SeAAttle

As of January 1, Ray's is completely non-smoking, including the bar. Also, when they serve on the deck in the summer, it will also be non-smoking. Progress, I would say.

Errr..how exactly? The restaurant listing used to be PNW and Alaska, followed by Canada. Now that I think about it, was this not listed under the general area of United States? When did Canada become our 51st? Now, Canada has its own section, as it should, and PNW, Alaska and Hawaii (!) is just above Carribean, West Indies and USVI. The view from the East Coast seems to be somewhat blurred.

Off topic, but MsRamsey, I hear the Kalakala may be sold very soon and moved to California. If true, that is very sad. OK, back to food (and liquor).

Have not tried The Capitol Club but thanks for the suggestions, nightscotsman. Sounds great.

I agree with nightscotsman's excellent suggestions, although I must admit that our last meal at Sazerac was a dud. Having said that, I cannot remember exactly why (which makes my comment unfair, I know). I do remember that the floor manager was less than diplomatic (we asked the hostess for a table far away from the bar where smoking is permitted and his response to her was something like "They will just have to take what we have". This happened with us standing there but he basically behaved as if we were not present). I do remember that we were disappointed in the meal but the evening was colored by a poor start. Matt's in the Market is great but very small so without a reservation, you will be lucky to eat at the bar. Also, for lunch, try Maximillien (just to the left of the fishthrowers in Pike Place Market), especially on a clear day. Dinner is also quite good there. A real treat is 727 Pine but might be a bit more expensive than you suggested. Andaluca is great for tapas. We like Earth & Ocean, although the servings on the "foraged menu" are a bit small. Very hip place and we have always had great service, although others disagree. Waterfront is very classy with a price to match.

Thanks. A very useful site, although I wonder how current it is since it lists a few restaurants that are now closed. Unfortunately, many of our favorite spots are not on the list. We have occasionally called a (for us) new restaurant, asked if they are smoke-free, and when they say "no", declined to make a reservation because of it. But if we really like the place, we ask to be placed as far from smoking as possible. Not always successful. On the King Co. site, I did notice one example of the issue I raised in the first post. McCormick and Schmicks on Lake Union may define themselves as non-smoking but when the downstairs bar is busy, the smoke drift to the restaurant on the second floor can be strong, especially on the south end of the room. The upstairs non-smoking bar is a nice touch, however. And the seared ahi is good.

After living in this wonderful, progressive city for two years, I am surprised how few restaurants are completely non-smoking. All seem to have non-smoking sections but some allow smoking at a bar which can be only a few feet away from your "non-smoking" table. One example is Flying Fish, where two chain smokers at the bar produced a blue cloud that pervaded the entire restaurant, on our last (and I do mean last) visit. I hate second hand smoke and Ms.SeAAttle is very allergic to it, so we do everything we can to avoid it. As a result, we consider "entirely non-smoking" a high priority. A few that come to mind are 727 (even the bar!), Andaluca, Zoe, Assagio, Union Bay Cafe, ...... I am quite surprised that Seattle has not enacted a law similar to many other cities that requires restaurants to be non-smoking. It works elsewhere, including California, Austin, Vancouver, and even Chapel Hill, North Carolina (North Carolina! Where tobacco is considered a vegetable!). The argument that restaurants will lose business just does not hold up. In talking with restaurant managers/owners that decided to go all the way, I found that they received many more positive comments than negative ones. Sorry for the rant and apologize if this is off-topic, but for some (many) of us, the topic is important. Names of other restaurants that are totally non-smoking would be appreciated.

I just joined this site recently and noticed the strong NE bias in the listing of areas: NYC, NJ, PA, New England, etc, etc, California and then finally "Pacific Northwest and Alaska". I guess it could have been worse: Seattle could be under "Other"! Oh, well, I guess this makes it easier to get reservations.

seawakim - Your description very accurately describes our experience at Cascadia during the 25/25 last March. When we started ordering from the 25 menu, the waiter almost sighed in exasperation, as if to indicate his disgust. Setting is nice but the attitude was unbearable, and the food was bland. Have not been back since but then again, I doubt that they care as we clearly do not meet their "standards" as clientele.

I'd be interested in hearing more details of the meal if you're willing to share. When I went for the $25 dinner, I thought the Thanksgiving menu looked quite good. Unfortunately, my memory of the details of a meal is rather short. I marvel at the detail that some people are able to provide so these comments will pale in comparison. In contrast to most venison I have had, this one was rack of venison. Two or three pieces, fairly thick, but cooked to a rare to medium-rare perfection. I tend to like a red wine sauce with venison and other game meats, and when this arrived with none, I was a bit disappointed. Any disappointment disappeared when I tasted it. This so dominated the meal that I cannot remember the other courses. I hope they keep the venison on the menu or at least bring it back for occasional guest appearances, along with the kobe-style beef.

I'd be interested in hearing more details of the meal if you're willing to share. When I went for the $25 dinner, I thought the Thanksgiving menu looked quite good. Unfortunately, my memory of the details of a meal is rather short. I marvel at the detail that some people are able to provide so these comments will pale in comparison. In contrast to most venison I have had, this one was rack of venison. Two or three pieces, fairly thick, but cooked to a rare to medium-rare perfection. I tend to like a red wine sauce with venison and other game meats, and when this arrived with none, I was a bit disappointed. Any disappointment disappeared when I tasted it. This so dominated the meal that I cannot remember the other courses. I hope they keep the venison on the menu or at least bring it back for occasional guest appearances, along with the kobe-style beef.

tsquare Thanks for your comments which I generally agree with. And if left the opinion that others comments had raised my ire, I apologize for that. It was just that E&O seemed to get negative comments but when I searched, I had difficulty finding much that was informative. Thanks for the link to the review by the PI reviewer, which indeed I had not read, but had it described to me by my wife. I think I am correct that that reviewer has now been replaced by a new one. Perhaps "validity" was not the best choice of words. We are certainly voicing our opinions here. A newspaper reviewer, however, has a much larger audience and thus his/her opinion carries much weight. I have lived in Seattle only about 2 years and have the impression that many are pleased to have a new reviewer. That was the basis for my comment. The disclaimer was intended only to alleviate any concerns that I might have ulterior motives for my positive view of E&O. As you can see from the number of posts I have made here, I am relatively new to the site. Just wanted to be sure that was clear. With that said, I find this site interesting to read and a great source of information. The restaurant scene in Seattle is exciting and great fun to explore.

I think they have a personnel problem at the front end. We went to 727 for Thanksgiving dinner and had a wonderful meal. However, again, the interaction with the woman at the front desk was a bit odd. My wife wished her a Happy Thanksgiving when we arrived and she said something like "Well, mine was yesterday since I am working today". Just does not fit with the excellence of the rest of the experience. Both had the New Zealand venison - terrific.

thelastsupper: With that experience, I can understand your low opinion of E&O. We have never experienced a service problem and have been there at least 6-8 times. They do seem to have a high turnover rate in the "manager" position and I suspect that may have something to do with the variability. As I said, we have a "favorite" waiter and that probably helps our service. I would agree that the service is not up to that at 727, where we had a great Thanksgiving dinner, but E&O is not quite in the same class IMO. 727 is considerably more expensive. BTW, the E&O bar makes a great Tanq 10 martini.

I really do not think that a bad experience at the bar is a good judge of the restaurant, especially since this happened several months ago. Management of the bar and restaurant are separate and both have changed in the last couple of months. I read nightscotsman's review and it seemed to me to be quite positive, except for the portion size. I certainly agree with him on this point regarding the Sauvage menu. The items have been the same for quite some time so I always order something from the main menu. I think it is unfortunate when a restaurant somehow is labeled as substandard (for no convincing reason) and everyone seems to focus on that. But we all have our own preferences. I cannot understand the excitement over Stumbling Goat. We have tried it three times (our general rule unless the first time is just plain awful) and I find the food boring and overpriced. To each his/her own. BTW, I have no financial interest in E&O, nor do I personally know anyone who does.

A search of this site for Earth & Ocean revealed only two negative comments, both from thelastsupper. One was not informative (I think the quote was "blecchhh"). The other complained about the service. tls did say the sea bass was very good - I concur (had it last night). The place was full last night but I had no sense that they were anxious to push anyone through. I know that the former PI restaurant critic gave it a bad review but numerous comments about the validity of that individual's opinions leads me to question his/her reviews. To my knowledge, the new critic has not yet weighed in on E&O. Our service has always been excellent, but then again we have our favorite waitperson and he always takes good care of us.

Agree with the rave reviews of Kobe-style beef at 727. First time to dine there and although we got off to a bad start, the evening quickly recovered. We arrived early for a 7:30 reservation and were told that we would "have to wait because (you) are early". Almost an exact quote. True, we were about 25 min early but the way we were told was not very smooth. We replied that "yes, we are early but you do not seem to be that busy" (they were about 2/3 full). While waiting, I noticed a few other less than smooth interactions with customers, so I think they may need to reconsider the staff assignments. After a 10-15 min wait, we were given a table -- right next to the waiter station. Punishment for being early, I guess. Our waitperson made up for the bad start by being very attentive, interactive when we invited it and did a great job. I had the smoked salmon which was quite good but the serving was extremely small - about 1 inch square, literally. It looked ridiculous on the large plate. The waiter said it was the regular serving size so I was quite glad to be taking advantage of the 25/25. Then the Kobe-style beef came and I never looked back. An enjoyable evening. Waiter told us the table numbers that we should request in the future. In my experience, that almost always works because "if you know the table numbers, you must be regulars." We made reservations for their Thanksgiving dinner. Will see which table we get! Tried 25/25 at Assaggio tonight. Very large menu for both first and second courses.

We have eaten at E&O 6-8 times (dinner) and have always enjoyed it. Other have complained of poor service but ours has always been attentive and pleasant.

Taste of India gets my vote. We have eaten there many times and it is always very good. TofI and Cedars are owned by the same family.

Thanks for the welcome. Just discovered this site. We moved to Seattle 2 years ago and have been enjoying the restaurant scene. I agree that the savauge tasting menu is small. However, I have not noticed that with the regular items, but then again, I tend not to like really large portions.

We tried Lampreia about a year ago, our first and last visit. Food was good but not great, very expensive and the attitude was too much. Obviously very impressed with themselves. LeGourmand is first rate, Maximillien is always a real treat in every way, Earth and Ocean a great addition. Have dined there 5 or 6 times and it has been consistently outstanding.

Have eaten at Earth & Ocean 4-5 times in last year and find it consistently outstanding. Be sure to wear black in order to fit in at the very hip W. Also Andaluca is excellent. Free valet parking a nice perk.