On our way back from a drive up into the hills a friend from Bellingham and I stopped in for snacks and beer. The beer was excellent, the service and atmosphere superb. It was late in the afternoon and the place seemed to be filling with happy locals, some bringing their growlers in for refill. We had a nacho snack which was just fine. But mostly I thought it was a great place to hang out, have a great brew and meet some locals. I only wish we had more to time to spend there!

The North Fork Brewery lies about mile marker 24 (give or take) on the Mt. Baker Highway outside of Bellingham, WA. There is a shrine (an old brew kettle) and an arch of hops, but inside the barn-like restaurant/bar is a wonderful mix of great beer, pizza, and a touch of Louisiana cooking on many of the entrees. Yeah, it is an old place and not stylish, but I love the ambiance of the close tables and the locals at the bar.The beer is small-batch brewed, has legs, and stands as one of the best tasting lists I have experienced. (and I have experienced). I see some demurring comments, but truly, this is local and timing is everything when you are going to eat & drink. What, no AC! Well, this is the Northwest and nobody(or almost nobody) has AC, even in Seattle and certainly not Bellingham. Don't like locals, don't like a casual approach to service? Don't go, but if you like beer and a curious take on food that comes from some Cajun/New York experience, then try it. It is a wonderful stop on the way back from a hike in the North Cascades. This is a family owned-run business and is, well, a business, so expect a wait during high volume times. Even though it is out in the boonies, people from Bellingham and even Seattle and in-between places like Mt. Vernon drive to eat and, of course, drink the beer. I challenge you to a match-up between Bellingham's Boundary Bay and North Fork's list of small-batch brews. No contest.

We were not impressed. Slow service. Only one guy waiting and bartending. In between tables he would stand behind the bar and do crossword puzzle. He only came to table to deliver food. Pizza had so much garlic it was barely edible and the sausage was so tiny it you couldn't taste it. The crust was the ONLY good thing. Will not go back

I have fond memories of coming to this place, back when I still lived in the area. When we visited today, we found the place severely under-staffed, especially given that it was a long weekend. One person to run the bar and the floor, and the house was full. To me, this is indicative of extremely poor management, or the owner is trying to keep employee hours down. Either way, the end result was a very average dining experience. The salad was passable, the pizza was excellent and the service was hurried and disgruntled. Like I said, bummer.

We like local places when we vacation, and the North Fork fits the description perfectly. I didn't mind waiting for a table as we were able to sample some of the good brews. We did notice the place has no AC and little ventilation. This was a very warm night inside, which made it somewhat uncomfortable As previous reviewers mentioned there's only a couple people waiting all the tables, but they hustle.

Since we recently had pizza for dinner, my wife got the smoked salmon salad and I had the oven-fired chicken sandwich with mushrooms, green peppers, mozzarella, romaine lettuce and tomatoes. My wife's salad was OK and my sandwich was decent, but messy. In hindsight we should have got the pizza because that's what they're known for. The pies at the tables near us looked very good.