Gary S.
Google
I am not a big fan of crowds, but I make an exception and visit Alki a couple of times each Summer. The other night I modified the pattern a bit and went there in the Winter. The first thing I noticed was that parking was much easier to find. I got a spot on a side street a block away and took a chilly walk to Lotus.
Another advantage of coming in the Winter was that there was no wait to get a table. My date and I sat at one of three occupied tables. The dining area was neatly decorated, clean and in good condition. There were two people working in the front of the house, so we got quick and attentive service.
I ordered a drink from the speciality menu while we checked out the food options. The drink arrived with a little lid on it. When the waitress took off the lid, smoke poured out. While it was a cute effect, it added nothing to the flavor of the drink. My date had red wine, which came with no theatrics.
The menu is two pages, packed with items. There were little icons showing which items were spicy, raw or included a side of rice. Many dishes had a vegetarian option. I went with crispy garlic chicken and my date had the lemon grass stir fry with tofu.
The food came up quickly and looked fabulous and plentiful. The chicken was in fact quite crispy, but there was not much garlic and the oil used to fry the chicken was a bit burned. My date reported that the stir fry was very good.
We took our time over dinner. The staff stopped by from time to time, but we didn't feel rushed. Eventually, I waved the waiter over and asked for the check. We split the $95 - not bad for the level of restaurant.