Daniel’s Broiler Downtown — Restaurant in Seattle

I’d like to try and make this as fair a review as I possibly can. I try to not read reviews of places before I go. That way I can experience a place for myself without any preconceived ideas.

The good The location was beautiful. All the staff were very friendly. A lot of care seems to have been taken to make sure that you’re dining in a pleasant environment (although there was a family with a baby that kept crying which did disturb the pleasant atmosphere at times but I can’t blame the restaurant in any way for that). The food itself was all wonderful. The steak strip app was brilliant. My partner ordered scampi for her main and said it was phenomenal taste wise. I really can’t complain to any degree the actual quality of the food. We ordered 3 deserts and each were lovely.

The bad. Perhaps it was due to it being late on a Thursday but we had some extended wait times it seems, and I don’t mean just waiting for the food once ordered but more just waiting to have our order taken at times.

The very bad. While the staff were very friendly there seemed to be a massive drive on getting you to order more. After ordering apps, mains and deserts and finishing my drinks and having been there about 90 minutes, it just felt a little too much sales techniques and not service because it’s quite frankly laughable to assume I’m wanting more at that point (I’ve never had that sales assumption made after deserts are eaten at any restaurant I can remember). I can’t remember the exact phrase used at the end but it was very close to ’so what else can we get started for you?’. My partner also remarked that she was asked a few times about getting extra drinks but she didn’t want them. I felt like service would be asking if I wanted to order more and not ‘assuming the sale’. Then there is the service charge. I understand the explanation that was on the menus but ultimately the cost of service should be incorporated into the charges of the food or at least just a flat fee and tips are based on service so you get to decide afterwards what you would leave. Naturally higher costs for quality of food means you’re leaving a higher service charge and it seems to have ruined the experience of what I’m used to from a server. It felt a lot more robotic and less friendly and which would ironically without a service charge have left a lower than 20% tip. Reading the explanation it mentioned commissions and that leads me to believe the push to buy more so they can make more money rather than genuinely caring about If you want more or not.

Overall It is a really beautiful place and the food is outstanding and the staff were very friendly. While the price of the food was high it’s understandable for the quality of the food but it does mean a higher level of service is expected when spending that amount of money. The servers it appears are driven by commissions (as noted on their menu that there is commissions included with the service charge) And the service charge being a mandatory 20% it elevates the standard you expect because 20% of the costs involved to eat here isn’t cheap. That really soured it for me. I don’t want to say I’ll never come back because I did love the food. But I might not if there’s still the service charge as that I feel drove the servers performance down and the only thing that went up was my cost.

5 for the food/location/friendliness 1 for the sales pushing/service charge/extended wait times

So I went down the middle...

I have been to Daniel's Broiler before and I really enjoyed their food. However, that was at the South Lake Union location. Unfortunately, I was super disappointed at the downtown location. My husband and I ordered a chowder, Daniel's cut fillet mignon and grilled swordfish. While the chowder was served very quickly, we had to wait quite long for the rest. Our waitress came twice to tell us that "it will be ready soon" and explained that this long wait was caused by my fillet mignon that I ordered well done. Quite frankly, I have never heard anything like that in any restaurant and I always order well done steaks. Finally, after about 45 minutes, my steak was served. It really was well done. It was VERY WELL done. Or I should probably say - it was overdone. It had a thick layer of black crust atop that looked very much like charcoal. It was not edible and in order to eat the rest of it, I had to cut that off. I am not a complainer or a picky customer, but that exceed my imagination. According to Daniel's Broiler's steak cooking guidelines, steaks are defined in the following way: "rare: red throughout, cool center | medium rare: red center, warm | medium: pink center | medium well: slightly pink center | well done: broiled throughout, no pink". I do not see anything in these guidelines about charcoal curst atop of well done steaks. If I knew about that different approach to grilling steaks, I would have considered a different meal or maybe different order of my steak. Unfortunately, we were in hurry as we were going for a concert that evening at Benaroya Hall and I did not have time to do what I should have done - return it to the kitchen. When we were done eating, a manger asked us how was everything. Apparently, he did not believe me as did not offer any remedy for that except for "contacting him on our next visit". Well, I am not sure if that would happen any time soon as paying about $100 for mashed potatoes served with a small chunk of meat is not what I consider the best way of dining out. PS. My chowder was very tasty. And my husband was satisfied with the swordfish.

Additional information: As soon as I received a response from the owner, I did what I was asked for - contacted by Facebook. I have never received any call/email/message from them. Apparently, this response was submitted to show in reviews that they handled that, while in reality they did not do...

I recently made reservations through the Hyatt Regency concierge for Daniel's Broiler Restaurant in downtown Seattle to celebrate my birthday. This was my first time at Daniel's Broiler, and while the food was good, my evening was marred.

First and foremost, the restaurant automatically adds a 20% Service Charge to the bill. This practice is extremely off-putting and feels like being bullied into tipping 20%. According to the bill, "A 20% service charge is included. 100% of this service charge is retained by Schwartz Brothers Restaurants. We strive to be an employer of choice and our servers are paid a base wage and a separate commission based on their sales. Additional gratuity is not expected and purely optional. If you have any questions please ask to speak with a member of management."

Despite this explanation, 20% is pushing it for a gratuity, which should be at the discretion of the guest. Forcing a 20% charge is a complete turn-off. There needs to be a sign or some way of communicating with guests BEFORE they dine at the restaurant so people can make an informed decision on whether they want to dine there. Had I known about this 20% default Service Charge, I never would have dined at Daniel's Broiler. This lack of transparency is unacceptable.

Additionally, after dinner, I needed to use the washroom, which is located on the 2nd floor of the hotel. To my astonishment, the sign on the washroom door indicated that a hotel room key is required for access. This is absolutely ridiculous! I had to go downstairs to the front lobby and ask for a key, only to be told that this policy is "for my safety." This is insane and highly inconvenient.

Due to these unpleasant experiences, I will not be returning to Daniel's Broiler or the Hyatt Regency. They need to be upfront about their Service Charge policy and reconsider their restrictive washroom access policy. Dining out should be a pleasant and hassle-free experience, not one filled with hidden fees and...