B S
Google
This place does a a LOT of things right. The food is downright PERFECTION. They take their time and use the best ingredients and execute amazing dishes. They do, however, run on island time. We’ve only visited (from NE King County!) for 3 meals, so I will update my review after visit # 4 (likely not for a few months - one can only handle so much “Vashon”), but on our first 3 visits, we’ve found the food preparation timeline to be strangely, oddly, weirdly slow. As in, for all 3 meals, there weren’t but 2 or 3 other couples in the entire restaurant, and the food took FOREVER to come out. There’s only so much attention you can get from your waitress - so many water refills, so many mimosas, so many glasses of wine, before you just want your damn food, already.
I know “good food takes time”, but there’s something just “off” about the wait for food, here. Beyond just “taking care” to prepare art on a plate. Make the art, but make it faster! The food here truly is art and some of the best we’ve had anywhere in the world, but I shudder at the though of a busy summer evening where the place is packed. It must take EONS to get your food, when they have a FULL house!
The wait staff does their best to work around the slow dish preparation, but the kitchen could learn to be a little more expeditious when preparing their divine dishes. Period. No excuses, just work on it.
Fine dining (which this is - and not just for Vashon) is not just about the food - it’s even possible to overcome mediocre food with an otherwise great experience. I’m not talking like Hooter’s! I mean you can get great service/fast service/attentive service, get your food in a reasonable amount of time, and if the food was just average, you still had a great EXPERIENCE. Here at Bramble House, so far (again, only 3 meals) we’ve come to expect an average (at best) EXPERIENCE, but amazing food. So, bring a great date/tablemate - heck bring a crowd! But be prepared to be “on island time”. Bon appétit!