Seastar Restaurant And Raw Bar

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truffleoil

Joined 6 years ago

not so sure. We were at this restaurant about two months ago and had a great meal. The food and service was excellent. We went again last night with admittedly high expectations and left disappointed. We still had a nice time as it is a nice restaurant and the food was not terrible. It's just that nothing was great. The service wasn't great and our waitress only showed up when she had something to deliver (our food) or to drop the bill. She came by only once to ask us how our meal was. I ordered a glass of wine because I didn't like the champagne we ordered (it was sitting almost full in front of me). She didn't ask or notice that I hadn't taken barely a sip of it. After ordering the wine we didn't see her again for about 10 minutes upon which she delivered the wine saying your food is right behind me and we didn't see her again until we were well into our dinner.

My husband ordered the Japanese Hamachi Ceviche which just wasn't very good. The fish tasted too strong almost like it was about to turn. I had a caesar salad which was really good and I gave half of it to my husband. For our main courses my husband had the cedar plank roasted salmon. The waitress indicated it was served medium rare. In reality it wasn't medium-rare and was almost overcooked. The rest of his plate was equally unimpressive with a sticky gob of rice and a huge spear of broccoli. I had two appetizers for my dinner, the seared diver sea scallop trio and the beef with noodles. These were okay, nothing fabulous though my husband loved the beef (it was very tender) so I ended up giving him most of that.

My wine (after the failed glass of champage) was great, a pinot noir. We ordered dessert which was also really good. My husband ordered malt ice cream which wasn't on the menu by itself but the waitress accomodated him when he asked which was nice. I had the chocolate cake which was really good but they dropped about 10 rasberries which are out of season and subsequently tasted out of season.

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dining_guy

Joined 6 years ago

Great Evening. I am not sure why I had not been to Seastar before last week, but I am glad that I finally made a visit. My guest and I arrived without reservations, and although the place was busy we were able to find a great table in the lounge. Service and food were both great, especially enjoyed the pesto clams.

Doesn't Recommend

eatforlife

Joined 6 years ago

Bad server, bad experience. I have been there for happy hour numerous times and I seem to be lucky enough to get the same server each time (sarcasm). She's an older lady with brown hair, about 5' 8" and on the healthier build side. For an upscale restaurant, I am surprised to see them employ someone who is so rude, unfriendly and condesending. Why did I keep going back? I like the food and atmosphere, but I will not be going back for a long time. At least not until they hire better staff. She is so unfriendly and unpleasant. Maybe she just doesn't like me.... I will miss going there for now.

Doesn't Recommend

robcocor

Joined 6 years ago

Has gone down hill. I have eaten at Seastar five times over the last 3 years and it used to be one of my favorite restaurants. Unfortunately, my last experience in May confirmed what friends of mine had told me after eating there in March; the restaurant has gone down hill (and fast).

The Service was still good. The food was the problem. The crab cakes only tasted of spice and cooking oil ; the sauce was the only think that had any flavour. My wife's pasta with shrimp was mushy (not al dente) and SWIMMING in cream (the hallmark of every cheap Italian restaurant). My halibut was only average.

Seastar continues to charge premium prices for below-par food. How sad.

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lovefood419

Joined 8 years ago

So-so. I've been wanting to try this place for a while since I used to drive by it on the way home but was a bit skeptical of the reviews that said there's better restaurants in Seattle. Well, got the chance to try it for a birthday and the place was nice inside and the staff was also. As much as I wanted to love the food, my salmon was good but the sides were bland and ordinary. The other four people didn't seem to enjoy theirs much either as they said the mahi was too sweet and the other salmon wasn't anything special (their sides were bland as the mahi only had a little rice.) For restaurants in the same price range, I will also stick to the fine restaurants in Seattle.

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psu112

Joined 7 years ago

Excellent seafood. This place is great. A colleague and I stumbled across this place when we were here on business, and had a fantastic dinner. The sushi was excellent, but the entrees were even better. The sesame crusted tuna was wonderful, and they have an excellent wine list. If the restaurant is too crowded to get seated, go to the bar; they have a full service menu, and our waitress was wonderful!

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dangerousdan

Joined 7 years ago

Best for appetizers and cocktails. The raw bar is superb (try the sushi!) and the cocktails are incredible (especially the The Myer Lemon Drop). The appetizer tower is an excellent mix of little morsels and the sesame crusted seared Ahi tuna a delight. Tried the dinner menu on a couple of occasions, and it mostly left me unimpressed. My M.O. is to go to Seastar for cocktails & apps, then head elsewhere for dinner.

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grnlake

Joined 8 years ago

Mediocre food- fussy & over-thought dishes. First time diner- server was distant and in a word, smug. Oysters and cosmopolitan were delicious. Sturgeon entree and banana sundae for desssert suffered from too much of everything, whether butter, smoking of the fish, truffles in the mashed potatoes, orange flavoring in the caramel sauce with the pineapple- good food stands on its own and doesn't need to be fussed. There are far better dining choices a short drive away- in Seattle.

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jennwraspir

Joined 7 years ago

Great, but slow. We took customers here for dinner last night, and despite my having made reservations 4 weeks in advance, we were not seated for an hour past our reservations. Its great food, but if you have a party larger than 4 I wouldn't recommend it. We only had 7 in our group and they still had us waiting an hour past our reservation. Unacceptable to me. They did provide us with free appetizers for our waiting, but when you have a 7:15pm reservation, and you don't get seated until 8:15...that's a bit too long in my opinion.

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seattlefly

Joined 8 years ago

Sassy Out of Touch. I have been to Seastar numerous times and have had nothing but great service and food. I have met Chef Howie and he was friendly, professional and corteous - sounds like Sassy wanted to blow off some steam and draw some attention to himself.

The food, staff, and service are all top notch and Seastar is easily one of the best places on the Eastside to dine. Try it for youself!