Chandler's Crabhouse
Seattle, WA 98109
Phone: (206) 223-2722
05/11/2008 Posted by MBWM
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.
Write a review and share your thoughts with others
