Phoenecia — Restaurant in Seattle

Ever since the pandemic, it has been hard for many restaurants to stay afloat. When we found this place is open for dine in, we immediately jump on the opportunity. Plus, we haven’t had any Lebanese food before so we were both curious and excited to give it a try. Not to mention the history of this establishment we learned after our gastronomic dining experience was something that warms our heart.

We were warmly greeted and promptly seated after we arrived. This spot was previously occupied by different establishment in the past and but Phoenecia kept the elegant ambiance and it felt like we were in a quaint and fancy restaurant.

Jeff Fish our host, was charming and recommended a few dishes and answered our questions about items on the menu as we were unfamiliar with Lebanese cuisine. Frankly we had no idea what to order since everything just sounded amazing.

We finally settled with glazed honey carrots with goat cheese and pistachio, Tiger prawns with the beurre blanc sauce, and a main course of The Jewel of the Ocean the saffron rice (which I learned is one of the signature dishes that they served since they open over four decade ago). Then the anticipation started…

First came the carrots. It was perfectly roasted with the hint of the honey. The goat cheese gave the tang to balanced out the sweetness and pistachio a great contrast to the texture of the carrots.

Then the tiger prawn. They were cooked to perfection. Prawns were succulent and the velvety beurre blanc sauce paired well the slightly spiced arugula. We want more!

The star of the dish, the jewel of the ocean. All the scallops, prawns, clams were perfectly cook. The sauce was something that we haven’t tasted before. We assume it was going to be some version of cioppino but it was hands down much better. It was rich but not too seafoody. The aroma from the herbs and garlic is just superb. It goes extremely well with the saffron rice.

Something unplanned. We had the Baklava with ice cream. Once of the best Baklava we had. It was smooth where we found some others are a bit grainy from the ground pistachio. The surprise was in the ice cream. Spoiler here. The rose water is the prominent flavor. It was not overly perfumy and just enough for the pleasantly fragrance to harmoniously goes with the baklava.

Overall, we had amazing dishes and wonderful experience . We have had many high-end restaurants and this place easily rivals any of them. The dishes we had were just as they described, made to order and with love. It was satisfying till the last bite.

Next time we dine here, I want to find out more about the origin of their name...

I came here for the first time today at the invitation of an acquaintance. The car is street parking near the restaurant. And at the restaurant you need to wear a mask and show your vaccination card. It is cold near the entrance every time customers come and go. If you're cold, I recommended to sit in the back of the room. When I entered the restaurant, I was impressed by the wonderful atmosphere. Our reservation was at 5:45pm, after sooner full of customers. First we ordered Tiramisu Cocktail : Dark rum, espresso liqueur, Borsci amaro, mascarpone cheese, and coffee. Seasonal Cocktail called Champagne Revolution: Champagne, ginger, gin, lemon, prosecco. Both Cocktails are yummy and easy to drink. Small plate for Lamb Chop Lollipops: Grilled with fresh rosemary garlic butter. Manilla Clams: Steamed with garlic, herbs, white wine, and a touch of red sauce. Eggplant Lamb Ragu: Tender roasted eggplant topped with lamb ragu, mozzarella, and pine nuts. Fresh mozzarella, Roma tomatoes and basil nestled adtop fresh basil oil. *Three to four small plates would be the equivalent of one entree volume. So we chosen 2 entries for 4 people. One for Balsamic Braised Lamb Shank: Rich, balsamic-braised lamb shank is served with roasted potatoes and creamy garlic kale. Lamb was so tender and delicious. Highly recommend it. Second entry for Spaghetti Squash - vegetarian: Spaghetti squash sautéed with shallots, garlic and basil, served with with a robust tomato sauce, and topped with freshly grated pecorino cheese and sunflower seeds. Good taste. We ended up with Turkish coffees and Turkish Affogato: Turkish coffee poured over your choice of vanilla or rose ice cream. Add biscotti liqueur for an additional. Fiery Lamb and Chevre Pizza was taken home. All the food was delicious and I had a great time. Thank you for good service. We...

this was such a weird experience. my partner and i went here for a special occasion and made reservations. the ambiance of this place is very nice-but, that’s if you can block out the bartender and staff legitimately yelling at each other and fighting from across the restaurant 😭 i felt like i was in an episode of kitchen nightmares. we really hoped the food would be good too, it sincerely was so. bad. my pizza was so slimy with oil it made me have “bad mouth feel” as do me would say, though the sauce of the pizza was pretty okay. there was also a lot of raw flour still on the bottom of my pizza. my partners food was shockingly mediocre- the rice he had tasted like it had actually been contaminated with chemicals. chicken was so dry. it was also such a bland dish.

again, we were both dumbfounded, because we’ve walked past this restaurant so many times and said “man it looks fun to eat there!”. holy crud it was not! from the drama occurring so openly in the dining room, to the sub-par quality of the food, i think the only thing that we did like was the lemonade by the bartender that was yelling quite a bit. he makes a good lemonade.

also, every step of the process was a different server. one of the people who tried to talk to us and tell us that they appreciated us coming (i think they could tell we were quite unhappy with the circumstances), seemed genuinely inebriated while working. we were so uncomfortable especially feeling somewhat cornered at the end of our meal by a semi drunk looking server when it was so clear we wanted to leave!!

all and all thanks for the kitchen nightmare lol we...