The Cottage — Restaurant in Bothell

I thought about this review for a few weeks, whether to post or let it go. I decided to post it because The Cottage's advertising doesn't live up to the experience and I'd want this information before deciding to spend money here.

My friend and I have been here twice. The first time they were crowded, we added our names to the list and waited. No problem there. When we were seated we were put right by the door. It was a cold and snowy day but that's what they had so we took it. We waited nearly 45 minutes for our food which was cold when it got to the table. My friend said her Eggs Benedict was tasty but it had sat for a while before being served. I had the turkey Havarti sandwich which had been recommended by a local business where we'd browsed while waiting.

I had been looking forward to eating here on the strength of the positive reviews and the website. I love good food that is cooked to order and made with healthy ingredients. I was ready to excuse a lot but was surprised at the service and mediocre food. My sandwich was okay but it wasn't delicious and waiting 45 minutes for a sandwich and cold eggs benedict was not a great experience. The coffee was good.

I thought I'd try it again and came back a few weeks ago. We reserved a table online (surprisingly you have to use a credit card, something that I haven't seen with similar restaurants) and arrived on time.

We waited nearly a full hour for avocado toast (photo below) and a Breakfast Croissant. Our server did not come back, not even once, to check on us or to offer more coffee or water. When I finally flagged him down his response was "you have to pay for a second coffee." There was no explanation for the wait or apology offered.

As we got closer to the hour mark I stood up and saw a woman taking the next table's order. She looked like she might be a manager and at this point we were ready to pay for our coffee and walk out.

She was the manager and apologized. She said the kitchen "ran out of avocados" and someone went to buy some. She also said there was a "misunderstanding or miscommunication" and our meals were on the house.

The problem with this is that if the kitchen did run out of avocados someone could have come to our table and asked for a different order. It is not an exaggeration, we were sitting there for an hour with no service and no explanation.

The Cottage's website claims to offer "An unparalleled guest experience." It was indeed unparalleled but not in the way they mean it.

It was nice that the manager comped our meals but a second bad experience is noteworthy.

My friend took pictures of our meal. The avocado toast looks fine, it is one piece of bread with avocado and some seeds. It was very good for what it was, I love avocado and good bread but given the minimal prep, the charge at $13 is high. The other two photos are the breakfast croissant and shoestring potatoes. The croissant (without any additional sides) is $16. The side of shoestring potatoes is $7.

I didn't want to write this review and hope it won't be construed as overly negative. I prefer to write good reviews and celebrate good food. I hope the experience I had is not typical and a result of the pandemic and temporary service issues.

Edit: It's been almost a week since I posted this review. I had hoped to hear from the cottage, I see that they respond to other reviews both positive and negative but I've received...

This was our first time at this restaurant. We had heard many good things and were excited to try. Unfortunately, our experience did not meet our expectations. We ordered the burger, the pot pie, the meatballs and the salmon. The pot pie was tasty and no complaints. The meatballs with capellini was marginal at best. While the meatball itself was tasty, the pasta was mushy and over cooked and also under sauced. The dish was also lukewarm and no Parmesan or red pepper flakes offered. The buger was good and the bun was the highlight. The fries, however were dry and tasted old and flavorless Now for the salmon. I was looking forward to this dish. Sadly, this is probably the worst salmon I have ever eaten. Not being dramatic or exaggerating. it was completely dried out and pretty much inedible. The pea pilaf was under seasoned. Of course i sent it back. There was simply no way to eat it. The server was was apologetic and promised a much better piece. Hey. I get it. Things happen. The next piece arrived. It was better but still overcooked. A sauce or even a lemon on the side would have really helped. The real problem with this piece was it tasted as if it was bathed in salt. It was really bad ( Just starting the facts-no drama here) The amount of salt made it again inedible Had each person at the table taste it and they all agreed, the amount of salt on that dish made it completely inedible. Our son in law stated that it seemed as if it was a retaliation from the kitchen for returning the first dish. Just couldn’t be eaten. Katie our server did offer to change it but my table was done eating and ready to leave. Thy did comp my dinner as was appropriate and in no way could be eaten. A visit to our table by the manager would have said a lot but sadly it was left to our very kind server to handle the disappointment.

One side note, We had also been seated right next to the live musician( who was great but made it really tough to hold a conversation given the noise level. ) We were so bummed as we had been wanting to try this restaurant for quite some time but Sadly i don’t see us returning given the very salty taste left in our mouth from...

I have mixed feelings about this place. Visited them 4 times and finally decided to leave review. First 2 visits were great (both times for brunch)! Tasty food, good service. So third time we went there for dinner. And it was different. Food was average at best. We ended up sending lamb back because it just didn’t taste good. I booked table in advance and specifically asked for table near their fireplace, and I was told it depends on the availability. And I understand that. We didn’t get that table and the one we got was probably the worst one you can imagine. By the entrance (open door because of the COVID), bar, silverware station and sound bar. Guests and staff walking by all the time (to/from kitchen, restrooms, etc), loud music, and simply very cold because well February... There were other tables available and we asked 2 times if we can switch but they didn’t allow us to. So after that experience but keeping in mind good brunch I decided to give it another try and went there yesterday for Sunday brunch. We got patio table (no complaints here, they have nice patio). But earlier that same morning we had heavy rain with hail and strong wind which did something to their patio like disconnected walls. So we sit there, and every time wind blows we are hit by those plastic walls and get a little “shower”. Seen that no one reacts to that, my friend and I tried to do something. We actually left our brunch on a table and tried to tie patio walls together so they stop hitting us. Finally someone saw us doing that and instead of offering us another table they told us not to worry about the patio as they disassemble it the next day anyway. Well guess what, we worried about our hair, and clothes and food that is being constantly messed up by those flying walls. We couldn’t enjoy the brunch after all. That being said, I cannot recommend this place even though I liked it a...