Jacques I.
Yelp
Route 522 Taproom may be a taproom, serving craft beers and all, but the food is elevated. That's something you don't often find at taprooms. Route 522 was a nice surprise for my friend and I who didn't realize what this hidden gem possessed.
We were on our way to another bar for a drink and spotted the sign for Route 522 Taproom on the road we were on. After we had our beer at the other bar, we decided to check out Route 522 for dinner and drinks. Route 522 is hidden, as it's located in a business strip by the train tracks in Woodinville. When we pulled up to park, I then realized that I had been here before when it was the Collective on Tap.
They have covered outdoor seating with heaters, which was nice. The friendly staff waved to us when we got out of the car and immediately seated us and turned on the heat lamp. Though we were the only ones the first hour we were there, we were glad that they were getting a lot of business, as they mentioned that they were prepping for their New Year's Eve dinner takeout sets.
The two men who helped us were super duper nice. Love that! Our server brought us complimentary bread and we started with beers. The dinner menu wasn't extensive, but had enough to choose from. And as mentioned before, this taproom has more elevated food. Don't expect nachos for dinner. They had prime rib, sirloin, shrimp, dungeness crab cakes, French onion soup, etc.
My friend had the surf and turf and I had the chicken wellington. Our food was solid and filling. For both of our entrees, it came with a choice of rice pilaf or potatoes and a vegetable medley. I've never had a wellington before, so had to order it. The chicken breast was made made in the puff pastry with a housemade hollandaise sauce on top. The chicken was very tender and juicy, which is sometimes not the case with chicken breast. I liked that the puff pastry wasn't too thick either. My friend liked her meal too, but wished the steak had been more rare. The complimentary bread came with an herbed butter. This is not the time to go on a low-carb diet because the bread was delicious.
Customer service was awesome. Mardini and our server were very friendly and personable. They checked in with us throughout our meal. Mardini was the one who cooked our food, and was so excited to talk about the menu items that they offer at lunch. You always gotta trust a chef who gets that excited about food! Overall, we had a fun time here and I'd love to come back to discover more of what they offer.