Cheese Room Seattle — Restaurant in Seattle

This was by far the worst pasta dining experience that I have ever had. I’ve lived in Seattle a decade and this is the only bad review that I’ve ever felt the need to write, it was that bad. If you are looking for Italian go literally anywhere else on Capitol hill.

I got the Lobster Ravioli, it was literally vile. I wish I was joking, the smell of the plate when they brought it out was shocking, completely over powering, like week old fish left out on the table. The bisque was even worst, the under done corn soaked in bisque somehow managed to soak up the essence of old fish and exploded that flavor into your mouth, I was too scared of food poisoning to try the actual lobster. I lost my appetite after a single taste. My wife’s Manchego dish wasn’t nearly as bad, bordering on ok, but there was just something off about it, after 3 or 4 bites it became sickly sweet and sufficiently off putting that it didn’t feel worth the risk. Both of these dishes were over $20…

We got the grilled cheese as the starter, the soup was low key good, the toasted bread was good, but the cheese (at a place called the cheese room?) was somehow completely flavorless. It wasn’t “bad”, but it tasted like nothing? Condensed nothing-burger whipped cream? Of all the cheeses they could have picked at the “cheese room” how on earth was that what they decided was best?

The focaccia bread starter was free so it’s not fair to complain much, but it was the most uninspired focaccia I’ve ever had. Dry, unsalted, they gave us like a tablespoon of olive oil for 4 pieces, no balsamic vinegar, and it obviously ran out after the first piece. I’ve never left a piece of bread uneaten on the table haha, this was my first time.

The drinks were actually great, I would have gladly had 2-3. This review would have been 5 stars for drinks. The Italian Paloma was excellent, I was genuinely sad that the food was so bad that I only had a chance to have 1 drink before I needed to remove myself from the room.

This is such a shocking night and day difference from Machiavelli’s which had so many incredible pasta dishes in...

I was very excited to try this spot out as I’ve seen a few videos online with rave reviews, but unfortunately reality did not live up to the expectations.

I came in near the tail end of happy hour at around 5:30 and I was sat in the corner of the bar. The bartender seemed less than excited to be taking my order, and even moreso after declining his question if i was having anything else to drink (I don’t drink and there were no mocktails listed on the menu). I wouldn’t have mentioned this part if he wasn’t also snappy with the waitress who brought me the free house focaccia. After an honest mistake of almost setting the bread at the wrong seat, the bartender had given what felt like a lecture to the waitress, condescendingly reiterating which numbers refer to which seats in the bar area. As a server myself, I know the look of muted frustration that the waitress held back all too well.

So the food. The focaccia bread tasted stale and lacked any pockets of air near the top layer. I gave it a pass because it was free until I realized that it was going to have to accompany my starter, the tomato confit w/ burrata. the appetizer itself was probably the best part of the meal- the tomato had a good burst of juice and a pleasant acidity to it, and the pesto balanced the creaminess of the burrata well.

My main dish was the lobster ravioli. The pasta itself was decent- fresh made noodles housing a small dollop of camembert in the middle. The filling was mostly bland however, and i was disappointed to find out that there was no lobster in the actual pasta itself, only chunks smattered about the plate. The lobster had little taste to it and tougher than I like- and the lobster bisque tasted mostly of butter, I didnt pick up on much of the lemon chili oil at all. I also found small pieces of shell that made one of the larger chunks unpleasant and gritty to eat.

Overall I was disappointed with my visit and will probably not be coming back...

Went on a Thursday, early at 4. I get/understand that people can't do this early due to work, but something is nice getting into a breezy restaurant finished prepping to open where there's yet any other patrons. Mind you, by the time we left, under an hour later, it was half full. But being able to leisurely sit at the window on a sunny day was a nice date.

This place is great. When my partner said let's go to "the cheese room"... i didn't realize this was Italian. I enjoyed Machiavelli when it was there. I was happy nostalgic that another Italian place entered it. This place is owned by the same people of Meet Korean. Though we like that place, we tend to head south for Korean.

Here, our date night was under $100, which included two drinks, two appetizers, a shared main and a dessert. For today's economy, I feel that's a good date night.

The burrata (I've been on a burrata kick lately) was great. Didn't realize I needed peeled tomatoes ^.^. My partner had the eggplant appetizer, loved it. We had the pappardelle, which was nicely al dente. This dish seems like a simple idea, but it was thoughtfully prepared. As for drinks - I've not had a gin martini in a while. The drink menu said dry. It wasn't. But, the unexpected higher content vermouth paired well with the italian food. The negroni was better. i appreciated ending my drinking experience with that. But back to the food, here's the icing: the tiramisu was fresh. You know how you get tiramisu, expecting the squishy. It seems like they put a semi soaked ladyfinger, put whatever else goes into a tiramisu and then lavishly added that alcohol to the plating, then sprinkled the cocoa powder. The unexpected crunch with the still unabsorbed alcohol - It was great.

Oh, the plates are cute. We'll try to continue our early date nights here, when...