SkyCity

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Lynn1400

Joined 3 years ago

Great View + Great Food + Great Staff. I’ve been to the Space Needle occasionally throughout the years, but my most recent trip showed a number of delightful changes that now make this place undeniably the ultimate do-not-miss Seattle dining experience, definitely for out-of-town visitors, but also for us locals. There were so many new things to discover, that we asked, and sure enough, within the last couple of years a new head chef and new management were added.

We started with some appetizers, including the Dungeness Crab Cakes, and the Grilled Rustic Flat Bread with goat cheese and pesto, followed by Grilled Wild King Salmon and Seafood Fettucine. They were perfect. The scallops were butter-tender. My husband said the salmon ranked up with the best he’d ever had.

While we ate, our attention was divided between the constantly-changing view of the city, as the restaurant very slowly rotated around, and the dramatic, huge desserts that passed by our table. We really wanted to try one of them, but just had no room.

Dinner guests get to go up to the observation deck, and you’ll want to. Here’s something new – they’ve solved the problem of having guests’ Seattle view photos less than perfect due to weather. You have your photo taken in front of a green screen downstairs, then upstairs you have the choice of different great shots to be in, and a digital image is produced that you can e-mail right from the top of the Space Needle. There’s no charge for this. They also added a bar for the adults and a deli snack bar for the kids.

We’ve had out of town guests come in over the last few years that we haven’t treated to the Space Needle for dinner. We won’t omit this stop again.

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Samara

Joined 3 years ago

can't wait to go back!. I have lived in Seattle all of my life, yet had never gone up in the Space Needle, let alone to the restaurant. I'm sorry that I missed this until now!! The service was first-rate, the view was spectacular, and the food was superb. Please try the flatbread and crab mac and cheese. I can't wait to go back!

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CurtNelson

Joined 4 years ago

Great Experience. We recently dined at SkyCity for my son's birthday. We went mainly for the view and after reading other reviews I wasn't expecting much else. But we were pleasantly surprised by the experience.

First, the place was full yet we were seated 10 minutes ahead of our reservation. All of the hostesses were very pleasant from downstairs to the elevator operator and the reception desk in the restaurant.

Once seated our server, Barbara warmly greeted us and took our orders. We had a bit of trouble deciding on the full meal and she had to return twice to get our order. She showed no annoyance what-so-ever and instead came across as helpful and desiring to meet our needs. Throughout the evening she was very attentive, warm, and very interested in us having a good time. I could see that the other servers were interacting with their tables as well. It appeared to us that they enjoyed working there. So many times "touristy" restaurants have that industrial assembly line feel. That was not the case here.

One of the reasons we had trouble ordering was that there were several items on the menu that looked irresistable. We ended up with the smoked prime rib, lamb loin, seafood pasta, and oven roasted chicken. All of the items were nicely presented and very tasty. All four entrees were also served at the same time by two servers and at just the right temperature and doneness. The smoked prime rib was extremely good and the lamb loin had a terrific beet puree/red wine reduction that complemented the meat perfectly.

One criticism of the restaurant is that it is expensive. I didn't find that to be the case in this sense. The appetizers, cocktails, and even the wine list are no more than any other decent restaurant in town. The entrees are high but don't forget to subtract the cost of just going up to the observation deck which is included with all meals ($17.00 per adult and $9.00 per child.) When those are taken out it actually looks pretty reasonable for a fine dining restaurant. My $44.00 lamb loin comes down to only $27.00. So the evening as a whole was fairly expensive but we got a lot for our money--Terrific view, express elevator service, time on the observation deck, nearly 4 turns around the Needle, attentive gracious service, great food, appetizers, drinks, and desert.

It is very clear to me that they are working hard at SkyCity to make every visit there a special experience.

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DasCoug

Joined 4 years ago

That was great!!!. We had a wonderful time last night at Sky City/Space Needle. It's very cool with the restaurant rotating. My wife loved it too. The view was great and are meal was equally good. A little pricey but that keep the riff-raff out.

Doesn't Recommend

MJVSeattle

Joined 4 years ago

View - Beautiful...Food? Regretable. The view was spectacular. We went on a clear, cold night as a special occasion for my 12 year old. There were a surprising amount of children there and I have to say, not all of them should have been at a restaurant of that caliber.

I had been to Sky City many years ago and remember the food being just OK. So we weren't really expecting an awesome meal. What I didn't expect was prime rib that tasted like overly salty bacon and garlic mashed potatoes that were too gluey and salty to eat. My husband's fillet was just OK and my daughter had a hamburger off the kids menu (even though the cutoff was 10, we appreciated this gesture. Made her experience much better).

If you can get by with going for appetizers, dessert and drinks, you'll probably be better served. The bottle of wine we had was wonderful and our appetizer was enjoyable.

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Spunckie

Joined 4 years ago

Great view; so so food. I took my husband there for his birthday in June 2009. I've always heard their food is mediocre but decided to give it a shot anyway. It was a Monday night, it seemed busy but we didn't have to wait long and were seated very promptly. The staff was nice and the view is spectacular. Now about their food - I ordered the seared tuna and my hubby had a clam chowder and ribeye. Nothing special about the chowder, and his ribeye was quite tasty; but my tuna was tasteless. There are so much pepper on the tuna that my tongue was burning. At $50+, I expect it to be, well, tasty. Very disappointed. The dessert was good, but again nothing special.

I should also mention that if you have motion sickness, think twice before going there. I don't usually have motion sickness, not the severe type anyway, but the rotating motion of the restaurant gave me bad motion sickness that I couldn't really focus on the dinner. :(

All in all, you're paying for the experience and the view. I don't think the high price of food reflects the same quality. Unless someone takes me there, it is very unlikely that I'd go again.

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DDCC

Joined 5 years ago

Just ok. We visited the restaurant for dinner in Aug 2008 while I was eight months pregnant. The atmosphere was great and we had a great waiter who gave great suggestions. The wait can be long depending on when you go there. I ordered a seafood pasta which sounded exquisite. I am allergic to Tuna fish and when the dish came, it had other seafood but was also loaded with Tuna Fish. I had already had two bites of the dish and quickly realised that there was Tuna Fish in there. Tuna Fish was not listed on the menu and so I thought I would be ok.........The staff and manager apologised but the principle here is that the ingedients of certain dishes should be listed especially if it contains foods that are allergenic.

Doesn't Recommend

jimmylu1

Joined 5 years ago

Worst and most over priced in Seattle. We had 3 days in Seattle before a Cruise to Alaska, on Return we thought we'd combine the view with Dinner. Our mistake. We should have just paid $17.00 for the ride up. With out a question, The worst and most over priced meal on our trip including our cruise. My brothers Un Prime rib $ 50 ish . was tough and chewy He has been known to clean the plate, NOT this time. I had Seafood Pasta $ 42.00, I ate four (4) bites. It tasted FISHY. and gave me the feeling in my throat like I had had too mush to eat. Uncomfortable. My wife had 8 oz. Fillet $54.00, she said it was OK, but not worth writing home about. My Sister in-law had Surf and Turf $79.00 .Again she said it was OK. When our server asked about our meals , my brother said on a scale of 1 -10 , it was a 2. I said ," The warm bread before the meal was better". Our Concentration prize was FREE desert , They were good. Brother and I later thought we should had stopped after the first bite, and had the OVER priced meals removed from the bill. Oh, the server asked if I wanted to take the rest of my meal along. I almost said "my dog would not eat it". But that most likely would have upset my wife. At home I mentioned my experience to a Neighbor's son who had lived in Seattle for 2 years. His remark was " it is known as the worst restaurant in Seattle , cause over 90% are tourist, and they don't care they know you won't be back . I'll go Back to Seattle, but never again will I set foot in Sky City Restaurant. Oh unfortunately they say they proudly serve Starbucks coffee. I did not have any. I feel, not only is it BITTER, it is OVER PRICED. After my first sip in The coffee shop I took it back for Tea.

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MartinFranklinTN

Joined 5 years ago

Great view and food, with the new chef. My wife and I had lunch there, we had reservations for 11 am, and everything was wonderful. We were informed that the chef had been replaced the previous week, we were there on 4/19/08. We shared, Ahi tuna tartar, a wild boar, bacon and lental soup, I had the peper crusted smoked salmon, my wife had the crab melt and we finished by sharing the lava cake. We each had two drinks and the bill was $170.27 before tip so you have an idea of pricing. View was wonderful, it takes about an hour to make one revolution. The wait staff was knowledgable and frendly, as was all of Seattle. We were not expecting much from the other reviews here and were very pleased with the outcome.

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lvlove

Joined 5 years ago

Overpriced for OK tasting food, horrible service would never come back again!. My husband made dinner reservations for our wedding anniversary on april 5th, 2008 and he asked if he could reserve a window seat but the hostess told him to "just tell them when we get there". When we arrived, the guy who checks us in at the front desk was not happy at all, did not greet us with a smile but with a long face instead and all he asked was "what time is your reservation?". The elevator operator guy was very nice to us, in fact he was the only person who gave us good service. The hostess gals acted snotty and did not greet us either. When we arrived, we did exactly what they told us and asked for a window seat since we could not reserve one. Instead of getting one, the hostess responded by saying "it will take more than an hour to get a window seat, and by the time you get it we will be closed". The funny part was that we saw more than 3 tables that were open by the window and it was already 10:00 PM nobody else was coming. We stayed there until near closing and nobody sat there. So weird why they didn't want to give us the window seat. Our server didn't even greet us either and didn't introduce herself! She just walked by and said "ill be with you in a bit". By the time she was finished with her other tables and came by to us, there were no suggestions for the menu except "Are you ready to order?". When we were done with our dinner to leave, there was no service at the front desk to validate our valet parking ticket. Its a shame because my husband and I are big time diners and love to go eat all the time, if it was great service then we would come back more often even if the food is just OK. Restaurants need to remember that its the SERVICE we come back for, not just the food. But for how expensive the food is and how big of a reputation Sky City/Space Needle has, they need to really step it up with their service!