Palomino Rustico

Checked in here during my brothers graduation dinner. Staff was friendly and welcoming, there’s one star. Restaurant ambience was nice, there’s another star. However, nothing else was good; service was slow and we waited almost 90 minutes for our food. The food was also really bad, and not to mention how hungry I was by the time I got my pizza.

Still waiting for our food. So far it’s at 2 stars. 1 for the ambience and 2 for location. Well see how it goes if the food comes out.
Update: extra * added for huge portion

Best spot in the Bellevue mall zone and perhaps the only patio they have in the area. Excellent Tomato bisque and creamy mushroom soup. Great service. Thanks for the good time.

Worst $ 50 breakfast ever and service is lacking. Cold eggs, cheap coffee and a staff that does not listen.

Sat at bar for lunch –plenty of servers –3 customers in whole place –could NOT get a salad w salmon out AT ALL – 40 min and 4 iced teas later –I left

So sad to write this review but the last 3 times we have eaten here the food experience has been dismal.
First of all each time the water glasses were dirty (not spotty, dirty, lipstick, etc) and the wine glasses were cloudy. One time my guests food was uncooked we sent it back. Second time, I had several prospective business relationships and pita with the hummus was burnt the fries were greasy and there was something else inedible about the food.
Tonight again, dirty glasses, sticky table, the encasing from the pepperoni was left on my sons pizza, his fruit was altogether forgotten, service was ok.
Just terrible attention to detail that you would expect more from Denny’s not an expensive restaurant.
I have eaten at this companies restaurants since the first Palamino opened in downtown Seattle.
I don’t think we will be coming back,

Horrible service. After they seated us, we waited 15min but NO ONE came to our table to greet or bring any drinks. It was mid morning in Sunday and it wasn’t busy. We decided to leave the restaurant without ordering. Seats were all dirty with food crumbs. Very bad customer services and unsanitary restaurant. We will never go back there and not recommend anyone to go there.

3.5 stars
Bellevue does not have a lack of dining options, that’s for sure. But if you’re looking for a casual place to grab a bite that also has a pretty decent patio offering, Palomino is the place to go!
The good:
— Extensive happy hour menu
— Food is great quality — we had the brussel sprouts, porchetta boca, and the prosciutto crudo pizza. The pizza is AMAZING! So amazing we weren’t able to finish the boca!
— We were celebrating a special occasion and they were so nice to give us a special lava cake! Delicious.
The not so good:
— A little long of a wait time for food. We were waiting a good 20 – 25 minutes for all our food to arrive, and it also took a while for us even to get our drinks
Overall — all great option for downtown Bellevue. I will be back for more happy hours for sure!

I thought this place was going to be much different than it actually was. there were highlights to our meal and some things that just really weren’t m style.
The eggs we had were both cooked to a perfect over medium, which can be tough. Also the french brioche bread was to die for. We also shared the Scones, which were a bacon Gorgonzola, kind of biscuit like in texture, with what was a Fig jam, and the combo was outstanding.
the two slices of bacon for $ 7 was something i could have lived without. If you’re a bacon lover like myself go to lot No. 3. Because there $ 7 bacon was ridiculously outstanding.
The low lights, really only included the Pork-​Chetta (sp?). this was what i thought was going to be a leaner cut of pork stuffed with crispy panchetta bits. The cut that i received might have just been a fattier section, but it was almost unappetizing. So if we ever were to go back i will probably go with the steak and eggs instead.

Sat at the bar around 7:30 on a Tuesday night. The place was a mess, I had to ask a bartender to clear a spot for me. I guess I just missed the dinner rush.
I sat down, and to be fair, the bartender was friendly and responsive. I ordered a beer and a double vodka with a chaser, and a steak, rare, with fries instead of potato salad.
The drinks came quickly enough, but the beer was flat. Like gross flat. If I wasn’t a desperate alcoholic, I would have returned it. The shot was a shot.
The steak and fries, however, took forever. I want in a rush, though, and the bartender stopped through after a bit to let me know it was still coming up. Again, great service.
But when the steak finally came out, it was borderline-​inedible cold. It was rare as I wanted, and I know that isn’t anyways «hot and juicy,» but aside from a weak temperate, this steak had a stale taste to it.
The food and drink are worth one star at most. The other star is only because my server seemed like he cared, both before and after my meal went to trash.
I won’t be back, and I won’t recommend it, unless you’re the type who likes good service and cold food.

Met up with a girlfriend here for late night happy hour. They have «happy hour» all day, every day… so it’s their normal pricing. That being said, both the food and drink menus were extensive and verrrryyy reasonably priced.
My friend ordered a pizza which arrived promptly, and given how quickly she ate it it must have been delicious. My wine was good, and her mixed drink was appropriately strong.
Palomino’s has a lot going for it, but we never got checked in on again, and no one ever came by to see if we wanted a refill on drinks. We ended up going over to the bar to get our checks and then headed out for a different restaurant. I’ll give it another shot because the menu was that good before writing this place off.

Great Italian and main entrees. Had the bread and calamari as appetizers. The bread was amazing.
Had the fried scallops, mashed potatoes and carrots for main dish. The scallops were good, but expect a hunk crust.
Good cocktails as well, the cucumber was my favorite.

I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say that I thought this was an Italian restaurant before I sat down and looked at the menu. After eating here… I’m still pretty convinced it’s an Italian.
If you manage to come here during happy hour and/​or when they aren’t so crowded I actually really like the ambiance here. On that note, every other time I have been here it has been overly crowded. I wouldn’t even consider it without a reservation. The happy hour is worth the wait though.
I like the food over all. It’s all a unique take on different dishes however its still good.
Service: slow.

The happy hour was super cheap and definitely worth the value, especially considering the location we are in. We ordered the house baked bread with tomato sauce, pepperoni pizza, BBQ pork sliders, and truffle fries. The pizza is absolutely delicious and the crust is like a thin flatbread cracker. The rest of it was REALLY salty though. The fries themselves were fine and full of truffle flavor but the sauce they came with was like a salty truffled mayonnaise. The pork sliders were fine but they came with these picked (grilled?) veggies like cauliflower, peppers, and onions. Super tasty and it added a bit of freshness to everything.
Love the ambiance, LOVED the drinks, and prices were good! Hoping the salt is just dialed down a. It next time!

It had been a while since I had been down at street level on Bellevue Way on the block between Bel Square and Lincoln Center, and I was flabbergasted at all the new and sleek looking restaurants on both sides of the street. One of these restaurants is Palomino, and there’s plenty of good things to say about this establishment. The interior design is modern with pleasing materials and colors with a nice open feel. Service is friendly, warm and attentive.
But what I want to shout from the rooftops is that Palomino’s Portobello mushroom soup is divine, by far the best mushroom soup I’ve ever had! Yum! And also exceptionally delicious is their grilled mushroom salad.
The menu does place more emphasis on lighter dishes like appetizers, salads and sandwiches than it does on full-​on entrees. Prices are reasonable.
I wasn’t paying good enough attention to the dish descriptions the server was providing my friend Penny. Penny avers that our server mentioned that the Rigatoni Bolognese was spicy. I didn’t hear the spicy part (and I’m not a particularly big fan of spicy food), so when I saw «Bolognese» on the menu, I ordered it.
The hefty portion of Rigatoni Bolognese came with Italian sausage and a slice of garlic bread. Upon diving in, I quickly discovered that the Italian sausage was the spiciest hottest food I’ve ever encountered. I wanted to give it the old college try and finish it, but with a burning mouth, I had to cry uncle. Without batting an eye, our server took my pasta away. As a replacement, since the mushroom soup was so good, I simply ordered another bowl of that amazing, amazing dish. I also ordered the potato salad.
It showed to me how Palomino wants to ensure a great customer experience when the manager came over to ask me about the spicy dish. He confided that a lot of their customers love the sausage when served as a breakfast sausage, but he found it too spicy for himself.
The potato salad was very good. Coming with a mustard tang, the salad was prepared with tiny potatoes that were the size of cherry tomatoes. For dessert, we both ordered the spice cake. The cream cheese frosting was a tad overwhelming and I couldn’t eat all of it because of its richness, but the cake itself was excellent — nicely flavored and packed with delightful little pieces of walnut.
Overall, we had a great time at Palomino and I look forward to returning.

Caramelized Cauliflower and Crab & Artichoke dip are amazing choices for appetizers!
For my main dish, I ordered the Rockfish Piccata — Seared gnocchi, tomatoes, garlic, capers, with white wine butter sauce.
I wish I’d known the fish was fried (then I’d reconsider) nonetheless it tasted really good. I’d recommend sharing this entrée… it’s definitely way too big for one person to eat alone, especially if you’ve already had appetizers.

I’ve been here multiple times for dinner and for HH.
This review is going to be for HH
The staff there is nice and very attentive, they checked on my group every now and then. The drinks are great! The cranberry mojito is my favorite. It’s very fresh! But sometimes it’s filled with too much ice.
They have a good selection for food from fries, to pizza and calamari. All awesome! The sausage and mushroom pizza is a little spicy which I like and it’s a good size. The fries are thin, crispy and salty. The caramelized cauliflower is one of my favorites! It’s roasted in cheese and butter, what’s not to like?
Best part is their happy hour is ALL DAY. Yes all day.

Tip: The Groupon does not work with their All Day Happy Hour Prices. I would not recommend getting the Groupon as the Happy Hour prices are already well discounted but with a Groupon, you will have to pay the full price. Happy Hour portions are just as big as the regular portions.
I bought a Groupon 25 for 50 at this location. I was excited to try out their Happy Hour Menu as it is quite popular on Unilocal.We came in, sat in the bar. Since our Groupon did not work for the Happy Hour Menu prices, I ordered mostly off of the regular menu. We had the Crab Artichoke dip which was amazing. Their thin crusted pizza was also pretty good. The crust was super thin to the point of crunchy. We did not realize how big their portions are, by the time we finished the appetizers, we couldn’t find room for the rest of the entrees.
I tried the steak. It was good but not well seasoned in my opinion. The Rustico burger looked really good but we were so full to the point that we had to pack up the whole thing to go.
Overall, I believe this is a very good happy hour place as they do have a huge HH menu and the prices are great!

I rather liked this place. Typical food range of $ 20 – 30 for dinner entrees with a killer happy hour selection, including one of the best mojitos served, and to top it off for dessert– one of the most delicious tiramisu I have ever had.
When you come in you’re greeted with great smiles from very nice hostesses. If the wait time is a while you can check out their book collection to the right of recipe and food books.
My friends ordered the pasta but I got the burger, which I have to admit, was juicy in every bite! I had ordered a medium, but it was more raw than it was medium (I had tasted raw meat towards the center. I wasn’t too pleased, but it didn’t get in the way of the flavours).
But the tiramisu was absolutely mindblowingly good. I don’t know what is in the cream sauce but it’s simple amazing. The texture is soft and so dense at the same time. I highly recommend it.
Needless to say, I would be back for a burger or happy hour eats. Or just for the tiramisu and wine to be honest.

Woah Nelly! This Palomino is a total 180 from others I’ve visited.
If you haven’t been here in over a year, you owe it to yourself to come back in and enjoy the complete facelift the space has gotten. It’s bright, it’s light, and it’s so much cozier without the dark heavy furniture and carpeting.
I knew I was in for a treat when I was greeted by the hostess who’s stationed just in front of a large herb garden welcomed us into the new space. Yes, that’s right, there’s an herb garden inside the restaurant! It’s not huge but it’s cute and it’s a clear sign that the focus here is on local. You can’t get much more local than herbs that grow 50 ft from the kitchen.
Also noticeable was a gorgeous chalkboard wall that extends the entire length and height of the west facing wall of the restaurant. It’s all hand drawn and there’s everything on there from the menu to happy hour specials to upcoming events, and even fun facts about food, Bellevue, and the Palomino brand. It’s really absolutely genius and I spent a lot of my Happy Hour here just looking at that wall.
But people come here to eat/​drink, right? So I’ll get to that too! The HH menu (as always) is insane. You’re practically robbing the restaurant if you eat here. Portions are huge and prices are tiny. The meatballs and the bruschetta were standouts for me and I’ll be getting those every time I’m back in here. I also loved the Arnold Palmer I ordered but did spy the cocktails and wine and feel tempted to try something else later.
The customer service was great too. All in all this was a huge breath of fresh air that I didn’t expect. I’m a big fan of this Palomino.