Gardner's Restaurant — Restaurant in Olympia

Splendid!

I’d read this was the finest dining in Olympia and it beat the hype.

We were satisfied from the moment we walked in to a hostess who anticipated our reservation and seated us in a delightful corner table, to the moment we exited, taking to-go house-made patisserie to enjoy back at our hotel.

Gardener’s was a five star experience.

Our waitress was congenial and appropriately timed her arrivals to the beat of the meal. She made us feel comfortable and respected and enhanced our experience with keen recommendations.

The food was outstanding. Exquisite flavors composed into a culinary celebration.

Heavenly raw oysters to start. My girlfriend loved the dungeoness crab dip appetizer.

I had the Seafood Fettuccine, olive oil style, which was loaded with frutti del mar! Bay scallops, fresh clams, shrimp and chunks of crab meat were loaded onto the plate. The pasta was homemade and light and complimented the complex crustacean and bivalve roux underlying the dish. The broth after everything was consumed was perfect stock. I sopped up as much as I could with the provided warm sourdough.

My girlfriend had the Halibut with Mushroom Risotto. She loved it and she’s not a seafood lover. I recommended Halibut as the king of mild yet flavorful whitefish knowing at such a classy joint this close to AK they must have fresh not frozen. Gardeners did not disappoint. The halibut fillet was generously portioned, fresh, and exploding with flavor. The natural flavor was enhanced with the thoughtfulness put into its rub and the surprisingly smooth exclamation point delivered by the fresh dill. Each bite erupted with a fresh dill that then melted immediately into a buttery smooth halibut with a velvet mouthfeel. I had a couple bites of hers myself because it was so damn good. She also adored the mushroom risotto side.

Wonderful cocktails. The waitress recommended a tasty barrel aged Manhattan that lived up to the billing. I also grew fond of their Gin Sour. My girlfriend swore by their tasty Moscow Mule in a proper copper mug.

Gardener’s...

Usually reading reviews you can get a pretty fair representation, however after visiting Gardner's Seafood & Pasta, I wondered if the reviews are staged or if all the bad ones have been taken down. Neither my husband nor I enjoyed our meals, and the service wasn't great either. For the amount you pay for your meal the service should have at minimum been comparable to let's say Dennys, at least there you don't have to wait a half hour for drinks to be replaced, etc... I ordered the seafood fettuccine, which I can HONESTLY say was as nicely put no better than glorified macaroni and cheese, and that is putting it nicely. It was horrible, I can't say enough to describe how terrible it was. The salad had some kind of pickled red onions and had a choice of only two maybe three dressings, they didn't even have a basic ranch dressing. Our meal came out to $99, which I might add did not include any alcoholic beverages which could raise a bill "pretty quick. I usually never leave reviews and have NEVER had to write a bad one but I feel it only fair to warn others as I wish we had been warned. To top it off from our seats we had a wonderful view of the hallway or I should say storage place with dusty old plastic leaves, piles of horribly stacked chairs, etc... we were asked if our meal was ok probably because I still had a full plate thirty minutes later however I simply said it is ok and paid our bill with tip and left as soon as we could. Maybe I should have been more assertive and had them just take it back, however I didn't want to cause any issues. The noise level was extremely loud, we had to talk directly into each other's ears. I could go on but feel I have...

I've only ate here one time but it is by far the best experience I have had in the State of Washington since moving here a year ago. I have been to multiple five star restaurants in Seattle and every nice restaurant in the Tacoma/Lacey/Olympia area and this by far beats them out of the water. Our appetizer had the perfect amount of crab in it with the perfect balance of cheeses and spices. My husband experienced the salmon chowder and was blown away. Me, not liking Salmon, accepted a spoonful my husband offered (this is rare and meant he really liked it) and was surprised by the lack of fishyness I tasted. I felt the texture by the chowder itself was well balanced, well seasoned, and was void of the typical overpowering salmon flavor. You could taste the salmon very subtly and it marinated superbly with the rest of the chowder. For our entree I got the Pork tenderloins with bacon bourbon jam. Let me tell you this, there are less than a dozen dishes that I've ever been truly astonished by and this was one of them. The fat was perfectly rendered, the pork was melting in my mouth, and the bacon bourbon jam boosted the experience to an explosion of flavors. I don't think I've ever been so sad about finishing a dish in my life. Last we tried to creme brûlée. It's a simple yet complicated dish and they made it perfect. The texture was on point, the sugar just right, and the taste was exactly as it should have been. Very impressed with this restaurant and would give it a definite A...