Woodblock — Restaurant in Redmond

Historically great, recently awful. I used to dine here weekly-ish, sometimes twice a week. This place was also my go-to for treating new hires to lunch or hosting team outings.

The trouble started a couple of months ago with some rude, self-important service. Not long after, the food got bad. Not in a negligent way, but in a deliberate "bad things are good now" kind of way. I went over today to give the manager a heads up, but no luck. They weren't interested and invited me to have a nice day. So here we are.

The food:

I ordered the burger, which I've had many times, a few days ago. The server asked me how I wanted it cooked. When I told him "medium rare" he said that the chef suggested medium, due to the high fat content. It's a good enough burger, but every time I've had it, it's been overcooked and dry. So after this pointless exchange, the burger arrives. I bite into in and... my God. Horrible. The patty had been doused in some kind of vinegary dressing, and burnt (not charred) in an extremely unpleasant way. I hadn't expected the bitter taste of carbonized meat or sour/acidic pop of vinegar, so I spit the bite out and called the waiter back over. On inspection, it seemed the onions had been pickled in vinegar (for some reason) then placed on the bottom of the bun, so that wet vinegar would be the first thing you taste. Disgusting. Awful. What is wrong with you? You had a perfectly fine burger. Is this supposed to be funny? Nobody asked for this.

Along the same lines, I tried their cheesesteak special a couple of weeks ago. It was gag-inducing on sight and smell alone. Large, fatty, chewy chunks of meat with a nasty, frothy, slimy, snot-like, velveeta-ish yellow "cheez" sauce, and strips of soggily sauteed jalapeno peppers. I see where they were going with it, but yuck. I sent it back untasted. The earthy, vegetal smell of the jalapeno, the stinky, viscous sauce, and the fatty, chunky meat...

The service:

It's been a run of inexcusable behavior at this point.

I went in late after a long day of work to get a cheap bourbon (by 'cheap' I mean Redmond cheap, which is to say $15) and a burger. The bartender kept trying to upsell me a $20 or $30 pour of some barrel-aged nonsense.

When I straight up asked him what their cheapest bourbon was, he said "Fireball." I eventually got my $15 Elijah Craig, but was angry I had to haggle for it. The whole thing was disrespectful. Don't snarkily suggest a flavored whisky when I ask for cheap bourbon or give me a hard time when I want an unpretentious pour.

Not too long after I went back for a lunch with a friend. It was a celebratory lunch, so we pretty much ordered the menu. Our little table quickly filled up with plates, so when we ran out of space, I moved one of the plates to the unoccupied table adjacent to us. When the girl who had been on bussing duty eventually came over, she admonished me, saying something like "when you come here, don't put plates on other tables." Am I in bizarro world? Do waitstaff give me notes now? It simply isn't done.

A few weeks later, the waitress who delivered my order swapped it with my friend's. My friend said "hey, it's the other way around" to which she replied, sarcastically (to my ear), "oops, my bad" and walked away without swapping them back. Again, this simply isn't done. I do not go to restaurants to handle other people's food, or have them handle mine. If a server makes a mistake, they should fix it.

There's more, but I won't go into it.

Suffice to say, after patronizing Woodblock for close to a decade, I am done. The disrespect, the creatively bad food, the self-important waitstaff, the condescending upsells, the guy with black, curly hair who's seen me maybe 20 or 30 times over the post-pandemic years but never has never once said "welcome...

This place is part of a thriving downtown area with outdoor seating and a beautiful park across the street, giving ample people watching opportunities.

Street parking is free on weekends. The underground parking is limited to condos and specific businesses.

We were seated immediately at 1:30 on a Saturday. We chose to sit outside. They placed our party of four at a very slanted table, so drinks and food repeatedly tried to slide down to the low end of our tables.

That said, two of us ordered the 21 day dry-aged burgers and the other two ordered breakfast tacos. One of the burgers was ordered was no cheese and plus avacado. The no cheese threw the cook for a loop, thinking it was an allergy so the cheese was left off the upgraded truffle fries. I asked about this and was told they would bring a side of the shredded parm which was supposed to be on them.

I think if the cheese was placed on the fries while hot, it would have melted to them a bit and been better. As is, it was loose cheese shreds I had to actively pinch to the fry and I quickly decided it wasn't worth the trouble. The fries tasted like truffle oil but I don't know where the rosemary was. Based on this, I don't think they are worth paying more.

I didn't realize the avacado was forgotten, at first, as my burger was bunless and had lettuce covering it. I had to ask staff cleaning up tables to find our waitress repeatedly for these issues as well as water and coffee refills. She was friendly...just not very attentive. I saw her attending to other guests well. I think she dismissed us because no one ordered alcohol and two of us had only water. Unfortunately this assumption the customer will not tip well or isn't worth thier time because of drink choices or casual appearance is common.

My other half says the gluten free bun is the dreaded Udi's...dry. I wish restaurants would use Franz instead. It has better flavor and simply superior texture.

The breakfast tacos were said to be good by my son and his girlfriend. They were well filled and were accompanied by delicious chunks of roasted red potatoes.

Overall...I would return. I hope the waitress thinks twice before making unfounded assumptions about guests in the future. My scruffy looking, rocket engineer at Blue Origin son paid the bill and he...

I came here with my sister as she was buying me a birthday lunch. Actually, it was a birthday brunch. Because brunch is the best! The location of this restaurant is fantastic, right in the middle of downtown Redmond. A beautiful park with tables and chairs sits directly across the street. Several other restaurants are in the immediate area. Parking was easy (and free) since it was a Sunday. You can either park on the street or use the public lot, 2-hours free, which is behind the restaurant.

We had an option of eating inside or outside and we chose outside as it was a beautiful late summer day. The restaurant was pretty crowded inside, less so outside, but definitely a popular place. We got coffee and water right away. The waitress came by quickly and took our order.

I must admit that I was disappointed in my brunch choice. I'd looked at the menu prior to coming and decided I was going to have the Bananas Foster French Toast. There was a very minimal description on the menu so I assumed that it would be like every other Bananas Foster I've ever seen. Sliced bananas on top of French Toast. But this dish came without visible bananas, The waitress explained that the bananas were mixed into the batter. I couldn't see or taste them. The french toast was fine, it had strawberry jam on top, but that's all it was. Basic french toast. I'll order something different next time I visit.

My sister had a cheeseburger and fries. The whole plate looked good! The burger was ordered medium and came out looking a little pink but I was told it was delicious. I snagged a couple of fries off her plate and they were perfect. So A+ on the cheeseburger and fries.

The waitress did not seem happy to be working there. No smile, no friendly greeting, not much of an interaction at all. It was like she was counting the minutes until her shift was over. None of the basic courtesies you expect from a server. It was weird. On the other hand the busser was fantastic! He smiled and asked how we were when taking away our plates. He was equally enthusiastic while helping others. He was as good as our waitress was bad.

Some hiccups but overall a good brunch on a beautiful day with great company. I definitely would visit Woodblock again and would feel comfortable recommending...