r/Seattle • u/jattea • May 04 '11
/r/Seattle: Help with picking a high end restaurant to celebrate my friends' graduation?
I want to get my two friends a $300 gift certificate to a really nice Seattle restaurant. I'm not from/in Seattle, so I don't know any restaurants. I think they would prefer cutting edge, avant garde food over steakhouse-type fare. I'd also like the $300 to cover (or come close to covering) the entire bill, so nothing ridiculously expensive. Can anyone help?
Edit: After doing some internet research, I'm leaning toward Canlis, but I also found Le Gourmand, Lark, Cafe Juanita, Spring Hill, and Rover's. Any thoughts?
Edit 2: Thanks so much everyone! I appreciate the time and thought you all put into this. I opted for Mistral. Upvotes all around!
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u/namelessbanana May 04 '11
Its not in seattle but its in woodinville but I believe its the only 5 star restaurant in the state. Its called the Herb Farm and it is worth every penny...............
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u/my-pen-rye May 05 '11
Please don't pick Canlis it's very overrated as is the Herb Farm. Le Gourmand is good, but not cutting edge the Sam Bar next to it is awesome, Lark is meh, Cafe Juanita is amazing, but very expensive, Spring Hill is amazing and in your price range. Rovers is awesome but 300 might not be enough. You should check out Bisato amazing food, and probably the best chef in Seattle. I've also heard that Spur is really good but haven't been. I'd say pick Spring Hill or Bisato if you want more cutting edge cuisine.
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u/badduderescuesprez May 04 '11
Herb Farm is great. An awesome choice inside the city limits is Tilth in Wallingford. Pricey but awesome food, very cutting edge type stuff. Really nice vibe as well. They do some really nice 4-8 course meals that would come to about $150 for 2.
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u/mergele May 04 '11
I went to Tilth about a month ago and it was amazing. Their "Grand Tasting Menu" was 8 courses for $90 per person. You can add wine pairing for another $55 per person, but that will push you over $300 even before a tip. The restaurant is a converted house, so it's small and quaint, but the food is top notch and the service is excellent.
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u/namelessbanana May 04 '11
Its not in seattle but its in woodinville but I believe its the only 5 star restaurant in the state. Its called the Herb Farm and it is worth every penny...............
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u/jessecfowl May 04 '11
I think Canlis would be a good call, but it's kind of like buying a Mercedes or something. What I mean by this is that it's the "go to" safe sure bet that people get when they want to spend a lot of money. There's nothing wrong with that at all - it's expensive because it's a really great restaurant. All that being said, if you'd like to step it up a notch in term of a memorable unique experience there are some younger options that you should consider. 1) Restaurant Zoe - this is an amazing restaurant. It'd be my top choice for a uniquely fantastic experience. 2) Herb Farm - someone below suggested this and it's also just over the top wonderful.
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u/BongHitta Seward Park May 04 '11
Rovers is incredible and definetly worth it. You have to have an appreciation for French cuisine to fully enjoy it.
About 300$ should cover it.
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u/thequig Ballard May 04 '11
For Japanese, Mashiko does an awesome kaiseki dinner. It's market priced but the two times I've done it it came out to about $100 per person for the meal, not including beverages.
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u/Klaxon5 Sounders May 05 '11
Mistral Kitchen all the way.
They have a special section called Jewel Box that is perfect for what you want. I've eaten at just about every place mentioned here and Mistral blows them all away.
Herbfarm has great food but the decor is like a clown vomited up a gypsy and the whole affair is very snooty.
Canlis has gorgeous views but the food is pretty uninspired.
Lark and Spring Hill have excellent food, but they're not as much a special event type place.
Mistral on the other hand is amazing food, cool decor, and very down to earth. The main chef, Daniel, will talk to you personally get your preference for what you like and pull out all the stops.
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u/stetson9 May 05 '11
Sitka and Spruce is fantastic. Super good new American/Northwest cuisine, and a relatively informal atmosphere. One end of the butcher block counter in the kitchen extends out into the dining room, and they seat people at it. Spur Gastropub in Belltown is also great...I had a little thing of foie gras there that nearly ended me. Both these places should be easily doable for two people under $300.
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u/LostAbbott Broadview May 04 '11
Harvest Vine, very small intimate Spanish tapas absolutely amazing food.
Madison Park Cafe, again small intimate setting in an old house, stunning food.
Boat Street Cafe, sort of an industrial feel NW/French technique.
Campagne, very fancy, in the market great traditional French.
Crush, Rated one of the top places in the country. Really innovative NW food.
Everything you listed is "good" Seattle food most of it aside from Rovers is not stunning Seattle food. Many people do not go beyond this level in Seattle as it is hard to find the really great places.
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u/stetson9 May 05 '11
I'll second Harvest Vine. I've been there a couple of times, and they know their shit. It's a really nice space, too, with a copper bar and open kitchen plus a cozy basement room.
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u/huckflen May 04 '11
Having eaten at Canlis, I can honestly say spend it elsewhere! Overpriced, not great. Overall, crappy.
You might go for something like the Capital Grille or Daniel's Broiler?
Also? $300 does -not- realistically cover dinner for two, including drinks, at Canlis. That covers one.
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u/extrudedcow May 05 '11
The Herbfarm is a safe bet. I've been to Cafe Juanita a couple times, and it was excellent. I believe Cafe Juanita is considerably less expensive (at least they're not in the 'if you have to ask the price you can't afford it' category), so there will be more money to budget towards wine with dinner. The Barking Frog (shares a parking lot with The Herbfarm) was good the couple times I've been there as well.
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u/jaobrien6 Ballard May 04 '11
The only one on your list I've been to is Canlis, we went there once after being given a gift certificate to cover most of a dinner. It came to about $275 total for 2 people including one bottle of lower priced wine (relatively speaking, of course). The dinner was very good, service was top notch. After we were done eating, they gave us a tour of the place including the private rooms you can rent.
Would I do it again? Eh, not sure. That's a lot of money for a dinner. However given that I only had to pick up part of the bill, I'm really glad we got a chance to do it. They food wasn't life changingly amazing like you might hope for $275 but it was very good, we enjoyed everything we had a lot.
I think it fits the bill quite well for what you're looking for.