Cutters Crabhouse — Restaurant in Seattle

This may have been the best restaurant experience ever! First, a HUGE thank you to Ben, our server. He was hands-down the best server I've ever had in my many years of life. Personable, efficient, great recommendations, everything.

We got there early for our reservation because we wanted to have a drink and appetizer during Happy Hour. It was full but were eventually able to. JD was a great server there. I had the Old Fashioned, which was very good. My daughter had the Moscow Mule. Both were a pretty heavy pour so no skimping during Happy Hour! We ordered the Crab Hushpuppies. Probably the only not perfect thing was that while they were excellent Hushpuppies, you couldn't really taste crab.

Then on to our regular table. With Ben's recommendations, I ordered the Wedge Salad (so much lettuce I could not eat it all!). I don't usually love blue cheese dressing, but it was very good. I had the the Mussels appetizer as my main dish. Spicy Red Coconut Curry was outstanding! It definitely had a kick, so we had to order some bread, but very tasty. My daughter ordered the Caesar Salad with Coho Salmon. The best grilled Salmon ever. The technique for grilling was perfect and not overcooked. Too full for dessert!

Excellent experience!

UPDATE - Our second time dining. Again, a wonderful experience! These wait staff and hosts are nothing short of amazing in their service (especially Tayler and Brett)!

We had drinks and appetizer at Happy Hour. (Can only get Happy Hour in the bar area) This time we got the the Exotic Mojito and the Botanical Berry Mule. Both were delicious. I’m not a huge fan of flavored Mojitos, but the Passion Fruit and Mango purée added extra fruitiness without taking away the mojito flavors. The Mule was a bit tangy due to the large piece of candied ginger and was delightfully refreshing. We ordered the edamame- it was perfectly simple with just sea salt seasoning. Very nice.

We got our perfect window seat (Thank you Tayler!) for dinner. It is so hard to decide what to get at this restaurant- everything sounds amazing. Brett, our server was very helpful in helping us decide.

We started with the Wedge Salad (see my review above) and the new Torched Fig Salad. The Fig salad was huge, and there was a good amount of blue cheese crumbles and craisins. There were so many walnuts! There were fresh figs on the side of the plate and they went perfectly with the salad. The vanilla fig vinaigrette also complemented the lettuce and wasn’t heavy on the vanilla.

We also ordered the mussels (see my review above), because they are so perfect. I also ordered a glass of Chateau St Michele Dry Riesling (which is a local winery but I buy it in the stores in Florida - it’s THAT good). I can’t tell you how perfectly that paired with the mussels. The slightly sweet wine with the spicy red curry was a match made in heaven. Highly recommend.

We shared the Seafood Trio for main course. There were 4 pieces of Grilled Shrimp, 2 scallops and a decent sized piece of salmon. We substituted more veggies for the rice. There were several types of vegetables which was great. They were cooked but not mushy. The Salmon was perfectly cooked and not dry or over cooked (medium rare). The shrimp was grilled and nice - not much seasoned so it was all shrimp. The scallops were small and not terribly flavorful.

That was so much food we couldn’t eat dessert. This is a really consistently good...

Our family took a small/short vacation to Seattle since I’d never been before. We had done the general downtown/Pikes Place walk about and we’re hoping to get crab somewhere. Our toddler had just fallen asleep so we decided to go to Cutters since it was right there. We stopped in right before dinner rush. It was very clean and nice, all of the staff was great. Bret was our server and he was amazing! He was super personable, friendly, and patient. Right off the bat he inquired about any food allergies which I appreciated so much because I have tons, and have never been asked in my life at a restaurant if there are any allergies to be aware of. I typically read ahead on menus/websites to make sure it won’t be an issue for me but I was so grateful that they took the initiative to inquire to ensure we had a happy, healthy, and safe dining experience.

I’d never had crab before and he took the time to explain all the differences and how to eat it. We ordered a few different things like the crab sampler, swordfish, and lobster. We figured since we were there we might as well try it all. Everything was cooked amazingly and delicious. Our toddler woke up just as dinner rush was starting and was not very happy. Bret was so kind and in tune and brought them a little treat and really alleviated our first time parents traveling stress all while brightening our kiddos mood. We enjoyed the food and the view but honestly having such a great server/face to the restaurant is what made the experience what it was. Highly recommend and hope if you go you are taken care of by Bret also. We never had to ask for anything he was prompt and courteous and shared great information with us about the area and sights to see.

Everything was so good we forgot to even take any pictures after we tasted the crab, but everything we tried was good! We were a little worried when we walked in with a toddler, it was more upscale/refined than what we have at home but they definitely catered to the family customer base as well and have crayons and coloring menu/sheets for kids and took care of us amazingly. Very pleased with our dining...

Crab wasn’t fresh, smelled like ammonia. Decided to try this place based on its high ratings. It was my first time getting crab in maybe a decade and the first time ever for my partner. We got the crab sampler with King, Snow, and Dungeness crab legs. The King and Snow legs were fine though the shells were a bit rubbery, didn’t crack well, and had to be peeled which was something I hadn’t experienced before and seemed odd. My partner had the first bite of the Dungeness crab and said it tasted different than the others and not good. I smelled one of the legs and it smelled like ammonia. Until that point I had been smelling something that seemed like a pungent blue cheese and wasn’t aware that it was the crab legs closest to me. We asked our waiter if this was normal for Dungeness crab and learned that bad crab can smell like ammonia. Googled sources explain that this happens when the meat begins to decompose and bacteria starts to build up. We were offered some replacement crab but were too put off at that point and worried about potentially having to deal with food poisoning. To the restaurant’s credit, they offered us a free dessert and then discounted my partner’s glass of wine when we didn’t get dessert. We were also advised that it’s better to get a whole crab in the future instead of legs as those are taken live from the tank to ensure maximum freshness. Still, I’m quite disappointed in the overall approach considering the market price was high (e.g. a whole Dungeness crab in San Francisco at Scoma’s has always been delicious and is approx. $25 less than what they were offering it for at Cutter’s) for a not very filling meal that we were unable to finish, and our dinner was followed by a couple hours waiting to see if we might get sick or not. So far we are fine, but I’ve definitely been put off crab at the moment and I can still smell ammonia on my fingers despite having washed my hands...