Barnacle — Restaurant in Seattle

My wife and I had a date night at Barnacle for drinks and snacks. When we arrived some sort of alternative punk was blasting with garnish over-stimulated lighting with everyone shouting about the music. If they were trying to be alternative and trendy, they failed. The service was poor. They tried to squeeze us into a corner but we insisted on waiting for a bar seat. Our craft cocktails were pre-mixed. The bartender claimed it was for consistency and to service a larger volume of customers. My belief is that the bartenders were completely inexperienced. They could not customize the cocktails to our liking and were limited to serving spirit-forward cocktails—add to ice, stir, and sometimes strain.

As a Renee Erickson establishment, I expected a broader variety and higher quality bar food service. The bread service was poor and most of the other food including the octopus terrine, Spanish sardines, and hand-shaved Serrano Jamon were extremely salty. As a matter of fact, we could not get anything that was not over salted with the exception of the cheese plate with honey, and the olive oil that came with the Serrano jamon.

In summary, a disappointing experience and money wasted (20% service charge included) on poor service and an unimaginative menu which did not pair well with any cocktails on offer. I got the impression that Barnacle is not a destination but an ante-room for reservations at The Walrus and Carpenter. This is another example of big-name Seattle Chefs expanding too quickly and losing control of thematic concepts, top quality, and service 24x7...

We went to Barnacle tonight for the first time before heading over to Walrus. All of the bar stools were full so we stood by the counter. My boyfriend was looking at the liquor selections and I guess the woman behind the counter thought that he was looking at her to come over because she said in a very irritated tone “I’ll be with you in a minute!” Ooohkay. Of course she never came over. Luckily a friendly waiter came over a few minutes later instead. A friendly couple saw us sitting by the counter and told us that they were leaving and to claim their seats. We were really happy because we’d been waiting for a while. Same lady runs over and says “you need to wait until I wipe down this table before you can sit”. We walked back to the counter, she wiped it down, then she never told us when she was done. By this point we’re both like “did we do something to upset her?” We sit down and then she proceeds to ignore us the entire time. She didn’t ask if we wanted to eat or drink anything the entire 50 minutes that we were there. At one point my boyfriend was like “I think I’d like to order some food” and I asked him if he was just ordering so that she wouldn’t be mad at him and he said “yes”. I’ll definitely come back to Walrus but I’ll try to get there earlier next time so i can avoid the terrible service that I experienced here. After this terrible service we found out about the automatic 20% tip. Amazing to spend 20% on tip for the worst...

This is can be your prefunk spot while you wait for a table at The Walrus and the Carpenter! Even if all the bar seats are taken, there's a parallel wall to stand and hang. Most of the drinks are bitter focused. The space is tiny and intimate, so don't expect to have quiet ambience here.

Food & drink: (July 2024) I'm not a fan of olives, but it does have the distinct strong olive flavor without the completely wilting texture. The bread service was extremely savor and good chew, so expect the salty whipped butter. The anchovies with butter saltine was a strong sea unami slam. The Preflight Checklist tasted like the description. We got the Italian Fruit Cup, good stuff. The N/A Spritz was a elevated alternative of OJ. The N/A Negroni tasted like alcohol, so don't be surprised. Our bartender Sharon has great energy and...