This review is for dinner on Nov. 20th at approximately 8:30PM.
After a 25 minutes wait, the hostess notified us that a table was ready and we are taken outside (OUTSIDE? it's mid-November!) and seated in an enclosed patio area with electric heaters trying, without success, to counter the frigid November weather. The people around us are literally eating with their jackets on. My inner dialog debates. Do I just bear it, and endure the cold or do I speak up?
I speak up, grabbing the hostess as she walks by and asking for a different table. She is gracious about it and brings us back to the waiting area. We are told it will only be a few minutes more. Five or ten minutes pass and she returns, telling us our table is ready. We are led to a table immediately on the inside part of the restaurant, only feet from the open doors that lead to the outside patio area.
I wince.
I explain that the table is still in an area of the restaurant that is way too cold and ask if we couldn't possibly be seated on the far side of the restaurant. The hostess is again gracious and we are again led back to the waiting area where another 10 minutes pass. My teenage son is so embarrassed by the behavior of his father that he can barely make eye contact with the world around him.
As we get settled in at our final table of the evening, a gregarious waiter welcomes us and explains that while he would love to be our waiter for the evening, he was just told to punch out. Nevertheless, he takes the time to introduce us to Eureka!'s extensive beer and whiskey menu and takes our order - a cider for me, a glass of wine for my wife and an ice tea for The Boy.
We start reviewing the menu and it looks promising with diverse options such as chicken, fish, steak and burgers, which evidently is their focus. Ultimately, however all three of us end up ordering burgers from our new waitperson. My wife orders the Eureka! burger medium well. My son order the Cowboy Burger, medium and I order the veggie burger. I also order a house salad and my son orders a side of sautéed broccoli. The waitress mentions it comes with red peppers and checks as to whether that is ok.
Yes, that is ok.
The food takes an unreasonably long time to arrive. I wasn't actually paying attention to the clock but it was easily 30 minutes-plus. Too long for just three burgers. At no time does anyone come by the table to check on us, apologize for the delay or see if we want another round of drinks.
Eventually our food is brought out by yet another new waitperson. My burger and my wife's burgers arrive followed by my salad! Five minutes later my son's burger arrives along with his broccoli. Seriously Eureka! It's not that difficult. Salad first, followed by all three burgers delivered together.
As for the food:
My wife's burger is burnt on the edges. Cooking a burger medium well should not entail burning a portion of it.
My son's burger is perfect and he demolishes it. The broccoli, however, not so much. We had been told it had red peppers, which we took to mean, you know, red peppers. What it actually had was red pepper flakes - an entirely different thing. The pepper flakes make the broccoli so spicy he is unable to eat it.
My veggie burger is mushy, flavorless and cold. It is quite simply one of the worst burgers I have ever eaten. I get through about two thirds of it. The rest has squished out onto my plate and looks like a blob of ingredients that just came out of a food processor. Honestly, I would have been much happier with a simple Gardenburger® patty.
Throughout all this our table is essentially ignored by our server. As we are completing our meal, our second waitperson passes by and without ever really stopping asks how everything was. I say it was very mediocre but she doesn't even hear me, just continuing to walk and responds with a smile and "great."
My wife and I look at each other and make that facial expression that universally means, "Let's get the hell outta here" and we are gone, never to return.
Health Department Report
I've decided to add records from the King County Department of Public Health to my restaurant reviews because most people don't even know these records are available. On June 12, 2015 Eureka! Received 30 points for two minor infractions regarding the handling of food. Source: http://1.usa.gov/1X9yrnP. read more