Alder & Ash — Restaurant in Seattle

Our experience:

Dining room lovely and inviting.

Waiter seemed disinterested and maybe having a bad day.

Menu prices were good for an elegant downtown restaurant.

Sampler dips were delicious, but... Why would you serve cold store bought tortilla chips with hummus and similar dips? Strange and not delicious. Serve some nice warm bread with the dips. It made the elegance into a cheap experience.

The impossible burger looked less appetizing than Burger King. Cold floppy American cheese hanging out the side. Cold, grocery store bun. Not toasted, just pulled out the bag and placed on the plate. Why not use a quality bun, maybe brioche or similar? At least butter and toast it so it melts the cheese and melts in your mouth.

French fries seemed like the same ones I buy frozen from Fred Meyer. Uninspiring, but not bad tasting. Need to up your game here.

Regular burger was just that ... regular. I was expecting a yummy burger like Nordstrom Grill or Ruth's Chris, but instead I got McDonald's. Tasted OK, but I felt like I got scammed. It's even named the Alder & Ash Burger, but it did not live up to the name.

Caviar tots were over-cooked, super brown and not easy to finish chewing.

Bolognese was tasty, but lacked presentation. Just a blob of pasta piled on a plate. Would've been great with some buttered bread alongside or some sort of green side.

Best part of the dinner was the smoked salmon dip. Super delicious. 5 stars for the dip, but not great eating with cold tortilla chips. I just ended up eating it with a spoon.

Will we return? Maybe for drinks, but definitely not food. It's a shame because it's one block from my office and we'd likely come often with office visitors and company gatherings.

I see the owner replying here, so someone obviously cares about reviews. Dear owner... Perhaps send in secret diners to order your plates. I cannot imagine that anyone who owns such a beautiful place can be OK with the kind of food we were served last night for a...

We walked into Alder & Ash on a Saturday night, and to my dismay there were only two tables sat. I came to this restaurant at the behest of a member in my group, who’d looked the place up. It was my mistake not to double check the reviews before agreeing to eat here. An empty restaurant never bodes well, but we were hungry, so we sat. Only one other party was seated while we were in Alder & Ash, and for some reason (despite the large size of the restaurant and distinct lack of patronage, they were sat directly next to us. It was awkward to say the least.

Being a long time service industry employee myself, alongside 4 other members of our party also working service industry jobs, I have a very hard time criticizing waitstaff, but for the price point and the fact there were only 5 tops sat in a restaurant with 50+ tables, the service was atrocious. They had no recommendations (which is kind of understandable based on the food quality), they were inattentive, and sour. It was all around rough paying for the price point and service, and being met with a lazy and dour staff.

Now, the food. There is only one item of food that passed for edible and it was the oysters, and all they had to do was shuck them, so, not a reflection of the kitchen by any means. Everything else was a straight up tragedy. You literally can’t pay me to believe the crab wasn’t imitation, the wagyu was as tough as a rubber tire (it most likely wasn’t wagyu), the polenta was hard and congealed, the brussels sprouts were next to raw, the filet mignon wasn’t filet mignon, the glacé was violently salted, and an espresso martini was $22.

Moral of the story, the negative reviews for this spot are right on the money, the price for the quality is wildly off the mark, and the staff could use...

Our waitress was pedantic at every opportunity she was given, without known provocation on our part. We weren’t a bunch of teens or 20s… it was two folks in their 30s and 3 in their 60s

We had 2 empty carafes of water, the 3rd had enough for one refill of one cup. When asked for more water, she pointed out that there was indeed “water left all you have to do is pour it”.

I never got the grilled cheese of our tomato bisque and grilled cheese appetizer.

My moms friend never received any silverware for his meals. She’d take the plates, including his silverware, and just never replace it. When dessert came we ran out of forks to loan him, so he stole some from another table.

My mother was sick of watching her act as if the world inconvenienced her, and truly and politely asked for the check when she began to deliver our desserts to which she snapped “yes I imagine that’s the next step after dessert.”

Did I mention we were here to kick off my mother’s and her best friend’s 60th birthdays? We’re leaving for our main trip tomorrow, we had all come into town today. That being said, none of us were drunk or rowdy. Heck I didn’t even finish my drink because she spoiled the mood so much. The alpine mule was tasty, I would have been happy to order more if it wasn’t for her.

You can see I do not leave many reviews, to give you an idea of how “notable” this experience was. Absolutely the worst, needlessly abrasive dining experience we’ve had as a family. The facility was really fine otherwise, I just can’t imagine how this restaurant encourages such unprofessional...