10/16/09

holy cow good!

by tracyanna

truly one of the BEST meals i've had in seattle. the cook even changed one dish we ordered to accomodate my diet....and was happy to do so. our waitress was professional, a rare treat! a woman next to our table knocked over her glass of red wine...it splashed my new light gray sude shoes. the waitress was all over it and averted a shoe disaster. she offered to have the restaurant pay the cleaning bill AND she discounted our food bill. the waitress, the cook both went above and beyond to be sure we had a good experience. and we did! we'll be back. and back. and back.

(and the food rocked too!)

• Pros: small dishes, unique, warm decor, great service
• Cons: cramped quarters

04/23/09

don't believe the hype

by LoganII

It was special night for a friends birthday. Four people, very quiet, no cake, no candles but in the end it just didn't feel very special. The no reservation policy was troublesome but we were early in the evening and we squeezed in fairly quickly-w/in 45 minutes. The service was.......terrible, the waiter was just BAD and didn't seem to care. We tried to engage him and it never took A few of the dishes were quite good, a few were just okay. All in all I was very surprised at all the word of mouth surrounding HTCAW and I have to believe that the restaurant owner or the marketing people are just doing a great job of promoting a marginal restaurant.

• Pros: Some of the dishes were very nice
• Cons: The service was brutal

03/17/09

Good not great

by bistecca

We've been anxious to try this place, but had to plan it on a night we could get there before 6:00 to a wait. We got a table right away at 5:45 on a Sunday evening (all tables were full 15 minutes later). The service was efficient and pleasant, everyone smiled and greeted us when we arrived. The food was very good: Beef carpaccio was the best we've had; Beet salad was full of chopped golden beets and pistachios; Scallops were seared tender with no grit; and the gnocchi with short rib was decadent and delicious. The portions were big... we had more than enough for 2 of us, and even took gnocchi home. Cons: there was nothing green on the menu... no lettuce in the beet salad, no veggie sides. If you want bread, you have to pay for an order of focaccia bread and olive oil. In spite of the excellent cuisine, there are 2 things that will prevent us from returning: 1) The restaurant was very poorly ventilated - it got so smoky that our eyes were burning (fellow diners had the same problem). Our clothing and hair were so saturated with food smell that we had to go home and shower to remove the smell; 2) The no reservation policy. This definitely does not put the customer's needs first... in reading the reviews, clearly customers don't like having to wait hours for a table during prime time. My time is valuable, I would much rather go to a restaurant at the time I choose and know there will be a table. Hopefully "Wolf" will listen to customers and reconsider their policy.

• Pros: Excellent food, friendly service
• Cons: Poor ventilation in restaurant, no reservation policy