| Food | * * * 1/2 |
| Service | * * 1/2 |
| Ambience | * * * |
| Value | 4.0 |
| Cost | $ $ $ $ |
| Dish | Price |
Value | Rating | |
| Caesar Salad | $5.95 |
* * * | * * * * | |
| Northwest Greens Salad | 6.25 |
* * * | * * * * | |
| Seafood Linguine | 25.95 |
* * | * * *1/2 | |
| Salmon with Dill | 25.95 |
* * | * * * * | |
| Double Chocolate Cake | 5.95 |
* * | * * | |
| Apple Pie Ala Mode | 5.25 |
* * | * * * |
Reservations tend to be a hot ticket. My cousin had recommended that we call early, but we'd thought we'd chance it (being off-season). Came about 4:15, and the concierge (ritzy!) said that walk-ins started at 9:45. We thought we might skip the Needle altogether ($8.50 for the elevator ride), when from behind us came, "I'm cancelling for 7pm, you want our reservation?" Thank you Mrs. Rafoth, wherever you are. So that gave us some extra time to shop downtown. A convenient Monorail was nearby ($2 RT).
We returned at 6:15, proceeded to the Observation Deck and waited to hear "our" (Rafoth) name. The skies were absolutely blue and clear, but a little windy (Gee, we're 605 feet in the air!). We looked through the rather expensive shop and made our "rounds." At 6:40, they called our name (it's basically first come, first serve, once you get your reservation - you don't even have to wait in line for the elevator - it waits for you!). We proceeded downstairs and carefully jumped onto the RAPIDLY rotating (58 minutes per revolution) restaurant floor, sat at our table, got our menus and lifted our jaws from the floor.
Whew! Espensivo! Of course, the view is amazing! The city, the sea, the freeways, Pike's Market, Key Arena, and so on.
The menu consists mostly of seafood, including lamb, steak, chicken, and vegetarian entrees. they have a large page of specialty and other drinks and a massive wine list. (We decided against the customary Cokes, because it was late and soup & salad were a la carte, and we wanted salad.)
J started out with Caesar salad with crumbled bleu cheese ($1 extra). Lots of parmesan, Romaine lettuce (not iceberg), croutons, Caesar dressing, generously sprinkled with the with delicious bleu cheese. I had the Northwest Greens, also with Bleu Cheese, with Red Onion (whoops, a little skin), great assorted "yuppie lettuce" and raspberry vinaigrette, again with a liberal sprinkling of Bleu Cheese.
The entrees followed quite quickly, but not until they had cleared the salads given us a minute to enjoy them. J had the Fireworks Seafood Linguine with perfect al dente pasta and fresh basil, large firm prawns, very good (unfishy) scallops and (invisible) clams. I had the Salmon, which was boneless, tender, though needed a little lemon, awfully dry rice pilaf, and medium cooked (ie. crisp, but cooked carrots, baby summer squash and asparagus.
Since we hadn't rotated twice, we opted for dessert. We had seen an ostentatious display of an overpriced ice cream sundae, so didn't pick that, and chose the Apple Pie A La Mode and the Double Chocolate Fudge Cake. J's cake was moist, dense chocolate cake, filled with a rich, almost fudge-like chocolate pudding, with fresh strawberries and faux whipped cream, a real detraction. Fortunately, I had vanilla ice cream with my apple pie, so that REALLY made the dessert a 4-star. My apple pie had a flaky, but tasteless crust, too much caramel, apples a little bitter and mushy. Not to say BAD, but average, not spectacular.
The service was fine, but the brown-nosing happy talk from our waiter, we could do without. The waterman also, was a little sloshy with the pouring of the water.
So, all in all, the food was very good, BUT very overpriced. The view is almost worth it - when I return to Seattle, I will probably not come back, unless I'm on an expense account, but it was an experience that the Rafoth's really missed out on.