Russell's Restaurant & Loft — Restaurant in Bothell

My wife and I made a reservation for Russell's to celebrate our anniversary. Reading the many 5 star reviews, our expectations were set high for a cozy, polished and relaxing meal.

Entering the restaurant, the ambiance matched our expectations and we continued looking forward to a pleasant evening. We were met swiftly by our hostess and shown to our table without delay.

As we progressed through the restaurant, our expectations slowly began to fall apart. The dinning room was bustling (not unusual for a Saturday night in a popular local). Unfortunately this meant that our pleasant casual volume discussion with our hostess was elevated to near shouting the closer we got to our table. Don't get me wrong, this would be fine in many casual outings, perhaps at your local pub. But this is fine dining, so our expectations are different.

Despite this disappointing change in ambiance, we kept our positive perspective as we were here to celebrate after all. Our waiter met us some minutes later to inform us of the specials for the evening and take our drink order. Unfortunately this interaction was a reminder of the overtly loud dinning hall as the waiter shouted the evening's offerings over our dinning compatriots. This is of course no fault of the server. He did the best he could in the moment and was clearly aware of how loud it was as he struggled to hear our replies. This style of interaction was consistent throughout the meal.

Skip forward to our order arriving and I can confirm that the plates we received very much match those pictured in the many reviews posted here. This was exciting because it was the second point in the meal where our expectations were seemingly met. Discouragingly, the steaks although visually beautiful were incorrectly cooked and lacking in flavor. At this point my wife and I began to give up on our expectations for Russell's. Originally expecting a long evening of relaxing and delicious moments, we transitioned to wrapping up the meal and relocating to another establishment for drinks and deserts.

After seeing and hearing so many great things about Russell's, I have to admit this was quite a disappointing experience. To no fault of the staff whom we interacted with, we found what felt like a lot of potential that was never achieved. Having dined at various other fine dining establishments in the Seattle area, this experience made Russell's feel like a let down. I can only assume that it was an "off"...

Update after owner response: very classy response. It matches to the experience we had, so can't say I'm surprised. We were never rude to the waitress. As mentioned, she had this attitude from beginning to end. And I've always said my thank yous, regardless. So you're making a baseless claim here. The only time we were a little ounce of "abrupt" is the moment we finally got up and walked out fast bc it was very apparent we weren't welcomed and we felt uncomfortable. I saw a review down below that felt the microagression and suggested to have more diversity training. I saw a few reviews that had food poisoning and owner ignored. All we ask is to take some responsibility and accountability.

I've heard good things about this place so it was a disappointment when the food and service was subpar. The Keg is 10x better than this place in food, service, and atmosphere!

Food: For a restaurant that's labeled as fine dining, it felt like only a level above a diner restaurant. The steak was not even decent quality for the price you're paying. It looked like steak from Fred Meyers. I know my steak. I know a good vs bad steak when I see one. Truffle Mac n Cheese had no truffle taste Rack of lamb was cooked dry and well done for 3/4 of it

Service: Our server gave minimum serving/interaction. Didnt even introduce herself. We all felt the energy was off. Her responses were short and abrupt from beginning to end. Even when I ask about how big is the side truffle mac n cheese, her attitude about it wasn't too thriled. Right next to our table, we can clearly see her being more enthusiastic, talkative, and nice. The other table next to that, I can hear her automatically ask for more bread (not that we wanted more). Only difference that I can see is that we were Asian... After the entree, she just came over and handed us the dessert book menu, barely saying anything. It took me a second to know what she's handing me. She took my buy one get one coupon off of my cousin's meal (which was the cheapest price) instead of my husband's meal, knowing full well me and my husband were sharing our meals. Which we took the difference off from tip amount anyways.

Price: Reasonable for a fine dining HOWEVER as mentioned above, quality of food was cheap so it's considered over priced For a restaurant that claims to be fine dining, they charge a 3% credit card fee.

Overall a huge disappointment. Would...

I have eaten at Russell's several times over the years and twice in the last few months, I were there on January 11th 2023, Our reservation was at 5:00 and the place was at that time pretty empty, we started off with one glass of red wine and one glass of white wine and seared scallops then salads and then my friend had the filet mignon and I had the ribeye steak as it was a special of the night. I started to cut into it and I knew right away that I shouldn't have to try sawing the steak like it was shoes leather 😱 I took my first bite and it seemed like forever before I could stop chewing it and then I spit it out on to my plate and this continued until I cut out all the fat and then thought I would give it another bite, 😜 there was no flavor whatsoever, I tried different parts of the meat and every place I would cut it was chewy like rubber and it was very fatty and no flavor anywhere, I even shared it with my friend who had the filet and he also said that there was no flavor and it was very tough but his filet was excellent. I told the waiter and he laughed and said... (BAD COW) and walked away (WHAT) this is a $70 peice of (BAD COW) meat 🥺 We went on and ordered dessert too, So, the bill was about $300 plus tip!!!! I didn't expect the waiter to get me a new steak or stop what he was doing or anything like that, I thought he should know about it since I was watching people around me who also had ordered the ribeye steak and heard the table next to me say the same thing about their ribeye but I guess I was the only one that was willing to say something to the waiter, I didn't expect to hear that the meat that I ordered was a bad cow!!!! Russell's is a much higher class place than that, I would expect that at Buzz Inn. My friend enjoyed their filet and I also enjoyed the vegetables that came with the dinner and the bread was spectacular. I had worked at a restaurant in Kirkland called the Foghorn for 20yrs, Back in the '80s '90s and 2000s The prices there were about $50 for a steak and it was pretty high back in those days and if I would have told a customer if he complained about a steak that that's just too bad it's just a bad cow day or maybe a mad cow disease cow I would have been fired on the spot. Things have really changed nowadays...