West Seattle restaurants: It’s official – Heartland Café opens Friday

Just got the word from Heartland Café proprietor Jay Wergin (who also provided the photo above) – the much-awaited restaurant (for which WSB’ers offered many menu suggestions just weeks ago) will open day after tomorrow. Here’s his announcement:

The buzz around West Seattle is that the Heartland Cafe will open its doors to the public this Friday, April 2. It¹s true: After a trial run with friends and family last Sunday, we are ready to welcome the public! There has been much anticipation of the food, fanfare, and a chance to set sail the old ship bar. We promise not to disappoint, as we have crafted an extensive menu of Midwestern delights and we are ready to pull up the anchor to the Benbow Room.

We will begin taking reservations on Friday for Easter Sunday Brunch. In celebration of our opening, we will be selling Leinenkugel’s original beer for $3 a bottle. Doors open at 3 p.m. on Friday and will stay open until the cows come home.

We are located at 4210 SW Admiral Way, near the intersection of Admiral and California in the heart of the Admiral district.

The phone number you can call on Friday for those aforementioned reservations is 206-922-3313. WSB Forums members have been buzzing about the friends-family preview last Sunday – which is when the photo above was taken – here’s a gallery link Wergin provided for more images from that event.

Muttleys March 31, 2010 (8:15 pm)

Welcome to the neighborhood! We have been patiently waiting for your opening!!!

JanS March 31, 2010 (8:24 pm)

Definitely stoked ! The breakfast menu is wonderful…can’t wait to see dinner menus :)

Synergy3k March 31, 2010 (8:25 pm)

Leinie’s for the win! Will have to stop by with a few other Chippewa Falls natives for a brew soon.

matthew darling March 31, 2010 (8:36 pm)

yay! i will be there working !!! come see all your west seattle friends for some great midwestern cuisine!

Restita DeJesus March 31, 2010 (8:49 pm)

I can’t wait! Looking forward to trying everything on the menu!

clark5080 March 31, 2010 (9:51 pm)

gonna have to try it for sure

JL March 31, 2010 (10:19 pm)

Do they have a website where I can check out the menu?

I. Ponder March 31, 2010 (10:39 pm)

Has Saigon Boat re-opened?

WSB March 31, 2010 (11:12 pm)

Not as of last time I drove by. They had a new sign up that said WE WILL OPEN SOON.

Kayleigh April 1, 2010 (5:25 am)

My friend from Minnesota is so excited he can hardly sit still. Please tell me there’s something non-fried, non-meat-encrusted on the menu so I can go with him???

WiscoProud April 1, 2010 (8:17 am)

So excited for you guys. Being a Wisco Native I will be wearing Packer and Badger gear everytime I walk in! You guys did a great job with the interior, the Bar IS BAD A@@!!!! Welcome to the WEST SIDE!! UW-STOUT!!

Alki Area April 1, 2010 (8:30 am)

Am I missing it…or do the owners of this business NOT have a web site? At all? This is 2010, you can put a free web site/blog on dozens of sites. Or just pay $25 a month for a minor hosting service. COME ON! This is IMPORTANT. A LOT of people search for restaurants/food via the web, or will look for a menu before deciding to drive over.

It’s SUPER cheap to free, and is GREAT marketing. Seriously. It drives me NUTS when I can’t find the menu, hours of operation or location of a business because they refuse to advertise at all. You DO want customers right?

P.S. CAN’T WAIT and so glad it’s finally open! Just please post your menu and hours online!

JanS April 1, 2010 (11:40 am)

Alki Area..one of the owners stated at the soft opening that there will be a website and a facebook page…just not up yet. But I hear ya. The other new restaurant, Eness, in the old Beato/Ovio space has neither, and they’ve been open for 2 weeks. When I drove by there last Saturday evening about 7pm, it looked like there were maybe three tables with people. It should be packed on Saturday night.

I know that Heartland will take your suggestion to heart :)

mlb April 1, 2010 (12:31 pm)

welcome to the neighborhood!!
being from chicago i can’t wait for a cold Leine…
:-)

CrossFit WS April 1, 2010 (1:35 pm)

Welcome to the block! With this opening our building is complete & revived. We will be sure to stop by and sample your fare. Our members have been talking about this for a while. Best of luck!

Keith April 1, 2010 (2:16 pm)

@Alki Area, it is also WIDELY recognized here in 2010 that EXCESSIVE USE of ALL CAPS is ANNOYING to read and UNNECESSARY to get your point across.

just sayin’ :)

Janay April 1, 2010 (4:07 pm)

Menu please! Are they doing M-F breakfast? Not a whole lot of info on this place…

Lorelee April 1, 2010 (4:47 pm)

Oh please have yummy breakfast every day of the week.

bridge to somewhere April 1, 2010 (5:47 pm)

what strikes me about the exterior and interior of heartland cafe is this: they have some stellar designers they use! the front facade and the window treatments tells me they have hired a professional to help them through graphic identity. i’m quite sure a good website will follow. (and if they don’t have anyone to do it, i’ll be happy to trade massive amounts of tater tot hot dish and maid-rite burgers as payment to do it!!) best of luck to a cool concept, from this native hoosier . . .

WSPride April 2, 2010 (12:27 pm)

Alki Area – get over it, really a website? That’s important? A good restaurant needs good food and good service, a website we can live without.

Jay Wergin April 2, 2010 (8:12 pm)

We have been swamped since 6pm. Thank you WS for showing your support and being so patient with us. We might run out of Leinie’s before Monday, so hurry on in.

JackTheCorgi April 3, 2010 (10:16 am)

Does anyone know if Heartland serves locally grown/raised produce and/or meat? A friend of mine just went for breakfast and posted a menu for me – exciting menu indeed; but I need to know where Heartland procures its food. Appreciate any info – especially if it’s Jay Wergin, the proprietor, who’s reading this.

Thank you.

Sue April 3, 2010 (11:35 am)

Website is up at http://www.heartlandcafeseattle.com – no posted menu (although some discussion of the type of food) – hope a menu will be coming later.

@WSPride, a website is important to me for restaurants because it’s an easy way to check menus and hours. I have dietary restrictions, so I don’t like to just show up at a restaurant and hope that it has something I can eat. Won’t keep me away if a restaurant has no website, but it may make a difference in how fast I get there.

WSB April 3, 2010 (11:50 am)

Thanks, Sue. I checked that URL just last night so this must be a brand-new appearance. Also on Twitter – @cafeheartland … will post a separate item on the website going up since probably not a lot of people peeking back on this story from two-plus days ago – TR

katyw April 7, 2010 (8:03 pm)

went to the heartland for dinner! recieved no menu a blockage (against fire code) in the isle, over flowing toiletsa, no toilet paper, and uncomfortable seating. Nothing on the menu was traditional, appealing, or non heart attack causing. I chose to have my 135 calorie beer over the 1300 calorie meal items. i also must say that the wait staff was also mundane and food was not served with everything included on the menu! Hopefully this was just an off night, but this does not look promising.
Hopefully this is not another table 35 disaster!

Mirms April 9, 2010 (7:24 am)

We also had a very dissapointing visit to Heartland last night. I agree with the menu items as posted by katyw above. I went with the spinach salad–a nearly $10 entree, that came in a dinner salad size, and was missing two toppings–same thing for another person in my party. Another person in my group ordered the mac and cheese and it was bland as all get out. Service was extremely slow, and when asked how our food was and I was honest (politely honest), the response was just about how busy the kitchen was. I love the idea of this place, but a supreme miss. The best thing about the place is the Benbow room–fun bar–would consider a return for drinks only, in the pirate/ship-themed bar.

Maple April 11, 2010 (1:52 pm)

Sorry- no way. Had breakfast at Heartland Cafe this morning and found it to be just another gutless come-and-go theme joint.

Corned beef hash had mere flecks of meat stuck to a mountain of hash browns -mights as well have left out the corned beef. Really, how do you screw that up? Some plates in the window waited 5 plus minutes; someone would finally fumble by then spend a bunch of time screwing around with which kind of toast went where. Lots of laboring away at the computer with knitted brows. Almost zero communication between the kitchen and wait staff -they didn’t seem to know what to expect from each other. One of the cooks looked at window full of meals, stared at the back of one of the waiters, who didn’t seem particularly busy, said nothing and went back into the kitchen.
There was more than enough staff and the place was never full.

Depressing. Well meaning folks, I’m sure, just clueless. Looks like poor management and lack of focus and confidence on every level.

Sorry, comment time is over.