The Lakehouse — Restaurant in Bellevue

TLDR: Been a few times. Likely won’t go back. Pros: free parking Cons: in mall (not actually by a lake), relatively slow service, meh food.

Details: Been to the Lakehouse a couple times for dinner. Dinners have been work related so larger groups and weekday evenings. In general the service was okay… a little slow, and food was generally good. Nothing to write home about though.

A friend had heard good things about their breakfast/brunch so we thought we’d try it. Reservations for 11:30am. Our server was fantastic. Attentive, supportive, helped with recommendations. We ordered a couple coffees, and a couple drinks and their humongous cinnamon roll. After the cinnamon roll order was put in, our server came back and took our meal order.

Drinks (fantastic bloody Mary’s), coffee (good lattes) and cinnamon roll came out relatively quickly. But then it went entirely downhill. Cinnamon roll was huge but while the pot was hot and the icing completely melted, the inside was barely warm and very dry. Either it was over cooked and sat under a heat lamp too long or both (we saw a few others come out with gobs of unmelted frosting on the top.. suggesting ours sat). We ate barely a quarter of the cinnamon roll with intention of taking the rest home. 30-45 minutes go by… nothing. No interaction from a sever and no meals. Finally a new server comes by and says “are you ready for your box and check?”. Our response: “we haven’t even had our meals”. 5 minutes go by and our breakfasts arrive (simple farm breakfast). Eggs were done to our liking but barely warm. Assume again, the meals sat under lamps. Another 30 minutes, at least, go by to the point that we had to stop the hostess and ask if we still had a server. She apologized, said she’d get the server and asked if she could help otherwise. We asked for two boxes for the cinnamon roll but she insisted on taking the dish back and boxing it back there. We confirmed that they put it in two boxes (I honestly didn’t even think it’d fit in only two… it was massive). The server, and who I can only imagine was the manager, came by. They apologized and handed us the one box of leftover cinnamon roll. We were clearly agitated. We explained the situation and the manager was very apologetic (original server had to leave unexpectedly and it clearly turned into chaos over who would cover their section). He offered to comp our drinks and ended up comping everything except our farm breakfast.. and he sent left over cinnamon roll to be split into two boxes. He was very kind about it but the whole experience was a disaster. To top it off, there’s NO WAY we got all the leftovers of our cinnamon roll. The boxes had maybe 1.5-2 servings in each of what was left of at least 6-8. Doesn’t really matter as it was dry and cakey and mainly ended up in the trash but it added to the frustration of the experience.

Worth a shot if you’re in the area and need some food. Maybe it was a horribly off day when we visited, but the food wasn’t so earth shattering that it warrants...

One needs to know that the modern-farm style restaurant is on the second floor of Lincoln Square without any exterior signage. I walked around the entire block before enquiring with the W hotel valet about the location. Sure enough, the restaurant is adjacent to the hotel lobby on the second floor.

The “Northwest farmhouse” has a presence that is welcoming and bright. There is a connection to the history of the Bellevue suburb as a lake community, steeped in rural farming, agricultural and restorative all at once. The menu is a tribute to produce as the center of attention on the plate accented with handmade pasta, local seafoods and meats.

The concept, envisioned and brought to life by James Beard Award-winning Chef Jason Wilson is deliciously accomplished. The menu shines on fresh produce from fond, ever-evolving grower and farmer relationships. Extraordinary care and imagination is assembled in basic, fresh, produce-driven dishes. The chef likes to call it authentic craft cooking.

We were invited to begin our retreat from the city for a purely authentic dining experience by selecting the house favorite, Moroccan Spice Roasted Carrots. Served with rich yogurt, chiles, almonds & mint, the small plate was simply sumptuous. The North African spice blend was layered in luxurious and mysterious ways, ending with a bit of heat. As a second choice, we added fresh Pence Orchards Peaches, wrapped in prosciutto, pistachio, arugula & mint salsa, and chevre.

This is where the farm to restaurant table relationship blossoms. Pence Orchards peaches are only available once a year, before they’re gone! They are handled only twice at the farm, by the picker and packer. “They’re not dumped into bins, loaded onto conveyor belts and housed in cold storage where flavor and sturdiness would be lost.” The amazing sweetness of the peaches comes from a fourth-generation family farm. The peaches are handpicked right off the tree when they’re perfectly ripened and ready to eat.

Our main course was a shared red beet & summer truffle risotto, topped by Frog Hollow farms vegetables, of trump mushrooms and pea pods. The Dietrich family has created Frog Hollow Farm in the heart of the Walla Walla Valley. They have been growing heirloom vegetables (not commonly seen at your market) since 2006. The deep red risotto and the tender-crisp vegetables were delightfully wonderful together.

Yes, the plan for splitting the large plate was to savor an appetite for dessert. Butterscotch pudding was our choice from a varied, fresh list. The creamy pudding rested in the bottom of a glass bowl and was dressed with fresh huckleberries, cubed banana bread, and crunchy home made walnut brittle. We relished...

A review of the Lakehouse in a word: tragic.

I was at the Lakehouse on a Saturday in May from about 6:30 to 8:30 PM. The entire restaurant and bar were only about 20-25% full during this time. By the end of my experience, I knew exactly why.

The cocktail descriptions seemed just average and didn't list the brands of the ingredients or the bitters or rims used. Knowing the Lakehouse is affiliated with a supposedly-decent cocktail bar called Civility and Unrest, I decided to go with the Civil Unrest cocktail which contains bourbon, cassis, and dry vermouth even though the combination of ingredients was questionable (bourbon and cassis? Hmm... would the cassis just stomp on the bourbon or would it complement it?). I just figured it had the best chance of being good based on the name alone. The first couple of times I picked up the glass, my fingers got all sticky because the bartender apparently had spilled cassis all over the bowl and stem of the coupe glass. I attempted to pour a little bit of water on my napkin so I could at least clean my fingers and the stem but the napkin was waterproof and the water just spilled onto the table. The cassis masked the subtle aromas of the bourbon. This was all Just kind of tragic.

I ordered the 'simple greens' dinner salad after being told it was gem lettuce and a simple dressing. It sounded like Spring and a light way to start dinner. When the salad arrived, it was actually tough winter greens like collard greens and chard- a strange choice for May. Again, the whole thing was just kind of tragic and sad.

For my main, I ordered the "Dry aged Manhattan Style New York" for $75. I knew the failure to specify the aging duration was a red flag, but I wanted a steak. When it arrived, it was 3 pre-sliced portions of a steak. I was wondering what happened to the rest of my steak. Do they really take a steak, cut three slices off of it, and serve it too you like this? I'd never seen anything like it before for $75. With the mandatory 20% service charge entirely retained by the owners, it was a $90 steak! Absolutely unbelievable. I should have taken a picture but I was too surprised in a sad and tragic way.

Why would anyone go to the Lakehouse a second time? It has to be one of the worst fine dining restaurants in Bellevue. There are many good and great restaurants, and the Lakehouse doesn't even come close except for the high prices. The whole experience was all very Vegas- frauds, facades, and illusions. The Lakehouse is a sad and tragic disaster of a cocktail and dining experience. The owners and chef are frauds who should be ashamed of themselves for what they're attempting to pass-off...