Blue Water Taco Grill — Restaurant in Seattle

After lots of walking and sun at the Folklife Festival, we were looking forward to a sit-down meal indoors and thought the Blue Water Taco Grill inside the Armory sounded good. There's no table service, you place your order, then pick up the food in the opposite corner of the restaurant, along with self-serve utensils and napkins. We got nachos to share and two-orange margaritas.

We wouldn't go back. The "nachos" were warm (apparently microwaved) chips with gooey queso poured over, with a small mound of ground beef and some chopped tomatoes and onions, with little sides of sour cream, salsa, and guacamole, all served on a paper plate on a cafeteria tray. The margaritas ($11 each) were not individually mixed (served out of a big dispenser), and were served in flimsy disposable plastic cups. They presumably had tequila in them but honestly it could have been any kind of alcohol. It tasted a lot like spiked pink lemonade to me. (My husband called them "plastic margaritas" 😅.) We paid $38 for everything.

We sat at a picnic table (yes, indoors), but there were also regular tables and chairs available, as well as outdoor seating. It was essentially a fast food place in the guise of a restaurant. While we were glad to get out of the sun, and the meal did fill our stomachs, next time I'd choose to eat...

Everything was bland and unimpressive. The fountain drink machine was out of order and the entire self serve area where you fill your drinks and pick up napkins was an absolute disaster but the thing I found most disturbing is that they had their compost bins turned upside down so you could not use them. They had a giant trash can where all trash was being collected which would have been fine considering takeout containers, plates and utensils used inside city limits are supposed to be compostable. BUT since there was no other place for regular trash to go, it was all mixed together making composting impossible. I chose to carry all of my waste outside of their area and over to a compost bin provided by The Armory. The plus is that the prices are reasonable and there are lots of tables inside an air conditioned building. Will...

The layout is nice and confusing. I went to get a torta and the employees could barely hear me over the loud kitchen behind them. The employees working there did not look happy and no one looked me in the eye. The first server was distracted by her other employees who she was yelling at. The other employees didnt even try to help me finish the rest of my order. Then a gluten-free customer behind me demanded a clean bowl for her food which the manager thought necessary to push her through the line and ahead of me and 2 other customers waiting for service. I left because i felt ignored and i hate bad customer service. First time there and i will...