Salty's Seafood Grills - Seattle - 2006 (MOVED)

RATING (* for Poor to ***** for Excellent)

Food: ***
Service: ***
Ambience: *****
Value: ***








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Salty's Website

GENERAL

This place is ALL ABOUT VIEW. But, unlike those lousy Fisherman's Wharf establishments (yeah, that's they are - they are established there for no good reason), this place actually offers decent food and service.

Note - This review is only about the Alki Beach location. I've never been to the other ones.

FOOD

We went with a large group and had all sorts appetizers and entrees - and I would say that no one was disappointed. I was so overwhelmed by the view that I was prepared for the worst food I've ever had (since they are usually inversely correlated), BUT we were all pleasantly surprised. Pacific Northwest cuisine - which Salty's is supposed to be one of the restaurants that best represent it - is never my favorite, but if you can appreciate food from a kitchen that ran out of spices, you'd like the food here.

Seafood is the obvious pick here. We had halibut and salmon, and amazingly salmon is only half cooked - kind of like a medium-rare steak. My Asian tastebud loved it! No one ordered red meat - actually I can't even imagine having a thick juicy steak there.... Some order pasta and pizza and thought they are on the light side (no surprise there) and reasonably good.

SERVICE

It must be the 80% local / non-tourist crowd there - we actually didn't feel like we were treated as dumb foreign tourists (yup, the crowd was 99% white). I must say that the wait staff - for that matter the whole city - is a little too laid back for my taste and not real proactive in just about anything, including offering to make your wait outside a bit more bearable or filling your glass with water a bit more diligently.

AMBIENCE

Check out the picture above and tell me what would you score the ambience of this place. Inside is pretty nice too - just somewhat crowded and chaotic. The setting itself is already romantic - no need for too much decorations. I didn't appreciate the little decorations that they had - they're just too "steakhousism" for me - but they don't obstruct the view so they're fine. Afterall, they claim to be a seafood and steak kind of place so they can obviously decorate themselves like a steakhouse.

VALUE

If you are eating here regularly, like a neighborhood bistro, then the value is not so great. You can find a lot other places in Seattle that are cheaper but a whole lot better. If you are out to impress a date or just stopping by Seattle, then the value is actually not bad. One thing for sure is that for the combination of quality of food and view, the price tag is not bad at all.

BOTTOMLINE

This is typically not the kind of place I would review - but then again I should limit my selections to places in back alleys or inside malls. I should not discriminate against places with great view. That is one precious lesson learned from my Seattle trip.

LAST WORD

Just like most of the other restaurants that I've reviewed, this place gets VERY crowded very quickly. Prepare to wait - in rather crowded room and hallway, for a long time. If they tell you 1/2 hr, prepare for an one hour wait. Take a walk outside along the shoreline and enjoy the nice breeze. Also, going right before sunset is a good idea.