We spent a few days in Seattle earlier this week. Our first night we went to dinner at Cafe Campagne, a casual French bistro near the Pike Street Market (I’ll post a review later). It was quite nice and we had a good dinner, but our experience there with two overtired and cranky children convinced us that we should get take out the rest of the time. Meanwhile, the girls and I (alone during the days) had lunch at ultra-casual places.
Monday we had lunch at The Rainforest Food Pavillon at the Seattle Zoo. Unfortunately the Zoo has not join the bandwagon of providing gourmet organic food to its patrons, so we had a very overpriced micro-baked pizza. It could have been worse.
For dinner we got take out from Bahn Thai, a moderately-priced Thai restaurant near our hotel. We had actually eaten here during our previous visit to Seattle and had liked the food then. This time we were a little less excited. The masamun curry ($9.25) was tasty albeit a bit on the spicy side (too spicy for our 3yo), but otherwise unremarkable. The gai yang (BBQ chicken – $9.25) managed to be both dry and undercooked at the same time. It was also a bit on the fatty side, but Mika, for whom we’d ordered it, liked it well enough. Finally, the “What a Feeling” combo of “chicken, pork, and beef sauteed with bamboo strips, basil, bell pepers, mushrooms, carrots, and onions in a hot spicy wine sauce” ($9.25) tasted like just another generic stir fry. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly noteworthy either. All that said, as the place is only half a block away from the hotel, I’d probably get take out from there again.
Tuesday the girls and I had lunch at the food court at the Seattle Center House. Mika had a slice of cheese pizza from Pizza Haven which was pretty good and somewhat reminded me of Blondie’s Pizza (perhaps the thick crust). I had an Old Fashioned Cheeseburger from Quincy’s Charbroiled Burgers ($5.50). It was pretty bad, the patty was thin, dry and tasteless and the burger tasted almost exclusively of the condiments. I’d definitely not eat there again.
I had a huge craving for pasta for dinner, but I could not find any Italian-American restaurant near our hotel. The Italian restaurants in Queen Anne all seemed to be semi-upscale and what I wanted was very downscale food. Finally we decided to order from Paggliaci Pizzeria, which delivered to our hotel. I got the Nonna’s Pasta, penne in a tomato/five-cheese sauce ($7). It was just OK and not a particularly large portion. I wouldn’t order it again. We also ordered a small cheese pizza for Mika, this had a medium to thin crust and it was actually quite good, we all enjoyed it. Mike had a calzone which he thought was good, but too liquid. In all, not a bad place to get dinner.
Finally, Wednesday I went to Pike Street Market and the Waterfront with the girls. There were many tempting places for lunch, but few that could accomodate a stroller and potentially loud kids. Finally I settled on The Fishermans Restaurant at Pier 57. The large, somewhat informal restaurant has two large dining sections on the pier, they both have waterviews though most tables are not at the water. The dining section was quite full, but the “cocktail & snacks section” was empty and we decided to sit there. Here pretty much all you can order are appetizers and drinks, I got the fish & chips (about $8.50 for 3 pieces) and a beer ($4). The fried fish was pretty good – though I’m convinced that fried fish is only remarkable when it’s bad. The fries were also unremarkable. Still, the location is hard to beat and I’d certainly come back here with my kids.
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