Tulio — Restaurant in Seattle

This review is based solely on the customer service, because we never made it to the actual food. We arrived the restaurant at around 11:45 AM on a Sunday; we were staying in Seattle for the weekend and took the one-block walk to Kimpton Hotel Vintage, from the sister hotel, Kimpton Hotel Monaco. The person at the seating podium let us know that it would be a 20-minute wait before we could be seated, even though the restaurant was only half-full. We thought this was a bit odd, but decided to take a look at the menu while we waited. A light bulb came on: why not just order take-out and take it back to our hotel room? I went to the podium, where the person was far too busy to acknowledge that I was standing there, waiting to speak with her; she was calling guests to confirm their holiday dinner reservations. Rather than helping me after she was finished with her phone call, she confirmed another dinner reservation. After she finished helping those whom she deemed more important, she finally looked up at me; I asked if we could do take out, and she curtly said, “No. We only have one cook in the back and we need to get the food out for all these larger parties before we can seat anyone else. You can do a take-out order in 15 minutes if you’d like.”

So, let me understand correctly… Tulio only has one cook to cover brunch on a holiday Sunday, which also happened to be a Seahawks game day, as a restaurant attached to a hotel?

The restaurant industry is one of the most, if not THE most, competitive industries; restaurants come and go, where success is not only based on the food, but what gives that restaurant the extra bump is the hospitality. Why would I spend my hard-earned money at a restaurant with staff who treats guests as inconveniences, when I can spend a comparable amount at another restaurant where the front of the house appreciates our business? Regulars not only return for the food, but also the servers; regulars are the ones who recommend the establishment to their friends and family, who then make their recommendations. I know this because I have worked the restaurant industry, both at the front and heart of the house. I doubt Tulio would be in business if it wasn’t attached to a hotel, another industry based on hospitality. This is the one thing that lady needs to learn, understand, and respect— it is the guests who fund your paycheck.

I am a Spire Elite member of the IHG hotel group; this is the first time I encountered this type of condescending, self-absorbed, indignant attitude of the first point of contact at the front of the house (restaurant or hotel), of all the hotels I have stayed in during my seven years of traveling for my employment.

Although we never had the chance to eat the food, based on the “hospitality” of Tulio, we’ll chance it at Olive Garden, where the front of the house will consider guests as, “We’re all family, here”… or will at least pretend...

Update: I went back in group of three with more time and had a lovely dinner. The booths are quieter and more spacious and we were able to have good conversation. Our server was helpful with food selection and the food was timed well. It did take us 2.5 hours, so I think you should allocate time accordingly. We shared the gnocchi, mushroom bruschetta, chicken, anoglotti, and asparagus. We didn't really care for the asparagus, but the chicken and bruschetta were very good, and the gnocchi and anoglotti were wonderful.

Original: Our food was good (some dishes better than others), but not amazing, and for the price we paid, I expect fine dining service and a table that isn't sandwiched between two service stations. It took us three minutes to be greeted by a host, another four to be visited by our server (we arrived promptly for a reservation I made a month prior). We told him we needed to leave and hour and twenty minutes later to make a show and opted to skip apps in interest of time. He was very absent throughout the meal, water glasses went dry, and our food wasn't even timed to come out all together. We finished our food and waited 10 minutes before he came by with a dessert menu ... 5 minutes before we said we had to leave. The restaurant was too loud for full-table conversation. I brought out-of-town guests here and am duly embarrassed.

We were a group of six and placed at a bad table but it seemed that there were better seating options for tables 4 and under. I remember some good meals here years in the past and recommend only coming on a weeknight in a party of 4 or fewer and with at least 2 hours to devote to dinner.

Our favorite dishes were the gnocchi appetizer, pork, and lamb. The halibut portion was small (could use more sides) and the oriechette was pretty one-note. The duckling was very good as well but not as good as I hoped. I missed the cracklings entirely and it was odd to me that the pear was so...

We are staying at the Hotel attached to the Restaurant, I’m giving two stars because I truthfully haven’t had the opportunity to experience the restaurant yet and we’ve heard nothing but great things about the hotel and restaurant… upon check in we were told that we could order room service from the restaurant and we could bill food to our room. I’m pregnant and was starving and tired from the long drive we had - my husband went down to order me a spaghetti because I was craving it and everything seemed okay, they took the order and said we’ll bring the food up when it’s ready. Seemed pretty straight forward. About 15 min later our room gets a call and woman on the phone says unfortunately we’re not associated to the hotel so we can’t charge the room you can bring cash if you’d like to continue with your order. My husband thinking okay sure, it’s only two dishes. He says how much is my total? She proceeds to say it’s going to be $105.00 plus an automatic 20% tip. He goes sorry could you repeat that? Thinking he heard incorrectly… so that’s $126 USD so $171 CAD for two orders of spaghetti?! She says yes, but I don’t have time to continue to go over these numbers with you. We’re very busy sir, so either you can bring us cash or I can cancel your order for you. He canceled cause that’s insane to charge $63USD each for two orders of SPAGHETTI!!! Also, the attitude on the lady who phoned was disgusting, we all work stressful jobs some more than others but it’s absolutely never OKAY to treat someone with so much disrespect and belittle them for asking questions, we don’t typically carry cash on us we use our CCs and when the hotel tells us it can be billed to room we expect that it will perhaps hotel and restaurant should communicate better… pretty...