you’re there, plan to go to Cape Disappointment, which is just over the bridge in Washington State on the coast, still protecting ships entering the Columbia River.
Journey Moore Often — because the best restaurants are the ones where the owner caught your dinner.
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