I thought Id narrow this one down a bit.
I am not familiar with this part of Redmond, anyone know what's within short walking distance of the hotel?
Last year there was an awesome whole foods a block away from the hotel that had everything. This year, not sure.
FYI
http://www.redmondtowncenter.com/Dining/Restaurants
Last year there was an awesome whole foods a block away from the hotel that had everything. This year, not sure.FYI
Claim Jumper
Desert Fire
Matt's
Spazzos
Frankie's Pizza
Red Robin
Mexican restaurant I can't remember the name of off top of my head (upper level of the outdoor mall)
MatadorsThose are all within a 5-6 minute walk.
You been to any of the non-chains, Michael?
There are a lot of foodies at Paizo. :D
In addition to restaurants, the closest grocery store is the Safeway on Redmond Way, which is about a 10 minute walk and has an (average for grocery stores) deli. On Saturday, though, there will also be a farmer's market about a block from to the hotel from 10–3pm, which I believe will have some prepared foods (sometimes at negotiable prices as it nears 3 pm).
The beef-and-mushroom pasty I got at the farmer's market was delightful.
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Also, in the mall:
Claim Jumpers is tasty and the portions are very worthwhile but nothing crazy good. Slightly better than average but not outstanding.
There is a thai place that is a little spendy on the second level near the center and it's always surprisingly good. I love their pad thai. I honestly don't expect much from food places in a mall, but this place is pretty good if a bit spendy.
Haiku, a little overpriced so come here hungry. That said, if you are starving and can get in at a typical dinner time it is full of delicious all you can eat crab legs. Rest of the fair is good to meh and depends on what they have and how long it's been out.
There is a fancy italian place that is supposed to be good but I've not eaten there.
Matt's which is american fair, rotisserie and oysters. I've never really cared for but a lot of people seem to like them. I will say this though, their oysters are expensive but they are pretty good. I recommend the Kushi's if they have them available. Better oysters can be had downtown at the Brooklyn, but then that's at least an hour plus parking away. =P
There a bunch of other shops there. A good wine store, another italian restaurant on the other side, a sandwich shop, an indian place, and a few others that I've not really tried. There is a red robin in the far parking lot. A short walk away adds another several places:
Than Brothers is close by. If you've never had Pho, now's your chance. It's pretty tasty and they usually start you ate with an awesome cream puff. =)
The Matador is supposedly pretty good and across the street. I find them a little expensive but they have an amazing assortment of tequila , I've heard. Some people on the staff really like it.
Also, nearby, but not super close is Gyros2Go. Awesome Gyro joint. More meat than in your average Gyro by about %50. Ask for extra tzatziki on the side. They never give me enough. If you like feta, the greek fries are awesome supposedly(I am not a feta fan). Also, next door, you can grab beer from malt and vine which is where you go to by beer in heaven. =D If you have a little time, grab a pint and eat there.
There is a teriyaki place right next door to that and is good for a quick meal to run with but not awesome or anything.
Also, a mcdonald's and dairy queen nearby if that's your thing.
Between these two general areas are two strip malls. One has a delicious indian buffet(goat curry!). I love that place. I like the Sheikh Kabob for on the go eating. Only place worth mentioning there really.
Other strip mall has a lot of places. Our gaming venue used to be there. Watercress used to be the pan-asian bistro and I LOVED their salt and pepper chicken. It was one of favorite meals of all time and I loved their green onion pancake above all others. However, that has changed management and the name is now something a little more asian sounding and I don't know if Lily, their executive chef, is involved anymore. Which makes me a sad panda.
In that same shopping center is a sushi place that I used to quite like. It has a nice environment and I always felt welcome there and the food is above average.
There is a noodle place that is good and relatively(for seattle) cheap. Shumai is tasty and I like the highway noodles but tastes vary and crystal is not a fan.
Across the street on one side is Frank's Pizza which a lot of people seem to like, but I'm not one of them. I'm kinda picky about pizza out here though. Your best bet for pizza is to grab a pizza from Veraci's saturday around noon. It'll be in the farmers market there. But pretty much everything in the farmers market is pretty tasty.
Also on that side is Spicy Talk and they make awesome chinese. It's a pretty close walk and I wholly recommend it. Sweet and Sour soup is amazing. It's all good though. I've yet to have a bad thing there.
There is a bagel shop/deli there as well, but meh.
On the opposite side of the mall, across the street is a thai place called Iyara I think. I just ate their today but it was tasty and probably about 10/20% cheaper than the place in the mall. Not as nice of an atmosphere though so if sitting down and eating a nice dinner is part of your goal you'd do better at the one in the mall. That said, the red curry I had was perfect and the pad thai was good but nothing to write home about. I'm told that ordering the pad thai as a meal is the way to go there and that it is fantastic and so is the crab fried rice, but Liz can give you more details on that one.
Also, a slightly longer walk will get you to the safeway area. Or a little further in the other direction will get you to the QFC area where there a lot more places. Only really notable place I can think of is the british pantry/nevilles/three lions pub. Grabbing a dozen pastries from the british pantry has been a good way to eat little meals through the day and they are really tasty. Plus british candies, food stuffs, branston pickle, brown sauce. Nevilles does a fantastic sit down dinner of prime rib and yorkshire pudding. And the british pub does a really really good snake bite and black. And you can order it like that and they actually know what you are talking about. French fries fried with a little beef fat in the oil. And the best buffalo wings I've found in seattle. It's a longer stumble back though.
That's a good start at least. Anybody have more information about the places to eat in the mall itself? Claim Jumpers, Matt's, Haiku and the Thai place are the only places I've eaten there that are still there.
Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Kanishka is the great Indian buffet place....excellent lunch buffet.
Next to the Gyros2Go (which is AWESOME) and the Malt and Vine is a really yummy Korean place called Stone. I loved it.
In the Redmond Town Center I have tried:
Claim Jumper (probably having the Meet and Eat there)
Haiku (decent all you can eat for $25)
Golden Chopstick (pretty good Chinese)
Thai Ginger (yum)
Iguana Mexican Grill (sort of fast foodie, but big portions)
Desert Fire (Southwestern. Not a big fan of it)
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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I've been meaning to try Spicy Talk but I'm not over in Redmond very often. Glad to hear it's still good; I had heard there was a change in chefs there and the quality suffered, but that was a while ago, so perhaps they've gotten it back together. It's on my list, as is the Gyros2Go!
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I've been meaning to try Spicy Talk but I'm not over in Redmond very often. Glad to hear it's still good; I had heard there was a change in chefs there and the quality suffered, but that was a while ago, so perhaps they've gotten it back together. It's on my list, as is the Gyros2Go!
To be honest, I've not been there in months. I used to go out to lunch a lot but not really since we got our corgi, so I've not been there in roughly 4 to 5 months so quality might have suffered since then.
I've not tried Stone. That used to be a chinese restaurant on that side of Gyros2Go(Seriously, just go there) and what I remember of it was that it was expensive and not better than average. That said, I've heard of Stone recently and heard it's pretty good and will definitely have to try it.
Desert Fire was a lose the one time I went there about 6 years ago. Don't recommend. Not tried Iguana but I have a standing position of never going into a mexican restaurant you can't smell across the street. I grew up in oklahoma and we have awesome cheap tex-mex everywhere and it's one of the few things I really miss so I have a hard time recommending any mexican in the area. The one place I could kind of recommend changed formats and is now more expensive and fancied up which makes me very sad. With a few notable exceptions, I'm very much in the "use good ingredients and don't mess them up" camp, especially with regards to mexican. But then, I'm very picky about mexican food, I've found. This is in the safeway complex which also houses a teriyaki joint which has good portions but not as good as sunny teriyaki across the street which is my favorite teriyaki in the area. For the uninitiated, we have teriyaki like texas has fast food mexican. It also has taco time who's only notable feature is the 100 types of soda machine. Also a Panera Bread and a frozen yogurt place. Across the main street is fatburger which is pretty tasty actually and a baskin robins and a chinese place that is spendy but not worth it to me.
Also, we were out buying a tent last night at REI in the redmond town center and apparently, they have a subway there now. Which is weird cause I think there is already at least one sandwich shop there.
Also, we might as well talk about coffee. If you like coffee and want the good stuff, then you want diva espresso(about 8 locations including the airport, get the Chumley. They hate making it but it is the best blended mocha I've ever had.) or for the very dedicated, I like victrola(3 locations, all across the water. Sorry). A little closer to home, Victor's makes a decent latte and has the added bonus of a really tasty almost malty sweet waffle on weekend mornings but is a longer walk than just the mall. Inside the mall is a Tully's and a Starbucks. Both make a good latte, I prefer Tully's on principal and I think their coffee is a little better, but starbucks is traditional and ubiquitous. If you can't find a starbucks store front from where you're standing, you are probably standing in a starbucks, even then, not guaranteed that you won't see another starbucks across the street.
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As far as coffee goes, who pulls the espresso shot? You know, dark as midnight, strong as hell, golden crema ...
And where would I go to get a good cup of brewed coffee (I'm talking Full City Roast, not Vienna Roast, French Roast, Italian Roast *cough*charcoal*cough*)? I like a light roast, what can I say? I guess it just comes down to wanting to taste the coffee and not the roast.
And, to be clear, I do not like Starbucks. I have found their concept of a light roast is way too dark for my taste.
I've been meaning to try Spicy Talk but I'm not over in Redmond very often. Glad to hear it's still good; I had heard there was a change in chefs there and the quality suffered, but that was a while ago, so perhaps they've gotten it back together. It's on my list, as is the Gyros2Go!To be honest, I've not been there in months. I used to go out to lunch a lot but not really since we got our corgi, so I've not been there in roughly 4 to 5 months so quality might have suffered since then.
That must be one plump and tasty corgi if he's lasted you 4-5 months ;-)
I've been to just about every restaurant in the area. That's what happens when the family takes 5 months to get here :-p
Feel free to ask about any of them and I will share my experiences.
Thanks (and all!) for the reviews! One of the things I enjoy about coming up to the Seattle/Redmond/Bellevue area is good coffee and good restaurants.
Any place pulls some reasonably priced pitchers and pints?
The aforementioned Malt & Vine is a good place to start, but there's Black Raven (which offers growlers to go) and Three Lions as well.
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As far as coffee goes, who pulls the espresso shot? You know, dark as midnight, strong as hell, golden crema ...
And where would I go to get a good cup of brewed coffee (I'm talking Full City Roast, not Vienna Roast, French Roast, Italian Roast *cough*charcoal*cough*)? I like a light roast, what can I say? I guess it just comes down to wanting to taste the coffee and not the roast.
And, to be clear, I do not like Starbucks. I have found their concept of a light roast is way too dark for my taste.
Honestly, if you're going to get espresso and you don't want to go too far, Victor's is the closest place I can recommend, but they don't take credit card which is unfortunate. But tully's does a fine latte and starbucks does a good drip coffee and you can get a choice of blonde roasts there and they are both in the mall. The thai place probably does a good thai iced coffee if that's your thing, than brothers does a vietnamese coffee if that's your thing(on occasion, that's my thing.) For blended coffee's Peet's and Mercury are a little further away. If you go to whole foods you can take your choice of either and we usually get Mercury(this is where Liz, Crystal and I often get our morning latte/americano) and tell them to halve the flavoring. If Amy is pulling it then you are very lucky. If you want coffee to bring home, make the trip downtown to Victrola's. I like my coffee dark and I have an aeropress that I occasionally use for that and a french press at home but I go downtown specifically to get two things these days, telicherry pepper from World Spice(I also get my other spices there, English Beef Rub is THE BEST on a new york strip roast cooked to medium rare) and coffee from Victrola. I currently have the streamline espresso in my office for the aeropress and La Joya(which is probably more than most want to spend on a bag of coffee but so so good) at home. If you go to Victrola, sit down, have some espresso before facing the rest of the market. At the airport coming in our before you go through security, you can also grab a very good espresso drink from Diva's.
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The aforementioned Malt & Vine is a good place to start, but there's Black Raven (which offers growlers to go) and Three Lions as well.Haha, Liz had me at the word Growlers to go. Hitting Black Raven for sure.
Totally check out black raven. Not exactly stumbling distance, but since you can get growlers to go, that's not a problem.
Totally check out black raven. Not exactly stumbling distance, but since you can get growlers to go, that's not a problem.The aforementioned Malt & Vine is a good place to start, but there's Black Raven (which offers growlers to go) and Three Lions as well.Haha, Liz had me at the word Growlers to go. Hitting Black Raven for sure.
*raises hand*
um, what are growlers? I am not a native speaker and dict.cc tells me it's either a angry dog or a small icebergboth does not sound beer related?if Black Raven is not in walking distance, how can you get there from the Hotel?
Growlers are half gallon glass jugs, especially equipped to hold a sufficient quantity of beer, ale or beverage of choice; reusable if cleaned properly and darned popular in Anchorage. I had never heard of them till I moved up here. Don't ask me why they are called growlers. No one has explained that to me as yet.