Meridian Valley Country Club — Restaurant in Kent

I was a member at MVCC for 3 years (Oct 2018 - Oct 2021). It's a pretty solid spot given that it's a private golf club in Kent and as a guy who was recently married with no kids and a wife who didn't golf, it served it's purpose as my time away from home. I make a note of this because the family aspect is mostly lacking because there is no pool, tennis courts, or other major amenities for a spouse and/or children to enjoy. It's a member-owned golf club and the membership is an equity membership.

The restaurant is decent and trending upwards. COVID presented plenty of headwinds and I'll admit that new and/or exciting items popped on the menu near the end of my tenure and Chef Ryan needs to keep that up. The wait staff that has been there for years are AMAZING. Looking at you Karen and Susan!

The golf course itself is a fun track that is decently, but not overly, challenging. I'm a 12 handicap and it was pretty hard to lose a ball. The course is heavily residential with just a few water hazards in-play and all tree limbs are cut up ~15 feet so you can track a balls' point of entry and resting place pretty easily.

So, why only 2 stars?

I resigned my membership and the primary reason is I was lied to during my application process. Specifically around the unnecessarily restrictive Men's Member-Guest registration rules. I was a member going on my 3rd year at the club and was still on the waiting list and unable to play in the Men's Member-Guest event. This event was sold on me and a big reason to join and maybe the best thing the club does all year. Not having the opportunity to play in it until, potentially, my 4th (or later) year at the club was not the expectation shared with me. To the staff at MVCC: please be very, very clear about the rules of this event.

So any new members reading this, or non-members looking at applying, make sure to understand that, under the current Men's Member-Guest event rules, you will not likely be able to play in the Men's Member-Guest tournament your first few years at the club.

What is clear judging by the numbers is private golf clubs have been a benefactors of COVID. They have waiting lists to join when they never had them before and are charging significantly larger initiation fees. I get it, that's market forces acting but bring that up because it was very telling that when I inquired about resigning I wasn't met with questions about my experience. MVCC prides itself as a member-owned club and you'd think such a club would act member-first and want to understand why a member is leaving. Instead, no one asked a thing and resignation papers were immediately put in my face. I barely received something I could call "goodbye". My logical assumption is they preferred to expedite my resignation process to accept someone on the membership waitlist and charge a demand-inflated initiation fee than attempt to understand an existing members' concern.

For the record, when I joined my initiation fee was $2,000 and the club had tennis courts. It's now $15,000-20,000 but the tennis courts have been demolished, the planned pickle ball courts were potentially not happening due to resident complaints, and there's still no pool to offer the family of golfers.

Overall, I made some good memories of MVCC. I shot my all-time low round at MVCC and held a large, extended-family Easter brunch that was potentially the last time everyone attended would be in the same room together. I also made a few good friends along the way. However, it wasn't a good, long-term fit for myself or my family and near the end the experience felt much more transactional and revenue-first. Just not what you'd expect from a member-owned,...

i worked here about a year ago n a half ago, at first i loved working there but through out time i feel like the management team got a little bit to comfortable. I noticed with us hispanic or colored people we got treated very different. i was a minor at the time, wasn’t able to work more than ‘4’ hours on week days which was understandable. in spring 2022, we were short staff so new employees started coming in. i got A LOT of hours took from me, i would talk to jasen & tell him i was available whenever & to please give me more hours because i needed it. it never happened, i felt like i was unheard there forsure. In the kitchen there was no air conditioning, in the state of washington that is an OSHA violation. most of the cooks would have to constantly step outside because of how hot it gets in there. chef would get upset when us employees would order food to eat and karen always seem to have a problem with me, she was rude at times to me. honestly it was just a whole lot...

Hi, I was there today during your Fun Run event. I am one of the many volunteers that supports the American Lake Veterans Golf course in Lakewood. As you already know, every year we are invited to Meridian Valley Country Club to demonstrate the Para golfer used by Veterans on the golf course that have severe combat related physical injuries. The American Lake Veterans Golf course offers rehabilitation, therapy, socialization, and support to those who have given so much for our country. Myself, and the volunteers (Al, Shelby, Mark) that were at Meridian Valley want to thank you very much for your support and generosity. And, a very Special Thanks to Greg and Tyler for your warm welcome and your grateful support. If invited again next year, we plan on bringing both the Para Golfer and the Solo...