Blazing Onion — Restaurant in Newcastle

I have a gift card for this chain and unfortunately the closest one to me closed down so it has just been sitting in my wallet for almost two years. Luckily, we had an opportunity to stay at Issaquah and there is a Blazing Onion Burger Company at Newcastle! We decided to make this our dinner the day we arrived at the hotel as we just wanted to get settled in our hotel and get ready for a long stay.

One thing I do remember about Blazing Onion is that they make you order and pay first or leave your tab open. I see why they do that but it also makes it hard for indecisive people, especially when there are people coming in and also people who want to pay for their meal. We were able to figure out our order which was a wildberry handshaken iced tea, blazing chicken wings (half mango habenero dry rub and half BBQ sauce) mushroom melt burger, and teriyaki swiss chicken. However, as we ordered, the cashier had trouble hearing my drink despite me speaking loud enough and I repeated it to her several times before the final transcation. We were given a little number card and told to pick wherever we wanted to sit. We picked a small table in the corner near the window so we can keep an eye on our dogs but saw there wasn't a little stand that also had a call button. We took one from the table next to us and waited to receive our waters and my iced tea. I wasn't sure if we were supposed to get it ourselves as I saw some people do it but I saw employees moving around that area and didn't want to cause trouble. After several minutes of waiting, I received my iced tea but it tasted off and I just saw bits of raspberry rather than wild berries and tasted tart like lemonade. You get one free refill and it was then when I brought my drink to the bar that I received a raspberry lemonade so the cashier heard me wrong. Luckily the bartender was more than happy to make me what I actually ordered and it tasted divine and refreshing.

The inside is very spacious with TVs playing different sports or shows. The bar is located in the far back and the bathrooms are located at the entrance (very clean and organized). The tables and booths seemed pretty clean but there were some sticky spots. It was also unfortunate that the table next to us had unruly children stepping on the booth seats cause they were to lazy to get up and let their siblings get back to their seats. I truly hope that employees clean the booths here as that was hard to watch.

We received our food after another several minutes and it was really tasty! The burgers were cooked to perfection and the fries were seasoned very well. The chicken wings were juicy, big and the flavors from the dry rub and sauce was amazing. My sandwich did start falling apart and became mushy after a few bites though which is unfortunate as I am a slow eater. We got checked on maybe one time and it was close to the end so it is really hard to rate service as there was a lack of service. The bartender and the person who delivered my drink was very kind and helpful while the cashier/waitress we had didn't have any customer service skills. I would be more lenient if it was busy but it wasn't really too busy. We came in at a good time where most of the people received their orders and were just chatting or paying. Yet despite this, we didn't even really get to enjoy the full experience of dining here especially their endless fries cause no one would really come to tables unless it was vacated.

I will have to say this is the last time I go to Blazing Onion as the structure of how they run their business seems odd and it seems like service is all over the place. The food and drinks are great though but I can't justify the long wait for just slightly average food that is also pretty pricey. You're better off at a Red Robin to get slightly cheaper, better service, unlimited refills on drinks and fries or...

My family and came to eat inside the restaurant for the first time recently, and I don't know that we'll be back. ☹️

The ordering process was weird. You walk in and instead of being seated at a table, you immediately line up. You're looking at a menu board up top, without any pictures, and you're expected to order and pay before going to your seats. I'm sure this setup saves the business money by having fewer servers, but I really disliked it. I want to sit down, take off my coat, and peruse a menu with some photos. It felt like a fast food restaurant, but the prices are anything but!

The restaurant was cold (every time the doors opened we were chilled) and the food was incredibly expensive for what it was. Three adult meals, one kid's meal, four drinks, and one appetizer. With tip, it was $111. I know everything's gotten more expensive, but come one, this isn't fine dining. The lemonades were $4.49 each! We spent $20 just on four sugar waters. 🙄 And the portions are decent, but not so huge that you can take home leftovers and get another meal out of it to make up for how expensive it was.

They're also tricky with upsells; I ordered the Spicy Chicken Sandwich and she asked what I wanted for a side. She said the Tater Tots went well with it, so I said sure. Surprise, it's an additional $1.99!

The deep fried pickles were a letdown: very flavourless and bland. I wouldn't order it again.

The main courses were really good (four out of five stars), but not good enough to outweigh all of the above.

🗓️ My review from 20221 ⬇️

This was our first time getting food from Blazing Onion, so I was pretty excited to try a new place to eat. Unfortunately, I would call the food fairly underwhelming. It's not like any of it was particularly bad, more that it wasn't as flavorful as we had hoped.

I thought the blazing onion burger would be bursting with flavor, but instead it was fairly subtle and mild. This isn't a great choice for takeout, because by the time I was able to eat it 20 minutes later, the lettuce was soggy and the entire thing tasted mostly like tomato. The regular fries are pretty boring, though not being able to taste them fresh makes it hard for me to judge them. My wife enjoyed her grilled chicken avocado burger, but the spicy fries while having a little bit of flavor, were barely spicy at all. I'm not sure exactly who would consider these spicy. The chicken strips my daughter got she refused to eat because they were overcooked. She did like the fries though.

Overall, I have the impression that this is a bit like Applebee's for burgers: they try to make fairly bland food that everyone finds palatable, but it means that nothing is particularly flavorful or interesting.

I always think it's better to judge a restaurant on its food when you can taste it fresh from the kitchen, so I hope I can come back again someday and taste their...

I do NOT enjoy writing a negative review, but all of us regretted eating here. First thing I want to note is that it WASN'T busy. I only saw 3 tables occupied, and two individuals at the bar when we entered. This place is one of those restaurants where you order near the front door when you walk in, or after you go to a table, review the menu- then you get back up and order at the front door. Drinks are also self served. The only service they provide is bringing the food out to you. When you have a group with kids - this is a little annoying. There's nothing wrong with this type of business model, but when I've got kids with me, its just easier if the servers are taking our orders at the table rather than making us leave the table to go order and get our own drinks. Not a huge deal - just a slight annoyance. Also - this encourages you to tip at the time that you order, and you don't know what the quality of the service is going to be...??? In the end I regretted tipping at all. I had zero interactions at the table except to tell a server that something they brought to us wasn't for us.

I had just done a hike, so I allowed myself to indulge with the Mac N Cheese... with grilled chicken added into it. It was one of the worst Mac N cheese meals I've ever been served in a restaurant before. I had even asked the guy who took our order if he recommended it (he did), so I ordered it. It wasn't very cheesy, and the grilled chicken was dry and the cuts of chicken that were included were scraps / trimmings from some other meal. I think I had ONE bite of chicken that didn't appear to be scraps that were repurposed into my meal. My kids didn't like their mac n cheese either (so its neither kid, nor adult approved). My buddy was pushing for me to send the M & C back and to order something else, but I chose not to. I probably should have. It was a wasted meal.

My buddy had a salad and said he thought it was pretty good but over priced.

My other buddy had a burger and some tator tots. The burger was nothing special, and the tots were either over fried, or had been popped back in a fryer to refresh them. My buddy sent his tots back to get new ones. The kids burgers were all a little on the well done side. The regular fries were "blah".

The ONE thing I thought was enjoyable was the sweet potato fries. EVERYONE at the table borrowed some sweet potato fries from the one person who had...