Cuoco

I came here for an office party. The food was just OK. For a Tom Douglas restaurant, I expected much more. It is nothing special Italian food. I would not recommend it because there are many other Italian places in Seattle that stand out much more than Cuoco. I love Tom Douglas but this is not one of his best.

So this is the second Tom Douglas restaurant I have tried this week. Very disappointed. First off I always iffy of a restaurant that charges you for bread. Nickeling the customers seems to be a popular theme at Cuaco. When I ordered one the most expensive item on the menu halibut I was thrown off by how tiny the portion was 3 oz max there was maybe 5 bites of fish. You get a small assortment of fruit and veggie blend with the fish maybe another 2 – 3 oz. This reminded me of a small plate bistro or tapas bar style more than a full meal. The food was also mediocre very salty and dry. With no dessert or drinks and 3 people our check was 109 $. Seeing they are implementing mandatory 20% tip this year on all checks I doubt I’ll ever go to another one of his restaurants. We left paying around 130 $ only because the server was polite.
The other issue I have with most of the menu is they only list ingredients and no description of the dish. This makes choosing an item difficult for the average person. Overall overpriced, under portioned, salty and dry. Sorry I hate writing bad reviews but this was a huge disappointment to us.

Absolutely delicious food and wine! I had a pasta dish with charred broccoli. I was nervous the broccoli would taste burnt but it wasn’t at all. Wonderful modern environment. Comfortable with great acoustics so you don’t hear everyone in the entire restaurant. Staff was super friendly and polite. When I walked by the chefs to go to the restroom they greeted me and asked how the meal was. We can’t wait to tour all of Tom Douglas’ restaurants in Seattle.

An underrated restaurant by Tom is a delightful find for all!
Logistics and ambiance
We arrived at 6:30 on a Saturday. Our reservation was for five and we were seated immediately. The feel of the restaurant is great; brick walls, low light, and dark wood. Light tile is a nice touch!
Drinks!
The cocktail menu is limited (5 – 7 options) but their offering is strong! Get the poinsettia never for an interesting drink. As for me, I was impressed with their draft beer selection, albeit limited offering.
Food
Insanely good taste, flavored, and complexities! The mussels were perfectly prepared and seasoned while the rigatoni was just the right amount of spicy (I added olives and would highly recommend this approach!) Don’t forget dessert! You’ll be blown away by the homemade Italian donuts. Blown. Away. Yes.
Service
Was relatively solid throughout the evening. All staff were knowledgable and helpful without overdoing it.
Go and tell them I sent you.

It’s different, but in a good way. Our waiter was terrific, and very patient with us since we didn’t know what a lot of the terms were on the menu. This is why I give Cuoco such a high rating. They seated us without a reservation, and the waiter was amazing and knew a lot about his menu and how the meals were prepared.

Been here three times. Each time service has been terrible, very slow, inattentive and not helpful. Same with bar staff. I waited 20 minutes for a drink. I’ve consistently left disappointed. Don’t waste your time going here. So many better restaurants in Seattle. I expect way more from a Tom Douglas restaurant. Disappointing.

I went with a group of people, and we had all of our food served family style. We had some tasty dishes for starters, including Serrano ham, endive salad with anchovy dressing (I love anchovies), salami, parmigiano burrata, mortadella (another love), and some other nibbles. For the main we shared potato gnocci, roasted cauliflower, lasagne bolognese, ling cod, clams, roasted potatoes, and perfectely cooked flat iron steak slices. For dessert I had a vanilla gelato topped with a birthday candle. So, yes… I’m a fan.

I just went to Cuoco and was a bit disappointed. I have really enjoyed this restaurant in the past, but it has changed. My favorite pasta dish is also no longer on the menu, which was the whole reason I went. That is not why I am writing this review though.
They advertise that their happy hour goes until 6pm. It does not say only at the bar on the website’s menu either. When we arrived we were not given a happy hour menu even though it was only a hair after 5pm. I asked if I could order a drink off the happy hour menu. The waiter said yes, but did not provide a menu. It was like pulling teeth to get happy hour food/​drinks. It seemed like he didn’t want to divulge any information. He was a bit snooty for my taste as well, but he did provide good service otherwise.
The prices have also increased quite a bit, which is fine if the food is amazing. It was not. My family is from Europe as well, and I have had many meals in Italy. I like to think I can typically pick out good Italian food.
We paid $ 28 for pork tenderloin over a bed of gnocchi. There were maybe 10 gnocchi that were a little bigger than your finger nail. They were also very bland. The tenderloin was good, but there was not a whole lot of it. The meal just didn’t feel worth it to me.
Their cheapest pasta was also around $ 22. It used to be close to $ 10 lower in the past.
I feel like you can get much better food at another Italian place for a better price. If you really want to go to a Tom Douglas restaurant, I would say Brave Horse or Lola will have more bang/​flavor for your buck.

I came with high expectations that were only partially met. The atmosphere, staff, and menu all were wonderful. The food experience however was disappointing. I ordered the lasagna and some special bread from Dahlia bakery. The lasagna was pretty solid and all I could taste was an overwhelming strong nutty flavored cheese. I did get some hints of a lovely rich bolognese and delicate pasta, and I tried to deconstruct the dish to remove the strong cheese, but no luck. And the bread was frankly a bit dry and bland. I did get an amazing glass of Italian wine that was recommended. To finish I had gelato and a cappuccino for dessert. The cappuccino was one of the best I have ever been served, but the gelato just didn’t compare to the real deal I had in Italy. All in all I would say this place is a pass, but perhaps I just hit on an off night

Was that the best spicy seafood spaghetti I’ve ever had or what? The spaghetti Nero was awesome! The pasta tastes like they make it in house (idk if they do), the sauce is the perfect chunky tomato, spicy, delicious thing ever, the octopus and calamari are fresh, the shrimp is plump, and the clams are perfect and abundant. The spaghetti is made with squid ink, so don’t freak out that it’s black!
The bread was good, and the chocolate cake dessert was very good too. I particularly liked their pecan ice cream it came with. On the other hand, the Rosemary grapefruit pop was under par.
Definitely get the spaghetti Nero when you come. Amazing!

Cuoco is a classic three star venue. It’s got 4 – 5 star design and nice looking menu, but the food and service are both inconsistent. I had a steak salad that was very good but could have use a bit more flourish. The potato-​leak soup looked great with carmalized onions and pesto, but had surprisingly little favor. Their pastas were good, but the fish and gnocchi were underwhelming or bad. We also had a 45 minute wait for our food. We did bring a large party of ten during the lunch rush, but we had reservations so I would have expected them to be better prepared.
Cuoco has some things to like and a lot of room for improvement. I’m not writing them off, but they’ve got some things to prove if I go back.

Is the Tom Douglas brand becoming synonymous with overpriced and mediocre food? Cuoco is definitely pointing in that direction.
We had two happy hour items, and neither were impressive. The rigatoni with spicy sausage had watery tomato sauce and lame, unspicy sausage chunks. You’ll find a far better version of this at Tavolata’s happy hour, where the sauce is thick enough to stick to the pasta, and enough heat for a bit of mouth-​burn. The portion was tiny (¹⁄₃ of the dinner item means ¹⁄₃ of the size). The porchetta sandwich was a decent size and had great bread, but it was soggy even before we started eating. I’m not sure the meat was even proper porchetta. Instead of the thick fatty chunks of pork with some stuffing, the meat came as thin slices that looked like cold-​cuts. Not bad, but the version at Salumi is far better.
And what’s going on with the prices here for dinner? Pastas are around 23, which is about 5 more than other distinguished Italian restaurants. Is the $ 15 minimum wage hitting that hard?
On top of that, they were playing cringey John Meyer soft-​rock. That’s mall music, not what I want for dining out.

Cuoco serves the tastiest and most pleasant porchetta that I’ve eaten.

Cuocco is just wonderful! Delicious handmade pastas and creative dishes. They have a phenomenal happy hour too! Love it.

Decided on visiting Cuoco and using our birthday coupons for a free dessert. We dined during happy hour so we decided to each have a drink and start off with some calamari, fried olives, and gnocchi. All were tasty, but I personally like gnocchi with a cream sauce; there were more veggies than gnocchi anyways, bummer. Our desserts were a slice of coconut cream pie and chocolate mezzanotte cake with candied pecan gelato. YUM! Had a nice time and enjoyed the atmosphere.

Service was awesome.
Food was incredible!!! I don’t order lasagna when I go out to eat because nobody can top mom’s! …but Tom Douglas sure did. So f$&@ing TASTY! Crispy around the edges, yummmmmmm.
Wine list was extensive.
This is definitely some delicious comfort Italian food.

Great place for a nicer sit down lunch.
Food is pretty spot on although i don’t like places that nickel and dime. like chargine you $ 2 for bread. seriously. it’s free in most place. raise all prices by $.50 and spare me the annoyance or «what is that i’m being charged for?» question.

Nice quiet place, if you are looking for something more lively, just above is Brave Horse Tavern and the atmosphere is a bit more rambunctious. I went here most recently after a meeting at Amazon, sat at the bar and enjoyed a piece of the famous coconut cream pie. It was nice to find a relaxing spot after a stressful meeting. This is a great date night place!

Theme: Good but not great.
We had a large party and the service was mediocre, all things considered. The octopus was good, not great. The beet salad is nothing special. The mozzarella and peaches with balsamic were yummy and I’m pretty sure it was burrata despite the menu description which was a lovely surprise for me.
Exception: The meatballs were delectable!
I ordered the rabbit sausage and ricotta cavatelli which may have tasted better warm but came out room temperature. Two friend’s ordered the pork chop and one got sick so not sure if it was him or the food :(I too had quite the upset stomach for about 12 – 18 hours after dining here, coincidence? Maybe.

The dining atmosphere is very elegant and rustic all at the same time. I went on a Friday evening with my boyfriend and we ordered the following:
appetizer:
braised meatballs, provolone cheese
entrees:
lasagna bolognese 20.
hand-​crafted cheese stuff noodles with charred brocolli (not on the menu)
drink:
chardonnay
The lasagna was DELICIOUS! The creamy and soft ricotta cheese was scrumptious, and the meaty red sauce was thick and flavorful. the charred brocolli noodle dish was not that great. The brocolli tasted too strongly of vinegar, and when they call it «charred» they mean it – it was blackened on both ends (burnt?). But the noodles were pretty good.
I love the atmosphere though. Outside they had pig pork slow cooking over a fire stove which smelled really good.
I think this place is worth going to once. But I probably wouldn’t become a regular here. Too expensive.