Paju — Restaurant in Seattle

Since the move it is a completely different restaurant from the Paju I enjoyed previously. The other location was where you would take your partner on a cozy date night. Now it’s where you take your cross-functional partners to wind down the workday over overpriced apps. There is no charm anymore. It was a rushed, impersonal, overpriced waste of time. Fortunately they rushed us so it was only a short amount of time.

We dropped in to catch an early dinner before a show. The restaurant was fairly empty but they packed us in with the two other tables, inches apart. Also next to the back door so people walked past us to get outside, blasting us with cold air. I watched workers stream out of the offices through the large glass windows. A Classic SLU experience.

As for the food we decided to order a few starters while we thought about the mains. The dishes came out rapidly, one at a time. The dishes were pulled away seconds after the plate was empty (even as I went to grab a small crumb). Because each dish is so small 3 dishes at a rapid fire pace meant we were wrapping up within 25 minutes of sitting down. $90 in 25 minutes.

We opted to go elsewhere for an actual meal.

The fried rice was the best part. Octopus was still good. Hamachi didnt have the same wow-factor as last time.

Previous review: 5/5 Had one of the best dinner experiences in a while. The service was fantastic! The prices were super reasonable, especially for Seattle! The favorite was the yellowtail dish. It was a unique blend of flavors (I could have sipped on the tomato consommé all day). The octopus was so tender, perfectly cooked. It was my dining partners favorite dish. Again the flavors were unique, unexpected and delicious. It paired really nicely with the Paju fried rice. Definitely get the fried rice. The ribeye bulgogi was good, didn’t taste the truffle, but felt like a dish you could get anywhere. I’d try the mushroom dish instead next time. For dessert we had the shaved ice. My only regret was not drinking tea with the shaved ice (it’s made with tea!). Also recommend trying the rice wine! Amazing experience! Menus weren’t labeled with dietary restrictions but the server was able to explain well. Also don’t think there are gluten free options. I’d call ahead, I think most dishes use soy sauce. Maybe the...

Paju is a great restaurant in Lower Queen Anne. I was excited to visit after being turned away during their lunch service because the kitchen fan was broken. I specifically visited for dinner on a Saturday night and was extremely impressed. The restaurant is pretty spartan in décor and there is a very slight haze from the kitchen but it’s a nice place overall. Most of the staff was great except one of the waitstaff was not very friendly and I heard conversations they had with other guests that seemed a bit rude. I’m glad the other waitstaff were the ones bringing the food to the table. When it comes to the food, I started off by ordering the endive salad, chicken wings, and squid ink fried rice. The endive salad was very impressive with the combo of endive, burrata, smoked vinaigrette, sliced grapes, and walnuts. It took a lot of expertise to come up with a combination that felt out of left-field but composed and balanced. The smoked vinaigrette dominated but the bitterness was balanced by the burrata and the ephemeral sweetness of the grapes. The grassy crunch of the endive leaves rounded it all out. The chicken wings were great as well. I haven’t had a lot of Korean chicken wings but these feel like some of the best around. The soy ginger was delicious albeit a little salty but the Korean sweet chili ones were great. Not very spicy but nicely seasoned with all flavors balanced. These two items came out very quickly which was nice. The squid fried rice followed soon after and it was amazing. The smoky bacon flavor was a main component and the grains of rice with their squid ink flavor made for a hearty meal. After seeing the tantalizing pancake I also placed an order for it - I was not disappointed. Korean seafood pancakes are one of my favorite things and Paju’s version is one of my favorites. It was generously topped with a brown sauce that tasted like katsu sauce as well as mayonnaise, possibly Kewpie but less umami flavor. The seafood pieces were large and the pancake crunchy and moist. The bonito flakes on top were a visual marvel as they wispily moved back and forth like little flames. The cost overall is a relative bargain considering the craft it takes to design and make the food. I am still thinking about those Paju dishes and hope to...

I got the octopus here, which sat in a light bed of buerre blanc (white butter sauce), with dashima (seaweed), yuja (fruit), and trout roe (eggs)

The quality of this dish was superb - everything from the plating, to the caliber of the sauce and freshness of the octopus. Starting with the octopus, it’s not something I’ve had many times before. The inside tastes a bit like lobster in that it has a slightly rubbery feel on the chewier side, but it was certainly cooked very well here. The outside & the skin, though, is what separates the octopus, in my opinion. Here, they did an excellent job retaining just bit of crispiness on the skin of the tentacles. The bumps and ridges present throughout the skin provide great texture that improves the dish a lot. The browning achieved on most parts of the skin is another testament to this

Moving onto the sauce placed under the octopus, I really liked this as well. I primarily felt like it was butter-forward, but I could definitely taste the lemon-y and citrus-y undertones of the yuja/yuzu as well, which was nice. The trout roe was interesting. It tasted a bit like pomegranate at first, with a much lighter mouthfeel than caviar I’ve had in the past. I definitely prefer caviar, but this roe wasn’t a bad addition to the sauce I did think the sauce as a whole was a fantastic complement to octopus and gave it a lot of extra flavor

I should probably talk about the price. This ended up being around $27 for me, just for the octopus. It’s not a lot of food. If you’re hungry, and just order this, you’re probably not going to be very full. I knew this going in, so I was fine with it, but it’s something to watch for. You might get more food ordering off the Share Plates rather than the Starters, or you could pay a lot more for the Mains. Alternatively, you could go with a bunch of people and share amongst yourselves. I do think paying this much for food that’s not going to fill you up does detract slightly from my score

Overall, I think this is a wonderful place with very high-quality food, but portion sizes keep it from getting a top-tier...