Oxbow Urban Kitchen — Restaurant in Sumner

Food, atmosphere and wait staff---this new kid on the block has all the angles covered to perfection. It's between fine dining and gourmet but laid back enough that you can come as you are. They offer true classic cocktails and craft cocktails and a decent wine list. Prices are mid to high range but worth what they ask. They offer main dining, bar and outdoor seating. The outdoor seating is an open air promenade that overlooks the Puyallup River and the Old Cannery Way Bridge. Parking is aplenty.

The menu is elevated, seasonal, and inventive without being pretentious. My wife ordered the Porcini Ravioli which includes charred winter squash, roasted fennel, kale, pecorino, Truffle Cream and shaved winter Truffle. I ordered the pan-seared anderson ranch lamb loin which came with healthy servings of harissa, charred vegetable hash, and minted greek yogurt (I love a good lamb with mint sauce over the usual drowning in garlic). All cooked to perfection (I wanted to keep taking spoons of my wife's truffle cream sauce which was to die for) They didn't miss a detail. I also ordered a half dozen oysters (tide flats I believe) which tasted somewhere between a shigoku and a kumomoto. The cups were small, deep and the meat was firm. Flavor profile was Nutty/buttery with hints of melon. They were shucked and defooted by the book with that ocean brine left in, zero struggle to shoot them and virtually no shell crunch from the shucking. They came on ice with lemon wedges and a classic mignonette sauce that would make Theophile Keiffer proud 😉.

To drink, my wife had a Chardonnay and I had a Gin and Tonic flight of which the star was the Empress Purple Gin and the Orange (I believe my friend said) Sevilla Tanqueray.

If you made it this far, my favorite part about this entire experience is that my wife has a Nightshade Allergy and they included an option to exclude them. Nightshades are vegetables/fruits/etc that are but not limited to: Tomatoes, Peppers (sweet and spicy), anything with capsicum so Paprika and Cayenne seasoning is out (the Harissa in my dish would be no good for her as well), eggplant, etc etc

This makes dining out difficult as we never want to go anywhere and be "those people" when ordering. So, my wife was surprised to see that while making a reservation they had an area to notate allergies with the usual options: Gluten, Dairy... Nuts---- and to her surprise----they had a Nightshade option! This really meant the world to come in and have what she ordered noted to exclude nightshades before our bottoms even hit the seats. Took the stress out of ordering and it was great to see her enjoy dining out at a nice restaurant and to be included.

This was a very thoughtful and conscientious touch.

Oxbow Urban Kitchen gets all 5 stars from the wife and I. We will be recommending this place to anyone we can.

In a city where Burgers, Taverns, Pizza and Breakfast Diner food rules the roost--this place is a breath of fresh air!

They also offer Fairweather Brunch with its own menu.

This restaurant is...

I watched the building go up and was excited to see a dining venue of this scale in Sumner. My wife and I have run up to Bellevue for our favorite restaurants of all time and hoped Oxbow could convince us to remain close to home.

We arrived before 5 pm and as soon as we walked in, I felt as though we were inferior as the host looked us down. He asked if we had a reservation and I said no. He provided options to dine inside or bar seating and I returned with dining. He then paused and offered an outside dining location but not next to the rail. He must have assumed we were going to dine at the bar as we walked in. Such a nice night last night we opted for the outdoor option. I was thankful. He showed us out to the patio, opened the door for us and we were left in front of him. It was clear which table we were going to, but generally the host leads you to the table. This made for a little awkward situation as we stood there for a pause, allowing him to lead us to the table. He sat us and said something to the effect of enjoy your meal kids... That didn't bother my wife much, but I kind of felt like I wasn't the type of guest he was looking for. Our server Rachel was extremely attentive and checked on us quite often. We really liked her, it was a little like she was wanting to let personality out but her training may have required her to be a little more reserved. We opted for the 12 oz ribeye, medium and medium rare, both with vegetables and a salad. Salad was acceptable, ribeye was overcooked in my opinion... Granted they were thinner steaks so getting it right is harder. My steak had a small amount of pink in the very center only, probably should have ordered rare. Vegetables were prepared well and cooked perfectly. The thing about the ribeye and vegetables were that the flavor was left to be all natural. I would have preferred some seasoning, a little sea salt or Himalayan would have gone a long way to increase the flavor profile. Wife and I opted for dessert and chose the strawberry rhubarb crisp. It had a scoop of strawberry ice cream in the center. The crisp itself didn't have that rhubarb tartness nor did it have that sweet strawberry flavor. It wasn't flavorful enough to even quantify what was missing or where it could improve. Maybe we didn't choose wisely from the menu, I have no doubt that there are better options here. My other thought is that since this restaurant is new, it will definitely have some things to work out as it matures. My wife and I enjoyed the outdoor seating and ambiance, that really made our evening. That is something that isn't recreated locally. Will we be back? Not immediately, I think we will give them some more time to grow...

Update - this years bday dinner was a little disappointing. Oysters, all crab dishes, pork chop all off. Bread 7.00 for a quarter loaf..not enough for the 4 at dinner. More bread? Another 7$. Food was good, Service great, but not a special meal anymore. Are they in trouble? 2024: Had birthday dinner here the other night, and the table couldn't have been more pleased with the whole experience. Greeted and seated as soon as we came in, we had a nice table downstairs. Upstairs was available and has some great views of the river, but this was convenient for us as one of our party is gait-impaired. First - as to others complaining about the noise - I've found this a problem in alot of modern higher end restaurant, both here and in other cities: design is hard-wood floors, hardwood ceiling, exposed pipes and ductwork for that industrial look, and LOTS of big windows. Beautiful but NOISY. I can live with it... As to our dinner - couldn't have been better. Our server, Katie, was wonderful - attentive, knowledgable, with great recommendations, and a fabulous friendly attitude! 6 stars if I could for service. Started off with cocktails and really enjoyed the "Sumner 77" a take on a French 75 that was light and refreshing. The Oxbow Fashioned was an interesting take on an old fashioned and also good. Starters were superb - we started with the BLT Steamed buns - generous slab of pork belly, tender and rich, on a steamed bun with a tomato and lemon jam or dressing - a delicious take on a Chinese pork bun, with really unique and wonderful flavor. Everyone raved about this one! The Oxbow Not-Wedge salad - split to share and still ample - got devoured! Everyone tried something different - The 14 oz Wagyu NewYork was perfectly prepared, with a nice sear and perfect medium rare, and topped with a bit of Blue Cheese on request. Perfect. The chef's special was a Beef Brisket, rich and fall apart tender with blistered green beans. Perfect again. The Brick Roasted Cornish hen was fabulous. My wife still can't stop talking about it, and the veg were superb as well. I got the best of all, the Hoisin braised Duck with pan sauce and asparagus, potatoes, and onions, all just right doneness and wonderfully flavorful! Skin was crispy and the duck was moist. All served with a really pleasant Pinot noir, Willamette valley, very reasonably priced. And desert was also a treat. Expresso Chocolate Mousse, salted caramel ice cream, and Port. And we met the chef! Best meal I've had in a long time, and again, our server Katie was a delite! She helped make this meal a very special occasion! Will be back,...