How to Cook a Wolf
Seattle, WA 98109-2312
Phone: (206) 838-8090
05/13/2008 Posted by elvis3000
After reading all the reviews and the hype about HTCAW, I took my mother up there for a belated Mother's Day dinner. Given the positive reception this place has received, we bore the 2 hour wait with a smile (and beer at Hilltop) and entered with high hopes. As you might expect from the title, our hopes were dashed. The appetizers were promising--a very solid beef carpaccio and a tasty but not exceptional arugula/pecorino/salami salad. The latter just didn't have much to it. More arugula would have been welcome. We ended our appetizers with the much vaunted scallops and I will echo some previous comments. These were a bit overcooked and situated in some sort of cream sauce, which I thought was bland at best. Totally disappointing. Our entree dishes gave us hope. We started with the agnolloti, which was very good; however, the follow-ups--the pesto tagilatelle and spaghetti with clams and hot red pepper were avg at best. My wife mentioned that she probably could have accomplished these latter dishes at home. I agree. All is all, it was certainly not the worst meal we have ever had. The atmosphere is indeed splendid and I thought the service was very good. Additionally, the wine prices were reasonable. To me, HTCAW plays on Seattlites' tendancy to become enamored with the looks of a restaurant while forgetting to objectively taste the food. Likewise, the small plates trend is getting pretty old. Yeah, it makes you feel good to share dishes with friends, but when you're charging $15 bucks for a small plate of avg pasta, it's called a rip off.
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