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(29 posts)

Anyone liking Table 35?

Started 2 years ago by villagegreen
Latest reply from JoB

villagegreen
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Just wondering if anyone has had a good experience? After reading the mostly poor reviews on Yelp and Urban Spoon, I'm already worried for them. Hope things are improving as I still plan to give them a try.

Posted 2 years ago #
JanS
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http://westseattleblog.com/forum/topic/has-anyone-been-to-table-35

Posted 2 years ago #
celeste17
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According to a restaurant reviewer you never review a restaurant on opening night. You should give a restaurant at least a month before you review to get all the kinks out.

Posted 2 years ago #
WSB
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Also read the home-page thread - a fair amount of "reviews" were posted following the story our reporter did on "soft open" night. Some negative comments, but some good ones too. Though we tend to cleave toward the "give 'em time" ourselves, too. :)

Posted 2 years ago #
villagegreen
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I read all the opening night (weekend) reviews. Just wondering if anyone's given them a try since then. I don't like to try a restaurant within a month of opening as it usually takes a while to work the kinks out, but it's usually the service that's the issue. The Yelp and Urban Spoon reviews, unfortunately, are mainly critical of the food (which I think is more toublesome). Sorry - guess I should wait a bit longer and then repost.

Posted 2 years ago #
rockhills
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Went tonight, just for a glass of wine and a snack. I had the worst chicken skewers I have ever had. I was unaware that it was possible to ruin something so simple. The waitress asked how they were, but then actually giggled when we told her they weren't very good.

Posted 2 years ago #
beachdrivegirl
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We tried it last night too. Only ordered off happy hour menu which had a great selection and prices. We tried prawns (not fried), hummus, tuna, crab cakes, and the medit. Salad. All but the salad were fantastic! We also gave them a try for dessert. We got a choc gelato thing. Tasty but seemed more like ice cream then gelato. Sorry to hear about the skewers-they sounded good. Hope to try the dinner menu soon.

Posted 2 years ago #
squareeyes
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1st time there I had a well drink which was very reasonably priced. Tried the french dip which was excellent and I'd happily order it again. Sat at the bar, was very crowded and bartender was slammed, so service slow at first, but improved.

2nd time there just had a couple of glasses of wine, also very reasonably priced. Sat at the bar, was quiet so excellent service.

3rd time there sat in the front area. I had a couple of glasses of wine and shared several happy hour apps. Walnut prawns were excellent, hummous was just okay and only served with one small pita - two or just a larger pita round would have been better, scallops were pretty good, and those awful awful chicken skewers mentioned above that just tasted like char. And yes, I did ask that the server pass on to the kitchen how bad the skewers were.

If you order a premium liquor, you might want to ask the price in advance. Someone next to me ordered two drinks made with a premium vodka and was charged $23. I later asked what the price of that particular vodka was and was told $8 per shot.

Posted 2 years ago #
JoB
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are these the same people who brought us bamboo grill?

Posted 2 years ago #
villagegreen
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they say no.

Posted 2 years ago #
JoB
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i'm not sure where i heard that rumor...

but my food experience at Bamboo Grill sounds a lot like what people are reporting at Table 35

i think there is a market in the junction for both families and what i would call the bar crowd... both happy hour and late...

so i hope they work out the kinks and it works...

Posted 2 years ago #
KBear
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I know where you heard that rumor.

Posted 2 years ago #
JoB
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KBear

i am betting your memory is better than mine :)

Posted 2 years ago #
k
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here's the link for the info on the management team. yes, it's the Bamboo folks. http://bit.ly/4ButVQ

Posted 2 years ago #
charlabob
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No it's not :-) This is the first comment about the article above:

Submitted by Table 35 Mgmt (not verified) on Wednesday, December 30th, 02:55pm.
To clarify, the management team is not the same at Bamboo Bar & Grill. We have no affiliation with Bamboo.

Thank you!

Table 35 Management

Posted 2 years ago #
beachdrivegirl
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why would they post that it is the same mgt team? nice work for a "news" organization.

Posted 2 years ago #
cjboffoli
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Good point beachdrivegirl. Methinks certain media outlets should forget the half-hearted attempts at micro-local coverage stick to their televised talking heads.

Posted 2 years ago #
JoB
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is it possible they are splitting hairs?
that these are the same folks that came up with the concept for Bamboo Grill?

or did KOMO just get it wrong?

i think i might want to know the answer to that one.

Posted 2 years ago #
JanS
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from WSB last Nov. - 2nd comment..

http://westseattleblog.com/2009/11/updates-new-restaurant-name-admiral-safeway-permit-filings

the KOMO article...is dated Dec. 27.....maybe they simply read this and took their info from that comment? It states that YOW LLC is the entity name for both places, although I ca't seem to find any business info for Yow online. And the name of the governing people are the same. So...either Licensing made a mistake or there is SOME kind of connection, even if maybe in the past. It's very curious...

Posted 2 years ago #
Sue
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I looked up info today on the Secretary of State and Department of Revenue sites. The restaurants have 2 different corporate owners (Yow LLC and Margaritaville Inc.) and the contact persons are different - one in Bellevue, one in Seattle.

Posted 2 years ago #
MargL
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Then the Washington State Business license database must be wrong... Because when I go to this site
https://fortress.wa.gov/dol/dolprod/bpdLicenseQuery/ and search for Yow LLC I see listings for both Table 35 and Bamboo Grill with Yaser Faour as the contact for both.
When I search for Margaritaville I do see Bamboo Grill with a different contact name so maybe Bamboo was sold and the record wasn't updated?

Posted 2 years ago #
Diane
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wow, great bunch of investigative reporting, and yet, the mystery continues....funny, and weird

Posted 2 years ago #
Sue
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Well, at least we can see where the confusion is, when the various records aren't in sync. Personally, I'd end up going with the owners of Table 35 who actually said they weren't the same owners.

Posted 2 years ago #
christopherboffoli
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So after all the sturm und drang in the past month, with people making declarations about never going back, I finally went in to Table 35 tonight to try it for myself. We ordered about seven different plates from the happy hour menu. And I have to say that my experience was not at all reflective of the poor reviews I read if this restaurant's opening days. Absolutely everything we had was well-conceived and competently prepared. The service was professional, efficient and low key.

While admittedly none of the dishes caused my socks to go flying off, I would have a hard time finding fault with anything we had. Table 35 is decidedly not a new "destination" restaurant for West Seattle. And I could have done without the televisions constantly beaming sports to every corner of the place. But it is pretty nearly what I expected.

For any who made up their minds after visiting the place five minutes after they opened, you might want to take another look. I suspect that they've worked out the kinks and the way they are operating now is probably closer to the standard that the owners intended.

Posted 2 years ago #
squareeyes
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Had my fourth visit to Table 35 on Friday. We had dinner in the restaurant side. Both lounge and restaurant were packed. I tried the tofu in cashew/yogurt curry which was very tasty. Companion had the salmon which he said was cooked perfectly. Service was very attentive. It seems like they're working out the teething pains.

Posted 2 years ago #
nuni
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First of let me say we really wanted to like this place.

Hubby and I went to try it out last night. We ordered the honey walnut prawns and calamari as apps and I got the tri tip sandwich and he had the burger. We thought the food was alright and gave it a 3 out of 5 stars.

Later that night around 8pm I started to feel very full and nauseated. The feeling just would NOT subside so finally at 1:30AM I had to make myself throw up because I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't. I had to do that a couple of times for the feeling to subside.

Woke up a few minutes ago to the sounds of my husband throwing up downstairs. He said he'd been up since 4am and threw up 3 times among other symptoms. He says he feels better now.

I'll be calling the hotline.

Posted 2 years ago #
charlabob
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Interesting, nuni -- we went there last Friday for the first time and had two appetizers, including the calamari -- which we both love almost everywhere. I had a couple of bites and said, "This doesn't taste right -- I think we should stop eating it." Bob did -- we finished whatever other appetizer we ordered, and went home to cook and eat Swinery food.

The point: When the server asked how everything was, I nicely and jokily told her the truth. Figured they were new and they'd want to know. I said the calamari seemed off (which is why she was getting a plate full to take back.) AND that the drinks were weak (the house special Cosmo for 9 bucks seemed particularly alcohol-deficient.

When the people at the door asked how everything was we both said, "eh!" They did not even act interested -- They all smiled and said, "Hope to see you again soon."

I was not mean about it -- or rude; we love eating out and we love West Seattle restaurants and, if anything, we're too forgiving. If someone told me the food tasted funny and the drinks were weak and I was starting a new enterprise, I'd, gee, comp the drinks, ask if they wouldn't like to try something else ....feign interest.

This was EARLY Friday before they were crowded (if they get crowded) so they weren't all busy.

I'm actually sorry they didn't ask--and I'm especially sorry you guys had such a bad night.

Posted 2 years ago #
JanS
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sounds like they need to start reading this forum thread. There is nothing in these reviews that makes me even want to step foot in this place, let alone taste the food. It makes me wonder why they left their last location on the eastside. If they care so little about their customers, why should we care about their restaurant. We all had such high hopes.

Posted 2 years ago #
JoB
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one the other hand... i spoke with someone whose food sense i trust... who took out of town guests there a week or two ago and had nothing but good things to say about the place...

the televisions blaring sports are enough to turn me off.. so i will never know...

i do wonder why they are not more responsive to customer complaints tho.

I know charlabob to be all the best cliches about an eccentric crank... and if they didn't respond to her comments about the food ... i am unsure whose would get attention...

Posted 2 years ago #