The Attic at Salish Lodge — Restaurant in Snoqualmie

Update 8/8/19: This afternoon I had a great conversation with Gwynne the Director of Restaurants at Salish Lodge. She was apologetic for our experience, but more importantly she was able to explain to me the root of the issue and a solution for the future. I am very confident that it will not be something that is repeated in the future.

While the food was great - the service left much to be desired. Please understand this restaurant will NOT inform you that they do not split checks and they will not your split your check unless you are very persistent.

It is understandable that restaurants have certain policies - such as an automatic 20% gratuity added to a party of 6 or more. And those policies don't offend me when listed clearly on their menu/website as the The Attic has done. What we didn't hear about until the bill was quickly dropped off at your table is that this restaurant will refuse to split your bill. This would be fine if, again, they had it listed on their menu and/or website. But we called months in advance to make a reservation (which they do not take , but that is not really an issue as they do advise you that they do not take reservations) for a party of 10 - there was no comment on not splitting checks - as one might assume would happen with a large party. On the night we went (7/27/19) we went to the hostess stand and asked for a table for 9 and they put us on their waiting list and promptly informed us and seated us when our table was ready - with no word of not splitting checks. We all ordered, ate, and enjoyed our evening until our waitress, Melissa, quickly puts our bill onto the table and rushes away without a word...At that point we all looked at each other a bit confused. When our waitress came back several minutes later we asked that she split the bill and she informed us at this point that they cannot do that and someone should just pay for it and then we sort it out later. Considering the bill was rather significant this was an absurd statement and also ridiculous considering there is nothing to inform us that there is such a policy. There were also some members of the party staying at the hotel with packages that included dining credits to complicate things further. Melissa then went to the manager (who we thought was a hostess or food runner as she never came to address us even though she knew there was an issue at our table) to I assume inform her of our issue as they looked backed at our table and shrugged. When I asked our waitress to please clarify their check splitting policy she said "I'm too busy, I don't have time for this" and again left us increasingly confused. We tried to figure out our bill so we could tell them specifically what to charge each member but was unable to figure out the tax (when I asked Melissa what the sales tax was so we could split the bill among ourselves she seemed very confused and did not seem to understand what sales tax was) - because they tax the mandatory gratuity. After going to the front desk to complain TWICE the manager at The Attic finally came to our table with separate checks - told us all to circle what we ordered and provide our payments. We circled all our orders separately folded the receipts in half around our cards and wrote the corresponding names on the cards on the receipts...You would imagine this made things rather easy for them to charge. But alas multiple people in our party were charged multiple times. Some charges twice for the same dollar amount but one woman was charged three times - all differing amounts - one more than double the cost of her actual bill. It took us over 40 minutes to pay and leave this restaurant. I would also like to note that we ate at least 5 other places during our trip to Seattle and not one other place had an issue splitting the bill for us. If this restaurant cannot then they should inform large parties before or during their seating, perhaps even when they are ordering, maybe even when the bill is dropped off. But definitely not after the bill is dropped off and then only when the...

We had two great experiences at the Attic during a one night stay at the Salish Lodge (which we’d prefer to refer to as “The Great Northern”). It’s a cozy and comfortable space with some tables offering views of Snoqualmie (which we’d prefer to refer to as “Twin peaks”) Falls.

Our first stop was pre-dinner just for cocktails with friends who live locally. I had the “Dale Cooper” which is gin along with clove and cardamom infused Salish Lodge honey. (A lot of their menu items include honey they harvest themselves from their own bee hives) plus their own Dry Honey Cider and Lemon. It was delicious.

My wife and I returned that night to cap our night with their “Cherry Pie & Damn Good Coffee”. As Twin Peaks fans we had to have the pie at the near-by diner made famous in the TV show. That pie was disappointingly not very good…the pie here at the Attic though was among the best cherry pies we’ve ever had. It’s a mini-pie, served warm, and accompanied by coffee that was indeed, “Damn Good”…even the decaf which is what we had as it was later in the evening, past our personal allowable caffeine hour. I can only imagine if the decaf was this tasty, how good an earlier in the day cup of the real stuff would have been.

Your Twin Peaks fanmanship may require you to have pie at the other place (and the experience of doing so is good) BUT if you’re seeking a really really good cherry pie in town, you really should make a point of having it at the Attic at the Salish lodge.

We didn’t have a full meal here but the menu is full of items that would be appropriate for vegetarians including an Artisan Cheese plate (served with Salish Honey!), a unique grilled cheese (served with salish Honey Ale Spread), stone hearth pizzas and more.

There’s a full drink menu wit lots of locally sourced beer and wine.

Hopefully you’ll get lucky and get to sit by one of the window seats overlooking the falls.

Don’t...

UPDATE I: Everyone is entitled to an off day. On reflection, I believe that this is likely the reason why my initial opinion of The Attic at Salish Lodge was so poor. I've decided that it's absolutely worth another visit in order to know for sure. Would like to re-write my review changing the two stars to five. I've eaten at the Dining Room at Salish Lodge, and the experience was spectacular. Therefore, The Attic is going up for reconsideration. I'm especially hopeful that I will have a much better visit. I'm impressed that the owners saw and immediately reached out to me with concern over my first review. I respect that. There getting another shot and more stars for this alone. All too often, businesses fire back with sarcasm when a lackluster review is given (or they just do not care at all.) The fact that I experienced the polar opposite response makes me exceedingly hopeful that my initial review didn't represent The Attic at Salish Lodge fairly.

Original Review: I'm not going to mess with this, I'm just going to give it to you straight: The Attic at Salish Lodge is an insanely expensive place to eat and the quality of food served is so below the bar, it defies words. A party of four, we all ordered the same dish. The meatballs were burnt to the point of being unedible. It boggles the mind that anyone in the kitchen could put that on a plate to be served, or that the servers could see it and expect patrons to eat it. Even the servers should be looking at charred meat and know that it's not something to put before a patron. The noise level in The Attic is very bad. Not sure what it is about the acoustics in there, but it causes everyone to have to yell to be heard. It's more than a little annoying. If you have the choice to eat at The Attic or The Dining Room, opt for The Dining Room. Still expensive, but vastly better in food preparation and...