Category: Good and Bad Eating

a disappointment for the price

I can’t remember what the previous name of this restaurant was, but I do remember that the food and atmosphere were good. The atmosphere is still good, the charming outdoor patio, the dark interior. The service was mostly good, once the place got a little crowded, our waitress forgot we existed and we sat at a table with our finished meal for 20 minutes before we gave up and stood up so that we could get our check. The food itself was a disappointment, but only because of the prices. For $35+/person, you expect a reasonable level of cuisine that was missing here. The pizza was unfavorably compared to american cheese baked on a saltine. My Canneloni with pork was unimpressive.

For the money, there are many better choices within a block or two…

reservations, whatever

I’ve had some pretty memorable meals at Matt’s in the Market over the years. This place is a local favorite and the devotion is well deserved. The place mixes a simple, but expertly prepared, menu with a relaxed and mellow atmosphere and an informal and friendly staff.

Two pieces of advice:
1) Check the menu before sitting down. Their menu is ever changing, but it is also quite small. You might find that there isn’t anything you want to eat after waiting to sit down.
2) Don’t bother with reservations. They will happily take your reservations, but they will also quite happily seat someone who walks in without reservations before you if they are there first. This happened to us recently. We walked in behind this couple who didn’t have reservations and they were seated at the last open table. We then had to wait 20 minutes to be offered seats at the bar.

This is not a cheap dinner, but you’ll pay the bill with a smile on your face.

Zoe has been garnering a ton of hype and I’m happy to report that it is well deserved. The food was unique, the ingredients fresh, the service excellent, the dishes well prepared but not self-conscious or over complicated. This is a great special occasion restaurant or more often (if you can afford it). The only detraction is that the room can be quite noisy, but it never got to the level of other places we’ve been to where we had to shout to hear each other.

If you’ve read my other posts in this category, you’ll know that I’m pretty picky. I heartily recommend Zoe.

feh

The Friday Harbor House restaurant in Friday Harbor (San Juan Island, WA) shows that good service and fresh ingredients can still produce an average meal. This isn’t such a horrible thing in itself, but when you are charging 4 star prices, serving 2 star food is unacceptable. Also when you are charging 4 star prices, maybe having a little bit of a dress code is ok. The woman sitting next to us in flip flops, a ratty tank top and gym shorts did not make us feel any better about our meal.

Avoid this place.

Amazing, but marred by a nearly fatal flaw

The line out the door (which is nearly constant during business hours) is emblematic of two things. First, the pastries and breads are simply amazing. Secondly, the counter staff sucks. Well, sucks is a bit of an overstatement. Some of them can be outright rude, but some are hampered by the weird setup of their retail area. The pastries are in a display case and on shelves where there is only room for one person. This means that there are often two or three people standing behind the counter doing nothing, while one is filling the order of someone in line. This is sometimes really frustrating for you as a customer because this place tends to attract people who will just stand there gawking at the items for sale, unable to make up their minds even though they have been standing next to that same counter for 10 minutes waiting. On multiple occasions, I have stopped by the shop feeling lucky that there was only one or two people in line and still spent 15 minutes waiting to order my muffin because the person in front of me wanted to know the ingredients of each thing in the case and what each tasted like and then wanted to pay by check. This is why many coffee places now have two cash registers, so that people like me who just want a large drip don’t have to wait behind the person ordering 12 different, complicated, drinks for their entire office. Macrina probably won’t bother to make a change like this because they don’t have to. Their food is good enough that even I (who hates lines) will wait for it, but they would be even more amazing if they could solve their customer service issues.

well, bummer

We returned to the apartment this week, it was moderately full, but not as loud as last time and I wanted to check their cooking. One problem, we only had about an hour to eat. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem in a big restaurant. In a small place, that is also a bar and only has about 10 people dining, it should have been no problem at all. Except that after being seated immediately, we had to wait about 10 minutes to order (after we had put the menus down). Then we sipped our excellent martinis as we waited for our food and waited and waited. After about 20 minutes, the waitress stopped by our table and asked us “Did I take your order?” To which we replied “YES!” She’d forgotten to give it to the kitchen. We were then told that anything we ordered at that point would take another 20 minutes at least. We hadn’t even been brought bread at this point, by the way. We bid a fairwell and to their credit, they comp’d our martinis, but this is the second time I’ve tried to eat there and never actually received my food.

Last time I thought it was the kitchen, this time it was definitely the waitress.

Just avoid this place if you actually want to eat.

this new Bistro at Pike Place Market needs your support

This spot opened on April 1st in the old Garlic Tree location. It is somewhat hidden and has had a bit of trouble bringing in a crowd. We had brunch there this morning by ourselves. The service was good, the food is good. The food wasn’t mind-blowing, but it was good. What I was really impressed by was that the chef seems really to be taking some chances. This isn’t standard fare, if you are looking for a good piece of fish, cooked well, you can do that in a lot of places. If you are looking for some truly unique flavor combinations, this place is the most original that i’ve found in Seattle yet. You can check out their menus on their website.

Plus, they allow dogs! Inside! For that alone they need to be supported.

consistently good

Here is my first completely positive review. For a little while, I’ve avoided posting it, not wanting to give away the secret. Of course, it isn’t a secret, it has been around for a long time and is consistently highly rated everywhere. And now, I’m tossing in my $.02.

Brasa is excellent. It was excellent the first time we ate there, years ago. It was excellent when we ate there a few nights ago.

Brasa services Portuguese and mediterranean food, the atmosphere is somewhat dark, but comfortable. It is expensive, but the bar menu has most of the same great food in smaller portions for a lot less money. We usually will eat in the bar, unless we have a special occasion to celebrate. The service is great and friendly. The only complaint is that the bar allows smoking (the dining area does not, but there isn’t a wall between them). This means that we’ve occasionally had to switch tables because we were sitting next to chain smokers. The staff has always accommodated us cheerfully when this happens.

[11.25.06 update – smoking is no longer allowed indoors in public places, so that isn’t an issue anymore]

I recommend Brasa unequivocally.

Good food, nice service, but find the fatal flaw…

We thought that this place was brand new, but it turns out that it has been here a while. This review from the Seattle PI is pretty much on track. The staff was very friendly and attentive. The food was delicious, when we did get it, but it took an extremely long time. I eventually cancelled my appetizer because it hadn’t arrived 15 minutes after the main course was consumed. The food that we did get was good enough that I would have even looked past this, but the problem was that the noise level was so bad we had to yell to hear each other across the table.

The decor is super-hip-minimalist, which means cement walls, high cement ceiling and cement floor. The upshot of which is that the noise level gets ear-bleedingly loud even with a small number of people in the room.

We might consider it for an early dinner or a late lunch if it was fairly empty, or we might try sitting outside next time. It seems a shame to not visit again, because compared to most of the ultra-hip places we’ve been, this place is actually worth eating at.

in case you were confused