Terracotta Red — Restaurant in Everett

Overall, a very good place that my husband and I will visit again. Located in an older building with kitschy decor. May not be worth mentioning, but if you are super sensitive to smells, it does have that slightly musty “old house” smell that most older buildings/homes do. Very prompt service… almost too prompt. We were seated immediately, two seconds later we were approached for our drink order, which was delivered about 5 seconds after that. We placed our appetizer order, which was delivered about 2 mins after 🤣 and then our food came before we were finished with our app. I’m not sure this was a BAD thing. I would prefer it over waiting forever, but was just a bit surprising to me. Our server, Nick, was exceptional. He had great recommendations, and he is one of those people that actually listens to what you say. You can tell, because he remembered our names, and other little details from our conversation. I really appreciate that. As far as the quality of food, I am going to be brutally honest, because that’s what I like when people recommend a restaurant. It was very good. We ordered the Crispy Pork Belly for the app. The best part was the spicy slaw and pickled vegetables. The pork belly was ok. It was not very flavorful or tender. I think it’s best if you cut up the pork, and have a little piece with each bite of slaw, like a salad topping.

For our main course, we ordered the Drunken Chicken, the Sweet Basil Beef, and the Wok Tossed Garlic Noodles.

The Drunken Chicken was pretty perfect. Delicious flavor, cooked to perfection, etc. Would order this if you are a die hard “Orange Chicken” person, because it has that citrusy undertone.

The Sweet Basil Beef was just ok for me. I think it would have been better if there was more flavor and if the flank steak was cooked to a more crispy texture. Or even if the flank steak was just better quality, and more tender maybe. The entire dish was just lacking flavor and quality in my opinion.

The side of Jasmine Rice was terrible. I feel bad saying that, but it reminded me of Uncle Bens or something… and it was underdone. Bits of rice were crunchy.

However, the best out of everything, was the garlic noodles!!! They were SO good!! Loaded with flavor and tasted homemade. I can’t stop thinking about them. I will order those every time we go.

Lastly, the other stars of the show, were the drinks!! We had the Asian Pear Martini, and the Lychee Martini. Both were amazing… light and refreshing. I love unique drinks, where the taste of alcohol isn’t overwhelming.

Like I said at the beginning, overall, Terracotta Red is a great restaurant, that we will visit again and again. There are some areas that need improvement, but not enough to dissuade me from revisiting.

Wow! What a lengthy review! Thanks for reading if you made it this far!...

I debated between a 3-star or 4-star when the server did something that pushed the rating up.

This was my 5th time here since they opened. During my first visit, I so wanted this place to be what I was needing; a great Asian restaurant. But it was just ok. Good enough for me to return but with different people as my initial guest wasn’t pleased. The next time was better. And the visit 3 and 4 were for group meetings and I felt the buffet style foods were more flavorful than the a la carte menu.

Which brings me to my 5th visit just last week. I was surprised how little (if any) maintenance has been done since opening. The walls are scuffed from the backs of chairs, there’s tape residue from posters/flyers and handmade signs to remind staff to ask to-go orders which rice they’d like. I was able to take all this in, because no one was there to greet us. Not for 3 entire minutes. And when acknowledged, it was from across the main dining area only to say “I’ll be right with you”. This hostess was cold, even borderline rude. I have worked with people like this. I am sure she is either painfully shy or has a lot going on. Either way, she shouldn’t be the first face of this place. Next was the seating. Good or bad, the acoustics are loud. I could hear the 4 person party of ‘moms night out’ clear as if they were at our table. It didn’t bother me, but I could see how it might. Next, the food. Great portions!! I was very happy with my choice and so was my date. We didn’t order any drinks until the end of our main meal but the ginger margarita-esque beverage was fantastic. The bartender brought them over herself and she was very friendly. Making jokes about brewing the beer herself. A+. Give her a raise. I recognized one of the other staff members from one of the prior groupings and she too was very friendly. I want to say Kristie?? Lastly was dessert. We got the donuts. You, do not get the donuts. Although they are not bad ingredient-wise; they will disappoint anyone expecting light airy fluffy sugary donuts. These tasted just like someone took pizza crust ends and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on them. Tough and chewy. Here is where the star rating improved. The server immediately noted my displeasure and took them off our bill. This is what great service is. This place has potential for 5-star status. Just not there yet. And I would step up my game. The sushi place next door...

While on vacation to Washington, I was told i should try this place out. It was fully worth going, and not too expensive for the portion sizes.

Going forward, this restaurant is Family-styled and the portions are quite large. There is a detailed description of what we got down below, but the TL:DR is as follows.

5/5 would recommend you to go here and drive up to an hour each way to eat here.

We had Nick as our server, and they was AWESOME. Nick made our whole experience much better than just a normal meal, and was a really good change to the service we have gotten elsewhere on this trip. 10/5 recommend Nick as your server.

Drinks: Does not have Dr Pepper or Mr Pibb :( Has Lemonade and Root Beer and Coke

Starters: 1: Vegetarian Spring Rolls; Semi disappointing, were pretty empty in the rolls 2: Pork and Chive Potstickers; very good, not disappointing

Entrees: 1: Shaking Beef (spice 1/5); best dish at the table, everyone ate some and said they loved it 2: Candied Walnut Prawns (Spice 0/5); Prawns were cooked to a great doneness [done but not TOO done]. Sauce was tasty, and the walnuts were AWESOME 3: Fragrant Fried Rice (Spice 0/5); not that great, pretty flavorless without adding stuff to it. Also surprisingly spicy for what is supposed to be 0/5 4: Sesame Honey Chicken (Spice 0/5); Basically Sesame chicken, honey was pretty much not there. Pretty tasteless, would not recommend this dish without spice.

Sides: Si Chuan String Beans (Spice 0/5); Pretty tasty, good flavor, also the kind of spice that sneaks up on you. White Rice: I mean, its Rice, but they cooked it well and it was not mushy

Desert: Deep Fried Ice Cream: not that great for the $12, but it still got mostly eaten. Was not corn-chip coated like I was expecting, but was coated in Funnel Cake. The batter was just not cooked all the way and threw off the entire experience.

All in all, if you read this whole review, I hope it gave you a good insight into what Terracotta Red Bistro will provide. Thank you for the great food and...