Patrick M.
Yelp
This place used to be a favorite. I've dined here many times since it opened and many times again after the pandemic. Until today, I was a weekly regular, usually for lunch (with coworkers or as a team outing) and occasionally for dinner, too.
At some point a couple of months ago, it started getting bad. Rude waitstaff, condescending upsells, baffling flavor choices in the food. I was disgusted enough by a couple of recent items and annoyed enough about a string of unpleasant service experiences that I decided to drop in today to check with the manager and maybe avoid writing this review. I told the person who greeted me that I had been a regular for many years and asked if the place had changed ownership or was otherwise under new management.
She confirmed that there had recently been a management change but otherwise didn't have much time for me. Or any time. She showed no curiosity when I said that I had had some bad experiences recently, and, as I left, she obnoxiously sing-songed "have a nice day" in a way that seemed more like "don't let the door hit you on the..."
Which kind of sums up my whole experience there lately. They've had some staff turnover, so a couple of the original people still greet me as a regular. (Though, weirdly, not the one guy... When I had to return my burger last week, he seemed baffled at my claim that I had ordered it many times before, even though he himself has served it to me time and again. And when he occasionally hosts has never once said "welcome back" to me.)
Anyway, the new staff are rude and self-important. One of them admonished me for putting a plate on the neighboring empty table when our own small table filled up (because we had ordered a cartoonish amount of food).
That same server (I think) recently swapped my lunch order with my friend's, then just walked away when he pointed it out. Maybe that seems like a small thing, but it's not acceptable. Don't leave us to handle each other's food. I don't want my buddy pawing my plate with his grubby little hands. That's your job.
One evening a couple of months ago, I found myself haggling with a bartender who refused to tell me the prices of their bourbon (specifically, their lowest) and kept trying to trick/upsell me into buying a $20 or $30 pour. I eventually got my ~$15 Elijah (which is a reasonable price in Redmond), but only after he snottily suggested I might prefer Fireball instead. When I said I wanted their well bourbon he should have simply poured me something cheap (Elijah, Maker's, Bulleit, etc.) and been done with it instead of making a big deal about how, as an incredibly pretentious and fancy whisk(e)y bar, they don't have a "well" bourbon because what kind of a place do you think this is and maybe bourbon isn't for you.
Even with the Elijah Craig, he *still* tried to talk me into paying for some "exclusive" version allegedly barreled just for them. I mean, come on. I had planned to hang out there and maybe toss back a few more, but went away fuming after finishing my meal.
The food is also bad now. I took a chance on a cheesesteak special a couple of weeks ago. The smell from the moistly sauteed jalapeno was so pungent and the slimy/frothy/snotty appearance of the yellow "cheese" sauce was so disgusting that I couldn't even manage a bite. It made me gag.
Last week I ordered the burger, which I've had many times, and was shocked that it tasted heavily of vinegar, like the patty had been doused in some kind of dressing. I think maybe it was, but also discovered that the usual slice of onion had been replaced with some kind of thinly sliced raw (or pickled?) onions soaked in a very vinegar-forward sauce and placed below the patty, directly on the bun, so it would be the first thing you taste. The burger had also been charred to the point of carbonization (they refused to cook it medium rare for me this time because, according to the waiter, the chef thought the meat was too fatty). The combination of the bitter char and the sour vinegar with no sweetness to balance it out was awful. I sent it back and decided to skip lunch that day.
It's a newish crew and new management, so they can change it up, I suppose. I'm just bummed to lose this place, particularly since I recently moved back to Redmond for a new job and live right down the street. But between the chef's recent embrace of terrible flavors and the increasingly rude, arrogant vibe of the waitstaff, I will never go back.