The Maple — Restaurant in Seattle

What drew us in was a review that said they have bottomless Bloody Marys...what other reason would you need to give a restaurant a try? Beyond the draw of Bottomless Bloodies there's the fact that they serve brunch. And I ask you: what goes better with Marys Eternal than some friggin brunch!? Nothing.

As I scan the menu I see some down-home comfort food options, though notably nothing fried (no chicken fried steak), and some other fun options, a few just bordering on being what I refer to as "Bistro", but not quite so pretentious. I ordered the biscuits and gravy, which is the next best thing to a country/chicken fried steak, and at first glimpse I was disappointed. It was gravy that had a consistency closer to sloppy joes than gravy, and it was on a whole wheat biscuit! Not. Cool. Also, it cost $2 to add eggs... er... egg. Also very not cool. I asked for the eggS over medium and they came over well. So right off the bat things are not looking good for this brunch, despite looking at it through Bloody Mary tinted shades.

It turns out that, though the yolk in the single $2 egg was cooked through and solid, it was otherwise cooked and seasoned almost perfectly. The side mashed/baked potatoes were somewhat bland by themselves, but came right to life with some salt, pepper, and a few more sips of the constant bloody companion. Ok, so two out of three isn't bad, but whole wheat biscuits? Srsly? I was instantly disabused of my notion that whole wheat biscuits would suck, and that the gravy was going to be a failure. Though not the best B&G I've ever had, it was absolutely the most unexpectedly adequate.

My wife ordered the Eggs Bennies, and was disappointed, but it was passable. In all fairness, we're completely spoiled for Eggs Benedict after we tried Tasty's recipe and felt we'd made the best ones we'd ever had. So, not mind blowing, but good enough to at least finish.

My five year old loves how I cook eggs (over medium) and got one of those, but her yolk was solid too. Again, yolks aside, they did a great job on the eggs otherwise. The sausage and bacon were delicious, I wish I'd ordered Sourdough toast because it's just so good, but overall it was a very pleasant meal.

The two waitresses were very nice in the authentic way that you don't get a whole lot, in fact, she only charged us for one bottomless bloody mary, and one regular, because I was the only one even trying to find a bottom. My wife did not bring her "A" game, but fortunately the waitress did, because those were really good bloody marys. A little tangy, a little salty, a little spicy, and very well balanced.

To summarize: after a 20% tip for the wonderful service, our bloody marys, two full breakfasts, and an assortment of eggs and sides for the little one, it cost $80 total. That's not what I'd planned to spend on brunch, but the beverage service really helps take the sting out of it.

Would I go back? Absolutely. Would I say it's worth the full $80? It's close. They need to nail the egg yolk, not make a single egg $2, keep punching up the recipes they're not strong at yet, and put some damn bacon somewhere on that bloody mary. That is what would make the difference between absolutely going back repeatedly and just kinda keeping it in mind in the event we happen to be in the area and not in the mood to try out another restaurant...

THIS IS THE WORST SERVICE I HAVE EVER GOTTEN!!! I was visiting family and was told that The Maple served Sunday brunch. I when I arrived the server told me that they just got slammed with a lot of people coming at the same time, yet I saw several empty tables. She asked me if I wanted to sit at a table. I told that I preferred a table. She said a table would be a 45 minute wait, so I opted for the bar on the implication that it would be faster. I ordered and sat with my orange juice, while the server staff came by and dropped and clanked their coffee pictures right next to me. It was so bad that I moved a few stools away to avoid any potential incidents. As I heard waited, I heard the servers complain about the chef and manager. All the while I was still waiting on my food. None of them approached me to give me an ETA on the food. This continued for 30, 40, and 50 minutes; still no food. After an hour the server gives me two eggs, which I didn’t order. She told me that they must have given my order to someone else. Either she was flat out lying or they were incredibly incompetent— I think both. I finally got up and left. AGAIN, THIS IS THE WORST SERVICE I HAVE...

I'm not a big fan of showing up to a restaurant, putting my name on a waiting list, and then being told that they have nowhere for you to wait other than outside and now it suddenly it's your problem..as if you should have planned ahead or known their fire code better. Seattle is obviously one of the rainiest and grayest cities in the nation. It is tone deaf to not have at the very least, a pop-up shelter waiting space for your guests. Also, if your guest requests a table, they are infact requesting a physical table not the bar. It should be the hosts responsibility to convey that they are in fact going to see you at the bar and not at a table before you wait 35 minutes. Especially when during the duration of those 35 minutes those bar seats have been open the entire time. It was also weird to be asked to scooch over from our original seats at the bar mid-meal to make room to accommodate others without any assistance from the staff whatsoever. The food was something I could have made it home, the bloody Mary was underwhelming, and the overall air and vibe of this place is really not it. It has pretty decor and the...