JOEY Southcenter — Restaurant in Tukwila

I'm a regular client at Joey's in turkwila. Every other Friday my family and I dine at that establishment. Our experience has been exceptional the last 30 times or so... except for yesterday 10/17/2025 at 7pm. I'm acquainted with the staff specifically the front desk hosts and servers because of our frequent visits . However on this day the hostess was new .. at least to my knowledge. She was super brash when checking us in ... almost dismissive . I requested a booth . She was abrupt stating i needed a reservation for that. I tried to explain that my son only prefers booths. She was quick to assert, again,booths were not available unless by reservation. Now that could be her "style" but I was taken aback because we have always been accorded amazing service by the ladies at the front desk and Mr Ryker who always goes beyond the call of duty to make sure we are well accommodated. I pretty much settled for whatever table would be available. She said we'd be texted . We stared at each for second . I was waiting for the offer of the customary champagne . It never came . Therefore I requested for it ...2 glasses of the bubbly. What she said next absolutely blew me away. I have to laugh about this ! She said they only serve 1 glass... implying I was requesting 2 drinks for myself! I was baffled. I told her,with a smile, it's for my wife. She didn't apologize . Rather she poured the champagne with a serious attitude. What's even funnier she literally poured what amounted to a sip!😂. I've no idea where this crazy attitude came from. I consider myself relatively polite. I seldom react to what might be considered rude behavior. This lady had a preconceived idea of who or what I was and acted out instinctively. She had concluded for some weird reason we weren't worthy customers or perhaps she associated us with a certain race or group of people that do not deserve to be treated with respect or decorum. I observed her interacting with ' other' groups at the reservation desk . Her demeanor was the complete opposite of what she meted out to me. I observed her offer champagne with a smile , fill the glasses halfway and just had this over the top aura. I paid particular attention to her while seated waiting for our table just to see whether my mind was playing tricks on me. That wasn't the case.Host Ryker finally sat us and we exchanged pleasantries as we always do. A couple of servers who have waited on us in the past also stopped by . Our server , ms Neveah was super pleasant..as are all the servers we've had in the past. Our meal consisted of 2 servings of Japanese Gyoza , 2 servings of fries , 2 servings of orange juice and 2 servings of Joey's 75 . Our bill came to $115 . Left a tip of $50 as is customary whenever we visit joeys. This hostess needs sensitivity training. I belive she has a baked in bias against certain groups of people either as a result of upbringing or has had a negative experience of sorts with this group. What attracts people to Joey's is the vibrant , exuberant atmosphere and the exceptional staff . My son loves that place like crazy. That's pretty much the reason we are regular customers. We chose not to paint that horrible encounter with a broad brush , and by doing so implicate the entire establishment. We saw it as an isolated incident and chose to have a great dining experience. And that was reflected in the 50% tip . I'm African by ethnicity...

10/16 UPDATE: Another successful visit! Made reservations and without a hitch our party of four was seated. Although, the music in the lounge was really loud so we asked to be relocated to the dining room and they accommodated us with no problem. Pictures below. 10/3 UPDATE: I have ordered delivery several times since during covid and even with 30-45 minutes delivery, the food is still delicious. Most recently, I ordered the nachos and apple pie. No picture for nachos because it is not nearly as presentable as in person. I've had the nachos in the restaurant a couple of times and they have changed it a bit and I have to say that I prefer the original version. In any case, I ordered it for delivery and while cold upon arrival, was still more than satisfying! The shredded chicken is most and boasting with flavor. Now the apple pie was good but I have no doubt is would have been amazing if I had it fresh. The vanilla bean ice cream is ridiculously smooth and just the right amount of sweet.

9/1 UPDATE: I was really impressed with how quickly Joey's responded to covid restrictions early on and the variety of to go options such as their Joey market items and the DIY Joey kits, which I will try one day. I recently tried the steak and sushi which was good, but not my favorite. The steak sat alone in a bowl of ponzu sauce which leaned a little more on the soy sauce. I always get the seared salmon sushi which I love and it was a fresh break from the saltiness of the ponzu sauce. If you're looking for something heartier, I recommend adding a wedge of garlic toast, the truffle fries or or salad...something that would offset the saltiness of the steak. The cronuts-like donuts are shareable but I recommend keeping the whole thing to yourself because it is that damn good, especially when you get a bit of the lemon curd AND the mascarpone cream all in one soft fluffy bite (omg). @Joey's, PLEASE ALSO CONSIDER THIS A DESPERATE PLEA FOR YOU TO BRING BACK THE KEY LIME PIE 🤤🤤🤤.

I come here often and have never had a dish I did not like. My absolutely favorite is the chicken parmesan. The chicken breast is sliced on the thinner side and delicately battered and fried. This dish is so perfectly balanced with flavors that the chicken and pasta sauce compliment without competing with each other. The potstickers, roasted chicken and nachos are also really good and their portions are perfect! The butter chicken is good but they skimp a little on the amount of chicken they give. The atmosphere is nice in both the dining area and the bar. They renovated in the last couple of years and did a great job, especially when they converted the lounge style seating in bar to both seating... makes eating off something higher than a coffee table much more comfortable. They offer a complimentary glass of bubbly after a certain time at the hostess stand when you first arrive. Haven't figured or if this is nightly though. The staff is friendly...

Joey does not care about their customers experiences and they will ignore your review if it doesn’t fit their agenda. Southcenter needs improvements instead of managers brushing incidents under the rug! On October 13, they gave us a horrible customer service late at night. I made that known ln my review on a different platform yesterday (October 15th) and suddenly they created a fake 5 star review on that same platform hours after mine , and responded to that fake review, and ignored my feview and family member’s review. Which is interesting because both, my family member and I, were disregarded, and forgotten while waiting for service at the restaurant AS WELL. The jokes write themselves. The waitress dropped off water and did not greet me at all, while my family member was in the bathroom. The waitress rushed away , and didn’t ask if I was ready to order, and didn’t say a Word! After waiting over 10 minutes for help, we had to flag down the front door hostess, and I mentioned to her how I was disappointed in the service. We go to Joey’s frequently, And have just came from a different location the night prior ( BELLEVUE). They treated us with respect and with great customer service in Bellevue. For some reason, the Southcenter location thinks that they are better than anyone Walking in… But those same rude employees will expect a handout aka TIP for terrible attitudes and service. There is a waitress that I like at this location, and she takes care of us, but I haven’t seen her since the middle of September! Her coworkers need to take notes! The hostess rang our order in (the waitress NEVER HELPED US ) And while we were waiting for our FOOD, the fire alarm went off and THE SPEAKERS asked everyone to evacuate!

My family and I both left reviews on a different platform, and of course these selective, and snooty individuals paid it dust, but responded to the FAKE positive review that suddenly appeared after my detailed complaint (yelp) .

This location has always been up & down, but they don’t value paying customers! Disappointing AND...