Smoke & Cedar Steakhouse — Restaurant in Auburn

Prior to us visiting the restaurant for dinner we were told by hotel front desk staff that it was a more formal restaurant, attire wise no leggings or sweats etc. so after reviewing the menu I thought that this would be a great place for my fiance and I to have dinner to celebrate an early Valentine's Day. We went on the 11th and when we got there we noticed that there were people in jeans with holes and sweatshirts, shorts etc. We were dressed nice of course and there were most other people all over the place who looked really nice. We just kind of blew that off and then we got seated and the atmosphere was initially really beautiful and the formal way that the staff was.... I appreciated it. Then suddenly we start hearing a screaming kid and over to the right of us was a little girl that was just screaming and crying running around ( our reservation was 930) It just didn't feel like it was a place to have a child not at 930 . It kind of ruined the whole thing as far as trying to have a conversation and then of course the other table over by us with the jeans etc. They were a little too drunk and were so loud. It just didn't feel like a place that is charging $160 for a steak would actually be that rowdy. Then it did seem like it took a little bit longer for our food to get to us. My fiance got his steak and it was good. I had ordered the sea bass when I had gotten my sea bass. It was so overcooked. There was no moisture in the bass and the croquettes or whatever it was. We're just mushy. It was not good. I couldn't force myself to eat it and based off the price I didn't feel I should have to. So then I figured. Okay. Well, I'll eat my asparagus. The asparagus was ice cold. When I said something to the waiter that I just to take it back and I don't want it. I was done. My entire meal was ruined between the screaming kid, the louder more drunk patrons and just dry fish and cold asparagus I was done. They did take that off of our bill and gave us a 10% discount, which I appreciate, but I don't think that I'll ever go back there again. It is not worth the hype. I expect for what probably would have been upwards of a $300 meal that the atmosphere would not include a screaming children and drunk bar wearing attire people. We could have had that experience down stairs on the casino level food places and I expected an experience... it...

We have gone here a couple times now. First time, they had more recently opened and we wanted to give them a chance to improve/learn. Our second visit, was during the night of a concert at muckleshoot that we were also attending. We chose seating outside, because at the time we made reservations that was all that was available. I would not recommend getting seating outside in the colder months, the heaters are to far above you to provide any real warmth. Once we were seated, we were forgotten. We waited 20mins, then my partner got up to ask for service, the person who sat us finally noticed we hadn't been helped. There was a waiter who helped another table by us but walked past us twice without checking on us. That server lost our business. Another server from inside was told that we hadn't been helped and brought us water finally. Becuase we had waited so long just for water we asked if we can we just order with him as we had the concert to attend. The waiter apologized and said this wasn't his section but he would take care of us. He was a good server, but he had 2 large parties inside already. The food itself was just okay. We ordered the tartar and french onion soup for starters along with cocktails. Both starters were just okay. We shared the porterhouse for two, along with creamed Spinach and mushrooms for sides. The steak was cooked okay, more on the rare side, though we asked for medium-rare. The sides however, we're very disappointing, they lacked flavor. Again, the server we did end up with was kind and did his best, but overall, we were very disappointed with the experience. We were constantly trying to get our busy servers attention. We wanted to get additional drinks and dessert but because we didn't get consistent service we ran out of time. This place has a feel of potential high-end steakhouse, but twice now they have missed the mark. We would recommend other steakhouses over this one. This place isn’t cheap, but that's not a problem for us, it's when the price is high and the service and food lacks, it's...

Update 8/24: Came back a second time.

Service: Joseph was on his A-game, again. Pulling out all the stops and remembered special details from the last time we saw him - amazing! In addition, Simon, the sommelier, made our anniversary special by uncorking a couple of our favorite wedding wines for our anniversary - incredible.

Food: We loved the scallops and the steak. Pro tip - add a little cracked pepper on the steak to take it to the next level. Poke- The poke itself was good - great mix of salt and sweet, with great texture. The chips and frisée on the side did not compliment the dish as well as desired, but the poke was great. It would be better with taro chips.

If you’re wondering if you can bring a special bottle of wine, you can. However, the security guards at the front will ask you to stow it in a bag before moving through the security check point (weird). Our recommendation to management is to allow people to bring wine through security so long as they are going straight to the restaurant or hotel.

In addition, we learned the wait staff can’t try the wine on the menu or wine people bring. We would strongly recommend the management chain reconsider this policy as this is helpful to patrons looking to get first hand recommendations from their waitstaff.

From 7/25: First, a shout out to Joseph, our waiter and the hostess lead, Angelee. The service here is very detail oriented. They crave feedback, care about the little things and are very gracious hosts.

Second the ambiance is draw dropping. There are very few views in Seattle that can top this place.

Finally, the food. You can tell these chefs are on to something. Try the ceviche three ways and the steak tartare. Probably two of the best dishes we’ve had in the Seattle area.

Also, if you have gluten sensitivities, the gluten free steak tartare option is very good....