The Pine Cone — Restaurant in University Place

TLDR but it is important.

Today our experience was less that desirable. We got greeted with: "I'll be with you in a minute." Once we got usher to our table the waitress placed the menus on the table and kept walking away, we could only assume that was the table we were supposed to sit at. We sat and waited for at least 10 minutes before she came back. Never acknowledged us before that. Her personality was non existent. She clearly did not want to, or perhaps she didn't know how to provide good customer service. When she came to our table without any greets or looking at us: " what do you want to order?" There's was no,: "hi welcome!, or how are ya'll doing tonight? " We ordered and asked for water to go with our drinks. She nodded and walked away. We had to ask her for water 2 more times before we got it. Every time we asked it was almost as we told her for the first time. She kept passing us and avoiding eye contact. When our appetizers came,she dropped them on the table and didn't say a thing. There was no: "enjoy, or can I get you all more soda? Water? Napkins? " Never asked if we needed a refill, our water glasses remained empty. With dinner, we asked for ranch, the staff passed our table many times and it was like we were not there. We never got the ranch, never got extra water, an my spouse never received his silverware (We did ask). In the end, we put the credit card on the table, it was bad... she grabbed it and walked away. Didn't ask if we liked the food, if we needed boxes, if we wanted dessert... It was not a busy place. There were 5 tables. Two of them were already eating. The other 2 had ordered by the looks of it, and of course there was us. Food was bland and the 'Ranchero' sauce was basically marinara sauce with Tabasco. The club sandwich had two strips of bacon and barely any Mayo or lettuce. The table looked and felt dirty. I am sad to know the pine cone is just that, it's name. The good service and delicious meals are in the past.

I hope your staff realizes that customers want to feel well treated. We dont go out to feel like we are some annoyance that needs to be dealt with. Please avoid giving us an excuse for the poor behavior of your staff. Apologies will not work either if their behavior does not change. It seems we are not the only ones experiencing this challenges. Good luck to you Mr.Steve. My family will not be returning. I rather keep the old memories than create new and...

We've come here several times from their soft open to now. We love this place! We originally hail from NY so diners feel like home - Pinecone is a modern twist to a familiar diner feel.

Food: My husband without fail gets their Corned Beef Hash - the hashbrowns are CRISPY and the corned beef has that perfect salty flavorful profile. The corned beef is generous (always hate when you're skimped on the good stuff). I have had their steak and eggs (featured), eggs benedict, chilaquiles, french onion soup and Croque Madame. Everything was delicious and giving you that warm tummy feeling you'd expect of diner fare.

Coffee: What - bottomless refills of Bluebeard Coffee?!?!?! Am I in heaven?!

Service: Specific shout out to Katrina/Kitchen staff this past Saturday AM. They went above and beyond for me in accommodating our order. We've had the pleasure of being served by the other two waitresses that were also on shift Saturday AM (Unfortunately I don't know their names). Service has always been very warm and friendly.

We'll be back again!

P.S. The reviews for this diner are crazy. It definitely feels like some people went in not understanding what the purpose of a soft opening is or going in with the mindset they weren't going to like it if it wasn't an exact replica of the previous cafe.

PSA - if you don't want to be part of the learning/growing a restaurant does during their soft opening - wait until they open for real. If the service is not to your liking - SAY SOMETHING. If something is not right with your order - say something to staff so they can actually do something about it. What staff do when there's a problem - that's where service REALLY shines.

Re-openings under new ownership are tough. Especially post COVID - prices for everything have skyrocketed. Business owners need to build a restaurant the way they know how to make it sustainable and something they enjoy...

This was my fourth time here. Everything prior to this visit was almost perfect. I order a lot for multiple meals/days when I come, most of these orders I’ll throw away. The hash browns in one order were undercooked (that celery feeling when a potato hasn’t been cooked properly), the home fries weren’t boiled enough (same water chestnut type feeling), the biscuits and gravy had near zero gravy compared to biscuit, and the chicken fried steak didn’t taste good. The service was fantastic as always, the Bloody Mary was super on point, just really?!? Service didn’t make up for the decline in food quality. I hope to change this review on next visit. Truly.

Addendum * In fairness they offered to comp the entire order. I feel obligated and proud of them to note that they own it when it happens. If you experience this, you should decline as no place is perfect and you gamble on the cook, the restaurant, and the order you make every time you go somewhere. You willingly take this risk, so don’t place the financial burden on a local restaurant.

Addendum ** the Cobb Salad says mixed greens. All “greens” in this are iceberg low nutrient lettuce, there is no mix. The blue cheese dressing is corporate level dead-stare-employee cafeteria type dressing. Nowhere near worth the cost.

I understand that we willingly gamble on the food we order, but after three visits here with no issues… now I’m angry this time. I simply don’t understand. I’ve wasted a lot of money for food I don’t want to eat. I declined the offer to void this order previously, I didn’t realize even the salad would suck. I would certainly accept that offer now. 😡😡😡

Do better Pine Cone! How do you mess up three meals!!! Especially after your previous successes?!? Literally had to try to this mess up this bad. I’ve tried to be gentle...