Creekside Dining and Sandy Evenings at Pier 87

A row of Adirondack chairs facing Loyalsock Creek sets the tone at Pier 87. This is a restaurant where a meal can begin with a look at the water, continue at a cabana-style bar, and end with one more unhurried stretch of time on the deck.

The outdoor areas give the place an easygoing, beach-inspired character without losing its identity as a creekside stop. There is a sandy strip, a small side bar, games, outdoor tables and creek-facing seating, with enough variety that a quick lunch and a longer evening out can unfold quite differently.

Pier 87 also has the useful virtue of not making every visit an outdoor occasion. Indoor tables and the interior bar provide a cozier, quieter setting, while porch and screened-porch seating offer a middle ground when diners still want to keep an eye on the conditions outside.

For families, the sand is more than decoration. Children have room to play while the adults wait for a table or sit down with a drink, a small convenience that can make the lead-up to dinner much more pleasant.

The outdoor section is most closely tied to late spring through early fall, when the beach-style area is open and the creekside setup comes into its own. It is not a substitute for a real beach vacation, of course, but it brings a little vacation-day looseness to an ordinary meal out.

Weather matters here. The deck and sandy seating are exposed to the day, and on hot days the building has relied on fans rather than air conditioning. The screened porch and indoor dining room give diners alternatives when the temperature or a passing shower changes the plan.

The menu is built for mixed appetites. Seafood shares space with burgers, sandwiches, wings, steaks, ribs and a sizable collection of appetizers, so a table does not have to agree on one culinary direction before ordering.

That range makes Pier 87 comfortable for casual bar-and-grill meals as well as more substantial dinners. A person in the mood for nachos or a smash burger can sit across from someone choosing seafood or steak without either order seeming like an afterthought.

Vegetarian dishes are clearly labeled, and the menu includes a number of gluten-free choices. Those options are useful to have in a group, though they apply to selected dishes rather than the menu as a whole.

The Beast, a roast beef sandwich, has become one of the menu's standout names. It is the sort of order that suits the relaxed setting: substantial, straightforward and easy to pair with a drink and a view of the creek.

Other casual choices include a cheese steak, smash burger and fish wrap. Onion rings have made a natural side for wings, and the menu's sandwich-and-burger side gives a group plenty of ways to keep lunch simple.

Crab cakes can be ordered as a sandwich or as a dinner, allowing the same favorite to work for different levels of appetite. The portions are notably generous, which puts them closer to a full meal than a token seafood option.

Seafood runs well beyond the crab cakes. A shrimp and lobster roll, fish wrap and pesto mahi mahi special show up among the choices, offering a little more range than the usual landlocked bar menu.

There is also a rib-eye steak, a half rack of ribs and, at times, a Saturday prime-rib special available in a substantial queen cut. Availability can change, but these are the orders to notice when the occasion calls for something more than a sandwich basket.

One especially distinctive item is the BBQ pier-ogies. The name has a regional wink to it, and it is exactly the sort of unexpected appetizer that can make a table pause before defaulting to the usual fries and mozzarella sticks.

Wings are a strong fit for the deck, the bar or an unplanned stop after an afternoon outside. Add onion rings, settle into the casual pace of the place, and dinner need not be any more complicated than that.

The drink list includes a broad beer selection, along with nonalcoholic frozen choices such as virgin strawberry daiquiris and piña coladas. The latter make particular sense in the sandy outdoor setting, where a frosty drink does not need much explanation.

Happy-hour offerings have included nachos, a smash burger with fries and peel-and-eat shrimp. Those dishes may rotate, but they give a sense of the food that works well for an early stop at the bar.

The seating choices are one of Pier 87's best practical strengths. There are indoor dining tables, bar seating, porch or screened-porch tables, deck and patio seating, plus counter seating. Small parties can find their own corner, while larger gatherings have room to spread out.

The interior bar is the quieter counterpart to the outdoor setup. It is a good retreat when the breeze is not cooperating, when the sand-and-deck energy is not the mood, or when the group simply wants a more contained dinner.

A posted lineup of bands also points to live-music nights, adding another possible reason to linger after dinner. Schedules change, so the evening's entertainment is worth confirming before making plans around a particular performance.

Pier 87 works neatly after nearby outdoor time, including a hike at Rider Park. The creekside deck, cold drink options and broad menu make the transition from trail clothes to a table feel easy rather than formal.

It also stands on its own for lunch, dinner, happy hour or a larger gathering. Free parking has generally been available in the venue lot, a welcome practical detail when a meal includes children, a group, or more than one round of food and drinks.

The full sandy outdoor scene is seasonal, but the restaurant's indoor room, bar and porch seating keep the visit from depending entirely on a perfect summer evening.