Circa Grill & Alehouse — Restaurant in Seattle

This is a lovingly cared for mom and pop bar and grill. It is a family owned and operated establishment on the main strip in West Seattle. The rustic and quaint interior is beautifully adorned with artistic and flamboyant photographs taken by a well established photographer that just happens to be relative to the owner. Aside from the awesome gala of classic bar furnishings and wall art, the food is an amazing new-American mix of flavor and flair. I had ordered the New York pastrami on rye and the preparation and care they put to provide me with it was exceptional. The rye was deliciously toasted and the pastrami was meticulously layered with cheese between each fold of meat. The meal was topped with sour kraut and grilled to perfection so that when the large sandwich was sliced it oozed the cheesy goodness between each and every fold in the cross section. Not only was the sandwich amazing but the french fries on the side were to die for. The mixture of seasonings and herbs tossed together with the hearty crispy fried potatoes made my mouth water before I could dig in and with my first bite my tastebuds were doing somersaults. I could eat them by themselves but they were even better with an order of chipotle remoulade dipping sauce. They truly live by their name because my whole mouth was treated to a circa of flavors. This is what New-American food is. A mixing pot of brilliant but classic flavors with a new twist. I will gladly come back again to support such a pleasant and local treat. Your tastebuds will surely thank you for visiting.

-TLDR summary-

Local mom and pop bar & grill is artsy and serves the best Pastrami on rye in...

They ran out of several items on the menu. Which to a certain extent I understand but they were things really wanted to order and it was early in the evening. The waitress was argumentative when she made a suggestion regarding an item and I stated that it did not sound appetizing to me. She proceeded to argue with me stating the food there was excellent and every item was great. Appetizing versus good are two different issues. The bartender also bussed tables which caused our drink orders to be delayed. One of my table mates ordered the gnocchi - they did not receive bread with the meal which is a usual accompaniment. The food was alright no better or worse than any place else but the waitress's attitude was off. Maybe she had a rough night so I didn't say anything to make it worse. I just think that if a customer doesn't want a particular suggested item, she should just say okay and leave it at that. I usually give every place a good rating afterall, who doesn't like having food brought to them that they didn't cook, but I don't like individuals putting on their snark...

Dinner last night at Circa was absolutely great. My boyfriend and I went here for a date based on a recommendation from my friend and it was fantastic. We had a really great time.

We got there about 8pm and only had to wait about 5 minutes to get a table. The place is smaller than I imagined, but the atmosphere is great.

We both had the cider on tap (can't remember the name), which was very good. I had the butternut squash tacos and they were excellent. The mole sauce was super tasty and the entire combination of flavors exceeded 5 stars for me! My boyfriend had the halibut and chips and he really liked them. The fries were delicious - they sort of reminded us of Dick's fries, except larger and a bit fancier.

Our waitress was friendly and pleasant and checked in on us just the right amount of times. She even offered my boyfriend a free IPA since she poured it accidentally and didn't want it to go to waste. He happily accepted it.

Overall we had a great time here and left full and happy. I'd really like to come back to try the brunch - the food sounds...