McMenamins Nui Nui — Restaurant in Bothell

My wife and I have been talking about coming to McMenamins North Shore Lagoon since the place opened but were put off by the negative Yelp reviews, however, tonight we decided to give the place a try and were definitely not disappointed. The decor is first rate, from the live banana trees out front to the subtle details that you will miss if you are not specifically looking for them.

We started off with two classic tiki cocktails, the Jungle Bird and the Mau Tai, both were, large, excellent and at $11 each pretty reasonable. We then proceeded to dinner, Dragon Boat appetizers (spiced pork meatballs, pickled daikon and carrot, cilantro, fried shallots and sriracha mayo all in a lettuce leaf), followed by the Thai Chop salad with chicken for my wife and the Hawaii Five-O burger for me. The burger was great, cooked exactly the way I like it, and topped with grilled pineapple, ham and mango-habanero sauce. The salad was epic, being based on cabbage rather then lettuce and was large enough that my wife could not finish it all.

After dinner was finished, we moved on to desert, I had the Kahlua Creme Brulee and my wife had the pineapple upside down cake. Both were pretty good, but the creme Brulee was not fully or properly caramelized on top so the shell was kind of chewy rather than the crisp, crunchy sugar shell on generally expects on a creme brulee.

In general we had a really great time, there were, however, a couple of negatives. The first is that it took a long time to get dessert even though the place was adequately staffed and not that busy. Secondly, my wife, who had an excellent view into the kitchen did not like that the kitchen staff were not wearing uniforms and were not using hair restraints. Finally, one of the waiters who helped us had terrible B.O. which is something I absolutely detest.

I would also like to say that Jacob the bartender was ultra-great and really worked hard to make sure we had...

We had this dining experience inside, at a window table looking out to the patio dining.

One star for the ambience, which is nice. The rest? The maitre d seemed to think his sole responsibility was walking around at a snails pace, carrying something. He led us (after two false starts) to a nearly empty section and left us.

After about seven minutes, we stopped him as he was passing by carrying a napkin, and asked if there was wait staff assigned to the table. About five minutes later, a bus boy brought our water and flatware. After another wait, just as we were starting to get up to leave, a bored looking waitress walked up.

I asked how the Avocado Toast was presented, she described the toast placed on the plate, and was covered by the arugula, then the guacamole, followed by the tomatoes, mashed down and topped with the poached eggs.

Not wanting soggy toast, I asked that the toast be "on the side" and the rest of it placed on the plate, rather than on the toast.

Another waiter brought the order out. There was a plate for the toast, and a plate for the other ingredients, without eggs. I didn't realize it right away, until my husband asked about my eggs. I went and found the waiter, inquired, and returned to the table. A few minutes later he came to the table and told me that the eggs had gone to another order, but another batch would be out in "just a second."

Several minutes later, having time to nearly finish the meal, with only a few arugula and 1 1/2 pieces of toast left, the eggs arrived swimming in water, and cold.

This was the second bad experience with this place. The time before we walked out, having never gotten served. This was a trial to see if that was the norm, or that was just a bad day. Apparently not, or they have a lot...

Went here on a double date on Saturday evening after NYE. We met just after HH, which is 3-6 M-F. Everything was delicious. The service I expected to be a little more robust as McMenamins is usually quite the experience. I enjoyed the MaiTai and Hot Butter Rum. My partner tried the Ruby Ale. We dined on the kale salad and the Pig and Poke for two. The salad was good, the diced jalapeños added a punch. Pork belly was on point. The poke was a little soft. The accompanying pineapple salsa and cream sauce married all the flavors well. 1st round of drinks took about 30 mins to show up. And our salad came out just moments before our main dish, causing an awkward ballet of shifting dishes to fit everything. We had a cool little room over looking the pool that gave us privacy, which we all enjoyed. (Bothell residents get to swim for free btw) Parking was tough as there were a couple of company holiday parties going on. Afterward, we stolled the grounds and had a night cap in the front of the fire at The Tavern on the Square. I enjoyed an Apple Brandy Furance, which I liked because it was a hot drink and not as sweet as the Hot Buttered Rum. We look forward to visiting again. Would love to catch some live music next time and enjoy one of the bonfires. Wish I had...