Smith Tower Observatory & Bar — Restaurant in Seattle

Prepare to be ghosted.

Upon getting out of the elevator, with 5 month old baby in my arms, we found a cool speakeasy style room with a million dollar view. This was quickly soured by the realization that seating was going to be a problem. Our party of four (plus the little one) was expected to duke it out like the wild west to find a seat. This would be a reasonable expectation at a local pub or your local McDonalds, but I paid $80 for the privilege of walking into the room.

The wait staff, helpless in the face of managements inability to respect their consumers, were clearly well practiced in the art of avoiding eye contact with new customers. I was ghosted by wait staff not five, but ten times. Finally after getting into an argument with an entitled little trust fund baby over a table, we decided to take our losses and find a better place in town.

To their credit the wait staff apologized, offered free admission for our next visit (we won't come back), and convinced a couple of two that had claimed a six person table to move. We enjoyed average food at obscene prices, and our first night in Seattle was over.

The wait staff are not the problem, they don't make these choices. The food is appropriately priced for the small number of tables and beautiful view.

The problem is the person who owns and operates this business. They don't respect their customers, and operate this tourist cash grab like a McDonald's in the sky. Any restaurant that cares about it's customers wouldn't make them fight for tables.

Solution: I'll do the managements job for them, since they are too ignorant or indifferent to do it themselves. Your museum is your waiting room. When someone buys a ticket up front, have the front desk call up the table size. This alerts the wait staff to incoming customers, and helps them put two people parties at two people tables. Saving six person tables for six person parties. The math isn't difficult, your wait staff are more capable than you are so let them do their jobs.

If the restaurant is full, thank waiting customers with a smile and offer some appetizers and a drink while they wait. Hint: This will earn you money that you deposit at the local bank, so you can spoil your entitled children, buy your wife some fresh Botox, and under pay the people who do the...

This is something we do everytime we're in town! It's so fun to go through the whole experience even if you've done it before! You get to learn a little about the history of rum runners in Seattle back in prohibition and a few other characters that lived in the area. You can also skip this whole part if it doesn't interest you or you can spend as much time as you like going through the exhibit, playing with the switchboard and walking the beautiful halls to the elevator that's an experience in itself!The elevator is the same one that's always been in that building so it's old and sometimes there even an elevator operator that will tell you even more historical facts.

Once you get up to the bar they have a "Wedding Chair" where you can take pictures if you want. There's a sliding glass door out to the observation deck that goes all the way around the building. It's completely fenced so you can't fall off or anything but my fear of heights keeps me pretty close to the door. It has some great views of Seattle which makes for the perfect selfie! The whole place is post worthy, honestly.

We usually just do drinks and appetizers bc I'm a picky eater and their menu is fairly small but we don't go to eat we go for the experience but I'm sure a lot of people would love what's on the menu. We usually go for the charcuterie board and an app with drinks. I'd love to be able to join one of their holiday events like Valentine's Day or New Year's Eve. I can't imagine a better place to celebrate or take a date! Want to really impress a girl? Take her here! She'll definitely...

I’m going to preface this review by saying I typically really like Smith Tower Observatory. Usually their service, food, and drinks are great.

That was not the case today—Mother’s Day 2024.

Smith Tower advertised a Mothers Day buffet brunch for $75 per person (our total for 4 people came out to $300). Having been a previous customer of the Observatory on more than one occasion I felt this would be a great experience for my family for Mother’s Day.

It was nothing more than a cash grab. A menu had been sent out 3 days ago detailing the food spread. 20% of the menu wasn’t there today. It wasn’t even replaced by other items to satisfy the warning that it was subject to change due to availability of certain items.” It was just a sad, small assortment of food. There was turkey sausage, eggs that had obviously been made from powder, watery grits, and fruit. Drinks were an additional $20 a pop on top of the $75 cost per head and you could only choose from 4 cocktails — no chance to ask for a mimosa or beer.

Service was nearly nonexistent and when asked about the missing food items the staff responded that they “didn’t know” and that “this is what we have.”

This was a poorly executed event and I’d be hard pressed to feel willing to return to the observatory again after this experience. It was like the Willy Wonka experience in the UK all over again. We feel grossly misled about the quality and quantity of food that had been advertised. I have no idea how anyone could stand there with a straight face and say that was worth...