Shallots Bar & Bistro

This place is being shut down currently.
I have had good food here before especially lunch menus were nice but always found the prices a little on the higher end.
The location was perfect and lots of people used to visit here for lunch and dinner (even on weekdays). Not sure why its being closed down.
Looking forward to seeing some better Fusion Asion bistros in the future!

I’m sorry to say that Shallots has gone down hill. This has, up until now, been one of my favorite restaurants in my corner of Belltown. Perhaps they just had an off night? I hope so. In any case, we didnt have a good experience there last Saturday Evening. I’m wondering if they’ve changed ownership or management because everything has changed. All the Servers were new and ours was quite inexperienced. Too her credit, she had a great attitude and tried really hard but she just wasn’t very good. I ordered the Nine Flavor Beef. the Beef was over cooked and chewy and the sauce tasted chalky and extremely salty. This is usually my favorite dish there and I couldn’t choke it down on this last visit.
I hope this was just an off night. I’ll give it another chance to prove me wrong because it’s so convenient. Come on Shallots, I’m counting on you!

What happened to you Shallots?! You used to love me, with your hot and sour soup so delicious it must be laced with crack. And your fantastic dayshift crew who never once screwed up my to go orders because they were smart enough to double check everything.
You’ve changed so much lately I barely recognize you. Yes you might still have some of the same menu items but your new owners have raised prices on everything, so high it’s ridiculous ($ 14 for Imperial Chicken at lunch is to much no matter what menu I order it from). All your old day shift employee’s have left and the new crew, while friendly, are inexperienced and let me go back to work missing my soup (which I had to pay extra for, on top of the already overpriced $ 14 order).
This place used to be my favorite Americanized Chinese food. Now it’s so overpriced it’s not even worth it.

Excellent service, nice quant location, very friendly, and inviting staff– all like a big family. Very good food and drinks, all around an excellent dinning experience! Highly recommend!

I would give this place a 4 for the food, and a 2 for the service.
As a group of 4, we shared the hot & spicy wonton dumplings with pork, shitake & peanut sauce. These were spicy and savory. I would definitely get these again, they were my favorite part of the meal. For entrees, we got the kan gaii chicken, flank steak tepenyaki, tum yum talay, and tum ka gai. I thought that the food was very good, generous portions.
What I was not impressed with was the service. We had to wait about 10 minutes to be acknowledged by the server and get water. The waiter was short with me when I was asking him about their tea selection (which wasn’t listed on their menu). He just rubbed me the wrong way.
I liked Shallots. Good food, but will not go out of my way to visit again soon when there are so many other Thai/​Asian fusion options.

This is hands down one of my favorite places to eat in Seattle. When we lived at the Centennial Bldg. for a year, this restaurant was just on the ground floor of our apt. building. It was the perfect location for a quick grub! After we moved out, we’d still frequent this place because of their pork potstickers and dipping sauce. YUM-​O! Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always enjoyed their variety of entrees, as everything was truly superb! In the 3 years we resided in Seattle, this is so far one of the best potstickers we’ve had… and we definitely miss it!
Bonus Tip: Reservation is strongly recommended! Call Ahead!

My good friend who I hadn’t seen in close to 12 years met up with me during my recent trip to Seattle and recommended that we go to dinner at this asian fusion place called Shallots where she takes all of her out of town guests. She did let me know in advance that the last time she was there was with her sister, who complained about the curry being too spicy (go figure) and sent it back a number of times, but apparently she made enough of a scene that my friend sent a card to the owner appologizing. Wow, I am not one to shy away from drama, especially when it comes to food, so I was down for some fun.
The location is awesome, a small corner space with windows on two sides and views of the Space Needle from most of the tables. the entire is typical of most asian fusion places, but the wall of mirrors made what was a small space seem like a much large place. The seating was intimate, but with roughly 12 tables I could see renting out the place for an office or holiday party. A small bar was also available with a few bar seat for those who like their asian fusion in liquid form.
We settled on a bottle of white wine as a starter along with an order of spring rolls. It was a Thursday night so kind of quite, only two other tables in the place were filled at the time. I decided to go with the Orange Peel Chicken just to see how they cooked it and I was very happy with the results. Not exactly sure what spices were used, but the flavor of the orange was not overpowered by hot peppers as it typically is in other asian fusion places. Plenty of rice was provided, the service was excellent, even putting up with my corny jokes and nosey questions about the place. The owner was nice enough to spend a couple of minutes talking to us as well. I threatened to make a scene like my friend’s sister did last time even though there was no one in the place at the time. He had a great sense of humor and made us feel very welcomed.
The food was excellent, the bill was right on par with what you would expect at a mid-​price asian bistro. Next time I am in Seattle I will definitely consider heading back ot Shallots.

Today I found myself here for their lunch-​time Happy Hour (11am-​3pm) and I loved it!
The service was great, the beer was pretty good, and we LOVED our small and CHEAP (as in $ 2 – 5 each) plates of food! We had some wontons, some fried rolls, and a couple rice paper rolls. Almost all of them came with small side salads, and that was a very welcome (and unexpected) bonus. That appetizer menu gave me no reason to explore the regular menu.
The waiter also started us off with a couple bowls of soup. My friend said the rice soup was good, but she didn’t seem super excited about it. The hot & sour soup was perfect. The soup and four apps ended up being a bit too much for the two of us, but we almost finished all of our food.
I’m definitely keeping this spot in mind next time I’m hungry and in Belltown during the lunch hour! (The reason I found it was b/​c I decided to check one of the handy Happy Hour apps on my phone, and it happened to be the only one going on super close to where I was.)

GREAT hot and sour soup, 3 stars for that alone!
Veggie Lo Mein was disappointing. Overcooked and not very flavorful; also, I asked for extra broccoli and the dish only came with 5 pieces. :(Boyfriend had the General Tso chicken and said it was great, but a bit spicy.
Quick, efficient take-​out if you are in Belltown. Try the soup!

We were in the mood to try out a Belltown happy hour that we hadn’t been to before and thought that the Shallots menu looked nice.
I ordered an appetizer of scallion dumplings from the specials menu and red pad thai with tofu from the dinner menu. They did have a nice happy hour food menu with starters in the $ 2 – 5 range and plates in the $ 6 – 8 range but the regular menu wasn’t much more so we wound up skipping the happy hour even though it was initially the reason for our visit!
The scallion dumplings were good, if very greasy. I enjoyed the first one that I ate and my boyfriend ate one but I would up taking the rest home and not eating them because they didn’t keep well. The red pad thai was very good as well, with plenty of sprouts and crushed peanuts and tofu. My only complaint was that it also was too oily — enough so that it bled through my takeout container and onto the shelf of my fridge.
Final verdict: Good food at fair prices but nothing out of the ordinary. If I eat there again I’ll stuff myself at the table and avoid taking anything home!

Not bad food. Not great food. The menu consists mainly of Thai and Chinese items. The portions weren’t too large or too small, it was just right.
Great neighborhood. The décor is that of a lunch joint. Nice service.
It could be a little cleaner, but as an Asian, I know how Asian restaurants (and homes) can get a little unkempt.

I went here for for a business lunch while visiting Seattle. The two people I were with just raved about how great everything was and apparently they go there often.
The menu was an eclectic mix of Chinese and Thai which was nice for a change instead of strictly one or the other. The restaurant is small, cute, and has a nice feel. very Seattle I would say. Service was efficient and all the entrees come with soup. The hot and sour soup was outstanding, with a rich consistency and perfect balance of hot, sweet, and sour. just as it should be.
I ordered the tofu pad khee mao which I tend to be a fanatic about. I was excited when he mentioned they make it with jalapenos because too often it’s only made with chili flake. The jalapenos are definitely the key to this dish. The portion was huge and included a good amount of veggies and tofu. While it could have been a bit saltier and the tofu was a bit under seasoned, the flavors were great and the noodles were perfectly cooked. They had the perfect firmness without being mushy or hard.
I will definitely be back to taste more of their menu on my next trip.

This is by far the best restaurant experience I’ve had in Seattle yet.
We had the cucumber and asparagus rice wrap, the eggplant entrée with brown rice, and the vegetarian curry noodle entrée. All the dishes were served to share, and everything was beyond spectacular.
The restaurant itself was also dressed to impress. In fact it looked so high-​end I was shocked at our very reasonable bill’s sum.
The service was equally outstanding. The manager even came to our table to check on us, explain the menu, and make recommendations.
Water refills were plentiful and our server immediately rushed me a new fork when he saw me drop mine.
We also had some Thai margarita that was both super strong and super delicious. From my experience that epic combination is hard to find.
All in all this place exceeded my standards. If there’s one around where I live in SF I’d be a regular.

Summary: Poor quality, high prices. There are better places to eat within a few blocks.
Starter of cucumber and asparagus rice rolls was disproportionately noodle. Only $ 2 so I won’t complain/​whinge too hard. They should charge more and use less noodles though.
Main course of lemon chicken lo mein was a $ 15 disappointment. Rubbery, low quality & tasteless grilled chicken served over a bed of partially-​oily partially-​dried-​out noodles. I’ve cooked better dishes as a student.
The ambience is not bad, it has a vaguely neighbourhood feel despite the prices and Muzak. The only reason I ate here was that I was dining alone and it seemed inviting. I won’t be back.

I would give them a 3.5 stars if I could, if you’re into decimals (AND rationals, mathematically speaking). Anyway, here’s the summary;
Pros:
— Good CHINESE restaurant (they decided to call themselves «Asian fusion» but no. When I think of «Asian fusion» I tend to think Alan Wong’s or Roy’s — neither of which unfortunately exists in Seattle)
— It’s on the block where my apartment is. I went here two days in a row because I was too sick to go anywhere farther.
— The first time I went here (for dinner), I had a pot of tum ka gai with level 5 spice (spiciest), and it was really good, although i could’ve used more coconut milk.
Cons:
— Their happy hour stinks bad. You don’t get that much off their regular drink prices, and I don’t think their food items are that much of a discount either.
— This goes back to my earlier point, but I didn’t think their menu was all that innovative.
Net net, would I got back there again? Yeah, if I’m craving quick Chinese food and/​or if I’m really sick again.

APPETIZERS — some good dumplings but soup was a B+ at best
MEAL — I’ve tried MULTIPLE things on the menu and have yet to be impressed
PRICE — too high for what you get, especially knowing I can go to the international district and get better food for less (and Shallots is IN my building)
AMBIANCE/​SERVICE — very cozy and I’ve always had GREAT service. This has the been the reason I’ve gone back but even that has played out.

I just got done with dinner and a movie. The movie was on the long side (about 3 hours) and I’m still full!
I had the nine flavors beef and it was amazing! I had it with the house Sake and both were very nicely priced.
The service was very good. I usually judge service based on how many times the waitstaff refills my water and how nice they are and I was happy on both counts.
I will definitely be coming back here in the near future!

Asian-​American fusion done just okay. I found the General’s Chicken to be slightly below average among the many places I have ordered it. The hot and sour soup is quite good, however. For the price of the food here, I would say that the value here is somewhat below average.
Service was just fine.
Microsofties, this place takes the Prime card! Buy-​one-​get-​one entrée, or 20% off if dining alone!

I went to Shallots twice while in Seattle for six days (mostly because it was right down the street from my friend’s place). The service was awesome and they had a pretty decent beer selection.
The food was also very good. The first time I got the Shallots Sizzler, which was basically a bunch of seafood and veggies in a white wine garlic sauce served over brown rice. Healthy and delicious. The second time we got takeout and I ordered the Singapore Noodle. It definitely rivaled some of the great Thai places in Boston.

Microsoft Prime 2007
Ambience: 4
Food: 3
Value: 4
Small quaint little place, drop in, not a special date place
Beef wrapped in grape leaf: okay, not great
Three Cup Chicken: I’ve had this dish several times at various places, Shallot’s version is not very good, no basil and no garlic
Crispy Sea Bass: very tasty and good
A bit over priced for the food, ambience is okay.
BTW, service was incredibly slow for us. All the people around us had gotten their food before we got ours. We got compted the appetizer, but still…