Stanford’s Restaurant & Bar

After seeing the new Star Wars movie, my girlfriend and I went in hoping to get a beer and a quick bite. It was later, but still 45 minutes before the kitchen closed and we had called to ask if it would be ok to order food still and were given the affirmative.
Upon arrival, we seated ourselves at the bar and waited nearly 5 minutes for the young woman behind the bar to acknowledge us. She was busily cleaning, though certainly saw us sit down as we were right behind the well she was cleaning. When she did acknowledge us, she was somewhat curt and did not offer menus. I politely asked asked for some, which seemed fairly irritating to her. She brought menus and waters, and we decided to leave and eat elsewhere because the vibe was weird and we didn’t feel welcome.
People have a bad night, but service was so poor on this occasion we chose not to dine there. I would be willing to try it again as I’ve been to other locations and had a significantly better experience, but at Northgate it probably won’t be my first choice.

The Happy Hour draw is the appetizers. Drinks are not cheap. The ambience is very pretty. Sophisticated in a sense. I like their choice of draft beer but it didnt stay cold enough. (chill the glasses?) i LOVED the crab-​avocado sushi and at $ 6 I would go back for that. Sliders? Very disappointing. Prime Rib sliders? Tasted like hot beef at a diner. You didnt even botice the cheese. Aughhh. Sorry but def fail.

Buttermilk Chicken fingers are Awe-​some! Halibut n Chips yummy too. If you like Kale get the Kale salad.

It’s like a high-​end Applebees without the riblets. They did make a nice martini, but the atmosphere looks like they hired the same firm that does Red Robin — Very unoriginal.

I have been to Stanford’s a number of times over the years and it used to be great, great service and food. The food is still amazing, however the service has gone completely down hill.
I meet my friend for dinner and I was late so my friend said just give the host my name and he will show you where I am. I give the host my friends name and he tells me to hold on while talking to a coworker. The hostess then goes to his computer and looks at me like «what do you want?» I asked again for my friend and he rolled his eyes and said «oh yea, over here.»
After sitting for about 10 minutes our server asked «what do you want to drink? «, not do I want anything.
The drinks too a good 10 minutes as well. We finally ordered and that too took forever, luckily my entrée salad and my friends steak was delicious and filling. We then got our check and when we asked for him to split it, he said «we don’t do that» (which I know they do because we do it all the time). He finally brought our check after agian, more and more waiting. I was also shocked that my one martini was 11.25.
When we left we were also shocked that when we walked by our server and others, no one thanked us or invited us back.
I love the food but the service and the pricing is quickly turning me off, which is to bad because I am a RUI restaurant member and used to love coming here.

Has quickly become our neighborhood go to. You can always count on a good drink + meal.

Our waiter Peter was AWESOME! He accommodated all of our special needs and requests! The food was great. Our table ordered the spinach artichoke dip, crab cakes, crab/​lobster Mac n cheese, and the prime rib. All were tasty and priced accordingly. My group will be back to try more! YUMMM

Meh.
I really think that sums it up.
The service is their only redeeming quality. Our waiter was great.
The food is overpriced and subpar. It was like going to a dressed up Outback. Not impressed and I’ll skip it next time.

This place is ideal for a quick happy hour drop in — though it may not happen so quickly because it’s always packed at around 5:30pm and there are usually only two bartenders/​servers rushing about. The drinks are delectable and the food is about on par with my personal favorite (Mama Stortini’s) in the Northgate Mall, so they have that going for them.
Now the ambiance leaves a little something to be desired. It is fancy, in the way that I imagine an old boys club cigar bar would be in downtown Chicago — dark, even on the sunniest of summer days. It has an expensive feel, and almost makes you believe you aren’t in a mall parking lot. However, prices are reasonable and the food comes out within about 15 minutes of ordering.
This restaurant is part of the group that includes Cutters down in Pike’s Place and a few others around town. I don’t think I’m ever dressed nice enough when I go to Northgate to sit in the dining room, so happy hour is where I’ll remain! Last time I was here I had the crab sliders and the person with me had another meat slider dish. We agreed that the buns they used were a little dry, and the slaws that came with both items were wilted looking and not the freshest… all of these together made for a just an «okay» meal. My crab cakes were very similar tasting to the ones at MS, besides the bun. We shared a salad that was decent and made it out of there at about $ 14 each. Not too shabby.

Stanford’s happy hour was more memorable the second time around. Was it the food or different circumstances? Either way, it was pleasant and worth the second try. This time, I sat in a booth in the bar and waited for my friend, who ended up being 30 minutes late due to traffic. Our server, Serena, did well to check on me during that time but not rush me. I enjoyed a Ginger Pear cocktail and a texting conversation, as my dinner date was stuck and every five minutes promising «just five more minutes.» I tend to be that girl who can’t decide on menu items anyway, so the wait gave me time to settle on our order, which we placed as soon as my friend arrived. The turn-​around was quick and our hunger happily satisfied. Sweet potato fries, buttermilk fried chicken strips with honey mustard dressing, and the Wood-​Fire Grilled BBQ Chicken Quesadilla were the way to our hearts that night.
Check out their current «Harvest Features» and Seattle Restaurant Week menu available online. The Lobster & Snow Crab Mac-​n-​Cheese and Creole Crab Cakes are calling.

The food was great. The prices were good. The server was friendly and professional.
But I can’t give them 5-​stars because the service was S O S L O W!
Our friends had come in from out of town so we went to Stanford’s because we had heard good things. We also can’t resist a great happy hour!
The place was only about ½ full, so we really understand why we spent 2 ½ hours in there.
Besides the slow service, all was good.

We stopped in on a last-​minute whim, having seen their masthead that faced the freeway. The food was really pretty delicious. The patty melt has «bacon jam» which is bacon and mushroom reduction… delicious and fantastic. The other plate we had was the pesto linguini with shrimp, also quite tasty. They have a good beer selection, too.
Our server was very friendly, not too pushy with up-​sells, and left us to eat after checking in with us.

My fiancé and I ate dinner here tonight. Service was awesome! Food was good. Drinks were good. My fiancé was starving when we got here so he ordered 2 appetizers and a main course. All of which he liked. He ordered the onion rings with the CA roll and filet mignon with chardonnay he liked it. I ordered the salmon and prime rib combo. Which was great! We would come back again!

Service was great! But other than that our time here was a huge disappointment. Our appetizers came out completely cold. Food was an absolute joke. Didn’t even bother getting dessert like I had planned. Not sure why I would ever come back here again. This place is just too expensive and the food is lacking.

Are you kidding me? $ 17.00 for an entrée Chopped Chicken Salad that consists of a bit of cabbage, a bunch of corn chips, a few strips of dry chicken, two cherry tomatoes cut in half and a drizzle of barbeque sauce and a dollop of something else that was semi flavorful!
I used to love Stanford’s. What happened? Could have got a chopped salad from Subway with more substance and flavor and a third the cost.

This review is towards their HAPPY HOUR.
Stanford used to be one of my favorite happy hour joints. I am not a fan of chain restaurants but their happy hour was decently priced and the food was up to par. I finally revisited this restaurant after two years. Sadly, I feel like it’s really gone downhill due to the decline from their quality of food.
PROS:
Ambiance: Happy Hour is only available in the bar/​lounge area. Large bar area with many booths and high tables. The booths are pretty comfortable.
Service: I came on a Wednesday night and it wasn’t busy at all so we got seated right away. Our waitress (I forgot her name) was great, she was very attentive and friendly. Our food and drink order came out VERY fast. Our water and drinks were being refilled many times throughout the meal.
CONS:
Price/​Menu: Their prices had recently increased. The chicken strips went from $ 4.50 to now $ 7.50. They also discontinued a few items as well.
FOOD: We ordered the Southwest Nachos, Steakhouse Cheeseburger Sliders, French Bread Pepperoni Pizza, French Fries and Mac N’ Cheese.
Mac N’ Cheese: Probably the best thing that we had. Good portion size. Perfect amount of cheese and bacon.
Fries: Good. Hard to ruin fries. The dipping sauces were good.
Nachos: The tortilla chips were fresh. The diced grilled chicken was alright, a little on the dry side. The fire roasted tomato salsa just okay, it didn’t taste very fresh. The white cheddar sauce killed the nachos. The sauce was very watery and bland which turned everything into a soggy mess.
Cheeseburger Sliders: The patty was a decent size, juicy and flavorful. However, the crispy onion rings were very oily.
French Bread Pizza: Worst thing that we ordered. The bread was stale and soggy and the tomato sauce tasted like it came straight from a can.
Due to this disappointing visit, I probably won’t be back.

We live near NorthGate mall and decided to try this place out last Friday night for their Happy hour! Horrible service! We sat ourselves and took long for a waitress to entertain us. When one finally came, she was so snotty and wasn’t friendly at all. My bf asked her what kind of IPA’s do they have and the waitress just took the menu from my bf’s hand and flipped it to the beer page instead of explaining which ones they got! We ordered nachos and fries. She continued to look down at her note pad and looked up at me and just said «what you wanna drink?» I said i am good with water for now thank you and she pretty much just left. We waited for a while just for them to serve one beer! and take note we were sitting on the table in front of the bar and the place was not busy at all! When our food finally came! We were so disappointed looking at the ugly presentation of the nachos. It looked disgusting! Like someone just threw raw jalapeño, corn kernels, beans, slimy cheese, and cold chicken pieces and squeezed guacamole from a tube and put it on top of the very greasy nachos. I almost threw up tasting it! $ 8 for a disgusting small serving of nachos. What a rip off! The only thing good was probably the ketchup for the fries! Felt sick eating that nachos. Terrible service. Never coming back here again! What a waste of money and a Friday night. :-(
I suggest you go to MAma’s Tortinis by the mall instead. They are waaaaaaaaaaay better!

I am completely mystified that Stanford’s actually has three stars. That means somebody out there gave it five stars. Based on the experience I had last night, I would encourage people to never go there.
I was there with a group of friends, and while our server was friendly (he was honestly the only decent part of the whole meal), the drinks came out exceedingly slow. I had the steakhouse burger which costs about $ 16. At that price, a person should expect a damn good burger. That is not what I got. It was lukewarm, covered in «special sauce» which you usually don’t add when there is also BBQ sauce, and just generally unappetizing.
My girlfriend had the pulled pork tacos which were also cold and just kind of meh. She ate the pork and left the rest. Not a great deal for $ 14. A couple of my friends had the tenderloin tips which were, surprising nobody, also cold. They did say the sauce they were in was good, though. Another person had the herb crusted prime rib, that came out as a tiny pile of mashed potatoes and a slab of meat. Not a great presentation. No word on it’s temperature.
Ultimately, at the price Stanford’s charging for nearly everything on the menu, you’d hope that the food would be presented in an appetizing manner and at a temperature that at least implies it was cooked in the last 15 minutes.
I would probably skip any sort of future event at this place since it simply isn’t worth the money. With all the great restaurants in Seattle at the same price range, there is no reason to come here.

I came here for dinner while on a date, and we had a great experience all around.
I had been to Stanford’s in Tukwila, but not this location. This was my date’s first time at the restaurant.
I ordered steak, and he had chicken. Our entrees came out piping hot, with great quality and presentation.
Our waiter was fantastic. He introduced himself, made sure we had everything we needed without rushing us and kept the drinks flowing and cleared plates without having to ask us. He was there when we needed him and gone when we were engrossed in conversation. I’d like him to train other waiters and waitresses on that point. So many of them don’t know when to interrupt or what to do without asking.
I don’t remember much of the atmosphere since I was focused on my date and the food, which was really good! What I do remember is that our booth had dark brown leather, it was comfortable, and the arrangement of it was great so that we had some privacy and it kept the noise level around us down a bit. The ambiance fit a steakhouse ambiance which was right on, and everything was clean.
The parking area by Stanford’s is small but it’s located next to the mall which has a lot of parking. However, that fills up fast so I’d advise on planning to hoof it for a few minutes and bring an umbrella if it’s raining.
Food: 4
Service: 5
Ambiance: 4
Parking: 4

Came for some happy hour late into the evening at the bar.
The bar had a more chilled atmosphere. There are tvs with sports and mirrors if you’re sitting facing away from the tvs. Dark lighting, thus good for casual date or small group setting as it was also not too loud.
I order the nachos and prime rib sliders.
The nachos was slightly stale, but the stuffings made up for it. Beans, carrots, avacado spreads, etc. There is an option to order with chicken if so desired.
There were only two small sized sliders with the prime rib sliders.
My orders were not filling but also didn’t over stuff me, thus it wasn’t too bad for the happy hour pricing.
The other friends I was with tried their mac and cheese, they liked it. Something I’ll have to try next time I’m nearby.