Greenlake Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Seattle

Was yelled at by the Manager on Duty before even being sat at a table.

Went here after a 5K at Greenlake because it looked kid-friendly and I had my baby with us. Waited ~5 minutes and had the hostess walk up and away from us 3 times without acknowledging us at all. Finally, I said we were wondering how long the wait was and she said she could seat us immediately, got a few menus and walked off again as I was collapsing the stroller. My friend and I were standing there, not sure what to do, and this conversation took place:

Me: Are we supposed to follow her?

Friend: I don’t know. I think she might be cleaning off the table? Who knows, she sucks.

(Sure, fine. Probably not the nicest thing to say out of context (you don’t know my friend or her tone—it was definitely not meant to be taken seriously), but to be fair, it was after we had been ignored and was part of a private conversation.)

Manager, who was standing a few feet from her: Or maybe we’re just busy.

(FYI, this 5K was highly publicized, so staffing should have been planned accordingly.)

Me: We’re just wondering where she went since she walked off again without saying anything.

Manager: Patience is a virtue. You could just wait.

Me: Patience has nothing to do with this. We’re happy to wait for a table. This is about communication. All she had to do was tell us to either go with her or wait here.

Mgr: Patience is a virtue. You’re being rude.

Me: Are you kidding me? We haven’t done anything. (To friend.) I don’t want to eat here anymore.

Mgr (At this point, he’s turned around, yelling at us as more people come in and gesturing with his hands, pointing at my friend in her face.): Good, get out! We don’t want you here anyway, you’re rude. You’re being rude. I heard what you said about my employee, so just get the hell out. Bye!

(The hostess had come back by now and looked mortified, apologized as we walked out.)

So, this is the example management sets for the staff and I’m sure you wouldn’t get any support if something were to go wrong during your experience. I guess I should be grateful… We left and went across the street to Shelter, where they were super kid-friendly, had delicious blackberry mimosas and biscuit bites, and we didn’t get...

Disclaimer: I hate that in todays review culture, people set their threshold for a restaurant worth trying at 4.5 stars or above. For one, google maps doesn’t allow half stars on individual reviews. For two, 4/5 is an objectively great review; imo only perfect restaurants should receive 5/5. But while I hesitate to call Greenlake Grill perfect, I however can’t think of any serious reasons to detract a star so in an effort to conform to the de facto rating paradigm, I rate this place a 5/5.

All that said, I had a solid 4.5 star experience at Greenlake Grill. But that requires some context. I ate alone, I walked there from my home a few blocks away on a beautiful warm Seattle summer evening, eager to investigate all the local haunts of my new neighborhood. Greenlake is not the center of culinary hype in Seattle, for better or worse.

The Neighborhood eatery seemed a little sparse on a Monday evening and it took a minute or two before I was attended to. I did however learn that they had a $6 margarita special for the whole month. I was seated outside on the patio per my request, and felt well taken care of in the process.

My waiter had a very kind demeanor about him. Asked if I wanted lemonade first which I found curious; I was very interested in the $6 margarita. It was perfectly fine for a house margarita and full size, despite the discount.

I ordered the Summer Gnocchi and neglected to add any extra protein. I gotta say I was really impressed when it came. The portion size was perfect (perhaps a bit small compared to classic American italian restaurant portions, but just right for the average person). The flavors were incredible. A simple dish but hit the right notes; a rich cream sauce balanced by a double helping of bright tartness from the roasted tomatoes and pickled radishes, rounded out by chopped snap peas and micro greens. It reminded me of a recipe out of the New York Times.

All said, I was impressed with my experience here at Greenlake Grill and I’m pleased to have it as a neighborhood joint.

Note: they sell beef-hide squares for your dog for $1.50, which if you have an anxious dog is a great way to keep them occupied while you dine. Love this idea and can’t wait to bring...

Very disappointed to have to leave such a terrible review here but feel people should be aware of the service and food to expect.

My family and I decided to try the brunch for a birthday meal for myself. I used to work at greenlake bar and grill years ago and had previously enjoyed the food, staff, and management there. I hoped since LBL was a sister company the transition would be smooth and painless. I must have been very wrong.

For starts we get there and the food takes forever to arrive. The only decent thing we got was the milkshake.

We watched as part of our party’s food dishes sat at the counter for over 20 minutes. And when the food finally came to the table every dish was cold. The hash tots/scrambled eggs were cold and the poached eggs were hard in the middle. We had to send every dish back because of this. The server took them and at one point took his finger shoved it into the poached egg that had been sitting out for over 20 minutes and arrogantly tells us “my fingers in the egg right now and it feels warm” as he vigorously pushed his finger into my sisters food. He left in a tizzy when we stated we had been watching to food sit at the counter for over 20 minutes and that it was not safe to eat or hot as he had claimed. Not to mention every other dish was cold or barely lukewarm.

Our secondary dishes come out, and my sisters “poached” eggs are hard boiled, and they had put a quarter of a serving of hash tots on my plate and hadn’t even melted the cheese on my biscuit dish. Not to mention the quality of the food was sub par, everything tasted burnt.

In an effort to correct their mistakes management took $30 off our bill, and likely reprimanded the egg poking employee for his behavior which lead him to come back around and create a sideways apology that was not genuine.

I am sad to say that I will not be trying Lunch Box Labratory on greenlake again. I enjoyed the south lake union spot before and might try them again but never will I return to the greenlake location after being treated like we were and having...