Lark Restaurant — Restaurant in Seattle

The restaurant is in a modern setting just on the edge of Seattle University's campus. Even though it was busy, each table is far enough apart to make it feel very intimate and to allow for easy conversation. The wait staff are quiet and unobtrusive, appearing at the right moment and leaving us to ourselves for the privacy of our meal.

To sum up it was a perfect setting and a wonderful feast of delightful food.

We began with lovely, warm, bread served with butter and lardo, this tasted lovely spread on the bread.

For starters I had seared foie gras served with a duck crackling cornbread, ruby port duck jus, brown butter figs. The liver was cooked perfectly, with the one edge seared and crisp, but with the rest soft and juicy. A delicious taste experience.

My partner opted to start with the Montana wagyu steak tartare which had capers, cornichons, aioli and crackers with it. He made his usual joke about it being 'a little undercooked'. The dish was very well seasoned. My partner became quite ecstatic about it. With its strong flavoured, nicely textured meat.

At Lark the Italian tradition of an antipasto, pasta and mains is maintained. So, we were offered an 'Il Secundo' (second) course. From this I choose the Octopus a la plancha with Bomba rice, Piquillo peppers, smoked jowl. The rich sauce, which I had seen crafted by hand in the kitchen just beside us, was delightful. It carried the strength of the octopus and added a whole new exciting flavour making it hard for me to decide if I liked the sauce or the octopus more. Though I think it was the combination of both that made it so perfect.

My partner opted for paccheri pasta which was served with a lamb and pork ragu, green garlic, dandelion and Parmigiano-Reggiano. The shape of the pasta allowed the ragu to flow over and through it, making it easy to eat. The seasoning of the dish was again superb, the ragu was rich, more pork flavoured than lamb flavoured, but very good. He will be looking out for dishes like this when he goes to an Italian elsewhere.

For mains (or thirds if you prefer) I had the Pork Belly this was crisp on the top and juicy below. It came with charred corn, mushroom, padron peppers, tomato aioli, chili vinaigrette and pepitas. While I love my meat the vegetables and sauce came as a great counterpoint to it, and were truly excellent in flavour and texture.

My partner's main was Crispy Duck Leg served with pozole verde, hominy, green chickpeas, spring onion and crispy radish. My partner would have liked a bit more crispiness in his duck. The meat was perfectly cooked and soft, but the skin was not as crisp as he would have liked. The sauce had a spiciness with it, making it feel warming and comfortable. The vegetables were crisp and delightful.

Even though we had eaten very well we thought we would ask to see the dessert menu and were both grateful that we did.

My partner ordered the blackberry sorbet with raspberry granita, shiso and matcha rice pudding. My partner loved the sharpness of the sorbet. Often berry sorbets are too sweet, but these were not. The rice pudding had good bite but was overall soft and comforting, just as rice puddings should be. My partner was not sure about the use of matcha in a rice pudding. It would have tasted nice enough without the introduction of the tea flavour.

I, to my delight, discovered the restaurant offered a selection of Cheese. I chose: Dinah’s Cheese, Vashon, WA - a silky, luscious rich cow’s cheese; Garrotxa, Catalonia – an earthy, strong, aromatic goat’s cheese and Forme d’Ambert, Auvergne, France – a rich, salty, blue cow’s cheese. Each was excellent, with my preference being for the strong, tasty French blue.

Lark provided excellent food and a delicious well-paced meal, with no rush or pressure...

Lark is a small fine dining restaurant in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. It is beautiful inside, with lots of wood. The atmosphere, as you might expect at a restaurant from a James Beard award winning chef, is serene and upscale.

The craft cocktails didn't appeal to me. I opted for a glass of rose wine. At $17, it is not cheap.

My companion and I both had the hamachi crudo. He asked for it to be spiced up, and they gladly accommodated his request. The fish was lovely, and the dish was very citrusy with preserved lemon, lemon oil, and green olives. It is served with thinly sliced fennel in the lemony dressy. For my taste, I found it a bit too sour, and it definitely overpowered the delicate fish. I ate the fennel and lemon as a salad, followed by the fish separately, and this gave the hamachi a chance to shine.

My companion was very happy with the elk dish, which was served as a chop and as a crepinette. The taste I had of the elk was surprisingly tough unfortunately.

I opted for the agnolotti. It was served with fresh spring peas, fiddlehead ferns, favs beans, and credenza cheese. Needless to say, the pasta was perfectly cooked, and the vegetables were the essence of spring. It was sauced in a very butter-rich, highly acidic sauce. While it was fine, I found it way too sour and it took away from the other ingredients. It was a pity, as I generally love "sour".

The desserts we had were sensational. I had the rhubarb galette. The pastry was flaky, and the filling was just the right level of sweetness. The blood orange sorbet was fantastic. I would love more of that.

The prices are steep. My pasta was the least expensive item on the menu, at $38. The portion size was fine, but by no means big. The elk chop was $56. The hamachi was $26. You expect this at a "fine-dining" restaurant, but it is definitely on the more expensive side.

The service was impeccable. The interior is beautiful. The food was fine, but not at the highest level I would expect from a restaurant with this...

I really wish I'd read the recent reviews more closely before coming here. We found Lark via some "best of Seattle" lists online, and were really excited to make it our "last night in town" outing. Arriving at the restaurant, it has a really great aesthetic, but the atmosphere was sadly the only real high point of the evening. The overall experience was below average among fine dining spots, and once price/value are considered, not worth it at all.

We had a round of cocktails to start, then the tasting menu and wine pairings. This should represent the pinnacle of what the restaurant is executing right now, but we left very disappointed.

1. We were barely into our cocktails when the first food course and its associated wines arrived. Not only does this crowd the table, it asks the guests, "hurry up & kill those $22 cocktails you just got" which is definitely not how a meal should start.

2. The server had to constantly reference notes for things like describing a special dish or a particular wine, which is really off-putting. At this level, the service staff should have everything memorized that might reasonably be described/discussed, especially for the set tasting menu.

3. Really spicy preparation on the halibut dish completely overpowered the fish itself. I finished not even really feeling like I'd had a seafood course. The dish wanted lamb for protein, not mild white fish.

4. Wine knowledge was lacking. Apparently the restaurant doesn't even have a dedicated somm & it really shows. On top of that, the pairings were pretty uninspired and appeared to be trying to get rid of unpopular bottles rather than show off the team's creativity in food/wine pairing.

There's more to say, but no one likes interminable online reviews. Overall, I agree completely with others here who have concluded "Not worth the price." At more than $650 for 2 people (incl tax & tip), the value is absolutely not there. Seattle has plenty of great restaurants - save your money &...