Manolin

My first advice is to stick out the wait. Just stick it out. It is worth it. Grab a drink and hang outside in patio. You still get great customer service and you can order a snack while uou’re waiting to go along with your cocktail. We waited 1.5 hours for a table to open up. We ordered the beef, the pork belly, the kale sunchoke salad, the chicharon, the smoked salmon, the chocolate cake, and the butterscotch pannacotta! It was all so good! The salad was dressed perfectly and the pork belly was so fork tender! Everything was so delicious! First meal in Seattle and it was perfect!

My wife and I went for the first time on Saturday and just happened to walk in at 4:02pm, two minutes after the open and a couple people were already there. The place filled up very quick and had 15 – 20 people waiting for seats by 5:30pm.
Nice atmosphere, very friendly and attentive staff.
I just had beer, the wife had a mixed drink and wine which she enjoyed. We also had the plantain chips, no sauce, but can’t have it all.
We did not have any entries, just drinks.
I will go back, but would get there when they open at 4pm, so to not wait.

Wow, Wow and Wow!!!
Met a friend for dinner tonight… I walked in and immediately fell in love with the space… Love the round bar and always prefer a seat there… Service was awesome… I own a restaurant and have a terrible tendency to see bad service way too clearly… I felt nothing but a phenomenal vibe… kind of a rarity these days.
First bite of Albacore blew me away and last bite of Pork Belly 2.5 hours later left me smiling and giddy… oh and lets not forget that damn gluten free chocolate cake… the squid was nutz and prepared perfectly… but it was the beef that made me purr!
LOVE!!!

I want to start by saying that this is the absolute best value you will get in dining out. I am amazed at the quality of food served at such a reasonable price point. I am not afraid to pay for good food, but two of us shared 5 dishes, dessert and a cocktail and the total was $ 70. You will not find food of this quality at that price anywhere in Seattle.
Manolin is unpretentious fine dining. The ambiance is beachy and laid back and the food is out of this world. Every dish is so flavorful and thoughtful and gorgeous to look at. After we finished our meal we were 100% ready to start again from the top. I can’t wait to come back and keep coming back.
I am not even sure what to say was our favorite. The steak was perfectly charred and super flavorful, the rockfish ceviche was so fresh and bright, the warm papaya was a perfect side. I am hungry now just thinking about it. If you have to wait for a table, do it. You seriously won’t regret it.

Had dinner here just when it opened, wonderful food combinations, great service, still packed months later!
Worth the wait.

The BF took me to Manolin on a date night recently, and much to his surprise, I had never heard of it. I am SO glad he picked this place because it was truly one of the best (if not THE best) meals I have ever had. The space is very open but it’s still cozy and it feels like you’re in someone’s spacious, anthropologie-​esque kitchen.
We came here on a Thursday night and had to wait for about half an hour so we just had a drink out on the heated patio until our seats were ready. Our bartender/​server told us that most couples ordered about 4 – 5 dishes, so we ordered the following:
— Winter Slaw: I didn’t know what to expect for this slaw, but as soon as I read that there were hazelnuts in this dish, I was intrigued. Everything in this slaw worked so well together and I would order this dish every time.
— Black Fried Rice w/​Squid: OH MY GOD, AMAZING. This was the special (not on the menu) and it blew our minds. First of all, the presentation is nothing like you’d expect, and it was so delicious and savory in a way that I had never experienced before. I’m salivating right now.
— Rockfish Ceviche: This dish was so incredibly refreshing and had a very clean flavor. It was amazing on a cold and rainy January night, so I’m sure it’s even better in the summer.
— Pork Belly: This huge slice of pork belly is amazingly flavored, and the meat and fat just melts in your mouth. The pomegranate glaze was perfect for it and the yucca was an A+ pairing to balance out the «sweet and salty» part of the dish.
— Grilled Beef: The beef was perfectly cooked and seasoned. A lot of times with grilled beef/​steak dishes I’m worried they will be way too salty, but this was just right and I wouldn’t have changed it in any way.
My favorites were definitely the black fried rice and the pork belly, but truly, you can’t go wrong here. I think their menu changes seasonally, so I’d love to come back here and try out what they have to offer in the rest of the year!

Let me start by saying this review should actually be 4.5 stars but they don’t allow half stars. Now on to the review. Heard some good things about this place and happened to be in the area so it was time to see what all of the buzz was about. Walled up and had some drinks while waiting for a table to open up. The wait needed up being about 30 minutes (longer than I would like but the cocktails were good).
The atmosphere hee is great. Open kitchen setup gives this place an energy that you love to see in restaurants. The servers are very knowledgeable about the menu and gave great suggesrions. I would certainly say that this place has a «hip» vi e to it but it’s not overwhelming. It’s just enough to make you feel like your meal is a little bit of an event and that is a good thing.
So on to the food. They serve everything is small plated which seems to be the norm these days in Seattlr. Everything was delicious and the presentation of each dish made you realize that great care was taken in preparing your food. Higlights were the halibut which was excellent and the steak which can only be described as thin chips of deliciousness. And if you want something that will really knock your socks off its the plantain chips. I usually don’t even like plantains but they absolutely nailed it with these. A must try!
My only negatives here are that the food is o. The pricier side. For two people will a couple of cocktails the bill came out to about $ 110 after tip. Also the portion sizes run small, so this isn’t the place to come if you are starving and want to fill up. But if you are looking for a great vibe, great food and potential for great conversation this is a winner and a great addition to the Stone Way corridor.

This place was good. If you want to try seattlian type of food i would say come here. We had
Chicarron (pork skin chip)
Rockfish ceviche
Albacore ceviche
Grilled steak
Prawn and tumeric
My favorite was the grilled steak,. It was good perfectly medium rare and great flavor. But overall everything was good.

Ceviche is where it’s at! You can get two dollars off their ceviche during happy hour from 4 to 6 PM! I love their rockfish ceviche since it comes with slices of jalepenos with avocado and sweet potato as well as chili. Their well drinks are also on the happy hour menu.
Staff is extremely friendly, especially at the bar.
Make sure to also order the branzino which is not on the happy hour menu, but it’s simply well cooked while lightly salted.
Chicharrones are also very fresh and good and even come cracking at to the table (as they should). Fried plaintains were executed well since they were thinly sliced and crispy.
Loved the white shrimp dish with the refried shrimp shells. Genious! I never thought I would be super enthused to eat shrimp shells, but the refrying just adds an extra addictiveness to the dish.
I even got to try the butterscotch panna cotta with apple granita. The panna cotta has the right consistency and is very creamy. The apple granita adds an extra depth that kind of cuts through yet compliments the creamy sweetness of the butterscotch. It’s definitely something to order.
Only downside is that they don’t take reservations and will only seat you if everyone in your group is there (3 or more). I opted to sit at the bar while waiting for my friend and they were able to accommodate me.

One of the best *surprise* meals I have ever had! And by surprise I mean — looked over the menu and felt like there was very little I would actually like or be excited to try. In fact, I asked my boyfriend if he saw anything he liked — because if not we’d head somewhere else after our drinks. After our meal there’s not one thing on there I wouldn’t order!
We had about a 30 min wait for a table, so we headed out by the fire pit for a cocktail before dinner. The heaters, fire pit, and Christmas lights made it feel cozy and actually very comfortable.
We started with the Plantain chips — which I was skeptical about ordering because I’ve had bad plantain chips before, and then I saw another table with them and they looked delicious. Thinly sliced, long way (not the short cut across where they’re too thick), and nicely seasoned.
We then had the Albacore ceviche which was absolutely amazing. You must try a bite with one part of each element on the plate — the flavors were unbelievable! The Plantain chips were a nice combo of crunch to the ceviche as well.
Our bartender ordered us a complimentary Kale salad, which is hands down the best salad I’ve ever had at a restaurant. The kale is sliced in thin, thin ribbons and has a delicious dressing (garlic-​y) with cojita and a little heat from the thinly sliced peppers.
We then had the beef which had the most unique smoky flavor. Both of us agreed that we have never tasted meat with that much smokiness! Again, try to get a bite with one part of each of the elements on the plate. Your taste buds will love you forever.
We don’t usually do dessert, but after watching them make the chocolate whipped sour cream cake a few times we had to go for it. I’m not a huge sweet person (more salty/​savory) and I enjoyed the cake. Not overly decadent, and the whipped sour cream made it very savory.
Service was wonderful (one of my friends who is gluten free had a terrible experience here, I was a little worried what our experience would be like), food was amazing unique deliciousness, and the plates were fairly priced and the perfect size for sharing, feeling full, but not gross full.
We are absolutely coming back! I wonder if they can make the Pain Killers that we had in the Virgin Islands this year… ;)

I can go on raving about this spot! We were lucky to visit on weeknight and get seated at the best seats in the house, at the open bar/​kitchen in front Zack the bartender! Greeted with super friendly hosts and servers. it just started off so pleasant. Zack immediately gave us the low down on the dishes and we were so excited to try their dishes.
It’s a family style eating experience and it has to be with all the delicious plates offered on the menu! We ended up ordering 5 dishes: chiccarones (house made and AMAZING!), two salads, rockfish ceviche, and the braised pork belly in molé sauce (even more AMAZING!)
Overall, ambience (beautifully simple), service, food… this is now one of our favorite spots in Seattle! I’d recommend it over and over again and I’m coming back for more!

I was lucky enough to visit Manolin with several friends, so we essentially ordered every item on the menu. If possible, I strongly suggest this style dining. The plates are way too small to feed one person, and somehow you feel more full when you have had one bite of a lot of plates. Silly brain.
I’ll start outside on a rainy Tuesday night, since that is where we wound up. There is a big central fire pit on the patio, which is nice, and maybe three tables for small groups. I’m not sure if it is the new factor or what, but they told us we were looking at a two hour wait. Why do places not offer reservations?!
We booked a table down the street in 30 and decided to have cocktails on the patio. They have overhead heaters pointing at the tables that aren’t close to the fire pit, so we were plenty warm. Despite the rain I took off my jacket.
A gal in my party happened to know someone here, so we were able to be sat before our upcoming reservation elsewhere. The inside is lovely, with hanging lights and very high ceilings, but the bar takes up so much room there isn’t a ton for tables. The open concept kitchen is always nice.
It is hard for me to speak to service, since «one of everything!» is pretty easy to accommodate and they let you know in multiple ways that the dishes come out as they are ready. This is slightly annoying, because it was hard to keep track of what the dishes were, and many of them look and have similar ingredients.
The appetizers came out really fast, and thankfully first, which was great. The plantain chips were really good, but room temperature which is weird. I’m sure they just keep bowls around to ensure at least this item comes out in a logical fashion. I was less excited about the chicharrones, but they were better than any other pork rind I’ve been brave enough to try.
The fish dishes were great, but the salmon was really small. I guess I wasn’t that sad ultimately, because it wasn’t that great. I also would really love something other than a spoon to split a raw fish with. The other laughable plate was I believe anchovy, where there were five slivers of fish, six slivers of beet, and three slivers of what appears to be a pickled onion. On the up side it is one of the cheaper plates, and everyone got literally one bite.
All of the garden dishes were amazing. I think it is kind of crappy of them to charge as much for their meat and fish dishes as they do for a salad, but the flavors are good, the ingredients are original, and there is slightly more to the plate, as in our of five of us a few were able to get a second bite. The standout here was the kale, closely followed by the veggie slaw.
The grill is where I was most pleased with more of the offerings. The whole trout was hard to eat, but the flavor was good and the meat was tender and cooked perfectly. The pork belly was amazing. I think that was the star of this section of the menu, since the beef was a little too rare for my tastes and the prawns are shellfish, which I don’t appreciate.
Dessert was unfortunately only two options, and since I don’t like sour cream at all I didn’t like the cake. They heap that stuff over the entire thing, so if you don’t like it you won’t want to order it. The pana cotta was like nothing I’ve had before, and I’ve had it at almost every single restaurant week I’ve attended. Must be cheap to make? Anyway, they hide it under a soft, lightly sweet layer of apple granita. I didn’t think the two made sense or wouldn’t have put them together myself, so I was delighted.
Plating on all was beautiful, so ultimately I guess my lack of 5 stars comes from being really excited this was a $$ establishment, but that is very misleading after taking into consideration the size of each dish.

Fabulous food with a gorgeous bar, open kitchen and spectacular wines by the glass.
Unfortunately they do not take reservations — this becomes most unfortunate on a cold and rainy evening, as the waiting area is located outside. There is lovely fire pit but it can still be bone chilling on a colder night. Luckily for us, we did not have to wait too long and two seats at the counter opened.
We started with the plantain chips and two ceviches. These were the best ceviche’s I’ve ever had. I usually find ceviches too acidic but these were perfectly balanced and light. Get both!
The kale salad with sunchoke and cotija was unique, and the fall vegetable slaw with almonds was refreshing with a great crunch from the fresh veggies and the nuts.
White prawns and black cod were both excellent and beautifully prepared. If anything we probably ordered two too many dishes, but better to order too much than too little.
Service was very friendly and the atmosphere was bright and energetic. Manolin is a marvelous place for dinner in Seattle.

There are a few reasons why I had a genuinely shitty experience at Manolin, and at least two of the three were highly avoidable had someone just been a little bit proactive.
I found Manolin while searching for well-​reviewed and reasonably priced seafood for some out-​of-​town guests for dinner last night. I saw the 4.5 out of five stars, the $$ price tag, and thought Manolin would be perfect. We got there, immediately noted how gorgeous and quaint the restaurant was, sat down, and then realized there wasn’t a single damned vegetarian entrée on the menu. Strike one. Although there were three salads on the menu, two had words I’d never seen before in the description, one was kale (really? Ugh), and all of them were fundamentally starters with no significant or filling additions to make them meal worthy.
When the waitress came over to greet us, my first question was if there was anything the restaurant could do to accommodate my being a vegetarian (seriously, folks, I cannot eat meat, it’s medical, not ideological) besides a side salad. I was given an immediate and resounding No. Since I had three tired, hungry tourists with me, I decided to just tough it out and watch my friends eat and get fast food by myself on the way home.
From that point our troubles only escalated. One of my friends ordered a fish dish and a side salad, one ordered the steak, and another ordered the prawns and the only appetizer this place has: plantain chips. Before we even received the appetizer, my friend had both her salad and her fish at the same time. She said the salad was okay but nothing to write home about (some sort of funky slaw thing?) but the fish was just plain bad. Flavorless and a little bit overly fishy.
Next we randomly got our «appetizer» plantain chip things. Finally my other friend got his steak about 10 minutes after the fish and salad had come out. It took another 10 minutes for my third friend to get his prawns, with exactly zero explanation from the staff. The other two were literally finished with their food before he even got his. The steak was overly charred to the point that my friend couldn’t taste the actual meat over the grill marks and the prawns were fine once you got past the small portion and timing issues.
While this was going on, we were looking around for our waitress to ask about where the other dish was and had just concluded she’d forgotten to put it in the computer when she magically appeared with it. We explained our discontent with the order of the food and huge gaps in when it came out and got a curt answer about how they just send things when they’re prepared and so it comes when it comes. If this is your style, doesn’t that warrant an explanation before we actually order food? If this is a thing, wouldn’t you expect your guests to want to know about it?
By that point, we were all pretty pissed. The friend whose prawns took 10 minutes longer than all of the other food found a different server and let him know we’d had some serious issues. That server was kind enough to try to placate us and took the fish dish off the bill, but his response for why our food came out like that was that it’s supposed to be family style.
Ok.
I could humor that notion, except that the portions are tiny. You don’t get to have it both ways, Manolin! Either you’re a family style place with family portions, or you’re a fancy tapas restaurant that doesn’t give a shit if parties actually eat together, but you cannot have it both ways!
TLDR:
Strike 1: Zero vegetarian options in a town with a WHOLE lot of vegetarians. This isn’t Mississippi, people.
Strike 2: The food just wasn’t that great. It was «meh.» And because of the small portions, if you actually ordered enough for this to make a full meal, you’d easily be in the $$$ category.
Strike 3: Horrible service for most of this. If you are a «family style» place with weird rules governing how you run differently from other similar establishments, tell me that when I order! It isn’t that hard! Just tell your guests! The curt You-​Shouldve-​Psychically-​Known-​This attitude from our waitress did not improve matters. Recognize when you’ve fucked up and do something about it, don’t act like I should be an expert on the weird way you run your business.
So, more or less, Manolin, you’re out.

Overall great experience. Surprisingly!
I’ve had this place on my bookmarks for awhile now and finally experienced it today. We waited 45 minutes (group of 6) to be seated and we waited outside at the fire pit with drinks.
Drinks were well presented and ideally on the strong side.
After being seated, staff genuinely apologized for our wait time (table before us anchored there long after they paid their bill) and offered us 3 complimentary plates at a $ 45 value, which I thought was generous of them.
We waited another 30 minutes for the food we ordered. Food comes out sporadically and in small plates so family style it and order a lot!
You’ll learn quickly that this place is about flavor. Everything we had — even if it looked otherwise — tasted great!
Our favorites were the grilled white prawns and the grilled beef with potato and radish.
I’m pretty impatient typically so even with the 2 hour total wait to actually put food in my mouth… The flavor was an incredible consolation.
Another Seattle great in the books.

If you come on a Saturday, be prepared to wait for an hour but the food is well worth the wait. We ordered the plantain chips, shishito peppers, tea poached squid, halibut and the grilled beef. Keep in mind everything here are small plates and they’ll just keep em coming out rather than having everything come out at once.
The plantain chips were a good snack while waiting for the other dishes. They were pretty crispy and were seasoned well. My least favorite part of the meal were probably the shishito peppers. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting but this dish wasn’t needed. We should’ve ordered something else from the garden menu. The tea poached squid were super tender and cooked perfectly. The flavors were on point and tasted fresh. The halibut was pretty standard and was grilled well. It was still moist. What made this dinner super worth it was the grilled beef. They cook it medium-​rare unless you ask them differently. It was seasoned so well and the beef wasn’t chewy. There were a lot of flavors from the beef itself and it was honestly a dinner changer.
They have an open kitchen. The staff is super friendly and efficient. Bottom line is, you should order the grilled beef.

Was excited to introduce my friends and out of town guests to this place, but sadly, our second visit wasn’t as impressive as my first experience here. Still love the décor and vibe of this place, and the food is still plated beautifully, but portion sizes are small and many of the flavors were really salty, acidic and just didn’t compliment each other well this time around.
Had the rockfish ceviche (fish was overpowered by a vinegary /​strange aftertaste), the black cod (cooked well but the sauce was very salty), arctic char (this was a nice texture and flavor), squid (nice contrast in texture with quinoa and squid, but kind of bland in flavor), beef (tasted charred, sour and sauce was super salty), Treviso salad (just meh– best part was the apples).
In addition, every time a dish was delivered, the waiter kept rudely complaining /​commenting over and over how cluttered the table was in a condescending manner. (Each of us had one small plate, one water cup, and 3 us had one cocktail). I forgot the specific term he kept repeating but it was uncomfortably unnecessary and rude…
In the end, due to the unbalanced flavor profiles, everyone in our table left hungry, so we had to eat a second dinner afterwards. Expensive night for a very disappointing experience this time around.

This is a beautiful restaurant and I’m glad I was able to come here without a wait! I didn’t realize they were named one of the best new restaurants by Bön Appetit until after I ate here.
We almost ordered everything on the menu since they were small plates. The standouts were the arctic char, grilled steak, octopus and the panna cotta dessert! I’d definitely want to come back and try their seasonal plates because everything was fresh and beautifully presented.
They also have Britney Spears’ Stronger record as a piece of iconic décor. That was pretty cool.

Manolin, officially the best restaurant I’ve had thus far in Seattle. I like that they don’t take reservations so it’s a first come, first served basis, and the fact that their prices aren’t astronomically high is a good thing. This is a small plate restaurant so expect to order at least 2 – 3 dishes per person and I would highly recommend sharing so you can try everything.
I will say their plating was great, especially the tea poached squid. That was our first dish and it was absolutely a gorgeous plate. In addition to the squid, we had the grilled steak, ceviche, arctic char, and grilled halibut. My favorite dish of the night was probably the halibut just because I’m a huge sucker for truffle oil (who isn’t!) and the least favorite was probably the steak (not to say it wasn’t good) but I was hoping the lardo would add more zing other than extra fat. The ceviche could have had a bit more spice but still a very good dish. Their menu is small and if you have 3 – 4 people you could definitely hit up the entire menu.
In addition to busting out good dishes that are well plated, well seasoned, well cooked, their kitchen was good in getting out dishes in a timely manner. The wait staff was attentive without being intrusive, and the cocktails were stiff. All in all, this was a good experience and something that I’ve been looking for, for far too long. Highly recommend this place.

Tastiness all around!
Manolin has my vote on everything. Stunning décor, beautiful food, great staffs. And delicious drinks!
Came here on a Saturday night with few of my amazing friends. We had two birthdays in the group of 6! Woot woot!!! We were told that we might not be able to get in since they had an hour wait at 9 pm and kitchen was closing at 10 pm. We decided to stick around and drink anyways.
First ~ it was a cold night. But that patio kept us warm! I love me some outdoor dining/​drinking/​chilling! Fire burning and all.
After a few cocktails, we got seated! Naturally, I ordered everything on the menu! Except two veggies item under the grill because I wanted multiple orders each of their 3 grill items! Plus, veggies and me don’t get along: P
Food
Ceviche ceviche and more ceviche!!!
Artic char
Baby squid!
Grilled romaine
Croquettes
Cicharons
3 orders of their amazing halibut!
3 steak!
And 4 duck dishes along with a few orders or dessert. Because you can never have too much food for 6 people right?
Rockfish ceviche was amazing! Light and tasty!
The misto ceviche with octopus was even better
Baby squid ~ with quinoa and all the crispy little things. So good!
Salads were just as tasty and pretty.
Halibut ~ simply amazing! Crispy on the outside, fluffy inside with that amazing sauce! I wanted to order more of this but the kitchen was closed already… Guess I know what I’m getting when I come back!
Steak was beautiful, medium and perfectly pink. And served in a Lardo!!! Whaaaaaat!
Muscovy Duck with rhubarb ~ so tasty, we had 4 orders of it. These were all shareable plates! Cocktails were delicious and strong too!!!
They even brought our deserts with candles on it! So pretty. I wish they take reservation for group of 6 soon. This way, we can get in earlier to eat more amazing food. Overall, we had a delicious evening! Thanks Manolin! Simple food is the hardest to make. And you guys actually made it! I’m planning to come back soon and reorder everything. Hmmmmm hmmm!

We had dinner dinner here the other night, and it was amazing! All the food was fresh, well seasoned, and cooked to perfection. We will be back many, many times and will bring all of our friends!