Elliott's Oyster House — Restaurant in Seattle

Server, William, fantastic. Everything he suggested was spot on. Cocktails, tasty. Oysters, delicious. View, top notch. However, when we arrived for our reservation, the hostess told us to wait for our name to be called. Our name was called, but another couple said, ‘that’s us’, and we watched as they gallivanted off to our table. My boyfriend and I looked at each other, weighing our options. It was fairly awkward, so we waited a little longer to ensure we were not the ones who had misheard. When a hostess kept repeating someone else’s name for a party of two and no one spoke up, we knew the other couple had taken our spot, purposely or accidentally. We spoke to the hostesses, asking if they had seated someone else under our reservation. Crickets. Confused looks. ‘No, that absolutely didn’t happen’. They continued to call ‘Party for Amy’ for several more minutes with no reply, consulted the papers, and exchanged a few covert glances. Once it was undeniably confirmed they had seated another party under our name, we were escorted outdoors and offered a table away from the water. Lo and behold, the couple who had claimed our reservation was basking in a primo spot down the pier by the water. My boyfriend politely inquired if our original seat had been offered to them in the kerfuffle, and the hostess said yes, without an apology. We asked if there was another table available at the end of the pier and she informed us the couple had acquired the only shaded table. Pretty much, she explained no one else would want to sit in that area because it was too sunny. She also launched into an explanation about her lack of responsibility in the whole situation. When a name is called and people nod and follow her, they get the table. I’m in the service industry myself, and I was fairly put off by the lack of acknowledgement. Sure, mistakes happen, but how about an apology or a smidgen of accountability? A tiny, itty, bitty, ‘Oops, we made a mistake. I’m so sorry,’ would have done wonders. Nope. It’s my understanding Elliot’s prides themselves upon a high level of service. Our first impression wasn’t particularly convincing of this renowned reputation. Anyhoo, my trust in the front of the house had waned at this point, so we decided to go to the end of the pier to determine if it was too sunny ourselves. Turns out, I was fine with the sun on my face, knowing it would shift as the evening progressed. My boyfriend sat with his back to the sun. The hostess shuffled off, still devoid of apologies. As we perused the menu, another table was seated nearby, and a gentleman in black magically appeared, scurried to the end of the dock, and maneuvered a giant umbrella shading all of the tables. Huh. Imagine that. Are the hostesses not aware of the gigantic, shading umbrella meant to accommodate the guests at the end of the pier, or do they just not care? Everything from that point went splendidly. William was a gem. I tried several beverages. His oyster suggestions were wonderful. The 20% service charge is frequently mentioned as tip on these reviews, but it’s clearly not. The staff here is ‘compensated according to commission’ by the company on sales. You can read about it on the website. I don’t particularly love this model. I don’t envy the waiters and waitresses having to explain this to every table. I certainly wouldn’t want to do it myself. I also don’t love that the tax is applied after the surcharge. Seems pretty over the top. Our bill was $300 for 2 people with the surcharge and taxes. Definitely a splurge. But, I did love the location, and William, who treated us amazingly, the food, the stunning sunset, and our date overall, despite the rocky start and surcharge, and I left an additional 20% tip on top of the total bill, including the surcharge. It was an occasion. Hopefully Elliot’s does a little work with the greeting crew, because first impressions can make or break an experience. Fortunately, in this case it didn’t break it. Hi...

My wife and I came here tonight ready to eat some delicious seafood. It was a relaxed Thursday night and the restaurant wasn't busy. Half of it wasn't even being seated to give you an idea.

We got seated promptly and our hostess was kind. Our waiter came after like 30 minutes to take our order- a busser or someone came to give us water. Absolutely a misgreet.

When he finally came, we said we wanted 6 oysters, and for two of them to be sweet. We gave him the liberty of letting him choose which oysters we got based off our taste preferences.

When they came out, there were 8- he added the two sweet oysters in addition to the six, instead of keeping the total at 6. We shrugged- maybe it was him trying to be slick and upsell us, maybe it was a genuine mistake. We figured they were $4-$4.50 each, so nbd.

He asked if we wanted drinks, and when we said water was fine, an obvious drop came over his face and he basically disappeared.

It took forever for our appetizers to come out... Two bowls of clam chowder & fried oysters. The chowder was... Fine. Light on the clams, but what do you expect in 2025 I guess. The fried oysters were under fried and a bit soggy inside the batter. Nowhere near as good as the fresh oysters.

We had to tell our waiter we were ready to order our entrees- he didn't ask lol. Another server ran our food and was more helpful than our actual server, even giving us silverware.

Finally after way too long, our entrees came out. We got the coconut mahi mahi and the sea bass cheek dishes.

We sent them both back. Neither one had any real flavor at all. The mahi mahi was over fried and the curry was the blandest curry I've had. Like not even mid- it was the flavor equivalent of a gray rainy Seattle day.

The sea bass cheek dish was equally uneventful on my palette. I took a couple bites and knew there was no way I could eat an entire dish of flavorless noodles and fish. Like the bass cheek might as well have been boiled in tap water. It was unseasoned and just tasted like fishy fish, no flavor profile at all, not even salt lmao.

We each only took two bites of these entrees- the second bite was just to confirm we weren't crazy and it actually was so bland.

We put our silverware down & it must've been at least ten minutes before our server came back to check on us. When he finally came back, he asked if we wanted anything else. We declined because we figured all the other dishes were similar, and everything was just taking too long. I mean we were there for an hour before we got our entrees...

We told him we had other plans and didn't have time to wait for more entrees. Then it took him about 10 more minutes to bring us our check, and like we said, it wasn't even busy!

For 8 oysters, two cups of chowder, a fried oysters appetizer, and a diet Pepsi, it came to $101.

Not worth the money AT ALL. The fresh oysters were the only thing we enjoyed.

We absolutely did not get our money's worth and the service was terrible- we saw our server literally just standing in a corner doing nothing most of the time, and we weren't even rude or demanding!

Would...

Grabbed dinner here with my sisters on Sunday night (Sept 7) around 7:30pm. Nothing went majorly wrong but the service did NOT justify the 20% service fee.

We were sitting outside. A staff came to give us water and he was super friendly. Shortly after our server came. We asked for lemon for our waters. He forgot. We asked for it again and he came back with them. We ordered our food.

The clam chowder came. It was too salty so I asked if we can send it back and he did.

We waited and eventually the rest of the food came: pan fried oysters, seafood pasta, Alaskan cod& chips. I like the seafood pasta and the pan fried oysters (but would prob order the oysters as an appy rather than the main because the potato and asparagus that came with this was mid). As for fish and chips the fries were good but the cod was just okay. The food was carried out by a female server. We then saw our server thank her for bringing the food out. The food wasn't hot, it wasn't cold, it was maybe warm. Probably forgotten? He was making his rounds with all the other tables but it was the bare minimum with ours.

He did ask if our food was okay and if we needed anything, but it felt like just a checklist.

The staff who filled our water at the beginning came around to top our water once but our own server didn't, until the end when I asked for more water. He filled my glass but didn't ask my sisters if they wanted any more even though their glasses were empty. I've never had this happen to me ever and I go out to eat a lot.

I asked for the bill and a takeout container. He remembered the bill but not the takeout container. He put the bill on the corner of the table furthest from me, which was so strange (my sisters went to the washroom so it was just me at the table). I had to reach over just to grab the bill because he didn't give the bill to me directly. Just like the lemon I had to ask for the takeout container twice - he apologized. It was slow by now but he still forgot, it was strange. You know when the vibes are off? I felt like an uninvited dinner guest at his home.

Overall vibe was that he didn't want to serve us. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was having a bad day but he was more than happy to check on his other tables.

Sometimes I find that if you don't order a drink some servers won't care as much about serving you. Lower bill, less tips I guess? I usually drink when I go out to eat but we had a far drive back home and opted out.

I dine out often in Vancouver, Canada, and would tip between 15-25%. I used to be a server too so I always pay attention at the service I'm getting and tip accordingly: interaction, table maintenance, remembering things when asked. I wished the staff who got us waters at the beginning was our server instead. Maybe it's the guaranteed service fee? FOH takes 12% and BOH takes 8%. I didn't tip on top because I thought 12% was already generous for the...