He Said, She Said: A Seattle Dining Critique

The Fremont Dock

2007-05-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

The Fremont Dock is a sports bar and restaurant on the corner of Woodlawn Park Ave N and N 34th street in the Fremont neighborhood.

He said: There is no dock involved in the Fremont Dock. One might expect that given its name and its actual proximity to Lake Union that a dock may somehow be involved. Don't be mistaken, there is a deck, but it is on the inland side of the road traversing next to Lake Union. We came down to catch the Mariner's game on a Saturday night. The place seemed pretty dead for a sports bar with the hometown team playing a game. The game was on the two big screen TV's that they had, but the sound was off. Instead, we got to listen to great soft rock of the early 90's and a couple in the corner had apparently come down to the Dock to watch CSI: Miami or some rubbish, and their sound was indeed turned up. Going back to the website I have graciously provided in the intro line, you can see that this establishment does indeed profess to be a sports bar, and not a prime-time drama bar. The beer I ordered was brought to me in a frosty glass. As I stated in my review of Kozue, this is the way you should be served a beer at a restaurant. I ordered "The Spanish Burger" although it was really a California burger (a cheeseburger with avocado in addition to the normal burger fixin's.) It was pretty tasty and the fries were also good. They had Heinz ketchup in glass bottles which is also the way to go. If this place were just a restaurant I would have to give it a B+, but since they had so many transgressions when it comes to being a "sports bar" and restaurant they get only a C+.

She said:
Maybe we have to come here for breakfast, since their website says they have the best breakfast in town, I don't know. I definitely won't ever be coming here for dinner again. I ordered the turkey club and a side salad. After the waitress took our order, I watched her go behind the counter, open the fridge, pull out a "salad," put a crapload of dressing on it, and bring it over to me. Lord only knows how long this "salad" had been in that fridge. I put salad in quotes because it was clearly an iceberg lettuce mix out of a bag, put onto a plate, and topped with those gross, salty croutons. Then she poured a ton of dressing all over it to hide the "salad" taste. It was really bad. I didn't eat most of it. My turkey club was alright - not that great. I ordered a Corona light and they didn't have any, so I had to settle for a Corona. The tables were set up in an odd configuration to the TV's. Either one person at each table could have a great view of a TV, and the other person could have no view, or both people would have to turn their necks 90 degrees in order to see. We opted for the 90 degrees table and my neck hurt after about 10 minutes. They had strange music on for a "sports bar" (think Mariah Carey) and the place was nearly empty at 9pm on a Saturday night. C-.

Candles Cafe

2007-05-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

Candles is a small cafe located on the corner of Bridge Way N and N 39th St. in the Fremont neighborhood.

He said: The major upside of this place is that it is the closest cafe to our apartment. It is nice and quiet (aside from the Saturday morning reggae being broadcast compliments of KEXP) and off the beaten path, so to speak. The music was appropriate though, as the barista attending to us was in an apparent funk. I finished off the drip pot and told her. She was brewing another one, but completely forgot to switch them out in between cell phone calls to her friends, so Michelle had to politely remind her after about 15 minutes that she was still without coffee. There was a garden, or something, through the back door, which our barista was also attending to, which she obviously couldn't focus on while we were in the cafe, and she seemed a tad bit annoyed with us for that. No matter, I came for a croissant and coffee in a relaxing environment and that's what I got. B.

She said:
Ugh. This is not what I need to deal with before 10am on a Saturday: an obviously hung-over, cranky, barista who would rather be asleep than at her job. As mentioned above, I didn't get my coffee until we had been in the restaurant for at least 15 minutes, and this did not make me happy. I do not like it when I have to remind an employee how to do their job. I got the bagel sandwich and it was tasteless. It supposedly had egg, cheese, tomato, and onion on it, but it was extremely bland and dry. I didn't like it at all. The upside was that we got to sit in an empty cafe and read the paper, and we had an Entertainment book coupon for 50% off our total bill. Once I finally got my coffee, it was good. C.

Osaka

2007-05-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

Osaka is a Japanese restaurant on the corner of Ravenna Ave NE and NE 65th St in the Ravenna neighborhood.

He said: Quiet place, although we did make it in before the dinner "rush". The waitress was a little awkward, but attentive and nice enough. Miso soup came with the sushi, which was nice, but that's where the compliments stop. The food was a little slow in coming, and mediocre at best. One of the rolls I got was a "65th Ave Roll" which was described as being a tempura California roll. When it came it was drizzled in an apple cinnamon sauce which I'm sure would taste great on ice cream, or cobbler or something, but was pretty vile on a sushi roll. The absolute worst part was that they only had low sodium soy sauce on the table. I think that it makes sense to have that as an option, but every single table in the restaurant had ONLY low sodium. Granted, I did not ask for regular soy sauce, but its pretty ridiculous to assume that the regular soy sauce is the exception and that most people would want to eat the crap soy sauce instead. And the manager, while trying to be polite, kind of rushed us out of the restaurant, even though it was clearly not busy, and only about half full. D+, but only because miso soup came with the rolls at no additional charge.

She said:
I didn't find anything particularly horrible about this place, but I will probably never go back because there wasn't anything particularly good about it either. I ordered tea and got an entire pot of it, which is always nice. We got complimentary miso soup with our meals, but the food was overpriced to begin with so I felt like I "deserved" the free soup. We shared some potstickers for an appetizer and they were tasty. I ate 2.5 sushi rolls and there wasn't anything particularly great about any of them. They were okay, but not at all like some of the amazing sushi we have had in Seattle. I actually didn't feel that great the next day and I hope it didn't have anything to do with the sushi, but you never know. C-.

Cafe on the Ave

2007-05-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

Cafe on the Ave is a coffee shop diner on University Way NE ("The Ave") and 42nd St NE.

He said: We stopped here for breakfast before Michelle had some meeting on the UW campus. I got coffee and a croissant. The coffee was decent, and the croissant was decent. B-.

She said:
It makes no sense to me how the two things Travis got could've both been decent, and yet he gives a score of a B-. Whatever. I didn't even want to post on this place because we literally stopped in for 15 minutes to get some coffee and I had a bagel, toasted, with butter on it. Everything was very good. We've been here before for a quick lunch or dinner and I have never been dissatisfied. It is obviously a very popular hang-out for the college crowd because there are always lots of people sitting around surrounded by books, papers, and laptops. It I went to UW, I would definitely do my homework here. The only thing I find fault with is that some of their items are overpriced. A-.

Roxy's Diner

2007-05-13T20:46:00.001-07:00

Roxy's Diner is a "dive" restaurant in downtown Fremont at Dayton Ave N and N 36th St.

She said:
We've been here before and we'll come again. Why? Because they have very good food at a very reasonable price. Roxy's is an establishment in Fremont. There is always a line (for breakfast) and you would be hard-pressed to find a Fremont resident who hasn't eaten here.

We went on Mother's Day (without any mothers in tow) and they were featuring a Mother's Day brunch menu. Moms could eat anything off this menu for $5 and they had some kickin' drink deals (think $2 strawberry mimosas). We did not qualify for a $5 breakfast but that was okay. I got an EOB (egg on bagel) sandwich on an asiago cheese bagel with lox. YUM, YUM, YUM! And I got a bowl of fruit. Not so yum. The fruit was okay, but it was clearly cut up the night before or early that morning, put into the bowl, and put into the fridge. By the time it got to me, the entire bottom half of the bowl was filled with the fruit's run-off water. Gross. So I removed all of the fruit from the bowl and "strained" it. Then I put it on my plate. The fruit was extremely cold (from having been refrigerated I assume) and all the flavors had sort of run together. I wasn't pleased.

However, my bagel was scrumptious and the coffee was very tasty. Our service was superb and we were seated right away. This is definitely a place to go if you want a cheap, good breakfast. B+.

He said: I don't know why Michelle called this a "dive" anything. Its just a brunchy kind of diner. It is well painted with huge murals both inside and out, and it catch phrase is "Real east coast on the west coast." To me, eggs don't taste different according to the closest ocean. No matter, they've got decent bacon and decent coffee, which is really what I'm after at 10:30 am on a Sunday. We sat at the bar, which was a little awkward because it had a lip on the edge that prevented having your plate under you while you ate, but sitting at the bar did prevent us from having to wait for a table. Every single person on the wait staff had multiple tattoos and piercings, I think it may have been a requirement to work there. Not my favorite place, but certainly up there on the list. B+.

Jai Thai

2007-05-10T21:58:00.000-07:00

Jai Thai is a (surprise!) Thai restaurant located at the Center of the Universe.

No, really.

Downtown Fremont contains a signpost declaring the center of the universe and locating directions and distances to the troll, Atlantis, the Louvre, Wall Drug, and other points of global interest. Jai Thai is located at the corner, just south of the signpost at the corners of Fremont Place, Fremont Ave N and N 35th Street at the center of the Fremont neighborhood.

He said: This place had a very interesting atmosphere (as does all of downtown Fremont.) There is one table in the corner window which is very low to the ground, and you sit on pillows on the floor to eat. Michelle was pretty thrilled about it, but she also is much more well practiced in yoga, which you had to be to get up and set down to the table. Very quaint though. I didn't really know whether I was supposed to take my shoes off or not, but I was wearing sandals, so I just took them off anyway. The service was great. Our waitress was attentive and seemed to know when to be around and when to bugger off. I got chicken phud thai, which was just OK. We had vegetable spring rolls too. Eh. B-.

She said:
I love sitting on the floor. There is a window seat in Jai Thai (max of four people) where you sit on the floor, eat at a very low-to-the-ground table, and rest your back against these extremely comfy triangular pillows. You have to take a step up to get into this window seat and it is carpeted. We took our shoes off (!) and it was glorious!

We got fresh spring rolls for an appetizer, and I got "pineapple curry with brown rice" for my entree. Very yummy. Everything was really good. My curry had prawns in it and the rice was cooked perfectly. I thought everything was pretty cheap, for Fremont, which has notoriously expensive restaurants (they think that because it is the center of the Universe, they can do whatever they want). My meal was $9. I think that if you are able to snag the "you get to sit on the floor" table, then this place is awesome. If we just had a regular, old table, my review would be quite different. The waitress we had was very good, too. A-.

Cloud City Coffee

2007-05-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

Cloud City Coffee is a coffee bar and bakery on the corner of Roosevelt Ave NE and NE 88th street.

He said: It looks as though this used to be a small mechanics shop; plenty of parking and large garage doors which I can only assume are opened in times of better weather. This is probably fantastic in the summer time, but still offers a very bright inside even on cloudy days like today: a pleasant change from the moodily lit coffee bars that dot the urban landscape in Seattle all too frequently. 1$ drip (all you can sip) is a major plus, complimented by a good variety of drip coffees to choose from and decent joe to boot. I got a cinnamon roll which looked delicious and was, although it was very different from the normal confectionery sugar mound loosely held together by bits of refined flour. Their cinnamon roll was very cakey and had a cream cheese frosting that was unexpected but went well with the cakiness of the roll and the medium blend of coffee I had chosen. Uncomfortable counter seats are the only thing actually "wrong" with this place, but perhaps that's by design so that folks taking advantage of the free wi-fi don't get too comfortable. B+.

She said:
We went here because we had a coupon in the Entertainment book (thank you mom and dad!). I really enjoyed my morning because of this restaurant. Cool people, cool hang-out, very good food, and great coffee. I had a breakfast burrito - tasty. I saw their bagels and I want to try one next time. The coffee was $1. Amazing. They don't care how long you stay or how much coffee you drink. Everyone brought their dogs with them. There were lots of kids, too.

The menu had a lot of options for a place where you order at the counter. They had random coffee mugs (recycled from garage sales I'm sure) for you to use and the staff was on the ball. The only downfall was that the chairs were really uncomfortable. They had two couches, but they were occupied. A-.

Kozue

2007-05-06T09:27:00.000-07:00

Kozue is in the Wallingford Neighborhood on N 45th Street between Densmore Ave N and Woodlawn Ave N. (Also conveniently within walking distance from our apartment.)

She said:
I have no idea why we have never been to this place before. It is in our neighborhood, we've past it a million times, and we love sushi. For some reason, when we were trying to figure out where to go and eat, I remembered it. I looked on their website and saw that we would be there during "happy hour," and decided we should try it.

This place was amazing. Great service, a happy hour menu which featured $2.99 appetizers and really cheap beer, and very good sushi. Travis got a happy hour beer, we shared an appetizer and 6 huge rolls of sushi, and we shared 2 scoops of green tea ice cream for dessert. Our total bill was $44. SO SWEET!

We ordered calamari for the appetizer. It was the (now) infamous "van de Kamp's - esque" calamari fish sticks, which they deep-fried tempura style. Now, I didn't particularly like them, although the sauce they came with was quite good. But, they were $2.99. (When we got the same thing at this "Italian" restaurant in the San Juan Islands they were about $8 and they were gross.) I can't really complain about something that was so cheap. Plus, that was the only negative in this place. Our sushi was very good - and there was A LOT of it. I wouldn't say it was the best sushi I've ever had, but it was good and very decently priced.

I was intrigued by the green tea ice cream so I convinced Travis to try it. It was so interesting. I almost think that they made it themselves. It was honestly the perfect flavor to have after you've eaten sushi. It was not sweet at all. It tasted like green tea, frozen, and creamy. Imagine how gross it would be to have death by chocolate ice cream after eating a ton of sushi. This dessert perfectly complimented your post-sushi palette. I'm so glad we tried it.

And the bill came with Andes chocolates. A+.

He said:
Looks pretty blah from the outside and inside, but there's a terraced deck which looks like it could be nice. They had sizes on their beer, which was all right. I ordered a large Sapporo. It was brought to me in a large bottle with a frosted glass, and that was really all right. We ordered calamari, which was not all right, but turned out to be OK anyway. The sushi was brought fast and absolutely delicious. The waitress explained what was what which is always a plus. Michelle let me try some of her green tea ice cream, which was not very good by ice cream standards but was actually the perfect compliment to the end of a delicious sushi dinner. And there were Andes mints with the bill. A-.

For all you restaurants out there aspiring to please your customers, take note: no one will leave unhappy with an Andes mint melting in their mouth.

The Portage Bay Cafe

2007-05-06T09:14:00.001-07:00

The Portage Bay Café is a busy breakfast place on the western edge of the U-district specializing in organic foods and fair trade items. Located at Roosevelt Ave NE and NE 42nd street.

She said: We have been here 3 or 4 times in the past. Because we always have two people eating, we are always seated in the main, front section of the restaurant. Apparently there is a secret back room for large parties (every time I'm waiting for my table, I witness the larger parties being escorted back to this room), but I have never seen it.

There is always a wait at this place because it is SO GOOD. We thought that since we got there at 8:30am (and we're usually not there until at least 10am) there wouldn't be a wait. Wrong. Anyway, I love everything about this restaurant. I love the fact that they use all organic and fair trade foods. I love their coffee. I love their "breakfast bar," even though I have never used it. *The breakfast bar is a toppings bar for your french toast or pancakes. They have enormous bowls of every kind of fruit imaginable, whipped cream, butter, syrup, etc. It is a major draw for those who like french toast and pancakes for breakfast.*

I ordered a Chicken-Sausage scramble (because I like eggs for breakfast, not pancakes/french toast) and substituted out the potatoes for fresh fruit. It was delicious. Yummy in my tummy. Their coffee mugs are enormous and I think I drank about 24 oz. of their fantastic coffee. This is probably my favorite place to have breakfast in Seattle. The only "negative" is the wait (which they obviously have no control over and which they handle quite beautifully - their host does a great job). A.

He said: Neat place. There's a crew boat hung from the ceiling, ohmage to the fact that they are close to the water and the university's boathouse. The wait is always long, partially because its the only breakfast place in a several block radius which also contains several hotels, chock full of people visiting the university from out of town for one reason or another, and partially because this place is really good. I did take advantage of the breakfast bar, and had two fat pancakes covered in fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and fresh made whip cream. The coffee is good and the mugs are oversize (the best way to improve on good coffee is to have more of it.) This place also has great pepper-bacon. A little bit pricier than some of the other breakfast places we frequent, but still well worth it. A.

A comment on comments

2007-05-06T09:13:00.000-07:00

While we welcome commentary, we don't welcome unintelligent drivel, which is why we moderate the comments. We won't post anonymous comments, so make up a name, and we won't post offensive language. Is this censorship? No, feel free to start your own blog and complain all you want about people that moderate blog comments.

Noah's Bagels - QFC in U-Village

2007-04-29T15:14:00.001-07:00

Noah's is a chain. We went to the one in University Village (inside QFC).

She said:
Other than Zatz a Better Bagel, this place is the closest to "east coast authentic" bagel we can find here in Seattle. I definitely do not like their bagel "mits" as much as the bagel sandwiches at Bruegger's (an everywhere but the Pacific Northwest chain), but I don't really have many other options. On this particular visit, I did not get a bagel mit because I did not want to have any eggs. I just ordered an everything bagel, toasted, with smoked salmon schmear (this is what they call cream). We also brought our own mugs of coffee with us because I am not particularly a fan of Noah's coffee.

They screwed up our order and put my smoked salmon schmear on Travis' sun dried tomato bagel and his bagel mit on my everything bagel. This has never happened before. I brought our order back up to the counter and the problem was resolved in a few moments. My bagel was very yummy. I don't really like this location, as it is in a supermarket. I prefer the Noah's on top of Queen Anne hill for the ambiance. I have to judge this restaurant based on all my Noah's experiences and, in that case, I give it an A- (for the bad coffee).

He said: I'll save the long commentary for a real restaurant. Michelle wouldn't let me comment on Wendy's in Ballard even though we actually got an entire meal there and we only got bagels at Noah's. (We had already made our own coffee at home and had it with us for grocery shopping.) The review: bagels good, service bad (screwed up order - vida supra). B-.

Winchell's Donuts

2007-04-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

Winchell's is a chain (apparently, although I have never seen another one). We went to the one on 45th N in Wallingford.

She said:
I had a horrible experience. The only reason I chose to go to this place (since I do not eat donuts) was because I heard they had breakfast sandwiches. So, I ordered an egg and cheese bagel sandwich, and the lady said "do you mind if I take the meat off of one?" I was in shock, so I uttered something like "that's fine." Then I watched her (in horror) go over to a fridge, remove a plastic container, open it, pull the "meat" off it, put it in the microwave, and put the "meat" back in another fridge. I ordered a coffee with my sandwich. The coffee was God-awful and my sandwich was worse. It tasted like rubber and fake cheese. The coffee tasted like water with a hint of caffeine in it. I hated this place (of course I didn't have any donuts) and I never want to go back. F.

He said: I had a blueberry fritter and a chocolate donut with chocolate icing. Both were delicious. I also had coffee. On the picture above you see a sign proudly proclaiming fresh brewed coffee. If they did in fact have fresh brewed coffee they did not give it to me. Half the reason to go to a donut place is for the coffee, something that Dunkin' Donuts figured out a long time ago. The donuts get a B and the coffee gets an F, averaging these gives Winchell's a C- overall. Only go here if you plan on getting only donuts and then stopping at Tully's for a decent cup of coffee afterward.

EZ'N Cafe

2007-04-29T09:25:00.002-07:00

EZ'N Cafe is in Zillah, WA. Zillah is a town in the Rattlesnake Hills section of Washington's wine country.

She said:
This restaurant was listed in the Rattlesnake Hills informational brochure. The description said something like "come and enjoy lunch or dinner in an old fashioned cafe, minus the weak coffee." I enjoyed the description, and I was starving, so we decided to take a break from the wine tastings and go have lunch.

When we walked in, I felt like I was intruding on the normal Saturday crowd. Everyone kind of turned to look at us, and the meeting of the Shriners was obviously not fond of our presence. Whatever. Our waitress had a 'tude (which disappeared later and I will explain that). I ordered a turkey melt with jo-jo's. I had no idea what jo-jo's were, and Ms. Tude had to give me the low-down. She said "they're potato wedges." Alrighty - thanks for your help.

The food arrived very quickly and I enjoyed my meal. This was a step above lunch at Friendly's, in the taste department. I tried a bite of Trav's onion rings and they were GOOD. I expected this place to have ice cream and shakes, that sort of thing, but the only "sweet" item was Italian Ice. Boo - I wanted an ice cream twist (baby cone size).

After we ate, we meandered into the Antique Store, which was attached to the restaurant. They actually had some cool stuff and we bought this "coffee" sign for our kitchen (you'll have to see it to understand what it is). Oh yeah, I forgot the Ms. Tude story. So, she was not a happy camper to us throughout the whole meal. Then, as we were walking into the store, I handed her the tip. I gave her slightly more than 20% (because I was not about to get out coins), and she obviously does not get good tips from the locals, because she beamed from ear to ear. After that, all of our interactions with her (including when she had to run the cash register for our antique purchase) were very pleasant. Apparently, people can be bought. B.

He said: Quaint small town diner. We came here for lunch during our wine tasting tour on the Rattlesnake Hills Trail in Yakima Valley. Yes, the waitress was a *itch, but if I was living in Yakima on a permanent basis and working at a diner, serving a bunch of Shriner's who looked like they may have been there for several hours, I too would be a little crotchety. They proclaimed to have good coffee, but it was lunchtime, so I didn't get a chance to assess the coffee for myself. I had a hamburger (with the usual fixin's) and substituted onion rings for po pos or whatever they were. The burger was good, the onion rings were really good, and the waitress was sour. B+ overall.

Gorditos

2007-04-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

Gorditos is a Mexican restaurant a few feet from the intersection of Greenwood and 85th, in the Greenwood neighborhood.

He said: This place was pretty sweet. I must say it was a bit dumpy looking from the outside, and I was expecting a small cramped dining area but it was actually pretty cavernous once you get in. There were two levels and it looked like an outside area in times of better weather. The ordering process was very speedy and well organized, and we sat down with a small basket of chips and some salsa. The salsa looked very unappetizing; it was brown and not very chunky, almost like applesauce, but it tasted pretty good (a little bit too strongly of olives). I got a fajita style burrito which was enormous and tasted good, but not great. There were a lot of whole peices of tomato which seemed to be pretty unripe and way too much sour cream. I only got through half of it, but it was very filling for the price. (6$?) There was also a sign on the bathrooms proclaiming "Now open on Tuesdays" which I thought was amusing, and the order numbers you take back to your table are little burros with names on them (we had Silvester). It was good for the price and the quaintness made it interesting, but its not exactly on my favorites list. B.

She said:
I "found" this place by looking at the "Cheap Eats" list on CitySearch.com. Since we're going to the wine country tomorrow, we decided that dinner tonight had to be affordable. At first glance, we didn't see the small parking lot next to the restaurant. Luckily, we had no problem finding street parking, but the mere fact that there is a parking lot - however small - in this neighborhood is a plus in my book. When you walk in the door, you order at the counter. The menu is posted behind the counter and it seemed to contain all the Mexican standards. I chose the chicken fajitas. You move on down the counter and someone has your drinks, (free) chips and (homemade) salsa, and small pinnata donkey waiting for you. Yes, that's right, we got the pleasure of carrying a germ-soaked, pinnata-esque donkey back to our table with us. How gross.
The chips and salsa were really good. The chips were baked and warm, which I like, and the salsa was homemade and very yummy. Plus they were free, and that works for me. Our food came soon after we sat down and the waitress took the donkey back to the counter with her - thank God. Our plates were enormous and filled with food. We both ended up taking about half our meal home, so really this place is a 2 meals in 1 establishment. The fajitas were so-so. Nothing to rave about, but not horrible. Next time, I will try something else. You have to get your own napkins, silverware, etc., which is not ideal when you have Mexican food dripping down your arm and you're out of things to wipe it on. The tables and chairs and general atmosphere were kind of dirty-looking and I didn't find it all that appealing. Next time I will get my food "to go" because I didn't really like the eating in the restaurant part of this meal. B-

Thai Tom

2007-04-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

Thai Tom is a very small restaurant located in the U-district on University Way NE just north of 45th street.

She said:
Thank you Seattle Magazine. This week they had a pull out section on "best places to eat," and they had all kinds of weird categories - like "where to go to close a deal." One of the categories was "where to go when you're both broke." Of course I cut out the article and put it (and others) on the fridge. We referenced the "where to go when you're broke" list and Thai Tom was on it.

My first impression was that the restaurant was very small (maybe held 16-18 people at one time) and well-run. As soon as I opened the door, I was met by an employee asking for my name and number in my party. Obviously they don't like people walking into the restaurant when they're full because there is no where to comfortably stand. On a not-so-nice day out, it would stink to have to wait outside (the only option at this place), but the weather was holding out so it was fine for us. We only had to wait about 10 minutes (maybe less) and then we got a table.

I kind of wanted to sit at the "bar" so I could watch the cooks at work - they were literally setting fires that shot up 3-4 feet into the air about 2 feet from the customers - but I took the table graciously. (This is not the kind of establishment where you should attempt to be any sort of pain in the ass. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have said anything if I had found a rat in my food - that is how intense the owners/employees were) The menus are on boards of wood - painted on there - so cool! Nothing on the menu was more than $6.50. We got veggie springrolls (a bit too greasy, and they had a weird sauce) and two orders of pad thai for $20. Amazing.

The pad thai was really good. I would have been satisfied if I had paid $10 for it, but, since I only paid $6.50, I was more than satisfied. Of course they only take cash. I refer you back to the "intense" comment from above. (When we return to Paseo and blog about it on this website, it will remind you of this review) This is a great example of an authentic place to eat. I will take tourists here. The food is amazing and the prices match. A.

He said: Lets get the poor remarks out of the way to begin with: tiny, dark, a little smoky from the "kitchen". This place was awesome. Its small for sure, but the food was fantastic. I didn't really venture out of my comfort zone with Chicken Phad Thai, but I haven't really had good Phad Thai in Seattle until this restaurant. The kitchen and dining area can't be more than 12 feet wide and 25 feet deep, so we were breathing in a lot of the fumes from the prep area (the prep counter seemed like it could double as a kitchen counter.) The tables and chairs looked like they were borrowed from the pub scene in the first "Lord of the Rings" movie. The food was spicy - I got 1/5 stars and that was just enough for me. And cheap. 6.50 for the generous helping was the best deal I've seen on The Ave (University Way NE in the U-District for you out of towners). Its not a good place if you're more than two people due to the size, but we're definitely going to make a return trip here. Better ventilation is the only thing keeping this place from getting an A+. A.

Fresh Flours

2007-04-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

Fresh Flours is a Bakery/Coffee shop on Phinney Ave N near 60th street in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood.

He said: A pleasant experience. This is a pretty new establishment and for its small size had a variety of different baked goods. They have a bakery on-site so I can only assume that they made all this stuff themselves. I had a Savory Pithivier which I had never heard of before, nor did I know how to pronounce. I avoided this discomfort by kind of pointing at the item and grunting, and the clerk seemed to understand what I wanted. The item was a pastry pot pie, with cheese, crumbled Italian sausage, mushrooms, and leeks in the middle. The crust was very flaky and buttery (almost making is a little too greasy) much like a croissant. The coffee was good, and served in actual porcelain cups. The decor of the place was what would have been considered very modern at the beginning of this decade, but now just looked like it was trying too hard to catch up to the young and hip Seattleite coffee bar scene. I'm being very picky here, and overall this place gets an A- and its up on my list of good places to get a lazy weekend nibble and a cup of decent coffee. I don't know what the wifi situation was here, but the seating area was cozy enough where wifi probably wouldn't be a benefit.

She said: We have driven by this place so many times and never went in until yesterday. I really like the Phinney Ridge neighborhood so I might be a bit biased already! This place was your standard coffee/bakery restaurant without being a chain. The food was great. I had a quiche, and it was yum-o. Everything is baked on site, which is a major plus in my book. There is free wi-fi (a sign on the door told me this) and nice seating. If I lived close by I would go there all the time. The only "issue" was that there was a long wait. At first I thought it was annoying that there was no menu posted (presumably because the food changes all the time, but they could have a chalk menu and update it daily), but it took the entire time that we were in line to look at all the bakery items and try to read the labels on them. This made the wait go by much more quickly! I enjoyed the coffee as well but the huge mugs made it get cold a little too quickly. A-

Blue C Sushi

2007-04-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

Blue C Sushi is on Fremont Ave in Fremont, very near the Fremont bridge. We go to this restaurant at least twice a month, if not more.

She said:
I love Blue C. I love that we can walk there. I love that everything on their menu is on a conveyor belt and you just pluck off items as they pass you by so that you can begin eating as soon as you sit down. I love that every item is on a colored plate and you need to just look at their handy-dandy chart to figure out what each color plate costs. I love their drink, the Mandarin Cooler. It is strawberry guava juice (from the PCC next door), vodka and something else. It is so good and so light and so low in calories (for a mixed drink). I love that they have happy hour twice a day, once in the afternoon and once at night. It makes me happy to go to Blue C. And go we do. Nearly every week.

Their sushi is no where near the best sushi you can get in Seattle. Not even close. But, you know what? Their prices aren't bad. It is a funky, eclectic atmosphere. You can eat as soon as you sit down (and since I am usually starving by the time we get to a restaurant, I greatly appreciate this). The food is always the same -- you can count on it. It is within walking distance from our house and it is in the self-proclaimed "center of the universe" (Fremont). I give it a consistent B+ (sometimes it's an A and sometimes it's a B- depending on the day, my mood, etc.)

He said: Yes, normally a good "safety" sushi joint. This particular trip wasn't my best experience. We got there early enough for the "Happy Hour Above the Belt" special. Michelle got normal off-the-belt items but I figured that since I in the bar area I should try something from the bar menu. I got the chef's sashimi special. In my own head I guess I was expecting nigiri. Regardless, all I got was some tastefully cut and displayed slices of raw fish. Delicious but not filling at all. By the time I waved down the waiter to order something with substance it was 6:05pm and past the happy hour. The happy hour specials are not really that good to begin with unless you want the avocado roll, and typically its only $0.25 off of what the plate would normally cost on the belt. At least if you're sitting at the belt you don't have to wave down the waiter to get you a roll once you've mistakingly ordered sashimi. My poor experience was completely my fault, but I'm not above letting that reflect on my opinion of the restaurant and wait staff. C.

Bengal Tiger

2007-04-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

Bengal Tiger is located near the intersection of 65th and Roosevelt in the Ravenna neighborhood.

She said:
My awesome friend Julia and her boyfriend Hareesh were kind enough to take our order and go pick up a yummy dinner from this restaurant. They brought it to our house. We laid out the spread on our kitchen table, filled our plates buffet style, and converged in the living room for a mass feeding. It was about 9pm at night so we were all very hungry. I would say that this was one of the best - if not the best - Indian food meals I have had in Seattle. We have been hard-pressed to find good Indian food here and, since Hareesh is half Indian, he suggested this location. We trusted that he knew what he was talking about :)

I had some saag paneer and some chicken tikka masala (two of my favorite things). They were both very tasty. The only thing I have to "complain" about is that I have had better naan. The naan wasn't bad, it's just that I have had better. I'm not sure what the total bill was, exactly, but Julia told me it was around $50. That was enough food for 4 people to eat a lot and have tons of leftovers. Good deal in my opinion. I give this place a B+.

He said:
We didn't really eat here, so its not like we can give it a proper review. Regardless, the food was great (I had a bit of everything, saag paneer, tikka masala, lamb curry, and tandoori chicken) and I have to say this is the best Indian food I've had yet in Seattle. Hareesh is half-indian after all, so he ought to be able to sniff these places out. The naan bread was a little cold and soggy by the time it got to us, but I've never had naan stay very fresh when you get take out. I'll save a proper grade for some time in the future when Michelle and I actually eat at the restaurant, but based only on the food I give this place an A.

Dragonfish

2007-04-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

Dragonfish is the restaurant located in the Paramont Hotel in downtown Seattle.

He said:
We went to Dragonfish in celebration of Michelle's birthday, so there was a fairly large party of people. (9 of us) I got a beer and a rib eye steak, which was smothered in what tasted like the sauce you get in a side of Lipton's beef stroganoff. For the price I would have expected something a little better than what tasted like previously frozen steak. The appetizers (veggie and duck springrolls and chicken potstickers) were tasty but a bit greasy. Aside from the steak which came with no side dishes at all, I sampled a bit of some chicken yakisoba and that was it. For the amount of money I set down, I felt thoroughly ripped off. One of the other people there with us assured us that this was not typical of the previous times they had visited, however if you've got 20$ entrees you need to be on the ball every time. The bathroom and layout was also a bit mysterious. There were no restrooms in the restaurant itself, you had to go through a door, into the hotel lobby, up the elevator to the 2nd floor and then down the hall. For all the potential this was a disappointing experience. C.

She said:
Yes it was my birthday dinner, and yes I was drinking so I had a much better experience than my husband! I was baffled when we arrived, though, because a friend suggested this place to me for the food and the "view." Ummm, the restaurant was on the ground level. There were only a few windows and they looked out onto the city street. Not sure what he was talking about, and I have to remember to ask him about that.

My drink (which I had 2 of) was DELICIOUS! Ruby raspberry something or other. Basically it was real, crushed raspberries, raspberry lemonade, and vodka. Yum! The springrolls and potstickers were too greasy. But the poke appetizer was great. I had two sushi rolls for my dinner, and they were great as well. I think you have to order the right stuff at this restaurant in order to have a good experience. Four of the people we were with had been there before for happy hour, and they raved about that aspect of the restaurant. So, my suggestion is to go for happy hour.

One MAJOR downfall is the bathroom situation. I was wearing heels and I was drinking. I did not, in any way, expect to get up from my seat, ask where the bathroom was, and be told that I had to exit the restaurant, go into the hotel lobby, get on the elevator, go up one flight, and then go down a hallway. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? You can't be serious!!!! This restaurant NEEDS to put in a bathroom that is within 30-50 feet of the tables/bar area.

High prices + bathroom mayhem = C+.

Ebb 'n Flow

2007-04-15T11:03:00.000-07:00

The Place:
Ebb 'n Flow is located on 45th St. N in the Wallingford neighborhood.

He said:
We came here for breakfast/brunch on a Saturday morning at around 11 am. There was no wait and we were seated promptly although my seat was a bit awkwardly positioned. I was on a bench in the back of the restaurant which was up against a wall and the bench had an armrest on it which required me to sit off the end of the table. The waitress we had was attentive although a little demeaning at times, as she would compliment me on how well I cleaned my plate later in the meal. "Wow, you did a good job!" Thank you, eating is part of my expertise.

The coffee was from Lighthouse Roasters, a normally good brand of coffee, however, we must have received the bottom of the pot, as my coffee was lukewarm at best and contained about a teaspoon of coffee grounds which I discovered after several sips. I did ask for and received a new mug without grounds in the bottom, but this was only after she tried to refill my old mug first, after I had already explained the coffee grounds problem. The meal was good, scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon: the bacon was particularly good, thick cut and cooked to the perfect crispiness. The menu was not very extensive and was particularly lacking in bread items like pancakes; almost exclusively variations on eggs, bacon and potatoes. We were also told by the waitress that if we paid in cash we would receive a 10% discount. I found this to be a tad sketchy but not so much as to not take advantage of the discount, no matter what the motivation was. Aside from the bacon I see no reason to go back there, and give this location a C-.

She said:
We had been to this location for breakfast before when it was under a different name. I thought that, since the name had changed, it was a new and different restaurant. Apparently I was wrong. Everything was the same, except the name. Anyway, we were seated right when we walked in the door and we did have a young, friendly, attentive waitress. Our coffee was horrible. Mine was luke-warm at best and filled with coffee grounds. I never asked for a new mug because after my first sip I had every intention of going to Tully's next door and getting a real cup of coffee right after breakfast.

I had the Italian scramble, which came with potatoes and toast. It was good. Normal breakfast food. The potatoes were a little over-cooked and a bit too greasy, but everything else was to my liking. Considering we can walk to this restaurant from our house and the price was decent, I would say that I would go back sometime. I did find the 10% off deal, for a cash payment, to be shady. But, hey, we're not rich so we took the bait! You figure we get 1% back on our credit card purchases, so this was 9% more than that!

Overall, the horrible coffee knocked this score down to a C for me.

Our idea...

2007-04-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

We recently decided to do a blog together about our dining experiences in the Seattle area. We eat out enough (too much sometimes) to have developed a pretty keen sense of which restaurants are good/bad and why. We thought that it should be in a he said/she said format so that our audience could hear from both of us and get a male and female perspective.

We hope you enjoy reading it!