Toulouse Petit Kitchen & Lounge — Restaurant in Seattle

Unfortunately a strange experience that highlights bad decisions being made by management.

I booked a table for 5:15pm so that I could try the Three Course Pre Fixe for $47, and the happy hour. When I arrived I was told that the Pre Fixe menu is not available today (despite it being a Monday), even though I was not told this at time of booking, or anywhere on their website. I was also told the happy hour menu is only valid if you are sat in the bar area, not a table. Therefore it seems both the happy hour and Pre Fixe are some kind of scam to get you through the door and sat down.

I ordered the Rib Eye Steak Frites ($49), which the menu says is 9oz despite being the same price as the 10oz steaks in other parts of the menu. I also ordered a bibb lettuce side salad ($14).

The steak arrived on a sizzling cast iron hot plate. This is very problematic, as although I ordered the steak medium rare, it arrived completely well done and overcooked due to the hot plate continuing the cooking. This is a thin steak, so the hot plate just immediately overcooks it. Additionally this hot plate was splattering everywhere and resulted in my clothes smelling of fried food for the remainder of the evening.

Thankfully when I alerted the server about the steak being overcooked, they offered to get me a new one. They took away the steak but left me the fries (which were now going cold) until I explicitly asked for fresh fries too.

I then had a lovely discussion with the owner's son, who really helped elevate the service level. He recommended I have my steak served on a regular plate instead of a hot plate to prevent the issue again, which was a thoughtful suggestion. This guy seems to really 'get it' and should have a more forward position in the restaurant.

When my steak returned it was more medium-well than medium-rare but I was hungry so ate it. It was absolutely not medium-rare. The steak was fine but underseasoned. The demi sauce was really nice though, and without this the steak would have been bland.

The fries were lukewarm, overseasoned, and over salty. Also, my fries were served with 2x pots of aioli, and only once I told the server did they realise this was unintentional and replace one with ketchup. Fine, but I shouldn't have to ask.

The Bibb salad felt like a rip off at $14. It was tiny, and limp. Was literally like 2 bites of food. The mustard flavour was fine, but the whole thing just tasted sad and soggy, and didn't give the zing of freshness I was hoping for to cut through the steak.

The vibe in the restaurant was nice, but the table next to me were on their laptops on a Zoom meeting throughout the entire meal, which felt like it cheapened the experience. Usually I would expect a server to tell them that laptops cannot be used at dinner.

Overall I think there are problems at Toulouse and they need to focus more on the guest experience to elevate it to the...

We had a late lunch here yesterday. We were planning to do the happy hour that is advertised on their website as starting at 3:30. Got there shortly before 3 to have cocktails first. We were then informed that happy hour doesn't start until 4:30 even though their website says 3:30. (It's still on their website...I just checked.) If I was on my own, I would have had the cocktails and left, but my mom REALLY wanted to eat here. She was so excited, so fine...we stayed. It was not busy when we were there, but it still took about 15 minutes before anyone came over to help us. After that, the service was pretty fast and the waiter was nice, if not overly helpful. I had the shrimp creole and it was incredibly disappointing...woefully under-salted and under-seasoned. Broth didn't taste like much, the shrimp was overcooked, and it was served over crunchy under-seasoned Spanish rice. I hated it and was very annoyed that I was paying $30 for this. I had to drown the food in hot sauce, salt, and pepper to make it somewhat edible. My mom had the shrimp and grits and insisted it was amazing at the time, but she also ordered a side of the aforementioned Spanish rice because it was so soupy that she couldn't really distinguish the grits from the broth at all and also doused her food with hot sauce, salt, and pepper. This should not be necessary if the food was good, so I had my suspicions that she didn't actually like it. She also told me today that the shrimp was overcooked and that she was surprised it wasn't more flavorful, so I'm going to assume she didn't really like it and was just wish-thinking her way into an amazing meal. She's like that. Total for the meal was over $100....for lunch. When we left, I mentioned to the guy at the front that their website clearly states that they have daily happy hour at 3:30 and he was just like, "Oh sorry!" and that was that. I've been to New Orleans many times and have lived in the South. Nothing about my food experience was reminiscent of any food I've ever had in NO. I think if this food was served there they'd be laughed out of town. I did not like my food or the experience and I was pretty pissed off when we left...mostly with myself for not insisting that we just go to one of the many other good food options in Seattle and instead spent $100 for a trash lunch, but also with the too for having such garbage food. I know this review is mean, and I'm sorry, but the food we had was really not good and was way overpriced for what we received. I did not complain because we were told the kitchen was closing anyway, so it's not like we could get something else at that point anyway. And BTW, I wouldn't have been thrilled at the price, but wouldn't have minded as much if the food was delicious. It was not. I will...

"Service as warm as one candle"... We met old friends there last night, a late evening reservation. The interactions with our server were disjointed; in part due to him not being fully knowledgeable of their menu updates and needing to check on it for us (they were out - not a big deal), once more needing to double back to inform us of another menu item out of stock after our order (again, it happens), but neither time making an alternate menu item recommendation, nor acknowledging the inconveniences. Surprising lapses; the pregnant pauses caused by those near-unilateral communications were unwelcomed punctuations of our experience. We ordered a mixture of things to share and eat ourselves; I have a food allergy I informed him of, and accordingly used my best discretion in selecting my menu items. Because of my allergy I'm used to being the odd man out in dinners such as these & where others can sample each other's dishes more freely. Lo and behold, I needn't have worried - because I was informed they were a peanut free facility!... But not until after our first 2 courses were finished. It would have been really nice to have had the same opportunity to sample the dishes as my friends, because everything looked delicious. The coup de grace was when our checks were dropped & we were informed there was a 20% gratuity added (not the 5% listed on the menu), but not whether that was the restaurant's general policy, specifically to split checks, or otherwise... and mind you, we were a party of 4 that split a check 2 ways, right down the middle. We were then left waiting with our cards on the bill for 20+ minutes to wonder about it. I frankly don't much care if there is an auto-gratuity, but I've been trained & trained others to always communicate the "what" and the "why" of the gratuity at the time the check is presented. It's a matter of accountability & liability prevention.

I spent 15 years in the business: I tip 33-50% for good service, 30-25% for average, 20% for bad. And you'll see from my page, I rarely leave reviews because I know even well intentioned ones can cut both ways unintentionally. But I didn't feel I had another option in this case.

We likely won't be back - but it won't be for lack of ambiance or...