Ba Bar South Lake Union — Restaurant in Seattle

This was one of the worst restaurant experiences I've had in the Seattle area I had a slightly weird feeling about it when we walked in (at 8 PM on a Friday) and most of the restaurant was empty. For some reason, the host decided to put us at one of the bar-adjacent wide tables rather than an actual table. The next weird thing was when someone I was with ordered a drink and received an entirely separate drink instead. Again a little strange - it's not often you see that

As for what I ordered, I decided to go with the Duck Supreme, which came as large duck breast pieces with some rice and a fried egg on top Maybe the only good parts of this meal was that the rice was decent enough, and I liked the pineapples and carrots/onions that came with it. The egg was good, but what I didn't appreciate was the waiter asking me if I wanted an egg on top, but without mentioning that it costs extra. I only found out that adding the egg cost an additional $2.5 when it was time for the bill. I checked and it does mention the extra cost on their menu, but at the top and in a small print

What makes this truly awful, though, was how bad the duck was. It made up by far the biggest proportion of the dish, so if you mess it up, you end up turning the entire dish into a catastrophe. Unfortunately, as you can probably tell, this dish ended up crashing and burning pretty hard. I actually feel bad for whatever duck (or ducks?) died to make this. You deserve better little buddy (or buddies)

I could instantly tell something was wrong based on how impossible it was to even cut the duck in the first place. It took a serious amount of effort to even make the tiniest cut, using both a knife and fork. I don't think I've ever been served meat this tough in a restaurant before. The fact that a cook took a look at this and decided it was ok to serve represents a carelessness about the customer that's a massive red flag. As expected, the meat was not tender, juicy, or flavorful. Another annoying part was the tiny bones that were scattered throughout the meat itself, making this a pretty annoying eating experience. Towards the end, I just gave up on cutting the meat and started eating it like a turkey leg

If everything wasn't enough, this ended up being really expensive. It came close to $50 for a entree & a drink, which is just ridiculous. If you asked me to name restaurants where you could get a significantly better experience for a significantly better price in Seattle I would keep going until I lost my voice.

Overall, I have major regrets about coming here, and even though I live nearby, there's no chance I'll be at any other location of this...

This past weekend was my first time coming to this restaurant and first impressions are everything.

Me and my friend arrived about 90 minutes after opening. Restaurant was fairly empty. The server we had was a young man. Not sure what his problem was but he gave the worst service.

First he sat us and didn't explain the menu was the QR scan version (no problem we found the stashed square to scan). We quickly found what we wanted and waiting 15 minutes for him to come back and take our order. Several times we made eye contact and he never came. It wasn't until he was walking pass did he hear my yell "excuse me, how do we put in an order?".

We noticed all tables have filled open glass water containers even ones with out any guest. I also noticed my drinking glass had dried pink lipstick on the rim. I appologized for the inconvenience then asked if I could get a fresh refill of water and a clean glass. The server goes on a rant to say the water is fresh they just prefill them and it's just tap water. I then ask if water bottles are available and that it's not about the tap (but honestly about the fact he had to argue me down for 5 minutes instead of just doing what I asked). He left to get me a "new water from a hose". I saw an older server who was super cheerful. I asked if water bottles are available and he immediately said yes he'll grab one (waterbottle was great btw).

Nearing our last few minutes a woman approached and asked if everything was good (didn't get checked on before that). She looks at the table and tells us each our total. We separately pay (mad I tipped 20% after all that).

I don't like we never got to see the actual check breakdown nor did we receive a physical, email or text receipt. Just thanked us and walked off.

The food was good, some things I would have removed and a few seasonings added for more flavor but wasn't bad.

Due to the terrible service (other than the second older gentleman) I will not be back. It was not worth the 45 minute travel.

Service: 0/5, Food: 2/5,...

This is likely one of the worst experiences at a restaurant in my life. I have a shellfish allergy. I am Vietnamese and I know to make all the foods in this restaurant. The waiter spent 10 minutes trying to convince me not to order a chicken dish because he believed fish sauce contains shellfish. The kitchen staff got afraid and told me. All the dishes except for chicken wings, a veggie dish, and pork balls. I ordered the chicken wings. After 15 minutes, waiter comes out to tell me they accidentally fried the chicken wings in the same deep fryer as other shellfish. It was good that he let me know. I was starving so ordered pork balls with rice. It was not authentic Vietnamese “xiu Mai” pork balls. My friends had already finished their food before I got mine. The restaurant did cover my food but it did not cost much. I have been to the other Ba Bar and there was no issue. Honestly, the service was awful, the chef could have come out to talk to me, and the server should know what fish sauce contains. I understand that they were afraid of litigation. But why would they stop me from ordering food that 100% does not have shellfish. It would be disgusting if they did. I was extremely disappointed. I told him more because of cross contamination issues. And he/chef lied to my face. I do not recommend this place. The restaurant should accommodate for you not me accommodating for them. Vietnamese food is not hard to make without crab or shrimp. Only bun rieu does: Also, I was told the BBH is shellfish too. The “mam ruoc” is rarely ever put into the broth. People add it in. It had a horrible smell and not many people would eat it if it was cooked with it. I will not be coming back...