06/11/09

Great view; so so food

by Spunckie

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.

• Pros: View
• Cons: High price of food doesn't reflect quality

11/21/08

Just ok

by DDCC

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.

• Pros: ambience, desserts, service
• Cons: long wait

09/03/08

Worst and most over priced in Seattle

by jimmylu1

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.

• Pros: Deserts
• Cons: Entrays

04/23/08

Great view and food, with the new chef

by MartinFranklinTN

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.

• Pros: everything was just as it should be.
• Cons: When the restaurant is not fully loaded with people it can have a minor yet noticeable lag time in the rotation, my wife could not feel it until I mentioned it.

04/22/08

Overpriced for OK tasting food, horrible service would never come back again!

by lvlove

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!

• Pros: Beautiful view, unique setting, great romantic spot
• Cons: Bad service, overpriced

02/20/08

Fine dining for those who appreciate a fine dining experience.

by Klwebbe

We had a wonderful meal last Sunday. After reading the previous review I was a little hesitant but

I have dined there several times over the last 20 years and its always been a good experience.

The Steak and Lobster were excellant and my steak was cooked as I had requested.There was a question as to how well done the Lamb should be prepared but our server was very helpful and directed us in the right choice. If you enjoy fine dining with a view this is the only place in Seattle to go.

12/20/07

disappointing staff, food, drinks, & decor

by mrsslj

We had our company party at The Space Needle's Sky Line Room. Luckily the kareoke & good company helped take the attention away from the staff, food, drinks & decor! The bartender was flat out mean & rude. Just looking at and smelling the food was enough for me to decide not to eat (I had heard they had bad food, but did not expect it to be that bad). My martini was served in a water glass (enough said ). The decor is simply stated 80's (aka 20+ yrs too old). Overall I would describe our company party as fun but it felt like we were in a seady creeepy bar / hotel (which I don't think our compayny was quite going for). The Space Needle has some major changes to make and needs to get their act together!

11/24/07

Even the view does NOT make up for all the problems with it!

by djslavik

Plain and simple - DO NOT EAT THERE! I cannot stress this enough. Great atmosphere and view should generally be able to make up for some other problems, and it barely did so here.

At $40+ per entee, you get a well presented dish (credit given where due!) that is not too far removed in flavor form tree bark - that was my halibut. Similarly, soda noodles were so sweet you'd think it was a desert dish. Not to mentioned the tofu in it - rubber. Deserts, the lunar express (the smoking ice-cream - a must see) and strawberry rhubarb cobbler were of average quality. Cold seafood platter we split for appetizer deserves a B-.

By contrast, at Purple, where we stopped by for some appetizers and wine before dinner, the food was beyond excellent! Could that have raised our expectations? I don't think so. After all, wouldn't you expect a well prepared and delicious meal for 40 greens?

P.S. To summarize: View: A; Service: B; Food: D-

11/18/07

overpriced food with an unbeatable view

by jtflynn

The restaurant at the Space Needle was extremely disappointing from a culinary standpoint. The menu choices were limited and when the food arrived, it was mediocre to average, certainly not what one would expect given the high prices of the entrees. For example, I had a prime rib that was about as tasteless as one would get at a hotel banquet facility. The view of course can't be beat - you get the whole Seattle skyline and the bay from a vantage point like no other in the city. My recommendation would be to go for drinks & the view then go elsewhere to eat dinner.

• Pros: the view
• Cons: the food

08/13/07

Don't eat there!

by jenlai1

I live in Seattle for many years and always heard very mediocre review for the restaurant at Space Needle. I had some out-of-town friends who really want to try it so I took them there. It was a VERY BIG MISTAKE. I had expected the food to be mediocre. Indeed the food was not very good. The service was even worse! Our table was not ready until almost .5 hour after our reservation time. Because they were running so late, they decided to hurry us. We did not get any bread even though we specifically ask for it. We were not offered coffee/tea with dessert even though those items were included in the per person brunch price. The only good thing I can say about this place is the view is nice. I will never go back to the over-priced restaurant with so-so food and terrible service. If I could, I would have given it a negative rating.

• Pros: nice view
• Cons: over priced, terrible sevice, and so-so food