Dahlia Lounge

04/15/2008 Posted by basiji

Took a big group of out-of-towners here a few weeks back and the food was exceptionally good. The service was very good, but the waiter seemed like he was new and still getting his footing. It's easy to get jaded about Tom Douglas and his "empire", but this place still has it.

02/19/2008 Posted by seattlenativeconcierge

If you are a Seattleite, a transplant, or a visitor, you MUST eat at any of Tom Douglas's restaurants while you're here. I'm only doing one review but I'll cover all my bases. Tom Douglas creates masterpieces for the palate that you cannot create at home. . . even with his cookbooks. All of his restaurants have great ambiance and a unique flare in the decor. Their bakery also offers mighty fine bites. Dahlia Lounge: hearty meals and you have to stay for dessert. I recommend the doughnuts. Etta's: In the market, great seafood. Lola's: Go for breakfast, lunch, or brunch. Fantastic. Serious Pie: If the name included "yum" it would say it all. Palace Kitchen: Go here for cocktails and light appetizers. You may make a habit of it. Make reservations and enjoy. There's no way not to enjoy what Tom Douglas has created.

Pros: All

Cons: Leave the kids at home.

12/25/2007 Posted by k_eat

The high expectations we had due to the great reviews were somewhat disappointed. While the service was great and the restaurant offers a a nice ambience the food was average at best . The seafood sampler tasted as it was prepared much earlier and was sitting a fridge for quite a while. The menu leaves the impression it is created to get the maximum throughput for the restaurant . The wine list does not seem to be paired to the menu at all.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

09/30/2007 Posted by girl_friend

I ate here with my daughter (age 15) at the end of a weekend spent in Seattle. The menu seemed rather limited, but we both took the plunge and ordered things we normally wouldn't order. The braised short ribs that I ordered were fabulous. She stills talks about the meal and especially the donut dessert. This is a great place for a memorable meal.

07/31/2007 Posted by dp0ktd

I recently visited Seattle with my girl friend from the East Coast for a 5 day vacation. I was stationed in Seattle 20 years ago and to me is my favorite city in the USA. Before heading west I heard/read about Tom Douglas and his restaurants and that Dahlia was his best. So with that being known I made on-line reservations for a Tuesday night, and requested a "special" table away from the grind, I had a master plan of proposing to my girl friend that night at Dahlia and wanted everything to be just right....Well to my displeasure after being seated by a most "lacking in personality" hostess in the bar area, which by no means was anything what I requested on-line when I made the reservation, but just the opposite. I will NEVER again go to Dahlia. If you are looking to hang in a over priced "Nice" restaurnat with everyone in shorts and wife beater "T" shirts then this place is for you. If Romance is in mind stay clear at ALL costs. Thang God for Etta's Seafood

Pros: None that I was aware of

Cons: 2 Thumbs DOWN

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful

03/29/2007 Posted by sherilskee

I'm not going to lie. I was only interested in the donuts. Anyway, it was a Saturday night, and my boyfriend and I were driving through downtown looking for a place to eat. Since I work in downtown, I can honestly say I wasn't thrilled being in the area. We happened to pass Dahlia lounge and I remember someone raving about their donuts- I've only had their cupcakes from the bakery and those are little sparks of happiness. Again it was Sat night and since we didnt have reservations, I wasn't even sure we'd get in. The place was packed but the people at the front actually had an opening. Score! Anyway, with my mind on the donuts, I pretended to be interested in the rest of the menu. The waitress brought us a cute little dish slice of daikon with mushroom on top to wet our appetites...not bad! To start, my boyfriend had the bacalao to start, which he loved and I had the dungeness crab which was good as well. Shared the grilled bread salad, DELICIOUS. Main dish: king salmon for the boyfriend and spiced berkshire pork for me. We sampled each others dishes and everything was on point! And on to the glorious donuts!!!! They are as good as it gets folks! As far as the service goes, the place was packed and our waitress couldnt be as attentive as we'd like, but we didnt mind at all considering they were able to seat us immediately and without reservation. And they did keep our drinks filled.

02/11/2007 Posted by fromtropics

We went to Dahlia Lounge for my birthday celebration. With an 8:30pm reservation on a Saturday night, we were not seated until 9pm. The mussel in chowder appetizer had great flavors, and the bread at the bottom of the dish was soaked with all the essence of that dish. I had the Pacific black cod, which was pink in the center when it came. I asked another server who passed by about the pink color. He said with a sorry smile on his face that their cod is usually cooked through and should not be pink. He took the dish back but 10-15 min later I received another cod that was even more pink in the center with very crispy outer skin. I inquired our server about the pink color, and she checked it with the kitchen. The reply I got was the fish was pink because it was very fatty, but it was properly cooked. So I ate the fish, along with the lemon grass and mashed celery root that had great flavors. They did not charge us for the cod at the end. I've never had a white fish that was pink in the center when properly cooked, and as far as I know cod is not very fatty on the fatty fish scale. It felt like very high heat was used to cook the fish, so the outer skin was very crispy but the inside was still pink (not done?). My boyfriend had the medium rare sirloin steak, which was very "moo" (rare) when it came. The creme caramel dessert was very dense and tasty. All the dishes had excellent flavors and were very tasty. Granted I do not know if fatty cod should remain pink in the center when properly cooked, but this still poked a hole in the overall dining experience. I probably will not visit Dahlia Lounge again, but will probably try Etta's (another Tom Douglas' restaurant) that is more specialized in seafood. If incident similar to "pink cod" happens again, I'll probably not visit any of Tom Douglas' restaurant ever again in the future.

Pros: great flavors

Cons: not seated promtply even with a reservation

02/02/2007 Posted by protoalien

Tom Douglas snoresville. This place may have been something in its heyday, but it's sooo over. Yet another example of Seattle hype. Why would anyone go here when there are so many good restaurants in Seattle? The "special" chef salad of slivered daikon and shitake was jokingly diminutive. To be fair, the entrees of salmon and black cod were tasty but not particularly memorable. Our drinks were uninspired - go to the Sorrento for the real thing. And the coconut cream pie - tasteless. In short, don't bother. Oh, our waiter was good, but too much on the professionally chilly side.

12/08/2006 Posted by tedwin

Went to Dahlia Lounge on Dec 08, 2006. Ordered the mussels with pancetta chowder as an appetizer and it was wonderful. The mussels were tender, not gummy. The french bread that came with it was perfect. I wish they served this type of bread instead of the pathetic flimsy bread offered that came with rock hard butter. I'm definitely going to their bakery soon to buy that french bread. Then I had the infamous crab cakes. You get two crab cakes with a side of veggies. Unfortunately, one of the crab cakes was slightly burnt on the bottom but otherwise was tender. If you desire to have crab cakes without any fillers and just taste the sweetness of dungeness crabs then this if for you. The accompanying fig molasses was an excellent complement to the sweetness of the crabcakes. Tom's world famous caramel dessert was creamy yet light. It looks like a flan but tastes 100x better. The icewine offered is truly exquisite. Service was impeccable with constant refilling of water glass and prompt removal of dishes. This is one of very few fine dining restaurants that I will definitely come back. Bravo to Chefs Tom Douglas and Erik Tanaka!!!

Pros: Service was impeccable, No filler crab cakes

Cons: Free tasteless, no texture bread with rock hard butter

11/17/2006 Posted by kddf

This used to be my favorite restaurant......I also went for my Birthday we had a lovely waitress........ The food was greasy and so disappointing (crab cakes) !!! Although thebread salad always good and the cocunut creame pie yummm. The Lamb was fatty and the only meat was the size of my thumb!!! I expect so much more from what once was my favorite place for special occasions.....