Manzanita restaurants are few, good, and mostly on one street. Laneda Avenue runs seven blocks from Highway 101 to the beach, and nearly everything worth eating is on it or within a five-minute drive down to Nehalem and Wheeler. Here's where we actually go, in roughly the order we go there.
Morning
Bread and Ocean is the bakery, and on summer weekends it has a line by 8:30. Worth it. Croissants, morning buns, good coffee, and sandwiches later in the day. If the line is out the door, Manzanita Coffee Company a block up is quieter and does breakfast burritos. Yolk, at the highway end of Laneda, is the sit-down breakfast spot: big plates, patient with kids, a wait on weekends.
Our move: one person gets pastries at Bread and Ocean while everyone else walks to the beach, then meet on the sand.
Lunch
Left Coast Siesta does build-your-own burritos and bowls and has been feeding sandy people for decades. Big portions, quick, and they'll pack it to go for the beach. Marzano's Pizza Pie is the pizza; thin crust, wood-fired, small dining room. Go at 4:30 when they open or expect a wait. The Manzanita Farmers Market on Friday afternoons in summer has a couple of food vendors and is worth timing a lunch around.
For groceries, Manzanita Grocery & Deli on Laneda is the local market with a decent deli counter and a surprisingly good wine section. Full supermarket runs mean Tillamook or Seaside, so stock up on the way in.
Dinner in town
Manzanita has a handful of real dinner options and they all fill up. Neah-Kah-Nie Bistro is the nicer night out: seasonal Northwest plates, good wine list, reservations essential in summer. Blackbird is a small, chef-run spot with a changing menu that leans toward local seafood and produce; it's the meal people talk about after the trip. San Dune Pub at the highway end is the burgers-and-beer option and the place to watch a Ducks game.
Reservation reality: on a July Saturday, if you haven't booked by Thursday, you're cooking. Which is fine, because the next section.
Cook at the house
Half the point of a rental is a real kitchen. Puffin Lane has a full kitchen, a dining table that seats everyone, and a deck for the grill. Our standard first-night dinner: Dungeness crab from the Kelly's Brighton Marina or Jetty Fishery in Nehalem Bay (they'll cook it for you), a loaf from Bread and Ocean, butter, lemon, done. Total prep time: zero.
The Tillamook Creamery is 30 minutes south for cheese, and if you're doing a Tillamook run anyway, grab smoked salmon at one of the roadside smokehouses on 101.
Down the road: Nehalem and Wheeler
- Buttercup Ice Creams & Chowders (Nehalem) — house-made ice cream and legitimately good chowder, five minutes south.
- Wanda's Cafe (Nehalem) — breakfast and lunch, cinnamon rolls the size of your head, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays last we checked.
- Rising Star Cafe (Wheeler) — tiny, excellent, dinner a few nights a week. Book ahead.
- Salmonberry Saloon (Wheeler) — on the bay, sunset views, oysters and cocktails. Ten minutes from Manzanita and the best patio in the area.
Drinks
MacGregor's Whiskey Bar on Laneda has a deep list and a fireplace. Manzanita Sweets is the taffy and ice cream stop for the kids. And there's always the hot tub with a bottle from the grocery's wine aisle.
One more note: hours change seasonally and several places close a day or two midweek in winter. Check before you drive down. The Manzanita things-to-do page has more on the area, and if you're planning around meals, our 48-hour itinerary slots them in.
Manzanita isn't a food destination in the Portland sense. It's a beach town where the bakery is great, the pizza is good, and crab from the bay costs less than a fancy dinner. That's the right kind of eating for a weekend at the coast.