Chandler's Crabhouse

11/21/08

Yummy

by Mydearsophie at Citysearch

I went there for brunch which is not buffet style but by menu. Their food taste good and is worth the price!

07/13/08

Romantic Atmosphere?

by chubbybunnyone at Citysearch

I made a reservation here for my boyfriend's birthday because he LOVES crab. We ended up ordering two salads, a crab cake, two bowls of soup, and a plate of crab to share. The one piece of crab cake ($12?) was the one dish that stood out for me...delicious, and probably one of the best crab cakes I've had. Everything was delicious, but most of the dishes didn't have the extra kick that would justify the price tag.

The service was incredibly slow. It took us over two hours to finish our dinner (from the time we sat down until the time we paid our bill). We ordered a few minutes after we sat down, but the dishes took FOREVER to come out. I believe we received our crab cake and soup first, then waited around 15-20 minutes for our salad to finally show up. After we finished our salad, we had to wait another 20-30 minutes for our one dish of crab arrived. At one point, my boyfriend and I began to wonder if they forgot about us because it had been well over 20 minutes since we finished our appetizers and no one had come over to check on us or let us know the food was on its way. I understand what the atmosphere of a restaurant like this is supposed to be like, but the wait was way too long and the service was almost non-existant. We waited so long that we weren't even hungry anymore by the time the crab came out.

05/11/08

You're mostly paying for the waterfront view

by MBWM at Citysearch

Unlike most any other type of cuisine, when it comes to seafood restauraunts, it's all about location, location, location. Chandlers offers average food in an above average setting, at prices that few people would tolerate if not for it's nice lakeside views and outdoor dining options. ( note to City Search editors, the dinner meal prices are no longer in the $$ range. On our recent visit, entrees started at about $30 and went up quickly to over $70). Having grown up along the Gulf Coast, I love and appreciate good seafood. Chandler's Crabhouse falls somewhere in the middle of the pack when compared to local options. The restaurant, though not a chain, is one of a family of locally owned steak and seafood restaurants, and it has a vaguely coorporate feel to it. The interior is a slightly dated mish mash of generic, clubby steakhouse ( painted beadboard, uncomfortably tight booths ) and hotel lobby contemporary ( soaring glass rotunda ). In keeping with the decor, the menu doesn't seem to know what it should be. For example, my father ordered grilled halibut, which inexplicably came covered with an odd strawberry compote of some sort. My mother, who is 5'4", had the half order of 5 stone crab claws. They came presented atop a huge, gallon sized bowl of shaved ice about 14' in diameter. It was almost comical. Embarassed sitting there in a bib, unable to see over the huge pile of ice in front of her, she asked the waiter if there was something he could do to help, but he just laughed it off as if she must have been joking. All in all, our meals were OK, but they tasted like something from a kitchen rather than the hands of a chef, and at the price, there is much better to be had in Seattle.