The Porch — Restaurant in Ellensburg

I’m torn between 2 and 3 stars and wish I could do 2 1/2 stars, but I’ll give it 3 since nothing was seriously egregious. I took my older kids to dinner at The Porch (which ironically does not have an actual porch; I think Cornerstone and The Porch ought to switch names, frankly) to celebrate a few personal achievements for each of us last night and it was very disappointing, unfortunately. In fact, every time I’ve eaten there, something has been off each of the 4 or 5 times I’ve been there. The atmosphere is lovely with big open spaces and lots of huge windows to go with its trendy vibe. The staff was kind and friendly and it was very busy with a few large parties with reservations coming and going while we were there, so I get that that was a factor in our experience this last time. When we sat down, they had just cleaned our table, but it left a very wet residue of bleach water, so I asked for a napkin or something to dry it and our server wiped it for us. We ordered the fettuccini, the vodka tortellini, the Marsala salmon, garlic bread, and I chose a side Caesar salad with mine. When our food came (at a reasonable length of time), my salmon was well overcooked and my son’s tortellini was cold. We had to wait a while to actually flag someone down so he could ask if they would heat it up. They took it and it was quite a long while before they brought it back to him, leaving him to sit and watch us eat our food for 20 min. My side salad was not a Caesar salad, but a house salad with Caesar dressing on the side🧐. Our garlic bread didn’t come, so we had to wave someone over to ask for it. We were at the very end of our meal when our bread finally came. The bread was not what any of us consider garlic bread to be. It didn’t taste garlicky at all, instead, it was slathered with mayo and topped with a thick layer of melted cheese on top. It was very odd and kinda grossed me out. My salad was good despite it not being what I ordered and I really liked the garlic mashed potatoes. The salmon was way overcooked but tasty even though it’s a strange concept to me to have Marsala mushroom sauce with fish. The fettuccini lacked flavor and my other son kept saying it didn’t taste like anything. I told him to add some salt to help. Our server only checked on us once and that was at the tail end of our meal where we didn’t really get the chance to actually answer because he quickly left to get the bill. We were not offered any price reductions on anything despite them knowing that the food was cold and had to be heated and the garlic bread came way too late. My norm isn’t to complain about everything or knit pick to find negative things, but I felt like I was that person last night with the amount of things we had to flag them down for. I did leave a decent tip despite everything because I’ve worked in a restaurant and know how stressful it can be. But, in the end, I am sad and very disappointed that I had to spend $100 on a meal that had many issues that we were all frustrated about and disappointed with. I make an appallingly low salary at my new job, so it’s extra hard to spend that much on something that failed in so many ways. My son also added that the bathroom sink was too tiny and one of the stalls didn’t lock. I guess my overall impression is that ownership or management (or both) seems to be either apathetic or just inexperienced since I’ve always had some sort of glaring issue with the food or service every time I’ve been there over the past 8 or so years. I hate writing negative reviews because the restaurant business is a tough, thankless one, but this one is, sadly, warranted. I hope The Porch can get it together. It has so much potential...

We were in Ellensburg for the night (June 12th, 2021), and looking for a steak. We had seen The Porch on a previous visit to town, so checked out the menu, which seemed to fit the bill. Pros about the Porch: A very nice space, with a nice looking deck (we chose inside), a good list for beer and wine and cocktails, a good selection of steaks. Cons: Even though we were seated around 5:00 on a Saturday, so we were well before the main dinner rush with multiple empty tables, service was on the slow side. The wait staff wasn't as quick as one would expect (comparing to typical casual chains like the Aussie steak place, or an Olive Italian place). Our steaks: I had the NY Strip and my sweetie had the Filet Mignon. I'd ordered medium-rare and she ordered medium. At best, mine was a medium, but more fairly I'd call it edging toward a medium-well, so I'd call it a notch and a half over done vs what was ordered. Her Filet on the other hand suffered a crime against Filet, being full on well done. 2 full notches above what was ordered. The sad part was, she said a couple of the bites of her steak were good (the rest was mediocre due to over cooking), and had it been done to order, she thought it would have been great all around. Another gripe - we each ordered loaded baked spuds and they were on the smaller end, typical pick of a 5 lb sack from the store vs the larger dedicated "baker" grade spud sizes. A few pennies extra here for larger size spuds would increase satisfaction greatly. Switching back to the pro side: Her house salad was great. I'll give my seasonal veggies, asparagus and broccoli, very high marks, being a generous portion perfectly done. If only the steaks had received the care of the veggies as to proper cooking time.

We were interested in desert, but having experienced the steaks, we didn't want to take a chance, so passed.

Overall I want to like The Porch. The atmosphere and space is quite nice, with good beer and wine and a fine menu. However the overcooking of our steaks by 1.5-2 notches turned what could have been a very enjoyable meal into less than fully satisfactory experience, especially considering the price point. Had we read the reviews before going, we would have been aware of the issues we experienced ourselves - I see over cooking steaks (as well as slower wait staff) is a repeated theme. I'll knock it down to 3 stars, as it wasn't awful, but it certainly could use improvement. Speeding up the wait staff service and cooking the steaks to the actual order would have yielded a 5 from me as we would have fully enjoyed the meal and experience. We may give the place another chance, but if we do, it'll be only if we go for lower end menu items, like burgers. I'm not going to risk nearly $60 for 2 over cooked...

If a gastropub can be located inside a former garage where the garage doors still work and are raised during good weather, this is a gastropub. We were here for our daughter's 2nd Master's Degree from CWU dinner celebration. Seeing as how many other post-grads had reservations for celebrating receiving their Master's as well, we sat at the bar. The bartender was very friendly and attentive, and was the one who took both our food and drink orders.

For drinks, I ordered the first Manhattan I've ever had. it was their Smoked Manhattan, and it was delicious. The smoke flavor was subtle, and the fruitiness from the dark cherries nicely offset the high alcohol of the bourbon.

The one disappointment in choosing what to order was finding out that none of the sandwiches, flatbreads or wraps weren't served after 6 pm. While our daughter and her friend chose several appetizers (which I won't review because I just tasted small samples) my wife and I looked at the available entrees. We weren't in the mood for a heavy dinner so that left burgers. I chose the KoKo Burger, my wife chose the Tank & Mouse burger, we both opted for the sweet potato fries as our side dish. The burgers were good size, and when I bit into mine, I tasted the great charbroiled flavor of a burger cooked over a flame grill. The two things I didn't care for were these: 1. with the sauteed mushrooms, guacamole and chipotle aioli, the bottom bun couldn't stand up to all that wetness and fell apart. This is something that happens quite frequently in gourmet burger places. I'll never understand why the head chefs/cooks don't toast the burger buns. Simply lying them face down on a grill or flat top would solve the problem. 2. The chipotle aioli wound up dominating all flavors with its heat. Next time I would ask if I could have the garlic aioli instead.

My wife said the Tank & Mouse burger was very good. But, again, the chipotle aioli was too spicy for her. I understand the reason for the hot spicy food, but the aioli will tend to make all burgers taste the same since it overpowers the individual nuances of flavors in each burger. They've probably had huge success with it, but I would either go with what should be the milder garlic aioli, or ask for the chipotle aioli to be served on the side.

Service was quick and attentive. Our server was great, with a quick wit and humor. However, we waited a while for her to check back to give us our bill, only to find out that the bartender--right in front of us--would take care of it.

We had a great, festive time there. It was bittersweet to discover the place on the last night our daughter would spend...