Goldfinch Tavern

With every new Ethan Stowell restaurant I try, I get a bit more motivated to go back to How To Cook A Wolf and give it another shot. I’ve been to Goldfinch Tavern a handful of times and each time is great. The service is on point, the food is top-​notch, and I suppose the view is OK, too. (It’s overlooking the Sound, and on a clear day, you can see the Olympic mountains) Goldfinch is a bit of a new environment for a Stowell restaurant, it is definitely influenced by the Four Seasons with its open and grandiose dining area, but Stowell doesn’t miss a beat in his new space.
When it comes to the menu, you can’t go wrong. Seriously. Close your eyes, pick a starter, then an entrée, and then a dessert. You should probably do it again (not saying you’ll have the room) just so you can try some more. I’ve had close to everything from the appetizer section of the menu, but my favorites are the duck confit salad, the beef tartare, the beet & dungeness crab salad, and the fried quail. For entrees, I’ve stayed mostly with seafood, given that it is Seattle, but the burger here is one of the best in town. The seared sea scallops are my favorite from the entrees, but everything is great.
Come prepared to spend $ 60 – 70 on dinner.

My sister and I went here to splurge so we decided to «Trust the Chef» and we were more than pleased! The food was fantastically delicious, the service was exceptional, and the cocktails original. We definitely plan on returning!

The good:
— Great service
— Tasty food
— Good value
The bad:
— Can be a little hit or miss
Not knowing it was Restaurant Week in Seattle (2015), the wife and I searched for dinner reservations. We settled on Goldfinch Tavern, which was packed, and ended up going with a 9pm reservation. We arrived early after walking over from our hotel, checked in, and were seated early after waiting a bit. The restaurant is located in the Four Seasons, so if you do find yourself waiting a little, there is seating available near the restaurant in the lobby.
The service overall was great. Everyone was really friendly, while our server in particular was very helpful and patient (hey, it’s hard to decide when there’s so many things you want to try!). The wife finally settled on the Restaurant Week Menu, while I went ala carte. But we took a hybrid approach and created our own tasting menu with the help of our awesome server.
To start, we had a couple of Washington Kumamoto Oysters ($ 3.50/each) with red wine mignonette and lemon. They were super fresh and tasty, with great texture and a clean, crips flavor.
Next up was the Smoked Halibut Bruschetta from the Restaurant Week menu, which we used as an appetizer. To my disappointment, the halibut was hot smoked and prepped «tuna salad» style mixed with crème fraîche and herbs, and topped with pickled shallots. Admittedly it was pretty tasty, though I still would have preferred a cold smoked preparation.
Our soup/​salads were next, with the wife ordering the Tomato Soup ($ 9) off the regular menu. This soup was made with sungold tomatoes, shiso, banyuls vinegar, and olive oil. It was a very flavorful, bright soup and the wife was really happy with it.
I opted for a salad, the Beet & Dungeness Crab Salad ($ 16) to be exact. $ 16 sounds like a lot for an appetizer salad, but it was a great value in my opinion! That entire pile in the center was pure, sweet, fresh Dungeness Crab surrounded by sweet roasted red and golden beets, a sprinkling of watercress and topped with gribiche sauce and tarragon. It was a nicely composed dish with tons of beautiful, fresh flavors and what seemed like a whole crab worth of crab meat!
For her entrée, the wife chose from her menu the restaurant’s signature Goldfinch Burger, which usually runs $ 17 on the lunch menu or $ 12 at Happy Hour. It’s a wagyu beef burger topped with Beecher’s cheese, housemade pickles, smoked onion marmalade, on a fresh bun and served with a side of dill fries. The burger was perfectly cooked and the wife was really pleased with it.
For my entrée, I opted for something you really should eat when in the PNW; Penn Cove Mussels ($ 19 dinner or $ 11 happy hour). These were served in a broth of smoked onion butter, thyme and some white wine with dill fries and a baguette on the side. Though simple, this dish was simply amazing! The mussels we get in Hawaii are all frozen and local people typically don’t care for mussels, as they really aren’t all that good here in Hawaii. But these were very plum, briny, fresh and flavorful. Definitely WAY better than what I can get at home and something I wouldn’t hesitate to order again. Of course the broth was amazing!
At this point I was too full for dessert, but the wife’s Restaurant Week menu comes with one, so she chose the Carrot Layer Cake. This dense carrot cake was layered with cream cheese frosting and served with an orange cardamom coulis. The flavors were good, but it was far too sweet… So much so that it was a little difficult to eat.
Total damage? Well the restaurant week menu was $ 30, so all in, we spent about $ 110 including tax and tip.
In all, Goldfinch Tavern is a great option in Seattle. The value is good, service is excellent, and the quality of food is wonderful! Of course, we later found that this is another go-​to restaurant for the team at ChefSteps, which is easy to see. With it’s proximity to Pike Place Market, Seattle Aquarium, etc, it’s definitely a no-​brainer when in the area. It is definitely a place I plan to return to when in Seattle!

Pretty solid but its really expensive. The tuna tartare was amazing, maybe the best I ever had. My steak was a little over but I didnt send it back. Dessert was great as well.

I don’t know where to start. Breakfast in the morning was sumptuous, with great selections. Frankie makes you feel like the Boss’s kid too!
When I stopped by the bar later for a cocktail, Art remembered my name AND drink, after not seeing me for months.
You can bet, I will be back!

We loved it.
A 4.5 star rating was my thinking but Unilocal only allows full stars. So I gave it a 5 because of the service; it was exceptional!
The menu was also outstanding. It was diverse and every dish was both beautiful and great. Also liked the remodel of the space a lot.

Beautiful place got changed to a different beautiful place.
I like this place when it was Art. But not love. And I’m hoping to fully love this place! My first few visits were back in November for restaurant week and happy hour. I didn’t get a chance to try any food on happy hour but I did enjoy my glass of wine. For restaurant week, I love the scallops! Didn’t have my dessert but I remember the scallops being delicious. Didn’t quite like my appetizer.
Went back and gave it another try today for lunch since I’ve been meaning to try their lunch menu for quite a while. My favorite thing here is definitely the ambiance. It was freezing today and rather hectic it being the holiday season. But once you walk into the place, you see the fireplace. You get greeted and seated with a view. It kind of relaxes you right away. It is Four seasons after all!
We opted for appetizers since they were rather large portions and also we were short on time. My friend had the quail and I went with the beef tartare with a side of coffee. Wanted something light and refreshing and I’m a big fan of tartare of any sorts.
Coffee came in a beautiful cup with a beautiful side cup for milk which ended up leaking all over our table. We thought we spilled it somehow but luckily one of the servers noticed it and brought us a new one. Yey! On to our food!
My friend quail looked delicious with a beautiful side of salad! She said last time it was more golden brown.
Beef tartare ~ this was probably the most cooked tartare I’ve ever had. I don’t mean cooked on the stove top but it was not rare at all. And quite pungent and soured. We suspected that it might have gotten pickled by one of the ingredients in it. We had a discussion back and forth with our server Ben about why it seemed cooked. He offered to bring me another one without the capers but I had a meeting and had to pass! He compd my dish since I only took a bite or two. That was a nice gesture. Thanks Ben! Luckily, I did get a second cup of coffee which held me over till I got off work! Darn. I hate being hungry after lunch! Oh well.
Overall, service is lovely here. Ambiance is great. Too bad the food doesn’t quite match up. Perhaps next time!

It has been a while since I have been wowed by a restaurant in Seattle. Goldfinch is amazing! From the cocktails to the service, everything was impeccable! The most difficult thing was deciding what to order! The portions are quite generous. I am enjoying my leftovers as I write this!
We had:
Half dozen oysters
Salmon tartare
Beet crab salad
Gem lettuce blue cheese toasted hazelnut salad
Roasted chicken with carrot purée
Rib eye with chanterelles and roasted potatoes
Mushrooms
Roasted brussel sprouts with bacon
Apple crips with cranberry and orange infused ice cream.
The subtleties of the seasonings they use on the dishes are amazing. They oysters have a lemon black pepper infused shaved ice! The ribeye had a basil balsamic infused marinade! (Best steaks we’ve ever had) The ice cream for the apple crisp had orange, cranberry and a savory liquor that I couldn’t place. Chicken is such a boring dish but this was AMAZING! The carrot purée, mmmm!
Our waiter was just lovely! We moved over to the fire place after dinner to enjoy a beverage and the service we received there was wonderful.
They were incredibly busy due to the holiday season but you wouldn’t know it.

While I will likely go because of convenience, I have been disappointed by different things every time I have eaten there. Today took the cake: I talked to my server early and often that I had to be closed out and leave by 6:10pm. The 7^th time was at 6:09pm asking for the check. She delivered it but by 6:14pm, she was nowhere to be found. I was now late. I needed to be at Benaroya Hall at 6:15pm. I arrived at 6:23pm due to her inattentive service.
Oh yeah: I asked for my hanger steak medium rare. I got everything from well done to medium rare in the same 4 oz of meat on my happy hour plate. Not sure how one manages to accomplish that… must take a certain special set of culinary skills I don’t possess.

I’m loving the new restaurant in the Four Seasons — Goldfinch Tavern by Ethan Stowell.
It has an awesome classy lounge feel plus boasts amazing views of Seattle’s harbor, ferries, and the Great Wheel.
Service is excellent and the food is what you would expect from Ethan Stowell — refined, simple, and flavorful. The steaks and frites are divine, and sides are also excellent such as the Brussel sprouts.
The happy hour is amazing (until 6). They have fabulous cocktails, wine options, and a huge variety of great value plates including their famed burger, the hanger steak, poke, and oysters.
After years hunting for great dining near Pike Place, this is my new top pick, followed by Café Campagne and Seatown Seabar.
Check it out!

This place used to be Art restaurant, which I wasn’t fond of, and sadly I’m not that fond of the new restaurant that replaced it either.
The only good thing that was good was the Goldfinch martini and the freshness of the oysters. Everything else was forgettable or weird. Came here for Seattle Restaurant Week and chose the oysters on a half shell, my friend got the smoked salmon spread on toast and a salad with parmesan shavings. Definitely get the oysters!
For an entrée, I got the salmon, which had its skin crisped and the inside was nice and flaky, however, it was on the saltier side. My friend had the scallops which were cooked well, but the white beans and the sauce that came with it didn’t heighten the dish at all, just felt kind of bland and put together.
For dessert, I got the panna cotta and my friend got the apple crisp. The panna cotta was more like a light and fluffy cheesecake, rather than the typical gelatinous texture, even though it was a pyramid. The apple crisp was more of a apple crumble with ice cream. There was nothing special about the crumble. didn’t have enough butter.
Décor was nice.

I am a fan of Ethan Stowell’s restaurants and the food at this one does not disappoint. The hamachi crudo is amazing and the fried pacific oysters, fried olives and goat cheese bruschetta were fabulous too.
The problem I had with the restaurant was not the food. It was the waiter.
Our waiter started out being so sweet and accommodating and then we would go for 20 minute spans without seeing him. It took over 20 minutes to order our first drinks and then when we were ready to order food and more drinks he was no where to be found. I normally wouldn’t care as much but being housed in the four seasons and being an Ethan Stowell restaurant I had higher expectations on service. The part that kills me is that the waiter changed the tip amount after I left at the end of the evening. I always tip well regardless of the service but I was so frustrated that I only left a $ 5 tip. However, on my bank statement it shows that the tip turned into $ 25. I was angry at first but now I’m just laughing. Just thought I would warn future diners to stick to Ethan’s other fabulous restaurants. Cheers!

I’m such a fan!
The mussels and fries are so awesome during happy hour! Not sure I dig the latest fried olive trend so much though.
We ended up having dinner here too because we were just chilling for awhile with several glasses of wine by the fireplace and it just happen to be that time. Steak was cooked to perfection and the mushroom ravioli was exceptional! Both fresh. Both flavorful.
The desserts: I almost didn’t try the pumpkin ice cream. Sounded too weird at first, but dang was it good! Tasted like chilled pumpkin pie. The donuts came piping hot — we like to taste everything… Especially if it’s our first visit.
Loved the ambiance. Modern and chic. Great spot for hh or an evening out.

Went here for restaurant week and were immediately seated since I made a reservation for two! Service was GREAT the staff was very attentive and prompt.
The appetizer I had was Halibut Bruschetta which was DELICIOUS! It was full of halibut meat which they did not skimp out on. The entrée was of a great portion with yummy veggies and it was great! The dessert, Mocha Panna Cotta was just okay… I mainly got the flavor from the cream and cookie crumbs… Unfortunately I didn’t have much of a mocha flavor in mine! Experience overall was great and I highly recommend it for a date (:

Totally underwhelmed. I had been looking forward to trying this restaurant out since it replaced the old restaurant in the Four Seasons and finally went for restaurant week. The offerings on the three course rw menu were regular menu items and nothing really was impressive.
The scallops were well prepared, however, as one Unilocaler wrote, the pairing carb/​veggies to the entrees were not ideal. The scallops sat atop some bland beans — I want to say they were a darker colored kidney bean, but with little to no flavor or juice. The restaurant would be wise to replace the beans with a crisp veggie like kale chips, or something with some sort of contrasting texture of delicate flavor. I thought the idea was novel but in the end just unsatisfyjng. The apple cobbler/​crisp was lacking in anything special, and I forced myself to eat it as it was a birthday dinner!

SERVICE here is amazing! Food is also really good!
I went here for dinner 2 weeks ago with my friend and we both ordered the Seared Scallops and it was just divine, cooked to perfection.
I wish I could remember exactly what I had for appetizer and dessert but I cannot. I do remember them being really good. I was catching up with a friend I haven’t seen in months so we were too engaged with each other… not so much the food.
I do remember it vividly tho how amazing our service was and for those reasons, I would come back here again!!!

This place is good for lunch, but not so great for dinner.
I had lunch and dinner here during a business stay at the hotel. The ambiance, food and service was not quite up to the standards of what you would expect at a Four Seasons restaurant.
Our server didn’t seem knowledgeable enough about the wine list, and we ended up with a Pinot that was mediocre.
The steak was served on a carving board — which seemed unique but not practical — each time you try to cut the steak the board would spin around — making it difficult to cut and boarders hazardous.
I think they can do a lot more to improve the overall experience.

Came here for happy hour. Happy hour was through out the restaurant, not just the bar area. Service was great. Food was delicious! Ordered the mussels, albacore tuna poke, mushroom ravioli, hanger steak, and the chocolate torte. It was great that a loaf of bread came with the mussels so that you could dip in the mussel broth. Parking is all on the streets, nearby garages or valet. Great experience and place!
pics on Instagram @amanda.n_

The service at Goldfinch Tavern is top-​notch! It’s located inside the Four Seasons so what’s there to complain about? I had my doors opened for me from the moment my car rolled up and through the entrance of the grand hotel. The restaurant is right off the entrance and was open to the rest of the hotel, much like what you would see in Vegas. My husband requested a quiet private table with a view. When we arrived we were given two seating options and the hostess let me choose where I wanted to sit.
Our server was Dani and she was phenomenol! She was attentive and on top of her game. Thomas was our sommelier and we had a nice conversation with him about wine. He also made sure to ask us about our experience and was genuinely interested in our comments. The service alone is what will definitely bring me back.
That being said, I wish I could say the same about the food, which was hit and miss.
There was a fair selection of oysters. We had the penn cove select, kusshi, and kumamotos (our favorite!). I liked that the chef kept the sauces light and simple. The shaved ice with lemon was refreshing and tasty!
For appetizers, I had the geoduck crudo. I DO NOT recommend this dish. It was heavily seasoned. Too much citrus and waaaay too much salt. It set us back $ 17 so I decided to not waste it. I had to scrape off all of the salt on the geoduck to be able to even get it down my throat. My husband had the blue cheese gem salad. The portion was huge so that was a plus. The minus was that the dressing was also super salty. We couldn’t finish it.
For dinner, I had the halibut. Guess what? More salt! There’s definitely a pattern here. I did the same scrape and eat action. My wrist definitely got a workout. My husband had the tenderloin. Surprisingly, that was seasoned well and he enjoyed it.
Bottom line: I still have high hopes for this new Ethan Stowell restaurant. Red Cow is one my all time favorite restaurants in Seattle, and I hope that overtime, Goldfinch will reach that status. The textures and aesthetics are there. If only there was less salt, I probably would have given a five star rating.

Almost as good as it gets.
I had many meals here recently while staying at the hotel, and nearly every one of them was wonderful. (The previous restaurant was not so great)
Breakfast was great, eggs were always cooked well, oatmeal was hearty (they even offered to heat up the almond milk I asked for with it!), they have almond milk!!, the juices are great. they even have Tapatio!
(The blueberries weren’t all that fresh though, which is strange considering the local options, why was I getting frozen blueberries)
Lunch was just as tasty, the salads perfect, the burger (though I didn’t have a bite) was said to be amazing, the fries were really tasty too.
Dinner was for the most part perfect as well! The fish always cooked to order, salads solid, sides wonderfully done.
The only problem we had was at dinner one night, I asked for a rather unique meal request (I’m avoiding wheat, dairy, sugar and meat.) to which they said they’d gladly oblige — it was basically a bunch of sides/​appetizers as a meal, they suggested they bring it out all at once which was fine, or so I thought.
My friend ordered a salad to start, which they got after about 20m. They commented that it was salty. Salty? a salad? I thought perhaps their taste was off (sorry!).
One hour after we arrived, and about 45m after we ordered (in a very quiet time of the restaurant), the meal arrived. Every single bit of it was so salty it was inedible. Even my friends fish.
The potatoes were dry, and salty.
The green beans, were uncooked and salty.
The fried quail? The second bite was almost pure salt.
If the kitchen didn’t like my special request, come tell me that. But don’t serve me something you don’t want to make.
That, on top of the fact that the couple across from us, who arrived about 30m after us, had been served 5 separate dishes before we received our dinner, made for an exceptionally odd dinner — which we barely touched.
I didn’t eat another dinner there while the sous chef was the same. I actually felt singled out (I mean who salts a salad?!), it was rather uncomfortable, and if that hadn’t been my 3^rd or 4^th meal there, I’d never go back. And instead of dinner here I went to Whole Foods… low sodium soup was a must.
However, my previous, and following meals there were great. Perhaps it was just a bad night for everyone on hand…