Secret Fort — Restaurant in Seattle

Secret Fort was quite underwhelming despite the hype it generated from word of mouth and social media. First, I have to admit the atmosphere they created, decorating a yakitori restaurant with 20th century Japanese magazine cutouts and retro video game memorabilia was tasteful and colorful.

But unfortunately that was the only thing I was impressed about this restaurant.

The food was mediocre at best. All of the food were underseasoned, with the except of the yaki-onigiri skewer which soaked most of the tare (sweet sauce) from the platter well. It was quite disappointing, even with the $15 for 5 skewer happy hour special ($3/piece) it felt overpriced. I would have loved for the cook to add more sear on the skewers to lock in the smoky flavor and more season so they did not taste like bland chicken meat. Salmon carpaccio did not taste fresh and I expected them to use fresh sashimi instead of something that was sitting in the fridge for a while.

Service was also lacking. I thought they would have nailed the service aspect after I got turned away because I tried to do a walk-in and the wait list was long back in November. But when I came back here with a reservation, things took a while. My drinks came out later than expected, after my appetizers and most of my skewers had come out. Given the amount of crowd Secret Fort brings in on a regular basis, I would expect them to be on top of their...

Making a reservation a week in advance is usually fine, but attempting a walk-in on the same day can lead to a long wait due to its apparent popularity. Sadly, I experienced a walk-in failure on my last visit. This time, having made a reservation in advance, I found the high tables uncomfortably narrow at the hip area, making it difficult to position my legs comfortably. The staff seemed sufficient in number but appeared inexperienced and inefficient in their duties. Unlike the yakitori place I previously attempted to visit, where prices ranged from $1.5 to $3, this had an average price of $4 per skewer. Fortunately, thanks to happy hour, I could enjoy skewers for $3 each which would originally be less than $5. Despite high expectations and the queue of waiting customers, the food was profoundly disappointing. I ordered a set of 5 skewers, anticipating the early arrival of 4 due to a mistake with one. However, I ended up waiting a long time to receive 4 cold skewers, missing one. These 4 skewers seemed undercooked, not properly grilled on the yakitori grill. Furthermore, we weren't allowed to dip our skewers in sauce ourselves. I opted for the tare sauce, but apart from the yakitori (and rice), there were hardly any sauce options, making it taste like I was eating everything almost raw. I definitely won't be returning and will opt for a different yakitori restaurant next time,...

Hi,

Many many problems - especially with their service.

First, they told us as soon as we entered that they are closing early tonight because they are having “a slow night”. If you don’t want to make moneys then go home.

Second, we ordered Toki Highball and both of the glasses were pretty CLEAR in the drink- can TOKI WHISKEY BE CLEAR? Should it not have some yellowish gold-ish color? - you tell me. There was significantly no taste or alcohol and it felt like quire literally two drops of whiskey. What am I paying for - sparkling water?

Third, we asked to change the drink or to add more whiskey and they said there would be an extra shot charge which is another $10 bucks and they didn’t care to change the drink for us. And did not even care to just cancel the order for us. Man sucky business. Please get your service right. It was the short girl doing the service.

Last, we also ordered two orders of a mochi bacon yakitori - and they failed to give us two. They gave us one.

Please remember that we are here for food and drinks but also for your service. Yummy food is good but I don’t want to order a highball that is clear in color (just like water) and tastes only like sparkling...