Emory's on Silver Lake — Restaurant in Everett

Emorys became a go-to for my family to celebrate birthdays and other occasions, but our most recent visit made us rethink that unfortunately.

We had a reservation for 4 people right when they open at 2pm. we were greeted and given water right away, and our first drink order was relatively timely as well. We also ordered calamari and clams for appetizers, which took longer than expected to come out but that’s wasn’t a huge deal. both apps were very tasty as well, no complaints there except that the bread and oil came out at the same time as the apps which seemed odd since it still was not busy.

It then took a frustratingly long time for our server to come take our lunch order. We had been finished with apps and twiddling thumbs by the time she came back. we ordered 3 steaks and one blue cheese burger, and another round of drinks. a couple of the drinks were forgotten. we had to ask a busser to check on it and by the time we got it, the server did apologize and say she would not charge for it. by the time the food arrived we were all feeling a bit drained.

the food looked great, but ultimately every part of the mains was lacking. every single dish was over cooked - medium rare burger was well well well done, no pink to be found. they did put a lot of blue cheese on it which was a plus but wasn’t enough to make up for the dry burger and the burnt and brittle bacon. all three steaks were also at least one temp overdone (my medium rare was medium at best). on top of that, every element was lacking seasoning. the potato’s were chalky, the broccolini was plain, and the steak was dry and bland. as a person who eats very little sodium normally, even i found it incredibly bland. the crab legs were good, can’t really mess up crab legs.

The service was lacking in terms of the terrible pacing, long long waits between courses and drinks, and a lack of checking in on how things were tasting. there also were a few awkward interactions, for instance i asked what the white wine blend was a blend of, she did not know, then my partner asked what vodka is in the house martini and she responded by saying she didn’t know every little detail on the menu. i don’t think she meant to be rude but it came off poorly. by the time we were asking for the gent that filled out water for boxes and check because we couldn’t find our server again, we had been there OVER 2.5 hours….for a lunch…for 4 people. we were tapped out at the point, frustrated and super ready to leave.

after bringing up a couple minor things during the lunch (the missing drink, needing seasonings), some of our party didn’t feel comfortable raising more complaints and ended up just paying the bill as was and tipping but personally, i would have appreciated our server checking in at least once so we could let her know that things were just not up to standard…it certainly wasn’t worth it what we paid and it was a regrettable way to celebrate two birthdays.

that being said, if you just want a martini on the patio with a nice view, and some yummy manila clams, emory’s is...

We love Emory’s . Don’t get me wrong. We’ve been going there for 20+ years. And once again went there for a late Valentines dinner last Saturday. That was then our impression and experiences of Emory’s changed.

The waitress we had was clearly impaired. Clearly. Like so impaired, that she was forgetting which table to take drink orders to, unable to stand without wobbling around, slurring, slowly writing our order down with attempted concentration, bringing limes to our table and nearly placing them into my drink when I never asked for limes - I had an old fashioned for my drink. The second drink I ordered was just whiskey. That’s it. Definitely not an old fashioned. I said nothing, because I was over it. I just sat there and drank it.

We continued to observe the waitresses behavior, because we didn’t want to jump to conclusions. But it became so evident, we felt it necessary to say something. So we went to the manager to notify them.

The worst part - after giving management a heads up early in to our visit, they did nothing. Other than coming by our table, and offering us bread, because the waitress had never done so (or asked us if we wanted any). They did a few pass-throughs to make sure other tables were doing fine. But nothing else was done.

Her behavior deteriorated throughout our hour visit. And still, management never pulled the waitress who was clearly, clearly impaired and getting worse. Therefore the service we experienced was horrible. And for it to seemingly remain as if it was not important, with an apparent response of just keeping an eye on her. It was baffling.

And finally, after asking for our bill, the waitress walked by our table to let us know that our fish was on its way. And the other tables around us we’re experiencing the same issues - with confused looks and looking around for any other help. We spoke to one couple on our way out - confirming what we had all observed and experienced.

As we left, we once again let management (who were simply still just standing back and observing) know that her behavior and service was horrible and that it was increasingly worse throughout our visit. We handed her cash for a tip asking that it go to the other line staff. We know that they only get a small portion of the tips that are left and wanted to ensure that they directly received the tip we wanted to leave. Their response - thank you for your feedback. That was it. No apologies.

And so we left, trying to focus on the few nice parts of our late...

TLDR: It was OK, I wouldn't choose to go here but if another work party chose it, I wouldn't decline because of the location.

This was such an odd experience.

Thursday evening 6pm reservation; depending on your luck you might need to park in the overflow which lets you choose to play live action frogger across a 5 lane road or a 1/3 mile detour RT to the next stop light in the opposite direction.

We were a party of 8, the tables were about half full with a banquet supposedly in another part of the restaurant. Nothing was bad, but I can't think of anything particularly good either. The staff was polite but mostly absent and just didn't seem to register strange behavior like: introducing themselves for a couple minutes to us while holding another table's food on a tray, rather than delivering that food and talking to us after. The food was fine but meats were slightly dry; small portions; nothing particularly memorable.

So here is what is odd.

It took 51 minutes before the first drink was delivered to the table. We ordered drinks and food at the same time, the food came out an hour and 40 minutes after we sat down. Clearly they didn't need to turn tables since it was half full.

This is odd because had drinks arrived faster, we all would have ordered more so the place is just losing money for themselves. I ordered my second beer with half left (almost immediately) because I didn't know when we would see the server or how long after the order it would take for the second. Whoever manages this place must know they aren't making money filling seats and not selling anything.

Rating Breakdown: Cost for 2 persons: Starter $14, Main(s) $76, 3 Beers $27 + tax/tip ~ Expect to budget $150 for dinner. Food 3 Stars - It tasted ok, but was dry and small portions. Service 2 Stars - The staff was polite, but didn't seem to understand what they were doing and 50 minutes to deliver drinks, 100 minutes for food is baffling. Atmosphere 3 Stars - It was fine, tables were spaced well enough that you didn't...