Fuego Restaurant Lounge Ballard — Restaurant in Seattle

We were a large group celebrating a birthday, at least 20 people. We made a reservation in advance, and when we arrived, we started ordering drinks and appetizers. The first issue was with an Old Fashioned that tasted salty—literally, it had salt. Several of us tasted it to be sure it wasn’t just one person’s opinion, but it was clear they had mistakenly added salt instead of sugar. The waitress kindly replaced it, but the second time it arrived, the glass had less than half of the original drink. We had to ask for it to be corrected again, but by that point, the situation had become ridiculous.

Each dish came out with a long delay, so we couldn’t eat together. When one person’s food arrived, someone else had already finished eating. Some dishes were presented in a confusing manner. For example, a shrimp dish with rice and asparagus was served in three separate plates—shrimp on one, rice on another, and four asparagus on a long plate. It was very awkward to eat with everything in different dishes, and the shrimp were dry.

The Ribeye was served on a hot stone. We requested it medium, but were told that wasn’t an option. It arrived on the hot stone and, as expected, ended up overcooked and dry since it kept cooking on the plate. The dish was supposed to come with mashed potatoes, but they weren’t served until we asked for them, and again, they were presented in separate plates.

Later, when it was time for the dancing portion of the evening, we were moved to an upper area. We started dancing, and although we were almost the only ones there, the DJ was excellent, and the music was phenomenal. However, we had left our belongings in the VIP section assigned to us, and after a while, they told us we needed to remove our things because we hadn’t ordered any bottles, despite the fact that we were still ordering drinks and were nearly the only customers there.

Sadly, the whole group was left with a bad impression of the place. After poorly prepared food that almost no one ate, and constant mistakes from the bar, we really weren’t eager to return. I understand they recently opened and may still be figuring things out, but the quality of the food was very disappointing. At least the venue itself...

Very very overpriced for a very mid meal, they even got the order wrong..

Ordered the nachos, enchiladas, and Ribeye steak with only water and the price came out to $90 (with 18% tip).

To spend that much money I do expect the food to be pretty good, and the food wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good. The nachos were like bar nachos, the enchiladas were fine nothing special, and the steak was objectively bad. It wasn’t tender at all. The steak was supposed to come with mashed potatoes and they subbed it for fries which were also not great.

So I would not recommend this place at all. The drinks during happy hour (3-6) are only $7 so the only chance I have coming back is for that.

Service was kind and sweet. It was genuinely just very very overpriced food for...

I really love the atmosphere at this location. The interior design is very open, and I really appreciate that it is a historical building. When they have the doors open, you can eat outside and enjoy the nice air while you eat. My favorite item was the loca papusa. It was delicious. Great customer service, the staff was friendly and welcoming. They have a variety of foods to try, and we decided to try various menu items. My mom loved the trio fajitas, and my son really liked the chicken tamale. Definitely plan to come back here to try all the different papusas, and the mimosa was on point! Will be back with friends, and they have events at this location that include Djs or live...