MRBL — Restaurant in Bellevue

Let me start by saying this is a fancy restaurant, and we're not fancy, but wanted to treat ourselves. We went here to celebrate our birthdays and were happy to see customers in a range of clothing, so we felt welcome in our dressy casual outfits. This restaurant is on the top floor of a luxury condo building, so it was a little hard to find from the parking garage, and could just use better interior signage. Somehow we stumbled in the back door but the team was very friendly and helped us find a table. It turns out that both the front and back door 😂 entrances were wheelchair and walker friendly.

The service team was very very friendly and helpful with telling us about specials and explaining any unfamiliar meal and cocktail ingredients. We also got started immediately with a basket of rolls and waters while we made our selections.

Refreshingly real foods served here with lots and lots of vegetable options and good cuts of meat. The pricing was definitely high-end gourmet and designed for a slightly younger affluent crowd. We saw some wedding dinners here, and lots of younger professionals on double dates. At 38 and 66, we brought up the overall median age range. 💀

Overall, it cost just over $200 before tip for two meals (each was basically grilled fish and a veggie), two appetizers (lamb lollipops and jumbo shrimp cocktail), one alcoholic mixed drink, two shareable veggie sides (brussel sprouts and asparagus), and two desserts. For the pricing, we received a generous amount of high end food. The waiter also threw in a complimentary birthday tiramisu when I didn't order my own dessert. I took it home to my husband because my diet prevents carbs.

Considering the price--our food was delightfully ♥️ fresh, but occasionally over or under seasoned. We did like that they offered shareable veggie sides, so we could easily split them onto our plates with some extra to take home.

My mom and her friend tried the chocolate-truffle chocolate cake (as a chocolate lover, she said it was "to die for") and the lemon cream cake ("perfectly flavored and moist").

As a restaurant that bills itself for specializing in steak and sushi, I was disappointed that the kitchen didn't offer sashimi (dietary needs prevent me from having rice), and that overall their sushi menu was not extensive. We wound up getting the cod platter and the branzino platter--other menu items boasting market pricing (without a separate market menu) scared us off from other meat options. I was glad we at least had real menus to look at instead of QR codes that are appearing in so many hip joints. From an atmosphere standpoint, I'd also personally prefer that they consider an instrument-only (no vocals) artist rather than last night's guitar+vocals pop covers that felt just a smidge little too casual for the price point.

Our waiter was very sweet to us, and knew the menu well. Two managers checked on our table. Everyone working at the restaurant seemed fairly happy.

I would accept another invitation for a special event here, but would likely personally choose a more established place for fine dining in the future that specialized in doing one cuisine very well, rather than attempting multiple -- if I was having a more...

Let me preface this by mentioning this is the first restaurant review I've ever done. We were so excited to try this restaurant and everything was so thoroughly disappointing. The stars are for ambiance-only. Our server was fine, but there was really weird timing going on. We were told 4-5 times our menus were coming, yet it was 30 minutes before we got them. We were ready for our second round of drinks by then. The server seemed to point out the 'good' things on the menu; i.e. crab cake appetizer, any steak and addition, and sea bass. We are not sushi eaters. I felt wrong to order a different appetizer and entree. The appetizer was so underwhelming I almost forgot to include it in the review. Waygu beef flatbread - all you could taste was the balsamic vinegar. Salads were underwhelming but they were really good about splitting them to share. Two ordered steaks, one the special chateaubriand, and I don't eat beef and ordered the seafood risotto. So both steaks were ordered medium and came out very 'done'. The server could see from a distance they were wrong. They apologized and re-fired new ones which came out way more rare than medium. One person didn't mind, the other planned to take most of it home to cook it more. Same thing with the chateaubriand. We were warned it was 'rare+' so the pastry doesn't burn. But it was so rare the inside wasn't even warm. So, she was also going to take hers home to cook it more. I had the seafood risotto that had a nice flavor and nice scallops, but was not very warm. I tried to bury the scallops under the bottom so they would get a little warmer. When the new steaks came out the manager, server, chef, and another person all hovered while they cut into them. At that point none of us had the energy to complain any more. The sides were ok -not special. Even the potato volcano had so much gloppy cheese around it you could hardly taste anything else. The 'owner' came around later and had no idea we had trouble with the food and his only comment was 'ha ha be glad I didn't cook it'! And I have stopped expecting much in the way of 'comping'. But we weren't even comped a couple of drinks while the two waited for their new steaks. Nothing. We all agreed, if you want to pay a lot for a really great steak, stick with a Jeff Ruby restaurant. If you want a decent steak and not pay a lot, stick...

My husband & I visited MRBL for the 1st time ever to celebrate our wedding anniversary a few weeks ago. We typically just visit the normal chain restaurants but wanted something extra special this year for a change. First of all we called on a Saturday around 5 and were shocked that we were even able to get a reservation for that night at 9:00 so that was a good start! My husband told the staff over the phone we were celebrating our anniversary. Upon arriving we were greeted very warmly by the host and front door staff who led us to our beautiful table complete with rose petals (how romantic! 🥰) . The host even pulled my chair out for me !! The restaurant interior is absolutely beautiful, very cozy & romantic. The views were amazing both during the light and even once the sun set at night. Our server was Dave and he was fabulous!!! He was sooo warm and friendly, explained everything to us in detail and offered menu suggestions since this was our first time. The restaurant also gave us each a complimentary glass of champagne to share a celebratory toast with and Dave even offered to take pictures for us 😊 now let me talk about the food…..this might have been the best meal my husband & I have ever had!!! We shared the Mac & cheese (sooo creamy and cheesy and perfect) and the potato volcano (this was our fave, I can’t even describe how delicious this was & I’ve never had anything like it!!) and my husband got the pork chops and I got the filet (soooo tender, perfectly seared, melt in your mouth flavors). We ate every bite of everything and looked at each other like “Wow” when we were done 😁💕 to top it all off the restaurant provided us with a complimentary dessert to add to our celebration. I mean….i know we aren’t fancy people but we felt like a king and queen when we left this restaurant. The staff made us feel so so special, especially Dave he was sooo friendly & accommodating and we have never been more blown away than by the service we received on that night. We are customers for life & plan to visit every year on our anniversary as a treat to ourselves. Thank you providing us with such a wonderful experience it really means a lot when you don’t have a ton of money and can’t eat out like this all the time and have 2 crazy little boys at home that you appreciate a romantic night away from every now...