Reading through the reviews here, I decided to give Shuckers a try. Thankfully, I didn't base my decision on another diner's opinion of a strawberry daiquiri (really now, if that's your thing -- Red Robin must be on your list of favorites).
Shuckers is beautiful -- a little darker than we're used to -- but the hand carved rosewood walls are something to see. We went in through the street entrance -- and if it weren't for me reading about Shuckers here, I would never have realized it was part of the the Olympic Hotel. It very much had the feel of a free-standing restaurant. The manager stopped by a couple times to chat, and she explained that Shuckers has it's own kitchen with it's very own chef. Contrary to what another diner has written, the kitchen here runs independantly of the hotels main kitchen, which is located a couple stories above.
This was the best meal I've had in a while. Attentive service, freshly shucked -- delicious oysters. I complemented our server on how rare it is to have 2 dozen oysters and not one bit of shell in any of them -- he explained that 'Hector was working, the best Shucker in Seattle'.
We followed up our $1 happy-hour oysters with a warm-plate sampler: it had steamed clams, calamari, popcorn shrimp, and baked oysters which were all excellent -- my favorite was the Oyster Olympic: baked in the half-shell with tomato hollandaise, dungeness crab, onion, and I think I tasted a hint of bacon. We ordered a few more of the baked oysters -- this time trying the Rockefellers as well. Wow.
We wanted an entree, but were getting pretty full. We decided to split something and found they didn't mind if we got a little creative with the menu. We ordered the parmesan crusted halibut, but opted not to have the gazpacho pepe pasta preparation it normally came with. Instead, we asked if we could substitute the preparation that comes with the seared scallops: dungeness crab whipped potatoes, green beans, morel mushrooms, drizzled with a tomato butter sauce. We told the waiter our appetites were shrinking and we'd both be enjoying the 1 meal. To our surprise, it arrived as ordered and split onto 2 plates. A very nice touch that we weren't expecting. We've done this elsewhere and have often received one entree with a couple side plates to split it ourselves. This was the best halibut I've ever had. I'll definitely have the scallops after halibut season is over, just to get those crab whipped potatoes again.
We swore we could do no more, and asked for the check. Our waiter told us a fresh batch of hot fudge had just come off the stove. Neither my guest or myself could recall ever being offered a sundae with homemade hot fudge in a restaurant before -- we were weak :) It was so good, amazing thick warm fudge over vanilla bean ice cream topped with whipped cream and crumbled fudge cake.
If you're looking for a strawberry daiquiri, this might not be the place. If you want an excellent meal, great service, and the best fudge sundae you'll ever have -- this is your spot... read more