Heyday Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Seattle

You know the food the is great, and the staff, (other than the manager who I spoke to tonight), are great as well. That being said, I fear the manager who was on duty tonight may need a vacation or need to calm down a bit. I will explain why if you continue reading.

I have eaten at heyday, in the restaurant as it is close to my house and the food is pretty yummy. I have also ordered several times through door dash and haven't had a problem until today.

Today, I placed our typical delivery order, and unfortunately there was some kind of issue with the doordash app in which my order was marked as delivered when it wasn't. No big deal I thought, I will contact door dash and tell them what happened. Door dash did fix it, (or so I thought at the time), and I was offered a credit and told to reorder the dinner from Heyday again, which I did.

As I am waiting for my order to be delivered I received a phone call and was told that the manager wanted to speak with me. I was confused, I had no idea why the Heyday manager would want to speak to me. I waited for a few minutes for the manager to get on the phone, and when he did, he started yelling at me about how I needed to pay for both orders and said that I had placed two orders one after the other. I was startled and explained the situation. He thought he was speaking with a door dash rep, but was actually speaking to me, a customer. He was yelling and extremely rude. I felt bad for the delivery driver, who was a nice young man, as I could tell he had been through the ringer with this manager also. It was not the delivery driver's fault, nor my fault. Honestly the behavior of the manager was unprofessional even if he was speaking with door dash. I would hate to think that is how he treats his employees when he is upset.

After it was established that I was the customer, the manager continued to tell me that my order was sitting for 40 min, in which I responded that I didn't want cold food. At that time my roommate asked if he should go pick it up if it is such a big issue and took the phone and started speaking with him. I should also mention that the manager never apologized for being so rude and aggressive over the phone either.

Honestly this whole situation left a bad taste in my mouth. I do not want to support a restaurant that doesn't treat the people who work there or who are delivery drivers with respect.

I know people have bad days, and perhaps the manager was having a bad day, but I hope he will be kinder to people in the future, and maybe take a break instead of blowing his top when inconvenient situations arise. The phrase you get more with honey than vinegar is a good saying to remember, also treat people the way you want...

So, this place has been on my “to try” radar for a bit and finally the stars aligned for me to go.

First, let’s talk about atmosphere. There’s PLENTY of parking so don’t worry about that. The interior harkens to a typical PNW wood interior style. However, unlike the others it’s not super dark which means you can still see the menu and admire your food.

Second, let’s talk about the staff. When I went, I was the first one there so I was able to chat with the bartender. He was very nice and engaging enough without being overly talkative. After ordering my food, I was able to enjoy it for a nice amount of time which I loved! As I ate, others came in and were quickly sat.

Lastly, the food. I ordered a lingering special cocktail (Spicy Pineapple Margarita). After it was presented to me, I was in awe. It looked like a piece of artwork. So, I was eagerly ready for the food. I chose the Verde Burger with roasted Poblanos, hatch chile relish, queso and chipotle aioli on a 1/3 pound patty. Every single bite was pure bliss. The taste was a symphony of flavors. The tots were expertly cooked and while crispy, avoided the “tear apart the roof of your mouth” tots I’ve had at other places.

The only negative was that I personally felt the bun should have been toasted in order to hold up to some of the “wet” ingredients.

If you haven’t gone...

Atmosphere 4/5. Food 5/5. Service: 6/5. When you visit Heyday, expect to leave happy. Right from the get go, the first thing I noticed was the incredibly friendly servers. Like, what's going on here — is there something in the water — sort of friendly. Despite arriving at a busy dinner time by myself and taking up precious table space versus the bar, my server, Seiji, was probably the most authentically friendly and attentive server I've ever had. I ordered the Bacon Bleu burger with tots. The burger arrived with ambozola triple cream bleu cheese, in-house made "bacon jam" and secret sauce. The burger wasn't huge, but combined with the giant bowl of hot and delightfully crispy tator tots, I left stuffed and satisfied. Yes, the experience wasn't cheap, but you get what you pay for in terms of a very well made burger and especially exceptional service! Heyday is a hidden gem and I will most...