Chao Bistro and Bar

That bartender chick… oh man you need another one! She can’t handle large groups and small tables, let alone have a decent demeanor lol That puts Chao on a downgrade :(
But kudos to the chef the food was decent.

Love this little place. My husband and I go for Bar Craft. The starcraft specific menu is fun. The burger was amazing. The fries and sauce varieties are delicious. The bartenders and bouncers are kind and chatty. Very perfect for the local neighborhood.
A favorite.

Popped into Chao on a Friday night, around 9. The Happy Hour was still going, which was a surprise, but they were out of most of the stuff– drinks included. Kind of bizarre, ESPECIALLY since it was completely and totally empty.
The thing almost worth going back for was the birthday book. Apparently the book is known for miles and miles around and is uncannily accurate. Well… it called me strange, so hmmph.
Eh, it was okay, but probably wouldn’t go back there with all of the options in CapHill.

Wow! What a disappointment. I saw recent reviews, but we had a
certificate so thought, «How bad could it be?!» I often see deals out there for restaurants that are trying to recover bad reviews or have changed management&want a second chance. Obviously this was not the case.
1^st clue: We arrive 8:30 PM on a Saturday night (1÷28÷12) in Seattle in the packed Capitol Hill neighborhood. It took 30 min. to find parking. We walk past loaded restaurants and bars and thought, «Uh-​oh,» maybe we should have made reservations. Uhhh…no! Hardly a person in the place! The bar had 2 – 3 people. The bartender waved to just find a table wherever. We chose the back room which had 3 – 4 booths&handfuls of perfectly empty tables. Two of the booths were occupied. We chose a booth and seated
appeared we had one waitress who EVENTUALLY found us. We shivered while overhead fans on high (in rainy SEATTLE with it in the 30’s outside??) made the empty room more than drafty.
2^nd Clue: Begin bad service! Ten minutes to order drinks. Five minutes to come back to say they were, «Out of Bloody Mary mix.» Really a bar out of mix? Thinking that boded ill for their bar freshness, I ordered
husband had lemonade w/​which he was satisfied, but I thought was watered down.
Add another 10 min. in this empty restaurant to take our order. We decided on their small plates. We have some $ to burn so we hit almost ¾ of the dishes that were printed on their old printed, ink-​blotched paper menu which is CONSIDERABLY smaller than their menu they claimed on
:
3^rd Clue: This is where more excuses begin:
«Oh, we are out of the seaweed salad. Yeah, we’ve been meaning to take it off the menu.» Uhhhh, then why didn’t you and why didn’t you #$ print another menu? «Oh, we are all out of the vegetable spring rolls.» You’ll recall they were out of Bloody Mary mix too? None of these ingredients are rare or precious right? None required a modicum of difficulty to prepare except for perhaps having fresh vegetables, right? Sigh… Add 10 – 15 min.&dishes start to come in.
Wasabi Cesar Salad: Just meh. Wasabi from powder gave dressing gritty texture, but croutons were nice and crispy. Approx $ 8.I’m ballparking these prices since I lost the receipt & Chao’s website is defunct. Go there &get ads.
6 Shrimp Roll with Lumpia Wrappers: Great spicy sweet orange sauce. Crispy fried wrap. Nice juicy shrimp. This was a winner. $ 6
2 Pork Tacos: Nice sauce, but pork was greasy, fatty chunks of lukewarm meat on a barely warmed corn tortilla. I liked sauce, but my husband hated these. The
menu said it came with pickled onion and cabbage, cilantro, and red pepper salsa, but I didn’t see any evidence of those ingredients. At $ 4 for each tiny mini mediocre taco, it was a bit much. They were spicy and thus began an empty water glass for 30 minutes that was never refilled. I guzzled hub’s water. His was not refilled either. $ 8 for two tiny tacos.
Wok Seared Edamame: These were delicious. Spicy Oyster sauce. Yummy. Lick your fingers good. But no water still…$ 5
2 Kobe Sliders with Beecher’s Cheese: Cheese on menu, but charged us extra $ 1 for cheese which was weird. Melty, plasticy cheap American-​style cheese than seemed almost like nacho from a can. I would be shocked if it actually came from Beechers. Caramelized onions that were strangely flavorless. The menu said garlic oili, but I didn’t taste any. The actual slider meat? Burnt, dry &acrid on dry bun. Did I mention dry and still no water? Approx $ 8. Based on these, I would stay far away from ALL burgers on the menu.
Sweet potato Fries: Crispy on outside w/​delicate tempura &soft inside. Yum! Served w/​ketchup.$ 3
Water: Never refilled despite spicy food. Getting check: Took forever! We were clearly forgotten about and started to time how long it took to sit with empty plates&water glasses sat. Waay to long!
4^th Clue: Décor: Paint scrapped along one wall. Old UFC fights played on multiple screens. Graffiti all over bathroom&mismatched toilet seat too small for toilet so that I refused to sit on it because my legs would have touched the commode. No toilet seat covers. See pics
Summary:
*PLUSSES* Shrimp rolls, Wok-​Seared Edamame, and Sweet Potato Fries
*CONS* Sliders (Gross), Tacos (Too expensive & too small for something worse than Taco Bell), & Wasabi Cesaer Salad (Blah and expensive)! Bad Service. Not unfriendly, just poorly trained and maybe problems with kitchen. Who knows! Out of multiple dishes on menu which seems to be a reoccurring problem based on other Unilocal reviews. The menu was small enough as it was & not as advertised on
. Chilly, drafty décor, needs some attention on walls, and bathrooms really need attention. Would I come back? Not on your life which is probably why they were a barren wasteland on a rainy Seattle night. Ugh!

Fun bar, that’s for sure. A few things lacking pulling it from a 4.5 to a 3.
1 — On my first visit I was hoping to try the 1 tofu dish on the menu, but it wasn’t available. I hear other patrons lamenting about the unavailability of other items on the menu too.
2 — Bathrooms could use a little attention. Not bad by any means, but definitely the weak link compared to the rest of the venue.
3 — Great # of TVs. It would be hard to find a spot here where you couldn’t see the game.
4 — Well stocked bar, plenty of SC2 themed beverages (and food).
5 — Nice décor. I’m just now noticing the incredible mural. Aside from that the though the environment has that modern asian fusion décor that you see everywhere. I’m fine with that.
Cool place, and I’ll definitely be back, often (especially as it’s walking distance from work). I just hope there’s something for a veg to eat next time.
I mean, where else are you going to go in Seattle to watch SC2?

The catalyst for the eSports BarCraft scene worldwide, Chao is a bit of a nerd subculture destination, and is worth checking out.
I came up here during PAX weekend, which coincided with MLG Raleigh. There’s informal «bistro» seating, and another area actually in the bar proper. It was daytime when my friend and I arrived, and we were planning on going out for food later that evening. Drinks then, and small plates from the Starcraft menu, were in order. The gyoza and stir fried edamame were both tasty, and the drinks well priced to attract adult nerds.
While I was there, the place was relatively quiet. There were about 20 guys in the bistro, laptops out, taking in the SC community. In the bar, there was a steady flow of PAX attendees coming in to check out the place that started BarCraft.
This place is special because of what it started, but it’s pretty good for what it is, too. I can’t speak to the «bistro» part of the menu, but if you’re into StarCraft at all, the nerd socializing is well worth the trip!

The happy hour (s) from 4 – 7 got me in the door, but the amazing food kept me in there! If you have never had Gobo chips ($ 2 on happy hour) you MUST try them! They remind me of the best little crunchy part of a french fry and they were a match made in heaven with my $ 2.50 PBR tall boy! The pork quesadilla was only so/​so, but the chicken katsu was truly amazing! I’m going to have to make this one of my go to happy hour spots on the hill.
Pros:
Long happy hour (4 – 7)
PBR and Vitamin R tall boys
Gobo Chips
Good for groups
Nice servers
Cons:
Capitol Hill parking
Bathroom was a little rough

I agree with someone’s review. I haven’t had much with places that extol «Asian fusion.» I know when it’s been done well, it can be quite good. I first experienced their food at a Unilocal EE and liked what I sampled. And my first visit was a good one though I found some of my items lukewarm when they hit the table. Some of my favourites were the orange glazed tofu (I requested my sauce on the side) and the wasabi pea salad (mmm, bacon!). I could have skipped the quesadilla (too salty) and the crab cakes (a little too much lemongrass)…
Open for dinner every night from 16:00 to 23:00, that dinner service is bookended by a pair of happy hours: one from 16:00 to 19:00 and another from23:00 until close. They also offer breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays from 11:00 to 16:00. A friend of mine loves their chicken fried steak for ten bucks and adds an egg to his healthful breakfast for only a dollar more. Maybe I’ll make it for brunch one day. If I do, I’ll be sure to park several blocks away… everything on their brunch menu looks like it’s high in calorie!

I’ve been here twice and as nerdy as this sounds, I initially found this place reading
and saw the owner posted a Starcraft themed menu. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s a computer game. I’m actually quite into SC and even got my boyfriend into it (that should probably be the other way around, but it isn’t.).
We found out that they show SC replays on Sunday and Wednesday evenings so we decided to check it out! We were like «what kind of bar shows STARCRAFT REPLAYS!!! LET’S GO!!» We caught the end of their happy hour as well. It’s okay pricing for HH. But it’s very nice that they have so many tv’s to show these replays! The place was super packed when we arrived, too. It’s nice to see a different kind of environment once in awhile, especially for bars. Their food wasn’t too bad, but it took a long time since there was only one server with a ton of people.
I’d go again to watch the replays and catch the HH! Hopefully they get more servers during these times, too

I had 2 ok experiences here and 2 not so good ones.
first time– the bartender was great, he made me great perfect manhattans. the food was good. the sushi chef was sitting in the parking lot rather than in the kitchen so I couldn’t try any of the sushi (about ½ of the HH menu)
second time– the bartender argued with me when i explained i didnt want my manhattan on ice and then handed me a glass that wasnt even half full, which had an insect in it. She made me a new drink which was as empty. She didnt ask how the food was and it took at least 20 minutes to get her attention for the check (we were the only customers in there)
third time– was ok. the stand in bartender made decent drinks and good reccomendations
fourth time– they were out of chicken & burgers! no wings, no chicken skewers, no grilled chicken, no burger. About half of their menu. ordered two orders of calimari, a fish taco, tempura platter. first order of calimari– delicious! second kind of soggy ??? both were served over wilted leaves… not so delicious. the fish tacos– terrible. the pickled cabbage on top tasted like straight vinegar. the tempura was very greasy and unlike any tempura ive ever had.

This place is alright. Been here for drinks a couple times in the bar — have not had any of the food.
I think I’ve come here mainly based on location, to be completely honest. Sometimes it’s nice to come and find a seat right away, as opposed to Tavern Law for example, where you’d be lucky to find standing room on a Friday night. I guess that’s why Tavern Law is awesome and Chao Bistro isn’t. Service is decent and it looks like they stock some decent liquor as well. Ambience is pretty cold and not a great place to get the warm and fuzzies.
on a separate note, my friend and I watched the most bizarre street brawl whilst sitting at the window looking onto the street. Someone had apparently taken the sign outside and all I saw was some grungy hipsters, a couple gay dudes, some bar staff and a gal all throwing punches, yelling and rolling around in the street. It even went inside the bar for a second then moved back outside. We watched in drunken amusement then went home.

Stop #2 of our whirlwind one-​night Seattle Cap Hill adventure, the pre-Linda’s /​Scott K’s even more whirlwindy par-​tay, Chao was on the way down the hill so we stopped in.
Yech.
As you may have already read, the menu is *eclectic* (read: «hey, we have all these leftovers from the store last week… why don’t we put all that on the menu?»). To illustrate, we tried to get the edamame, but they were out… so we settled for… the hummus. And by «hummus,» I mean the extra can of cat food they had in the back masked with tons of garlic. Dammit, I was reuniting with a bunch of people that night.
Furthermore, the place was cold inside and the server rushed us as if some minor celebrity were waiting at the door and we were the only table even remotely close to being done. Only the place was empty. EMPTY.
Even if we still lived in Seattle, this would not be on my list of places to revisit. May I reiterate: yech.

This place is simply fantastic. I have never had a bad experience here.
Their happy hour food is phenomenal! Particularly their wok seared edamame and their spicy tuna rolls which are among my favorite I have had in all of Seattle.
They have some tasty drinks available at pretty average capital hill prices.
The owner is fantastic. The service is wonderful. But the food is unbeatable. Definitely give this place a try. You won’t be disappointed.
*recently under new ownership, and much improved for it!

Chao Bistro is quite wonderful on a cold and rainy night! And at a Unilocal party.
My second Chao experience proved that this restaurant/​bar could be a wonderful escape from a cold, wet night. As soon as I sat down the friendly bartender made sure to help me get warm with a glass of wine and a sushi roll (good, not mind-​blowing). I believe it was their late night happy hour. (I love happy hour.)
My third experience? The tasty raw tuna at the Unilocal Helps event. I think it was served on cucumber slices and it was DELICIOUS. I hope they get that tuna item on the menu soon because it’s the first food offering of theirs that has me really excited to get some food at Chao…
See? Fresh raw tuna on a cucumber slice pleases my taste buds. It really doesn’t take much to make me happy!

3 stars for the food
4 stars for the service
2 stars for the atmosphere
We went here since he wanted Sushi and I didn’t and thus, it seemed to be a perfect mix of options for us.
It wasn’t so perfect, unfortunately. We ordered of the ‘sharing’ menu– kalua pork quesadilla, 2 rolls of sushi, the corn and the tofu.
The food portions were big which was great, but the execution just was okay for me.
The quesadilla was good but the meat seemed a bit oversalted to me and the two dipping options– a pineapple salsa and other ?- were meh.
The corn was really good, spicier than I expected, but overall, it was delicious.
The fried tofu was just as you’d expect, the batter was nice and the sauce was really great.
Sushi– which I will have to take his word on– was just okay. Better than the packaged stuff at Safeway but not as good as a ‘regular’ sushi restaurant.
The worst thing for me is that almost every square inch of the room is focused on huge AND LOUD tv screens. At this point, they were playing a Seahawks pre-​game, and it was impossible to ignore given the placement of the sets. Hubby said he counted almost 20 of them in there. Sheesh!

Wow! I was pleasantly pleased with my meal at Chao Bistro today.
After feeling like a bad neighbor, I finally stepped through their doors today! Did you know this place is HUGE? I had no idea! It’s literally 3x larger than I expected. Great for groups.
Everyone that worked there was super friendly. Most importantly though, the food was great! What a hidden gem.
I asked about the menu and while many people confuse this as an ‘Asian fusion’ restaurant, I was informed that it’s really a place that celebrates the Pacific Rim. So food isn’t just Asian in theme, it’s representative of all the places that are lucky enough to hug the Pacific Ocean. (Kinda like Pacific Place and the parking garage level names! Creative, right?)
I had the best calamari here. I’m a total sucker for calamari and I order it every time I see it on a menu. At Chao though, the calamari is in steak form! Not rubbery tentacles but big, thick, soft pieces of squid. I was really impressed!
I also tried their edamame which I’d see is recommended in a few other reviews. The sauce on it is excellent.
They serve a few sushi roll varieties as well as a damn good burger. It’s scary when places try to do everything… but when they do everything well? Then go for it! I was definitely pleased and even more pleased that the prices are crazy affordable. Lots of items under $ 10!

Friend of a friend owns this place — and well… now I go there every once in awhile because 1) proximity to my home and 2) it’s a friend’s place — and only for a drink or two.
Ate there once before when it opened and well… it was a confusing experience. They got burgers and corn and kalbi tacos and meatball sandwiches and sushi… Huh? is right. I’ve tried their corn — and it was like bad canned mushy corn. Tried the kalbi tacos — which didn’t have much kalbi in’em but had little wilty greens/​cabbage.
It’s a bar. Go there for a drink if you must — but pass on the food.

I dined with a friend here last night, a Friday evening. Most all of the tables were full, but we were able to get a seat by the window.
I read some of the Unilocal reviews before trying this place. It’s true, the menu was pretty extensive, but hey, I like that. If you dine with friends who don’t know what they want to eat, they can choose from a burger, a salad, Portuguese fried rice, sushi rolls, or fettuccine. It took a while for us to make up our minds, but we were happy with what we ordered. I ordered the Chao Signature Salad $ 4, w/​chicken +$ 4. My friend had the Wasabi Ceasar Salad w/​chicken. (We were talking about trying to lose weight before coming in here. haha.) Both salads were really good. We also had the Flaming Dave roll. That was a hit. I loved the spicy flavors. Overall, it was a pleasant experience and I would definitely dine here again. Since I like variety, I want to try everything on the menu. It’s different and interesting. I was happy, they were really friendly.

I really wanted to like this place. I really did. But unfortunately, my experience fell completely flat.
From the menu, I couldn’t get a sense of what the restaurant was about. The burger menu is longer than the entrée list. Yet, there were a bunch of small plates that would make you think that you should be ordering small plate + entrée. Then there’s some sushi, but the list was so short that you wouldn’t really want to order it here because it suggests that sushi is not a specialty and it was doubtful that they get enough churn to always have truly fresh fish. The menu was a jumble of stuff with no clear direction.
We decided to just try a couple of appetizers and if that was good, then we would keep ordering. We ordered the roasted corn and kalbi tacos. A bit of fail on both. The roasted corn was mushy. For roasted corn, it needs to have a bit of crunch to it. This tasted like canned corn that’s been roasted instead of fresh corn, cut, then roasted. The kalbi tacos were a bit of a fail too: too little meat, too much of the green stuff. It was hard to pick out the flavor of the kalbi with everything else on top of it. It could have been really interesting and exciting. Instead it was just another blah dish.
I was hesitant to give this a 1 star rating because it wasn’t a bad restaurant. You could tell that the owner and chefs have good intentions. It’s just that the execution was pretty terrible. Don’t think I’ll come back unless the Unilocal ratings somehow take a massive turn for the better.

After stopping by for drinks one night, I was excited to finally checking out the menu! I really wanted to like this place since the menu seemed really interesting, but I found it a bit lacking but full of potential.
The menu is full of potential and given time, I think it could be quite fantastic. The spicy tuna roll was good and full of flavors that I’d expect. The calamari is perfectly breaded and complemented with a creamy aioli which didn’t taste like citrus and ginger at all but complemented it well. The crab cakes were well made but could have had a crisper crust and the sauce served could use a bit more heat and spice. The Inari fried rice sushi was a bit salty and the rice could have used a bit more flavor. The Miso Fettucine was sadly a disappointment and all I could taste was a the cream and didn’t have any miso flavor profile at all.
The service was decent but also has potential. It was a bit slow at times, but I have to say they were attentive to make sure our drinks didn’t go empty. Food took a bit longer to serve, but I’ll give them credit since they have just opened.
All in all, a good place to check out. Once they get the kinks out of their system and start running they will be an awesome restaurant to check out!