Flamingo Lounge — Restaurant in Seward

Husband and I used to visit Thorn's in the off season, when it's a bit colder, and a bit more local. We would get the Bucket of Butt, a steak sandwich, and Bailey's and coffee w/ whipped cream (so amazing on a dreary gray spring day.

This time I started with the White Russian, which is the new owner's nostalgic drink. Tasted like an average White Russian, nothing incredibly special about this drink other than it was served with an Oreo.

We ordered the Olives from the 'Bite' menu--I feel this would have been a great opportunity for the waiter to upsell with some bread. Received both red and green olives, red olives were sweet, green were more sour. I did not love the sweet olives, but husband did.

I ordered the Bucket of Butt--this is not the Thorn's recipe--but they were lightly battered, crunchy, and highlighted the freshness of the halibut. Overall, needed salt, lemon helped with a bit more flavor.

Husband ordered the $28 Steak Sandwich, as this was the closest thing to the old Thorn's steak sandwich. I would not order this again. The meat was like shoe leather, like you cooked a steak, sliced it (with the grain....) and then left it in hot au jus for too long. This seems like an easy dish to nail, and was a huge let down despite it being a seemingly highlighted menu item.

We also got a side of french fries--these actually saved the meal. They were well seasoned and crunchy.

The new/updated interior is definitely an upgrade. It feels quaint, but upscale--almost Parisian Cafe/bar. Glad they kept the padded bar theme.

Our waiter was green, we felt somewhat ignored, but he provided general service.

Not the piece of nostalgia we were looking for. We asked at one of the local bars if the Flamingo Lounge was as good as it was as Thorn's--he said 'No'. We tend to agree.

I do believe this place could be really great, standards for menu items, and training for staff would help this place be great EVERY time.

If I were a tourist--I would not be mad at the...

We had high hopes coming here for dinner. The beginning of our experience was great. Drinks were wonderful, server was nice, manager was nice and stopped by. Unfortunately the experience went sideways when it came to the food. I ordered a steak rare. It was delivered with ends being medium and middle being medium rare. I let the manager know, apologized for having to send it back, but unfortunately at those prices I just really wanted what I ordered. My husband and I were as kind as we could be, appreciated them taking it back to get fixed, didn’t mind changing the type of steak since they were out of what I originally ordered. The head chief delivered the new steak to me. My husband shook his hand and we both said thank you. Then the chief replied with “yeah. I looked at that steak and it was cooked perfectly.” I said the ends were definitely not rare. He replied: “yeah, but I can’t give you an uncooked steak. I have to cook it” I then ended the conversation and he walked away. I was also left without any utensils so couldn’t even cut into the new steak to check that one. We called the manager over again, explained what happened and that we’d like a box and the check at this point and no longer felt comfortable eating this meal. They did comp my steak, but followed it up with a “I really hope you don’t take it out on your server (whom didn’t once check on us during this ordeal)” another blow that we felt was uncalled for, since we were doing our best to make sure it was known that we weren’t upset with anyone except the chief.

TLDR: The customer is wrong, rare steaks won’t be served here. Don’t be a jerk after we completely mess up your meal and make sure you tip well.

Yikes. Very...

We had dinner at the Flamingo Lounge early Saturday night (we arrived about 5:15 PM). Our server was Lauren. We ordered the sourdough bread board and caesar salad. My wife and I split "The 28 Dollar Sandwich" with a side of Cremini Mushrooms. My son had the kids halibut and tator tots. We had the Apple Pie Nachos for dessert. We drank the local Tiehacker IPA from Stoney Creek. We have lived in Alaska for 2 1/2 years. We have travelled about a good deal and we currently reside here in Seward. The Flamingo Lounge was, without a doubt, our best dining experience since moving to Alaska. The food was made with fresh ingredients, our server, Lauren, was outstanding (as was the rest of the staff), and the atmosphere was wonderfully tacky and true to the history of this unique hole in the wall. Seriously, what a gem, open all year and right here in Seward (thank God). As I'm sure some folks that read this will attest, we almost always leave a restaurant feeling like we have been ripped off. We spend WAY too much money on terrible "food". This was not the case with the Flamingo Lounge. I was happy to pay the bill and tip our service. The food is a bit expensive, and it should be. We won't be dining at the Flamingo Lounge every week, but we WILL be dining there. We left stuffed (I can't remember the last time I ate until I just didn't want to eat anymore). All three of us were happy. THANK YOU Flamingo Lounge, Lauren, and staff. I highly...