I am heading up there for work for a few days. I will working from 7-7 so not much time in the day to venture out. What are some good places to eat and maybe see? I am not sure if I will have a car or not.

Be sure to go to "Gwinnies" for breakfast---out toward the airport. Just got back last week and it's as good as it was when someone recommended it on my first trip to Alaska 17 years ago. Also, "Anchorage Alehouse" has some great burgers and pizza. My first morning in Alaska was Sept. 11, 2001, I'll never forget that day.

Tourist eats:

Moose's tooth (Pizza & Beer)
Glacier Brewhouse (Alaska's version of fine dining with beer)
Simon & Seafort's (not open year round, but about the best fine dining you can find in Anchorage)

Local destinations:

F Street Bar (killer lunch menu)
Wee B's (homestyle burgers & shakes, everything made in house)
Barbie's Cafe (Good breakfast and lunch burgers)
Arctic Roadrunner (homestyle burgers and shakes)
Fly In Restaurant (a little of everything, great lunch destination)
Gwennie's (as mentioned...decent breakfast, not so great other menus)
Burger Jim (avoid the asian food, just get the Jim Burger)
Kriners Diner (good lunch menu)
Lucky Wishbone (really good diner style breakfast)

If you can pass along where you are staying and working, I can probably fine tune that list a bit better.

Generally avoid mid-town areas, the A-C street corridor, and the Spenard neighborhoods.

The food at the Hilton is terrible, and the service worse. I don't like any of the hotel restaurants.

The safest hotel in town is the university sheriton next to the hospital.

I'll be in Anchorage on the evening of the 17th and all day on the 18th. Not sure what your date window is. I'll be staying on JBER (base).

I lived in Anchorage '09-'14 and was back about every other month '14-'16. AKSuperDually has great recommendations and I'll just add my comments in red font.

quote:

Originally posted by AKSuperDually:
Tourist eats:

Moose's tooth (Pizza & Beer) - Best pizza in Alaska and every visitor I brought here loved it. Step outside your comfort zone and try something Alaskan (e.g. reindeer, halibut, rockfish, or salmon).
Glacier Brewhouse (Alaska's version of fine dining with beer) One of the places I usually took out of towners
Simon & Seafort's (not open year round, but about the best fine dining you can find in Anchorage) When did they switch to being open partial year? I've dined here every month of the year and it's a much better restaurant when it's not tourist season.

Local destinations:
F Street Bar (killer lunch menu) Best halibut & chips in Anchorage.
Wee B's (homestyle burgers & shakes, everything made in house) I always got their buffalo burgers
Barbie's Cafe (Good breakfast and lunch burgers)
Arctic Roadrunner (homestyle burgers and shakes) There are two. Go to the one on Old Seward Highway as it's much nicer interior and has outdoor dining along river on a nice day.
Fly In Restaurant (a little of everything, great lunch destination)
Gwennie's (as mentioned...decent breakfast, not so great other menus) If you're on a health kick, double check to see if your breakfast is covered in cheese sauce.
Burger Jim (avoid the asian food, just get the Jim Burger)
Kriners Diner (good lunch menu) Best breakfast in Anchorage, and good burgers and home style comfort food at lunch
Lucky Wishbone (really good diner style breakfast) best fried chicken in Anchorage

Some say that F Street has the best halibut. Some people are wrong.

White Spot Cafe still has the best halibut and fries. Sandwich or fish and chips, they make it better than anywhere else. The Bacon Cheddar Jalapeño burger is pretty good too.

Dick Sanchis died a while back, and just recently the Arctic Roadrunner on Arctic Blvd closed. The one on Old Seward is open M-Sat, as always. And great burgers, although the fries are not as good as White Spot. (Same with WeeBees.) The blackberry shake is good for dessert.

Kriners on C St is good, with huge portions. But nothing I’ve had there has been ‘best of’ anything. And the coffee kind of sucks (a common theme with otherwise good diners up here, White Spot included). I like the Reuben, but it’s not the best. I’m told the burger to get is Andrew’s Awesome Burger, but I haven’t been back to try it. They have tater tots.

Simon’s is good if you order whatever the fresh Alaskan seafood is that day. Otherwise, meh. And order a scratch margarita.

Glacier Brewhouse has solid but standard food and makes beer. The Salmon pasta dish has lots of good salmon, and is better than boring pasta should be.

49th State Brewing on 3rd Ave (in the old Sleeping Lady Brewery/Snowgoose Restaurant) has gotten good reviews and would be a good alternative to Glacier Brewhouse, especially on a clear day (huge view). Their beer is pretty good.

Moose’s Tooth makes good pizza. It is modern, not Italian/Sicilian or American traditional. While the reindeer pizzas are delicious, and I love rockfish (it’s better than cod) I have never had a good fish pizza. Different strokes. They make their own beer; it’s solid but not great.

Marco T’s Pizza has been getting good reviews for Sicilian pizza.

Speaking of beer, King Street Brewery IPA and APA have been favorites since they came out. There are many breweries in Anchorage, and most have a restaurant connected or a tasting room, although the tasting rooms probably won’t be sampling after 7pm. Most restaurants will have local beer on tap. One place, now out of business, even had a ‘Michelob tax’ to punish you for choosing shitty beer.

It would really help to know where you will be in town, and if you’ll have a car or are willing to taxi/Uber. I can’t tell you what is open before 7AM, but that’ll be a real stretch.

Kaladi Coffee or Steam Dot or any coffee cart (on just about every corner outside of downtown) will have better coffee than Fivebucks. And they aren't corporate SJWs either.

Breakfast places are beyond packed on the weekends, even corporate adequate restaurants like IHOP. Go early, plan accordingly.

If you have a vehicle and the sky is clear, drive up to Flattop Mountain parking lot before sunset and walk to the overlook and see all of Anchorage, and get stunning photos. Take a jacket.

Another good sunset is from Earthquake Park looking back towards downtown. Plus you are likely to
see moose. Drive the speed limit as the airport cops don’t like speeders, and if you hit a moose you will lose.

I really like eating at hunpy’s When I’m in town, the crab melt is awesome and they have good beers on tap.

Moose’s tooth is good, bears tooth is good too.

For a quick bite I like the fried oysters at mamma o’s.

If you’re into hunting, specifically sheep hunting, Barneys sport chalet is a cool shop to drop into.

As mentioned, simon and seaforts is good, I think it is actually open all year round as I’ve been there in the summer and the winter, they have some good stuff but it’s $$$$$. I like the halibut cheeks there.

I will be there from the 24-28th and staying at the Sheraton on 6th. I will be back an forth between the hostpial and the Alaska Neurology Center on 1100 E Diamond Ave. I will be sharing a car with a co-worker but more than be ubering it most places.
I was thinking of doing a helicopter tour that heads out to a glacier if I got off work early. Has anyone done that?

Can't add anything more other than, I miss Moose's Tooth Pizza & Pub. Best non-Italian pizza I've ever eaten.

Don't forget the Great Alaskan Bush Company.

quote:

Originally posted by bonfire:
I was thinking of doing a helicopter tour that heads out to a glacier if I got off work early. Has anyone done that?

Rust’s was the preferred flight seeing service. Can’t remember if they had helicopters but they definitely have single engine prop planes with regular wheels, skis, or pontoons.

EDIT: Here is the link to their Denali glacier landing

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tatortodd,

Check out the AR15.com Hometown forum for Alaska, too. In general ARF isn’t as polite or overall high quality as SIGForum, but the Alaska HTF has lots of info relevant to your visit.