STIR Martini + Raw Bar

STIR is located next to the Hyatt Regency and underneath Daniel’s Broiler in downtown Bellevue, but most importantly (and the number one reason we chose to check this bar out) is it’s proximity to the apartment and we walk by it frequently. Despite mediocre Unilocal reviews, My date and I wanted to give it our own perusal.
Matt and I arrived around 4:30pm for Happy Hour. As expected, the bar was fairly empty but we weren’t the only patrons in Stir. We chose to sit at the long, curvy bar with the built in ice tray.
We ordered a Mac & Jack’s, Seattle Sidecar, and a single oyster from our waitress. The drinks took awhile in coming and the oyster came even later. We were a little curious about the Mac & Jack’s because it tasted more like Manny’s PA but we never mentioned it. The Sidecar was a delicious cocktail and I enjoyed it. As for the oyster, well, I can’t speak for that – never had one, wanted one, nor tried this one. The presentation was chic though.
All in all, I liked my drink, I liked that they had a HH (but honestly, I’m beginning to expect it of restaurants now), and I liked their clean, open space. I just did not find it appealing which is why it gets the 3-​star, A-​OK rating.
I think Pearl knocks the socks off this place.
Update: STIR has closed as of Sat, March 13^th.

As hotel bars go, this place works! The manager Sean and wait staff Tara and Blaine were amazing. Helped us organize a tweetup and treated us well.

STIR had are ally cool atmosphere, it was nice to hang out with my friends and just hang out. We cam for happy hour, which is ridiculously cheap! 3 dollar garlic fries! yum. 4 of us left pretty statisfied for $ 45
They have some fusion type sushi. We ordered the Hawaiian roll which had spam, mango and egg, with a tempura outing. It was surprisingly Delicious! Their pulled pork slider was good, but heir salmon slider wasn’t anything special.
They also had a good selection of cocktails, my friend and I shared a pink fizz (were not huge drinkers), it wasn’t pink, but it had a yummy tangerine candy taste.

My wife and I spent valentines day with a room at the Hyatt. Before we went out for the night we decided to get some drinks at Stir. They had a hand full of people in the bar at the time and the service at that time was kind of slow. Stick with me here. There is a reason I still choose to say this place is a 5 star experience.
At the time I ordered a Rita B martini and my Wife ordered a spiced apple martini (can’t remember the name of it) both martini’s were served fast. Also, ordered a side of Garlic Fry’s and Half Dozen Oysters.
The drinks were perfect, along with the food. Oysters were hands down some of the best I’ve had. They melted in your mouth with a rich sauce to dip them in. The Garlic Frys were phenomenal. Perfect amount of garlic. Sadly they ended up getting a little busier while we were there and weren’t able to get more drinks. We aren’t the loud annoying customer’s that a hotel bar gets. So, it’s hard to get the bar tenders attention.
We went out for dinner did some things and came back for 2^nd happy hour (10pm-​11pm) we sat back down at the bar and there was a few more people there than when we left.
We got waited on right away. By the same Bar Tender that helped us a few hours earlier. She was at that time dealing with a large group of people and looked almost relieved to come over and help us. Not only did she talk with us for a good amount of time. Joking and just a great conversation all and all. She took care of the drinks and told us that she was sorry about the service she gave us earlier because of the amount of people in there on a Sunday and drinks were on her.
The Atmosphere was great. The lighting and décor fantastic. karaōke not so fantastic. This place has a ton of potential for being a hot happy hour spot if done right. Booking a private event there would also, be a great idea. Not the largest place but perfect for an intimate gathering of friends.
Staff was super nice and very very polite. which you dont get too often.
Suggestion for improvements:
only one thing really… down tempo dj on a friday or saturday night. Something besides karaoki.

Eew. That’s the only word that comes to mind. EEEW. Bought a groupon coupon for $ 10 – for $ 25 worth of food. Glad, because I would have been pissed if we had paid full price. We ordered lots of appetizers for dinner. Calamari, short rib, king crab roll, and the shrimp tempura. The tempura and the calamari were fair. Nothing to write home about. The king crab roll was not good. And the short ribs were GROSS. Slimy and gross. We kept thinking this was the asian applebees. Maybe their drinks would have been better…

Sweet happy hour prices and delicious apps… I was surprised by how empty it was… the service was great the two times I was there… Perhaps they need to work on promoting and advertising…

Very swanky atmosphere, not so many patrons. I went there for an early happy hour (4:30) and there was absolutely no one in the place. There are lots of clusters of chairs, couches, and such that lend itself well to both groups and couples. It’s obvious that food is not the main focus, by the amount you get (for happy hour, the bites are just that, BITES) and the lack of tables. The best value at happy hour are the sushi rolls (which are good, not great). The garlic fries were good too.
That said, we had really good service and it was the perfect place to sit for a few hours and catch up with a friend who I haven’t seen in a while. I’d definitely go back for the drinks and atmosphere and I’d be willing to try their bigger plates. My expectations for the food isn’t high, though.

Microsoft Prime 2009 – 2010
Ambiance: 4
Food: 3
Value: 4
Must be the alcohol…
Located in the Hyatt Regency, across the lobby from it’s older sibling the ⁰⁄₈ Seafood Grill, Twist must be the fashionable little sister. Living up the to ambiance of Bellevue, Twist is a nice little place. With interesting and modern construction, it’s the ‘Lounge’ to 0/8’s ‘Dining’.
The waitress and I had a great conversation about what liquors we liked. And we toured the top shelf drinks she liked (I left a good tip). The food selection was narrow but very good. The sliders and garlic fries are great. The Asian fusion combo plate was tasty as well.
The unique touch of this place is the ice bar; instead of a refrigerated strip, there’s a line of ice, where your drinks were placed and where oysters were served. At .75 a pop during happy hour, I’ll be back for a try.

I went to Stir the other night for Happy Hour and was pleasantly surprised how cool this place was. It is located in the Hyatt Hotel in Bellevue and is a Martini + Raw Bar. I wasn’t sure if I would order anything that was «raw» but I had the calamari and shrimp. They were both mightily delicious. I had a Bellini type of drink with a touch of grapefruit and it was amazing. The bartenders were very nice and helpful, the food was awesome and reasonably priced for Bellevue, and the inside of the bar was super chic. There is plexi-​glass behind all of the bottles of booze and it makes the bottles illuminate. There is ice between the bartenders and the customers sitting up at the bar for the stemless martini glasses. They also have what is called a «deconstructive martini» which means you make it yourself. They give you this platter with the shot of booze, a martini glass, and the extras (an olive and an asparagus). Great place to visit.

STIR has a LONG WAY to go, as evident by their almost constant emptiness at any given hour, any day of the week. They haven’t done any promotions with the resident towers or offices in DT Bellevue, and there are over 5,000 residents and over 35,000 workers. This place should be HOPPING.
Maybe it is because their service is way below the bar, very slow, almost non-​existent. The appetizers are really just so-​so. Nothing like O8.
STIR has potential, but they need to work at it… soon.

A really cool place for happy hour. They actually have a trough that runs down the middle of the bar, and it’s filled with ice for you to place your drink in.

Poor service, and the food is mediocre.
Though we were seated promptly and our server took our drink orders shortly after our arrival, she took about 10 – 15 minutes to deliver four glasses of wine. It was a Tuesday night, not at all crowded and the server: patron ratio was a healthy 1: 2.
When our food orders started to come out and only one out of the four of us who’d ordered were served, we flagged down our server to inquire about the rest of our food. She informed us that they serve the food as soon as it comes out of the kitchen, regardless of whether or not the other orders are ready. Oh great — just what we all want. To eat alone or to watch other in our party eat alone.
Service continued to go downhill from there with slow returns for water re-​fills, forgetting wasabi and ginger for sushi rolls, etc. As far as the food, my spicy tuna roll was good, but my friend’s crab sliders were pretty bad.
In sum: Trying too hard to be chic atmosphere + bad service + mediocre food = not worth your time.

Went for happy hour. It was a Sunday evening so didn’t expect it to be full of people, but my friends and I were seriously the only people there. The selection wasn’t too impressive in general, but the happy hour selection was abysmal, considering all of the other options in bellevue. Some of the items on the hh menu were served in an Asian soup spoon, and that was all you got for one order. It was about one and a half bites. The food seemed like an attempt to be cool and trendy, but wasn’t tasty or special, especially since there was no one else in the bar to validate that it was. Would choose Palaminos, Ruth’s Chris, or El Gauchos if I wanted hh in Bellevue.

The best part was the beer on draft.
The atmosphere wasn’t the problem– love the lounge feel, the sleek TVs. Nor was the service– nice waiters and waitresses.
Calamari was crisply fried, but bland, even with all the sauces they added. Beef udon was decent but a little TOO raw for my taste, and was lacking… something. Garlic fries still had a hint of the «frozen» taste=gross… and was lacking in quantity, even for the $ 3 hh price (BOKA truffle fries– same price, SO much more and better). My friends had the hh poke roll and were not impressed.
I didn’t think the happy hour prices were a deal esp. considering the quality of the food. Who knows, maybe the oysters and martinis are terrific, but we didn’t stick around long enough to find out.

Fantastic atmosphere. Happy hour food is good, especially calamari & garlic fries. Crab sliders are close to awesome, but lack something. More sauce maybe. Didn’t try most of main menu, but a lot of it sounds delicious. Cocktails aren’t to my taste, but all sound unique.

A+ for the interior that’s about as far as I go with this review. The food is horrible got some crab sliders tasted like a filet o fish, but worse.
If you like your pours measured than this is the place for you, I had the guy pour more liquor in my drink, I thought I was in Canada for a minute or Joey’s. I told the guy don’t expect me to return if your going to pour drinks like your at bartending school. The only reason this place will make it is because of the Hotel the only reason.

How convenient that there is a nice place to chill at in Bellevue! It was not crowded and was a perfect setting for a mini going-​away happy hour get together. Happy hour deals are good and service was good-​servers are friendly. I had the garlic fries (yumm) — I accidentally bit into a chunk of the garlic and ended up with some nasty breath that followed me to the next day. Although Stir is located inside the hotel, they had ‘outdoor’ patio-​style seating available.

Came here for drinks Sat night after dinner. The ambiance is very «Bellevue» — cool interior, lots of room, older people all dressed up. I didn’t try the food, but there’s happy hour from 4 – 6 and 10-​close daily. Oysters at half price and other bites at $ 1-​$ 3 each, means I will have to check that out when I am hungry! A few cocktails also on the HH menu, the drinks were good. Must be a good bartender I think and the specialty ones were different and tasted good, the few I tried.