Columbia Tower Club — Restaurant in Seattle

Tl;dr Solid food, frustratingly slow service (2hrs+ to get through the meal), hidden "service" charge.

We went to the Tower Club for a celebratory dinner on a Wednesday evening. Had a reservation and a plan to do the SRW menu. We were promptly seated, but that's where the promptness ended.

Drinks were ordered and arrived after a small wait. About 25 minutes after ordering our meals, our starters finally showed up. We ate quickly after waiting so long, and our plates were cleared for about 15 minutes before the server came to check on us. I ordered another drink. It took awhile to show up, then was nearly gone by the time our entrees showed up. That's because it was a full hour between starters and entrees. As soon as we finished mains, our server said she'd get the dessert out soon. It was cheesecake, so the assumption is it would be out in a few minutes since they only need to slice and garnish it. We even joked that it would probably still take 20 minutes for them to prep. That was not the case. It took close to 40 minutes for our dessert to come. And once it finally came, I had finished eating it before our server came by to ask how the dessert was tasting. There were so few touch points over the course of a more than two hour dinner that it felt like we kept getting forgotten about. And it wasn't a packed restaurant, by the time our dessert came we were one of 4 tables left.

If the kitchen is short staffed or there's been an error in preparing our meal, just let us know. But our server rarely checked on us between courses and our conversation kept turning to just how slooooow everything was, which really detracted from the experience.

On top of all this, once our check came, THAT is the moment our server let us know about the 20% service charge that apparently is not a gratuity. My question is this - WHAT SERVICE? Yes, they do mention it on the menu, but it's hidden down in the middle of a fine print paragraph at the bottom of the back page, not clearly stated anywhere or mentioned upon seating. If you're going to add such a high service charge rather than just charge more for your food, fine, be passive aggressive like that. But don't try to hide it from the customers, be honest about your business practices.

It was already an extremely disappointing experience, only made palatable by the views and the burrata. Ending with a surprise 20% add on for nothing left the worst taste in my mouth of all.

When we arrived, we kept commenting on how reasonably priced everything was and how maybe we should make this a monthly dinner spot. By the time we left, all we could talk about was how slow and disappointing the entire experience was.

For such an incredible location. I wish they would do better, but we had to remind ourselves that it's a restaurant in an office building, so maybe our expectations were just set too high for the reality of the restaurant.

I would only recommend coming here if you're trying to kill time and are able to expense the meal. Not a...

Our waiter here was great as well as the food! My feedback is for everything else that left us disappointed.

We attended a special event offered via Eventbrite for Valentine’s Day. I had high expectations for this since it touts itself as a premiere spot. However, from the moment we arrived, we experienced poor communication and treatment from the host and hostess, who rudely asked what we needed as we waited for acknowledgment. My partner had to remove his hat (dress code was not listed on the Eventbrite information) and we were reminded multiple times that it was a “members club” (which I had seen on the site). We were told that if I had read the website I would have seen that there was a dress code. I don’t expect to conduct a full research project to go to dinner. As an organizer, inviting non-members, it would be courtesy to let us know up front! How do you know what you don’t know, especially if you have never experienced such a place?

The menu, which was also not advertised with the event, was 50% shellfish which one of us could not consume, but the kitchen and waiter adjusted for graciously.

If the reception had been more friendly and welcoming, and the event flyer and ticket had been more informative, things could have gone better for us. I would not have purchased the tickets to begin with knowing that they were serving shellfish.

We also waited an hour for the first food item to come out. It was busy, but these were reserved seats and set menus so I would have expected better kitchen planning. There was also no live music in the Harvest Room.

I have been food service for years and would not talk to anyone in a condescending manner, whether they were...

The view is beautiful, the food is incredibly tasty, the events are fun, the staff is friendly, the drink selection is mediocre, (3 taps and a full bar) the prices are fair, so why the low rating?

HIDDEN FEES! I've never been hidden feed so much in my life, not even by Tickemaster. Upon joining my girlfriend and I noticed a $75 "Holiday Fund" as well as unexplained additional charges on almost every line of our first monthly bill. These charges were a 20% "Service Charge" on all food and beverage. You would think this charge would go to staff members, but 100% goes to the club, not its service people. This is illegal in some states, but in Washington it isn't as long as the club tells the customer in fine print where the money goes.

Another hidden fee comes when you want to pause your membership. Pausing comes with a monthly charge as well as a re-initiation fee. There are other hidden fees that I won't go into. A few months after joining we got tired of all these hidden charges and decided to quit. However, we continued to be billed for 2-3 months after we canceled. I had to call in to tell them to remove these charges. We quit in winter of 2016. It's now July 2016 and they just charged my credit card another $54. I will call them in the morning to see why. To join this club you must sign a contract locking you into all the club's hidden fees, rules, and stipulations. THE CONTRACT IS A TRAP!!! DO NOT SIGN IT! Visit the club if your friends have a membership but the contract just isn't worth it. I walked away months ago and this place is still giving me headaches and...