Ivar's Seafood Bar — Restaurant in Bellevue

Staff at ivars seafood bar in Bellevue are great, friendly and fast service and very accommodating. We had dungeon crab Caesar salad, red clam chowder, grilled fish platter, shrimp cocktail and a drink. Price total about $42. Food quality is very mediocre, Id say below mediocre. The Caesar salad dressing was way too overpowering, dungeon crab did not taste fresh, more like frozen then thawed, soft and no texture. We went for the “award winning clam chowder” which they put the sign on the window of the restaurant. The chowder tasted a bit better than the salad but nothing close to amazing. I’ve had better chowder than this for sure. Grilled fish was very bland, seems more fresh than the crab. The corn bread on the platter is too buttery and not seem freshly baked at all. Cornbread is not difficult to make and doesn’t take long to make, seems the chef doesn’t want to take the time to make a decent cornbread. It’s soggy and has no crispiness or texture of a freshly baked cornbread. The coleslaw tasted store bought, not fresh and taste super bland, it doesn’t take much to dress up a coleslaw, a little vinegar and a little fried red onion but again the chef doesn’t take the time to do that. Never had a shrimp cocktail with smaller shrimp than here! To chef- Have a decent shrimp cocktail, fewer but bigger shrimps, put some effort into the food and make some decent tasting food! I only give it 3 stars due to staff is very good and food came fast and chowder was hot. But food quality definitely does not warrant the price, honestly I’m very disappointed by the food quality and regret going there. We went to Hector’s in Kirkland and for the same price we had a much better tasting food, coleslaw, salad and fish both tasted fresh at Hector’s. I will not recommend Ivars to anyone. I don’t know if all Ivar’s are like the one in Bellevue. On the side note, I’m guessing the restaurant has a big overhead as I’ve never been to a diner or restaurant where they keep plastic cutlery behind the counter and customers have to ask the staff behind the counter for cutlery. Can only hope the staff had clean hands at that moment and not just...

I decided to stop by the Ivars on 156th today, on my way home from the dog park. Had not had it in a while, and sounded good. Was looking forward to a nice sized tasty cod, and some clam strips for dipping. UNFORTUNATELY, after paying $31 bucks (including a $2.45 cent tip), THIS IS WHAT I GOT? (see pics) The 4 piece cod is ridiculous. I have my finger in the photo for size relevance, and as you an see, the largest piece they gave me is about the same diameter as my index finger! That is nuts! I remember when you got a piece of cod, you would get a nice slice that was about 3-3.5 inches across, 5 inches long and about .5 - .75 inch thick. I know they have not been that size for quite some time, but this latest development is criminal. Not even close to the photo in the store up behind the register. I also got clam "Strips," which I put in quotes here because AS YOU CAN SEE, they are NOT STRIPS! They are like little gristle nuggets about the size of a large blueberry in most case.granted the photo is after I had taken a couple of bites, which were essentially me picking out the 2 largest piece I could find. They used to put the clam strips in their own container, with fries in their own. My order was presented with a tray of fries while the clam "things" were sprinkled on top. They mostly fell between the fries because they were so small. The average strip USED TO BE about 1.5 - 2 inches long, about .25 wide and about 1/8th to 1/4 inches in thickness. What I received was stuff that was so little, I could not even dip it in ketchup because there was no where to grab and not stick your fingers in the ketchup while dipping. (I PAID 31 BUCKS FOR THIS MEAL!) This is criminal and needs to stop. The portions are a rip off and the prices certainly do NOT match the portions. The manager and owners of this store should be ashamed of themselves. Google does not let you answer "NONE" to dishes I would recommend, or that would be the case. I highly doubt mr. Ivar would approve of this presentation and portion size...

Been coming here for many years, and always had a good experience. Today is the last time I’ll ever come here.

The manager, Jane was extremely rude and disrespectful. We came in around 4 for a quick bite. As soon as we placed our order, she started making a big deal about “you should’ve told us you wanted 5 spoons, we can’t keep going back and forth,” and that “we are really busy”. Kind of funny, seeing that there was only us and another person at the time. Then when the server (who was very nice and respectful) asked if we would like more plates, because we were a party of 5, Jane again butted in and started asking the server “why are you giving them more plates?” We just decided to ignore her, and began eating. Then again she shouted from the service desk, that we needed to put our chair back because it’s a fire hazard. At that point we decided to just go eat in our car.

Food seemed rushed. I’ve been coming here for a long time, and I’ve never had the food come in 5 minutes. French fries were stale and fish was oily.

Won’t ever come back to this franchise of Ivars. Jane needs to learn basic manners, and how to speak to other people, let alone a course in customer service. The other staff member at the time was very nice. It was especially weird that she was making a huge deal out of a few spoons and plates. I’ve been to this branch many times before and always had a good experience, but won’t ever come here again...