Fable: Craft Bar, Wine Saloon, Food Joint — Restaurant in Richland

I moved to Tri Cities 20 years ago from Portland, and I have traveled everywhere and love to go out to eat! I have eaten in almost ever major city in U.S and rhis place is in my top 10. I lost interest in eating out in Tri Cities over the years, as the food at most restaurants tastes OLD, overcooked or waaaay too salty. It's just not very good. The places with decent food (usually the wineries) typically cost too much for me for a Sunday afternoon That was, UNTIL, I discovered this place recommended by my husband's parents who eat there often and have been raving about the food. Since the pricing is very fair, if not, less than other restaurants of this caliber, I simply assumed this would be another lack luster restaurant with cheap over-fried frozen bar food, and average drinks. I was SOOOO sooooooo wrong, and SO surprised! 😍

First, Our waitress, Marina, was extremely friendly, well mannered, kind, and she smiled, and was on top of everything! Wow! What AWESOME service!! She ALSO had 0 attitude, and responded with kindness, when my 90 y/o mother in law asked for her drink to be a little less strong. (I rather enjoyed my margarita though and I got the same drink).😉 I asked Marina what she recommend to eat, (I can never make a decision) and she said the Bento Bowl was very good. She also recommended and knew a lot about several other dishes on this menu. Very impressive. She was SO right. The house made teriyaki was deeeeelicious, and the dish was not overly salted. (A mistake I encounter often at many Tri Cities restaurants).. The vegetables in this dish were cooked perfectly el denté which was impressive but the Fresh QUALITY was what I loved! You can tell the food is VERY fresh and not reheated garbage from the day before as many restaurants will do on a Sunday. (They must think customers won't notice but we do). On top of that, it all tasted amaaaaaazing, with no attention to detail left unturned in plate represention. The plate itself was a pretty work of art and so,so impressive! It didn't feel like bar food from anywhere else in Tri Cities, but more similar to an upscale cocktail eatery in NY. (Where my husband grew up). He also agrees this place is top notch, so the bad reviews on here are surprising to say the least. Sidenote- the only thing we noticed that could use improvement, was the young hostess. She seemed to be either having a bad day or just did not like us. She never once smiled and she even rolled her eyes and had an attitude for literally no reason. I didn't know her so this was confusing to me. I think i initially thought this was a bad place based on her total lack of enthusiasm for her job. I smiled at her a few times, looking her right in the eye to see if i could make her day a little better, but my smile was returned with an actual dirty look and an eye roll. 😆😆😆 this confused the heck out of me since I don't know this young lady. Not surprising for a millennial but I would talk to her about her representation of your business. The hostess should smile and be kind. Not look and behave like a teenager with an attitude. I get enough of that at home with my own kids. 😆Maybe have her watch Marina and how well she does her job. I think everyone has bad days but jeesh. Fake it til Ya Make It! All in All, the food, and our sweet waitress, made up for our intitial greeting and lack of goodbye. Food was Absolute perfection! I don't eat much when I go out to eat and literally ate almost my entire plate plus some of my husband's pork nachos which were equally amazing! They came with a BOWL of cheese dip. Who does that! Nobody. This place is hands down, the best food for anyone in Tri who doesn't want to spend over 30 on a plate. Well Done to the owners. I found out they also own Bookwalter Winery, not surprising since that is also one of the only other great restaurants in Tri Cities that I love! They are obviously excellent restaurateurs and stand above and beyond their...

Very disappointed with the service we received today if it can even be called a service when you are ignored for 30 min. To say the least we had to leave without any food whatsoever just now. We arrived at 9:30 and got seated mind you there was about 4 tables that were already there so not very busy. We got seated and took a relatively long time before we were offered drinks. Amy was out waiter not sure if she was being sarcastically nice to us but she did ask if we needed more time to order and we said yes about 10 min after being seated. When she brought our drinks I tried to ask her a question about the menu but she continued to walk away I thought maybe she didn’t hear me because of the music. Another 10 min came by and she asked if we were ready which we were and I said that to her and she said what are we having, as I was about to order she just walked away to attend others and completely ignored me as I was trying to order. About another 10 min go by then she comes back and asks if we were ready I kindly told her yes and I also let her know she walked away when I was about to order, again feeling that nice sarcasm from her saying “my full attention is on you now”. I asked for the tab for my coffee she said it’s on us hope you come back again in that sarcastic nice tone. This by far has been the most uncomfortable and worst experience I’ve had at any restaurant. Fable used to be my go to spot until now. Heads up with the “friendly attitude” was very passive agressive about how she really felt and honestly it felt like some type of stereotype from her towards me and my husband. Amy is not as nice as she portrays to be. Very disappointed with this experience. I hope management Can look into this. It was honestly insulting I am not one to leave reviews but felt like others should not be treated this way especially when you’re going for a...

Super mixed feelings about this place. Especially as I was looking forward to going here since eating at their food truck. (I think it was called, Non-fiction)

Food: I would love to pay half the price for half the portions. Neither my husband or I could finish our meals. We both took home half our plates.

We stopped in during brunch and I got the Biscuits and Gravy plate. The Biscuits are HUGE and DENSE. Usually, with biscuits and gravy, the gravy melts into the top part of the biscuit. Leaving the bottom half warm and flaky.

Not the case with these biscuits. They are ridiculously large, HARD, and very dense. Absorbing none of the gravy. Now, the biscuits do taste good. Don't get me wrong, nothing tasted bad, it was just mismatched. The Biscuits don't absorb any gravy so you run out of gravy and are left with delicious, but dry biscuits.

My husband got the Spicy Monte Cristo, and though good, again it was just massive. (Their pepper jelly is too notch though!)

Atmosphere: Not cohesive. The restaurant is called 'Fable'. You would expect something fantasy/book inspired right? The bar is beautiful and looks right out of a fun fantasy novel, but the rest of the establishment is hard metal, words written on the walls like, 'chapter,' 'protagonist', and 'literature'. Then you have what looks like random photos of the Tri Cities from the 50's?

So though it is a clean and new looking facility, the overall 'aesthetic' is just confusing and doesn't really flow at all. Even just the writing on the bathrooms, 'His,' for the men, and 'Her' for the women...

So yeah, all around good, but just slightly 'off' in little ways. Portion sizes are insane, but your...