Palomino

Dinner with my colleagues was not a positive experience. While the service was very good, and several people enjoyed their dinners, two of us had the Bolognese and had violent food poisoning shortly after the dinner. When a member of the team called the restaurant to report the incident, it was dismissed since no-​one else had the problem. There was clearly an issue that was not addressed. Advice is to skip the Bolognese.

After a full day of walking all over downtown Seattle, we were too pooped to go far for dinner. We decided to try Palomino which is just across the street from the Sheraton.
Server was personable. Food was decent if unimaginative. Ordered the 3 course chef’s sampler for $ 25. Enjoyed the appetizer and dessert courses best.
1^st: Huge portion of pork belly, perfectly cooked. Crispy skin, just a little bit of fat left. Easy enough to scrape off before eating. Loved the pork belly but the bed of polenta it sat on was tight and lumpy. Polenta served in this manner should be creamy and porridge-​like. Polenta can also be fried or grilled so it has a crusty exterior but they weren’t going for that here.
2^nd: The ravioli with rabbit was meh.
3^rd: The crème brulee trio was smooth, creamy and yummy.
A friend also ordered the chef’s sampler. They were out of her first choice of appetizer so she also got the pork belly. Her entrée, the crab stuffed sole was cold but the waiter was really nice and comped her whole meal. My other friend just had the mushroom risotto. Which was a huge portion and half had to be packed to take back to the hotel.
Didn’t care for our table. Booth was cramped. Seats were too close to the table so it was difficult to slip into the booth. Also, the tabletop was affixed to a big thick column which made foot space tight. I accidentally kept kicking my friends under the table, trying to find a comfortable spot to rest my feet.

This was our third time eating here and as usual it was great. Our waiter Nate was awesome! My wife is celiac and he was very helpful in adjusting our order to fit her needs. We both got the Chefs Sampler and everything was great.

We were sat immediately at 7:30pm, which was great. However, the service was incredibly slow. We asked for the check mid-​meal, but our server Becky didn’t show up for another 45 minutes and took at least another 15 minutes to come by and take our checks. Worst of all, she falsified the tip. This is the second time that this has happened to me at Palomino.

yeah. you’ll probably see a trend with my seattle posts… Happy Hour Review! Seattle has so many awesome happy hour options that are offered daily which includes weekends — which make it hard for someone to pass up.
happy hour runs every day from 3-​close. yep everyday! so you can do happy hour elsewhere then finish up your evening here! this is located on the 3^rd floor in the mall-​ish building across the street from the Motif hotel… their charred kale salad is a must try! delicious! they also have cocktail specials under $ 6 and house wine under $ 5. ive been here 3x and the service has been great. the dinner menu has good options too. ive had their ribeye which was cooked to perfection and ive had their shrimp scampi. i will definitely be coming back…

The food here is like a wonderful home kitchen from the Amalfi Coast. Perfectly flavored dishes with perfect service.

Sour caeser, burnt crab cakes, at least the pepperoni on the pizza was yummy.
Great wait staff but needs talent in the kitchen… or just someone who cares. What was once a solid staple of downtown Seattle, Palomino’s has since become lazy. Adequate for a quick bite for lunch or a semi-​decent happy hour, I expect more for the price.

What a weird restaurant. We came up the escalator and weren’t sure which side we were supposed to go to or if we were supposed to seat ourselves. After meandering about with a confused look on my face for a few minutes I just decided we were going to sit on the right side of the restaurant and seat ourselves. Maybe hang some signs so people know what is expected of them or where they’re supposed to go?
The service was just okay. Eventually we were able to order drinks which came out eventually. I’m not used to a glass of beer taking that long to arrive at a table when the joint is mostly empty. Water glasses remained low to empty for most of our stay here.
My friend’s salad was pretty mediocre… but that could just be because it was a salad. I ordered steak and frites. The steak was cooked properly so that was good but it wasn’t a very impressive steak (especially for the price). The frites… well… they were like crispier versions of McDonald’s fries. Crispy, overly salted and just sort of there. I feel the fries properly sum up my experience and feelings for Palomino. It’s there if you need it. You’ve likely had better and will probably have worse but you’re not going to take anyone you want to impress here. I doubt I’ll be back here any time soon.
Meh.

Customer service: they were very nice and kind
Food: appetizers such as calamari and salad was good. Everything else was bad. Pasta wasn’t cooked right. Not worth it.

Great food! Great wait staff! A great experience, all in all! Palomino is a tradition for our Seattle Christmas family week end. We are never disappointed.
One hint however — Palomino gets VERY busy at Christmas. Book early so you don’t get seated in the over flow area.

We had a very nice meal here on Friday. We had a group of five and everyone was happy with their meal. They do a very nice mushroom soup; great flavor. The salads were very good and the dressing was not over done. I had very good crab cakes. My only complaint is insufficient aioli; no, i did not ask for additional, but could have. Plenty of crab I could taste. My friends enjoy this restaurant, so I anticipate coming back. By the way, nice prompt service. All in all, a very nice meal with good friends.

Great happy hour menu. Reasonable prices. Pizza is delicious. Chopped salad was amazing. The only draw back was the caramelized cauliflower was under cooked. The basil gimlet cocktail was delicious. Love this place!

We been here a couple of times both in downtown Seattle as well as the Bellevue location.
Pros: most of their dishes are fantastic and great customer service, even in during happy hour.
Dishes that are my favorite: clams linguine (yum)!! The scallops dish (another winner), kale salad (oh so good), their filet is not bad either, very tasty.
Happy hour menu is awesome. Good pours on their wines, kale salad is fantastic, meatballs pretty good.
Cons: their Bianco pizza is not so great. Their seafood pasta lacks flavor (if you like a super light sauce, this dish is for you), paella is not great. Deviled eggs — just ok.
Highly recommend going here and trying out their menu selections.
On the plus: if you have a Costco membership they do have deals every now and again for gift cards worth $ 100 for $ 79.99
For more suggestions about food and travel, check out my blog:

I came here for a surprise birthday dinner for a friend on a Saturday night. One of the people in our party made a reservation the day of and was still lucky enough to have availability to still make a reservation. We were seated about 10 minutes after our reservation time even though we got to the restaurant a couple of minutes before our reservation time. We actually got here when it was still happy hour time so we got to order drinks at the bar for happy hour price, which was a pleasant surprise! It took a little longer than we would’ve liked to order our entrees but we had drinks with us at the table so it didn’t bother us as much. The food itself was delicious but pricey! My fiancé and I ordered the crab cakes. The crab cakes only come with 2 but they are pretty generously sized. The bread they give you for the table is delicious as well! For the entrée, I ordered the Prawn Scampi — delicious! I only wish it didn’t come with 2 big pieces of garlic bread — the bread itself took up half my plate so the prawns and pasta were not as much as I thought I would get. The bread was also soggy so I was reluctant to eat it. When we were getting ready to pay for our meal, I did appreciate the waitress splitting up our check in the manner that we asked her to. She asked us before bringing out the check how we wanted it to be split, which I give her and the service here at Palomino extra points since rarely does the waitress ask us this before giving us one check. Overall, the food is good but it is pretty pricey.

Awesome happy hour deals and really nice vibes. I wouldn’t come here to eat, but if you’re meeting with a friend and catching up, or just in town and wanna hang, it’s a nice spot. My bae and I saw the happy hour deal and enjoyed a few drinks before dinner. The cocktails are not strong and mostly sweet, but they have low cal ones, too!

I absolutely love their happy hour! This is a great place to go if you’re staying downtown afterwards or after you’ve been downtown. I have been so impressed both times I’ve been here. The atmosphere is very modern and on the fancy side but the price is reasonable. The service is great and the food is so worth it. Happy hour is such a good deal! This is definitively a great spot to go to if you’re downtown!
My Personal Restaurant Rating Key
One star: the food was bad and I had a negative experience.
Two star: I had a more negative experience and would not come here again but the food was good so I may.
Three store: Everything is good except one thing. Example-​the food is good, the price is more reasonable but the atmosphere is lacking class. Or the food is good, the atmosphere is good, but they over charged us. These three stars are actually my favorite types of restaurants to go eat at if the reason is due to the atmosphere because they are usually delicious and reasonably priced.
Four stars: Everything is great, food and experience. However the price is definitely on the upper end. I would not recommend this first to Obama unless he didn’t like my five stars. These are restaurants you can take your boss or your mother-​in-​laws to impress them, however they still don’t fit into the five star category. A bit fancier than my three stars, hence I don’t often eat here unless there is an occasion for it or there is a groupon that gives me a bit of a discount!
Five stars: I would recommend this to Obama. The price may be on the upper end but the experience and the taste is so exquisite, it is actually worth every nickel and dime.

My cousin took me here on my visit to Washington. Found side street meter parking so that was a bit of a walk since this was in downtown. As I was walking to get to the restaurant, it felt empty since it was inside a mall I believe. All the way upstairs was the restaurant, which was super empty when I was there around 1:00pm. Super dead so I was a little skeptical. I ordered one of their specials which was a lamb burger, which I though was okay. It was good but nothing to great! Everything else I tried was just mediocre. The fries were super good, but then again, I love fries! The place is kind of pricey but I hear it is a great place to go during Happy Hour so come here when they have that I guess. Services was good since we were practically the only ones there!

Came here for lunch with visiting family. They only do happy hour in the bar area, so choose wisely when seated. The service is good, but has a tinge of that chain restaurant over-​the-​top friendliness. I had a cocktail that was nicely done, not too generous in their pours. The food was alright. I had a chicken sandwich that was a good lunch option. It was like a chicken blt with avocado. The bacon was good and crisp, and the chicken is rotisserie so it was pretty moist. The shoestring fries were well done, they weren’t overcooked as often happens with skinny fries. We also had the Sicilian donuts, which were fried dough with raisins and sugar. They’re served with marscapone and nutella. Nothing special…
All in all, a decent place but nothing stand-​out. It’s the kind of place you go to for a family dinner or work outing because it’s kind of middle of the road.

I used to be a big fan of Palomino, but the years have not been kind to this place. Or maybe my vision of really exceptional food and service has evolved.
Recently my former work group met for HH. I arrived late (as usual), apparently they had been sitting there for a while and hadn’t made contact with our server. So, as we sat and chatted away, our server finally made an appearance after about 10 minutes, and no I’m not exaggerating. We finally got water and dishes and utensils. Granted it was a Friday, but it really wasn’t crazy busy as I’ve seen at other downtown restaurants. We made our food and drink selections at the same time for fear we wouldn’t see our server again. Really, the time in between seeing him was about 30 minutes. I hardly find that acceptable…
As for the food, it was the saviour to our get together. We had the deviled eggs, brussell sprouts, crispy calamari, bruschetta, and tomato and basil pizza. The dishes were all very delectable and for a group of 5, pretty filling. As for drinks, they have a decent selection and the HH wine and cocktails my group had was pretty good.
Maybe I’m being harsh giving it 3 stars, but Palomino has a reputation for being better than this. So, 4 stars for food and drinks, 2 stars for service. I would return, only for the food, and I would sit at the bar, since I usually find bartenders more attentive.
Here’s a tip: if you park downstairs, make sure you come in after 5, and they will validate it for you.

I love Palomino! My first time here was probably June 2010, but I started coming here more regularly two years later. Their happy hour is great, although in the past few months, prices increased. I know this because I always order the Potatoes Gorgonzola, which used to be $ 7.99, and the last time I went to happy hour, they were $ 8.59. I realize that’s only a $ 0.50 increase, but perception is key!
Their lunch counter is another one of my favorites. It opens at 11:00 a.m. and I usually get the Capellini Pomodoro ($ 8), sometimes with meatballs (add $ 2) and sometimes without. I find that the Capellini Pomodoro without meatballs is usually a better deal, since one time I literally got three meatballs. That’s some expensive per-​unit product! I love the Capellini Pomodoro because it reminds me of my grandparents’ cooking. My family is not Italian, we are Chinese, but traditional northern Chinese food that my family likes to eat is not anything like the Chinese food in the United Sates. Palominio’s Capellini Pomodoro would fit right in at my family dinner table, minus the cheese, of course.
The most important thing to know about the lunch counter is that James, one of the waiters, is the best waiter in the entire world. He always makes sure our water glass is full, he asks how we are doing, he says «yes ma’am» or «yes sir» enthusiastically whenever you ask him for something, e.g., more napkins, different utensils, house bread, etc. I wish I would remember to bring cash whenever I come to the Palomino lunch counter because I seriously need to tip him generously for exceptional service every time!
Note: They take American Express. Yay!
Fun fact: Palomino has a points reward system that you can sign up for in store or online. I registered online and wrote down my account number on my phone, which I show them when I order. They also load a $ 20 reward to use on your birthday month!

Loved the roma tomato hors d’œuvre and the roma tomato and basil pizza. Great!