Alluvial fans, as nodes in a discontinuous nested stream hierarchy, offer unique challenges and opportunities to restoration practitioners and fisheries research scientists. We present the results of two years of effectiveness monitoring after the Illabot Creek alluvial fan restoration project removed hydromodifications and reestablished multiple stream channels along a historically channelized reach of a Skagit River tributary, Washington. Following restoration, we determined that habitat goals for the project had largely been met. Channel length and bankfull area in the reach tripled; gradient in the reach decreased and large woody debris counts increased. Flood fences appeared to accumulate sediment, with median grain size decreasing. Pool area was lower than anticipated although no >2-year RI discharge event occurred during the monitoring period, which would be expected to further develop low gradient and obstacle-based channel heterogeneity. Despite meeting habitat goals, estimated fish use in the project differed substantially from capacity estimates developed pre-project. Juvenile coho salmon use in the project reach was 1.3-8.4% of estimated capacity and Chinook salmon use was also very low. Juvenile O. mykiss abundance was 35.3-843% of the capacity estimate, perhaps reflecting species specific habitat utilization given current reach configuration, or the closer relevance of the model used for O. mykiss capacity prediction, which was based on basin-wide relationships that include nodes like alluvial fans, which may not conform to floodplain characteristics and predictive algorithms. Work is needed to assess fish use and restoration planning in alluvial fans as distinct from other parts of lotic systems.