Monsoon Restaurant

The soft shell crab was just perfect, crispy, tasty, with cucumber as a cool foil. Curried prawns were yummy & rich.
The server was a bit green, water not refilled, check –back delayed. The chocolate ganache was too hard, yet velvety smooth. Price very reasonable.

Authentic food but underwhelming service.
As far as food goes, its a pretty solid 4 stars. I’m impressed by their generous and bold use of spices to really kick their food up to the next level. The quality of food will get us coming back. The portion size is, to put it nicely, dainty. You’d probably need to order 1.5 of the main plate to feel decently fed. The one big downer was service — all the waiters look like they need energy drinks to prop them up. No enthusiasm or any signs of life, to be frank. They could use an afternoon nap for sure.

Meeeehhhh… I am a tad tired of all these ‘Asian fusion’ places in Seattle trying oh-​so-​hard to be ‘hip and cool’- whatever happened to being original??? The service was the worst I’d received in years, we were practically sitting on top of the couple next to us, and the portions were minuscule — need I say more???

This spot is nicely designed and very clean, service is alright, food pretty good, but way overpriced. My friends and I ordered family style and I think we were a bit underwhelmed at the amount of food. The 6 of us paid $ 20 each but the portions of many dishes are so small that you get a few bites and that’s it. If you’re used to eating rice with your Asian food, you’ll have to pay extra for a side of rice (not thrilled about this) but it’s much more cost effective than ordering the fried rice — which is a tiny portion.
Monsoon is owned by the same owners of Ba Bar and for Vietnamese food, it’s way better in price point and portion size. This spot would be better for a date, I guess, as it is quieter than Ba Bar. I didn’t get to check out the rooftop patio but it seems cool!

Got to try their rooftop patio for the first time and loved it! Peaceful and sunny setting and the spiked slushies are delicious and refreshing. The small plates are always fantastic at Monsoon and make great snacks while catching up with friends over a cocktail. My only complaints about the rooftop are the service is a little slow & stressed out (maybe they are understaffed or maybe it was just the evening I was there) and also I don’t think they should take reservations. It’s a casual bar setting, people should just come and go with the more formal setting being downstairs in the main restaurant. Groups should be aware that most of the tables are fairly small, with only a couple tables for bigger groups.

I’ve always been impressed with Monsoon’s Asian fusion creativity while sticking with the authentic flavor palate. My favorite dishes there have to be the braised catfish and the drunken chicken.
I recommend family style so everyone gets to try something different. Honestly, I rarely met a dish I haven’t liked at Monsoon.

Ultimately this eatery space on Capitol Hill is occupied with a victor. Located just across from competing Kingfish Café it’s a difficult choice which restaurant to pick. Equally challenging is what to pick of this Asian menu featuring Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai. All dishes readily shared with the table. An adequate wine list and a number of foreign brews find their way to this casual place. You will go back after you have seen.

Ordered family style with a group. We ordered the eggplant, green beans, fresh spring roll, short ribs, scallops and drunken chicken.
I loved how fresh and light the spring roll tasted. I’m personally not a huge eggplant fan, but the sauce was slightly creamy and had great flavor. While the drunken chicken is not the healthiest, it’s scrumptious as were the short ribs (although a tad messy to eat) and the scallops were cooked perfect although lacked seasoning in my opinion. All and all, a great meal with lots of wonderful flavors.
I’d recommend Monsoon. Love the ambiance and check to see when they have specials as all wine was 30% off bottles last night.

seattle food week. wow. we came with 3 people, and we each got a different selection from the 3 course meal sets. every single one of them was exquisite. my cocktail (the name i have hence forgotten) was also fantastic. cool atmosphere, good food, friendly staff. will definitely return!

Ate here recently and was blown away by the new space! It’s so big and airy and nice. It was cozy before but this new space is better.
Took the Hubs here for an after-​bday celebration and we enjoyed the Beef Stew and the Drunken Chicken bowl for brunch. Flavors were on point. Yes, Monsoon is more expensive than some other Vietnamese restaurants but the food and ambiance are wonderful and worth it.

Came here for a late lunch today with hubby before a doctor’s appointment on First Hill. When we arrived, realized it was Dine around Seattle so –score!- we each got 3 courses at a tremendous deal!
LOVED: The two 1^st courses and one of the mains– crispy imperial rolls (carlton farms pork, shrimp, glass noodles, herbs), crispy vegetarian rolls (taro root, northwest tofu, carrots, woodear mushrooms), and crispy local drunken chicken rice bowl (fried egg, bok choy)
JUST M’EH: The other main, the phở ha noi style (w/​painted hills teres major, ginger, birds eye chili, long doughnut). Quality was excellent, but taste was missing– just could have used a more flavorful broth!
We both finished with the banana cake (w/​savory coconut sauce), also good.
Portions for the mains were generous, the small plates were a little light if they served their normal portion sizes for the Dine Around Seattle lunch 1^st course.
I would definitely return for happy hour or dinner, but likely to stick to the rice or noodle dishes versus the phở’s.

Monsoon is a beautiful, upscale, hipster Asian fusion restaurant, which I somehow expected to be similar to Stateside. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a huge fan of Monsoon as it reminded me a little bit of PF Chang’s. In good news, it was easy to make a last minute reservation for two on a weekday and service was friendly and prompt.
— LA LOT — 3 STARS: This is one of their «most popular» dishes, and it was a bit unimpressive. This version of La Lot was so much better than at the restaurant, La Lot. It was a little bit burned, and came with two skewers.
— BRUSSELS SPROUTS — 3 STARS: I love mushrooms, and I love brussels sprouts, but I thought this was pretty mediocre because it was too soggy.
— CRISPY CHICKEN — 3.5 STARS: I was on the fence about getting this dish because it looked like something from Panda Express, but alot of Unilocalers (and the waitress) recommended it. I never order chicken at restaurants, but I’m glad I did because this was tender on the inside and slightly crispy on the outside, and I was a fan of the sweet-​and-​sour sauce. I
— CATFISH CLAY POT — 3 STARS: This was a fairly small claypot with about two fillets, and it was a little too sweet and overcooked, and covered in way too many onions. I’ve had much better catfish claypot elsewhere so I wouldn’t order it again, but this was decently good.
— WHEAT NOODLES — 2.5 STARS: This was a huge portion of very bland noodles.

The restaurant had a great ambiance right off the bat. The walls were covered with modern Asian art pieces; cherry blossoms and flowers were used as center pieces on tables. The bar was well lit and inviting.
In terms of their food, I’m always iffy of «Asian-​fusion» restaurants, because to me, it’s really hard to really capture the true essence of the spices in Asian food and Americanizing it at the same time. But at this restaurant, I was pleased with the dishes and felt their spice palette was authentic in terms of representing Vietnamese cuisine. The dishes my partner and I ordered were the bo lo lat (my favorite dish, delicious!), the drunken chicken (recommended by other Unilocalers, did not disappoint), and the wild caught prawns (excellent). Each dish was well portioned!
Our server Nick was stuck with multi tasking being the bartender and our server. For serving 10 people at once, I was very pleased with his attentiveness.
Overall, I’m extremely satisfied with the service, food, and ambiance. Easily became one of my favorites in the Capitol Hill area.

Expensive for what you get. Very typical food with not too much of a special flair.
I went for brunch and the dim sum wasn’t special, and definitely overpriced. General items for at least $ 6 per plate. When it came to the meal items, I got the drunken chicken from Unilocal recommendations. it just tasted like orange chicken, a great disappointment. At least my banh xeo was okay, but the cost was not justified at all.
I would not be keen on coming back. Food was alright but definitely not worth the price. It was not that special. They seem to specialize more in drinks and cocktails.

Holy shit. Monsoon rocked my world.
Plenty of street parking. Décor? Fabulous. They accommodated our group of ~10 easily. Obviously I tried a bit of something everyone ordered, and I will tell you… it is all perfect.
The diver scallops were phenomenal– perfectly cooked, definitely fresh, and in a delicious sweetish sauce that perfectly the cut bitterness of the radishes and baby brussels sprouts that were served with the dish. Hands down the best menu item.
The bo lau lac was cooked perfectly. Small pieces of meat that were tender and succulent.
Mussels were fabulous. One friend drank the broth– it was that good.
Drunken chicken, prawns, I could go on. AMAZING.

Definitely a brand new twist on traditional Vietnamese food. My wife is Vietnamese and she couldn’t get enough of it! The fried spring rolls were amazing and the drunken chicken was bomb dot com! I highly recommend it if you are in the Madison Hill area of Seattle. Make reservations because this place is B U S Y!

What a delight! We came for a brunch and ordered random items. Everyone of them was common Asian foods, only wonderfully prepared. The chef clearly try to impress not by new style, arrangement, or clever fusions, but simply by paying attention to details, choosing the ingredients well, and just cook the tradition foods to the best of he/​she can.
The waitress was wonderfully delightful too. She noticed the foods not arriving before we did and went get it directly.

I’m not sure why I waited so long to try Monsoon, but I should have gone sooner. The food was fabulous, and the atmosphere very pleasant.
I particularly liked the drunken chicken — pungent and tender. Also good were the vegetarian fresh roll, the ling cod and the wokked Willamette Valley lamb. The flavors were delicate and distinct. The only disappointing dish was the green beans with mushrooms — they were less spicy and interesting than I was hoping for.
The drinks were good (and they have quite a variety, both standard and sophisticated), as was the one dessert we tried — a banana cake, was fabulous.

3.5 stars. We were happy to try the food at Monsoon in their Capitol Hill location. My SO had been to their Bellevue location but I’ve never been to any of their locations until this time.
I’d probably describe Monsoon as a fancier type of Asian restaurant. The decors are great. Their tables are lined up with glassybaby candleholders and their overall decors along the wall is not the same as what you’d find at a typical Asian restaurants where things are mostly in disarray. This Monsoon location has a patio upstairs for that can host a small party/​group and a bar, too.
The food was good, but to be honest, it was definitely along the pricier side. We had their Bo La Lot (flank steak wrapped with La Lot leaf) and this was definitely a very tasty dish… but somewhat small of a serving — 4 pieces about the size of your thumb. We also ordered So Diep (pan seared diver scallops with roasted cauliflower and was sort of disappointed by the portion size of 4 scallops and mere absent portion of cauliflower. Another dish that we ordered was Ga Say Ru Ou (drunken chicken with Yu Choy), which reminded us of a fancier version of Panda Garden’s sesame chicken. The chicken tasted good, but we thought the sauce was a bit too sweet and too overpowering. Overall though, I wouldn’t say that any dish tasted bad. However, we were just disappointed by the taste and the small portion, given its premium price point.
I wouldn’t hesitate coming here again. However, the next time that I’d think of coming is only when I have some guests who wanted to try Asian food but can’t deal with typical Asian restaurant environment. Monsoon has a pretty/​classy settings, so those people who are looking along the line of upscale Asian food would probably like it.

Dined here last night and wow was I happy with the food I was served. I really liked the ambiance of the place and the huge windows that make it get so much light and feel a lot larger. I also LOVE places that serve water without ice AND leave you a bottle to refill your water on your own. Extra points for that! We were seated promptly and our waiter greeted us shortly after. He was incredibly friendly and helpful.
We decided to do the SRW menu. They had a few additions/​changes that were not on the menu listed online but they were better than what we saw online so I was happy. We started with the tamarind soup with prawns and the ahi tuna fresh rolls. Both were divine. The soup was so light and refreshing. It reminded me of a lemongrass soup but not nearly as overwhelming. The fresh rolls were great and the dipping sauce they came with was awesome.
For second course we did the prawn curry dish and the drunken chicken. OMG so good. The curry sauce was rich but not heavy and I just needed more and more rice to soak it up. The drunken chicken was also delicious. It is similar to a General tso chicken but oh so much better. The sauce was equally good.
Finally we finished off with the banana cake and the chocolate ganache. The ganache was a very small portion but after you take a bite you see why. It was so rich with chocolate flavor that you’d instantly go into a food coma or intense sugar high if you had a larger piece. It had a nice peanut butter, strawberry sauce along side of it. The banana cake was just okay but the crème anglaise it was served with was very nice.
Ok so the food was amazing. Only complaint was despite our server being very nice and attentive there was a very long wait for us to initially be served and then again for the desserts to be brought out and finally for us to receive our bill. I love wining and dining for hours when I have the time for it but on a weeknight I don’t exactly plan on staying around a restaurant for 3 hours. Also, we paid cash and needed change for a tip. When he brought the change he A) didn’t bring the correct change and shorted us $ 1.26 (so small I’m not gonna bring it up to him) and B) brought us large bills and two $ 1 bills. So basically you expect me to give you a 35% tip or a 2% tip… great… thankfully one of the diners seated at the table next to us was kind enough to break our larger bills.
Oh also they have free parking after 6pm in a lot right above the restaurant.