Off Alley — Restaurant in Seattle

We'd spent most of our trip to Seattle indulging in excellent seafood and asian cuisines. But I am, at my core, a guy that likes places that make food out of the parts a lot of people don't consider eating. Like blood sausage.

Anyway, Off Alley does this sort of thing as well as a lot more and I knew we needed to go, so we did.

The space is weird. The front half of the space is a long counter/table where everyone sits side by side and faces the wall (which makes it hard to see the chalkboard with the menu - so take a picture before you sit down!). And it is what I like to call 'Parisian seating' - where you are very, very elbows close to your neighboring diners. Not my favorite thing but I will forgive all of that because of the food.

The back half of the space is the kitchen - it is likely no wider than 10 feet (the whole space) - crazy!

The wine list and cocktails are all hand written in a notebook, but they have more so just tell them what you are looking for and they probably have something that fits. Their beverage markup is quite high (4x instead of 2-3x) - but I again forgive this because of the food (and service!).

The four guys that do it all, we met two of them (the chef owner and and the front of the house guy) - they did all of the serving too, were great at pacing things out and getting us anything we needed before we ourselves realized we needed something.

Now the food. THE FOOD!

1. Roasted escarole with a parmagiano tuille and we added anchovies to - So great. No parts, but little fishes! Delicious!

2. Blood sausage with apples and apple butter (to cut through the decadence of the dish). Let me just tell you, they got a fine and perfect crust on that blood sausage without ruining the rest of it - no small feat, that! And oh my gosh I could have eaten so much more of that. Incredible!!

3. Pig's feet and peach hand pie - Pig's feet are so under rated. And in the hands of someone that knows what they are doing, it is a treat. But all of this and the peach was encased in a glorious lard crusted dough - so crispy and good. Two 'parts' in this dish!

4. Chanterelle and wild boar pot pie - again with who knows what parts of the boar we got also underneath another exceptional hand made (likely with lard again) crust - this was Course of the Night (and we had a great line up to choose from!) - Wow. Just wow.

5. Foie Gras, Trotter cake and jam on house made English muffin, cut like a breakfast sandwich (the best you may have!) - Trotters and fois - more 'parts'!

6. Rye custard with pluot jam - nice not too sweet dessert to 'fill in the cracks' - this was wonderful. It could only be better if left to warm up for 15-20 minutes before digging in (but we were too impatient!). Delicious!

We opted for a mostly pinot noir wine from Alsace and it went with pretty much everything we ordered. Delicious. Tried an American whisky, but it was a big too angular for my tastes.

And there were other things to try - brains, rabbit kidneys and more - we will have to come back to Seattle just to go here again.

It may be an acquired taste, but I definitely recommend this place - especially folks who like a little adventure in their dining experiences and yes, if you like dining on the many 'parts' most folks do...

I had some delicious food at Off Alley last night. It's innovative and some of the bites were real standouts: the monk liver, the octopus balls, and the sauces for all of them are outstanding.

There are a couple of things I didn't love. First, I'm perplexed as to why restaurants in Seattle still have foie gras on the menu. Even if you are an avid carnivore, most people have ethical issues with how this food is procured. As far as I know, it's impossible to have it be cruelty- free, with some German innovations that are slow- going and called Foie Royale. Why have it when there are so many other foods to play with? I find it ironic when restaurants (and reviewers) focus on "locally- sourced", as they do with this restaurant, but have foie gras ice- cream on the menu.

Getting off my small soap- box, the food was wonderful, but the yelling of the orders and the small space isn't for everyone. I read that part of the vision is that people are bumping up against each other and making conversation. People were bumping up against each other, but no one was talking to each other outside their party. This is Seattle. The logistics of the row is not really conducive to that, anyway: the way you manage is to kind of keep your space with your partner fairly tight. T

The music was GREAT. The desserts were to-die- for. Oysters were luminous in their presentation.

The servers were solicitious, but I would say a touch "too". We were asked if we wanted another cocktail about five times, and after a while I almost felt that I had to explain myself as to why I didn't want another one (which I did-- saying we had a long drive home). There's a tipping point where asking a couple of times is appropriate and asking too much feels like you just want to ply us with more expensive booze. Finally, the monk liver on the menu was two big (four small) bites and $46. The waiter put the hard sell on it, and I don't regret getting it-- but it also one of those things where the pricey stuff is pushed a little bit too hard. They have to realize that that's a splurge item for most people. Given that, we would have loved some bread or something to sop up the juice. While waiters kept coming by to pick up the small plate and apologized, no one picked up on the fact that it would be nice and appropriate to give patrons some bread gratis in that case. The garlic knot that came a bit later was used for that, but it would have been nice to have asked us if we wanted a slice of bread.

Finally, there were surprisingly little vegetables on the menu. In fact, none, in terms of a stand- alone vegetable dish.

All in all, a special place, a little punk rock, food is delicious. I don't think I would be back because of the foie gras thing, but they are definitely artists in...

Dining at Off Alley was, regrettably, an exercise in enduring rather than enjoying. Cloaked in the veneer of a thoughtful, boundary-pushing establishment, this restaurant ultimately delivered a dining experience that was neither consistent, nor considered, nor remotely worth its staggering price point.

The menu, while ambitious in its language, failed to translate into anything approaching refined execution. Dishes arrived erratically prepared — proteins inconsistently cooked, vegetables either underdone or bordering on collapse, and flavor profiles that vacillated between timid and confused. The result was a parade of forgettable plates that lacked both cohesion and conviction. There was no sense of narrative or intention behind the food, just the tired impression of culinary theater without any real substance behind the curtain.

Perhaps most jarring was the sheer inconsistency, not only between courses, but even within the same dish served to multiple guests. One plate arrived tepid while another was nearly scalding; portions varied inexplicably. These are not the idiosyncrasies of an experimental kitchen — they are the marks of a restaurant that is, quite plainly, not paying attention.

For a place charging such audacious prices — some small plates creeping well into entrée territory without justification — the lack of precision is indefensible. One does not expect luxury for its own sake, but when the bill commands the same reverence as a Michelin-caliber establishment, it is fair to expect, at the very least, that the food be good. It was not.

Service was fine, but the ambiance — casual yet self-important — only amplified the disconnect. It is also worth noting: if Off Alley is unwilling to replace silverware after each course, the least it could do is serve food that distracts from such lapses in basic hospitality. Unfortunately, the culinary shortcomings only served to highlight them.

Dining out is not merely about sustenance; it is a tacit agreement between guest and host — one that demands care, consistency, and respect for both time and expense. On all three counts, Off Alley failed. Until a meaningful course correction is made, it cannot be...